...Happy July Fourth, America!

Today's adventure was a 3-mile walk through the Oaks Bottom Wetlands in Portland, followed by a leisurely stroll through the Rhododendrum Gardens. Both were fantastic, but I especially loved the Gardens. I got some great shots ... Including a magnificent blue heron, a scrub jay, a juvenile crow, mallard chicks, a grebe chick, Canada Geese, wood ducks (very exciting for me!), several friendly squirrels, and a gaggle of stellar jays, close cousins to our blue jays and every bit as cheeky. I am unable to figure out how to make a new folio in blipfolio on the iPad, and the Flickr iPad app isn't working, so I can't post any of the other pics. :( So use your imagination!

This Jay was sunning himself on a patch of grass before going through a quick preening ritual. Here, I caught him checking his underarms. Or are they underwings? Hard to know.... Anyway, it made me laugh which made it the top blip choice today.

Tomorrow we are doing the Epicurean Walking Tour of PDX which should be great fun. Portland has become a major food city and boasts world-class chefs. It is also the starting place of "gourmet food trucks". So, it should be lots of fun.

I got around to many of your journals last night and it looks like lots of great stuff going on in blip-land!