Northwest Trek with Melora and Margaret

I like to pretend that there are people reading this blog who do not know me or my family.  These are people who think that I'm interesting enough to check my blog every couple of weeks and see what we're up to.  This is likely delusional, but in case there are people like that, I should start this post by explaining that I grew up in Seattle.  I was born here and I lived here until I went to college, and then again for a couple of years (well, almost) after college.  I consider myself to be a Seattle girl.  I like to think that I know my way around the city fairly well (not really true anymore), and sometimes I even pretend I'm a Washington State girl (but that is absolutely not true).  This post is about a Seattle-area gem of a park that I had never visited before this summer.  For 37 years I could've been going to Northwest Trek and wasn't!!  

On Friday, Melora and Margaret invited the kids and me to come with them to Northwest Trek.  I was reluctant because it's not close, but Melora totally talked me into it even if I chuckled and called her a biologist (she is one) when she used the word 'cool' to describe the animal habitats.  (Note:  Melora is sort of like a personal guide so if you decide to go you might invite her along.)

The kids and I had a hectic morning because we wanted to open the place up at 9:30 and it's an hour drive from my parents' house.  You wouldn't think it would be difficult to get out of the house a full two hours after we all wake up but somehow it is.  (I am fond of saying that I haven't been on time even once since Tommy was born, but it's not actually true.  I am only late when I have my kids with me.)  Anyway, we drove down to meet Melora in Puyallup so we could carpool the rest of the way, and we were all a bit groggy so we listened to my new favorite thing, a kids' CD of James Herriot stories.  Then, I got lost and Melora had to come find me and lead me to the Starbucks where we got coffee, cake pops (!) and loaded everyone into the same car.  Then, we drove another half hour down a road that wasn't especially promising, to be honest, and then!  Then!  We turned into the most scenic and sweet place I have ever been.  Okay, that might be an exaggeration but let's make a deal that you understand that I just love Northwest Trek.

Sadly, I took really bad photos (I only had my phone) but let me tell you a bit about it.  First, there are animals that you look at in their habitats -- and the only downside of Northwest Trek is that the habitats are so nice that you can't always spot the animals.  For example, we did not catch a glimpse of the cougar and that would've been very exciting for Tommy.

Barn owls -- they are so still I thought they were wooden.

Lizzie, Margaret and Tommy on a banana slug.

When we were planning the trip, Melora kept talking about a tram ride and I kept thinking, hmmm, but then we got there and loaded up onto our tram (which is actually a bus driven by a guide).  There are no windows on the bus, and you drive through the part of the park which is just a bunch of land that has a lot of neat animals living on it.  We saw bison (did you know that there are no buffalo in America? Just bison).  One of these fellas can weigh up to 3000 lbs, making it the largest land animal in North America.  See the golden one in the left half of the photo?  That's a baby one.  Sometimes I wonder when I'm going to get over loving the baby version of everything so much, but I really just do.  The baby ones are cutest.

We also saw elk, moose, trumpeter swans (which was timely as we just finished reading the Trumpet of the Swan), mountain goats, sheep, and swallows that followed the bus because the bus stirred up the bugs.  It was SO AMAZING.  I told my parents to go even without any kids; it's that interesting and fun.

This is a grizzly bear and he is in his habitat, not part of the tram ride.