Yakima camping, day 4

May, 2019

I had great neighbors in the campground last night.

It was just getting dark and I had just finished my dinner. I heard a truck engine and looked out my window to see a dark blue pickup truck pulling another Escape trailer!

I wanted to run right over and stop them and greet them and ask about the trailer and ask about the truck and where they were from and where they were going, etc. But I restrained myself. 🙂

They pulled into the same circle of campsites that I was in. They backed into their spot and got mostly set up, but then both of them were standing around outside and sort of scratching their heads like they weren’t sure what to do. AND they were looking at my truck and trailer since they certainly recognized my trailer as an Escape trailer.

So that’s when I slowly and nonchalantly sauntered outside. They waved and I waved and we were friends instantly. They did have a few questions, since they had JUST THAT DAY picked up their brand new trailer from Canada and there were a few things they weren’t sure about. We talked about options and they got everything figured out.

We talked for quite a while about many of the details of these Escape trailers. They gave me a tour of the inside of their trailer (it has the new style of wood interior which looked very snappy). Then they came over to my trailer and had a tour, and they loved my trailer too.

The next morning, we chatted a little bit, but they were determined to get on the road early as they had many hours of driving before they would arrive home in Idaho. As they drove away from the campsite, I took the video below and of course shared the video with them later.

Some of you sharp-eyed folks may have noticed that the left brake lights on their trailer did not come on when the brakes were applied when they stopped to put a bag of garbage in the bin. I emailed these folks about that … they did some research and found out it was a problem in the truck wiring … no problems with the trailer.

It’s always so nice to meet such congenial folks on the road. Happy trails you two!

After that excitement was over, this morning’s outing for me was really close by. I drove a whole two miles from the campground to the Yakima Arboretum. I had driven so many hours yesterday (to Bickelton and back), that I was more than ready to stick close to home today.

The image above is the map that’s in the Arboretum’s brochure. If you’re interested, the descriptions that correspond with the numbers are on the Arboretum’s website at the “Garden Map” link.

Unfortunately, the map was not very accurate … and there were no signs at all on the grounds of the Arboretum that corresponded to or marked these locations or sights. The arboretum was gorgeous, absolutely, but it was all a bit confusing. As well, each tree was identified with a tag that was nailed into the tree (nailed?!), so you had to walk clear up to the tree, within inches of the trunk, in order to identify each tree.

I just itched to draw a map for these folks that showed the location of each tree, with the name of each tree. The Arboretum covers 46 acres of land, so there are quite a few trees there, ok probably hundreds … yikes. Maybe on my next visit, I’ll draw that map for them. 🙂

I assumed there would be a plethora of native, indigenous trees and plants, but it seemed few of the plants there were native to the area. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful and peaceful place to spend the morning.

 

The sign below is for the red-leaved tree above.

I simply strolled around the grounds for an hour or more, reading the signs that described each tree.

Eventually, I came upon this sign (below) and a path that led into an area that was not manicured like the rest of the grounds were. I had Little Towhee with me. As soon as she heard about “bird watching”, she perked right up.

 

I sat on a bench while she explored the area (above). We heard LOTS of bird calls. Little Towhee chirped and cheeped right along with them, but we saw no birds. Little Towhee was disappointed when we left that area but I assured her we would see birds.

And did we ever!

I took the bird photos above and below at a pond in the Arboretum. That little bird above sat right there in that birdhouse for a long time, moving its head from side to side occasionally. So … here we go, another question … is this bird a nuthatch? Most nuthatch photos online show a thin white band just above the eye, but there are a few nuthatch photos online that show this solid teal/blue color without a white band above the eye. Help me here. What is this little person?

Then on another side of the pond, I spied these two Red-winged Blackbirds in the bushes (below).

And then, on MY side of the pond, but several yards away, I spotted this fellow (below).

Little Towhee spoke right up! Chirp chirp chirp! And that Blackbird answered!

A few feet further down the pathway, I discovered a female Red-winged Blackbird in the reeds along the edge of the pond. In fact there were many more females hereabouts than there were males in the area. But the females spent their time in the reeds and rushes and were more difficult to photograph.

 

 

As always, click on photos to enlarge them.

All of this was so much fun and enjoyable, but what was most impressive to me was yet to come. Down another path and around another corner, I came upon this tree (below) … a Weeping Douglas Fir. I know about Douglas Firs (they aren’t actually fir trees) and I love them. They grow everywhere here in the Pacific Northwest. But a “weeping” one? I had never heard of that. Well, look at this one below.

What a handsome, impressive, beauty!

It was at least 50 feet tall. It seemed so amazingly powerful.

It felt like I could walk right in there under its branches, right next to the trunk, and I would be protected forever.

I didn’t have a clue what I would find when I started out this morning, but I sure found amazing things.