Mini-road trip (without dogs!)

On Friday my friend Beckie and I headed off on a little local road trip of just a few hours, on a lovely sunny day (high of 70!).  The Hounds had to stay home (but never fear, they got to go out for a walk later on).

We started off in Kennewick, where Beckie resides.  She directed us to a demonstration garden run by the local Master Gardeners:

It was quite large, with many different kinds of garden plots.

I was especially excited by the rose beds, as every rose was carefully labeled, and I need to know which ones to purchase for my new garden.

There were California Quail hanging out in the garden:

This was good, since I didn't get any decent photos of any other birds, despite the fact that we went to a national wildlife refuge next.  This is the McNary NWR just outside beautiful downtown Burbank.  Beckie is interested in birding, and it was a good introductory spot, as the walk is not too long and there were lots of waterfowl, which are easy for beginners to see.

And we did see lots of birds out on the water -- coots, mallards, shovelers, cormorants, even a few American White Pelicans (my favorite bird).  We also had a lot of LBJs* flitting in and out of the trees (*Little Brown Jobs, mostly sparrows).  Overhead, we were treated to both an Osprey hunting over the water, and a kestrel hunting over land. 

Beckie seemed intrigued by the whole birding concept, but she needs to invest in a better pair of binoculars if she's going to take it seriously.  We shall see.

Next we tootled on down the road to Charbonneau Park, which is just above Ice Harbor Dam.  There we found a picnic spot for lunch.

Then we went to the Ice Harbor Dam site itself.  There we found this Native American memorial, which commemorates the tribes which lived here before the dam flooded their lands.

Petroglyphs:

Back in the Golden Days of My Youth, we went on family drives/picnics to Ice Harbor Dam.  You used to be able to go inside the dam and watch the massive turbines spinning round.  No more.  Everything is secured, and you can't even go into the little picnic area anymore.  Sniff.  And you can't take photos from below -- this is the only one I could get, from up above:

All in all, though, it was a lovely mini-road trip adventure on a stunningly beautiful Autumn day.

Now for those of you missing the Hounds, here they are from later than very same afternoon, enjoying yet another stroll by the Columbia River:

Happy Monday, everyone!