The man in the tree..

The man in the tree... always looking through the front window.. Silly Saturday odd yard ornament edition... 

So knowing that a storm was coming in and.. I got up early and headed out to the trail head when it opened at 06:30.. As I parked the car, a few rain drops started to fall. I headed over to the trail sign to see if anything I might need to know and found out that it is common that the trail I wanted to take is impassable until late May and as of a week ago, it was still flooded. I had wanted to walk the 4 mile loop but since it was 1 1/4 miles to where the trail was closed and I wasn't prepared to go the long route, especially with the incoming weather, the worst would be a 2.5 mile walk.. 

In the first extra on the lower left, you have where the trail met Willapa Bay, Sunrise was at 06:30 an it was still a bit dark. As I started to walk along the bay, two humongous birds took off and flew out over the water.. they seemed bigger than herons but I'm not sure what they were. Nice to see though. On the lower right is a photo of the trail going through the forest. Sure enough, it was still flooded and no safe way around it.. So I turned around and headed back. At this time a light rain started. As I got near my car I heard the most awful noise. My camera was in a plastic bag to protect it but I wish I could have photographed the sight. At least 30 herons took off in flight. An amazing sight to see. I was able to photograph one heron that stuck around a few minutes longer..

By this time the rain started to get heavier and the wind started to pick up so I decided to crisscross all the little roads to see what I could see.. In the second extra you have 3 homes and a church. the red home was built in 1870.. 

In the third extra you have an old pick up with an easter bunny and tulips. I thought is was a grand holiday display. I also found a small pioneer cemetery going back nearly 170 years.. That's before Washington became a state.. The lower right photo was a harbor on the Columbia River near where it flowed into the Pacific Ocean. When I took that photo, I had rolled down the drivers window long enough to take the photo.. the dashboard, passenger window and seat got wet with the rain and wind being that strong. 

Headed home tomorrow along with seeing my dad. My uncle Gus and cousin Jen saw him Friday and he was awake the whole time.. A bit out there but still good news. I hope he will be the same when I see him too.. Doing the tourist things - seeing a museum and...