Padilla Bay #44

January and February are very busy months for us. Between birthdays and other events the day is very packed, leaving little time for a long hike; so once again we did a short hike.
After church we went to Breazeale Padilla Bay Center and the beach, we had intentions to do the Padilla Bay Trail which is 4.4 miles round trip, wide and very flat. But once again time restraints enabled us from doing the trail. Hence going to Breazeala, which is a good thing because once we walked through the doors the man behind the desk informed us that a falcon was going to be released out of one of the conference rooms. We immediately headed to the conference room, only to find out that the falcon had already been released and they where going to release a barred owl. We were able to watch them measure the leg for the correct sizing of tracking band, measure tail and wing length, and weight of the owl. The leader then asked who wanted to help release the owl. H's hand immediately went up. The leader said no, kids weren't allowed to help release the owl. So an older gentleman was picked and we headed outside.

Once we were outside the owl had to be distracted so the leader could let the older gentleman take a hold of the owl.

 Once he had the owl, he held it a moment and then let it go. It was so amazing to watch that owl fly away.

After the owl was released we headed back into the building so the kids could walk around and explore the exhibits. There are walls and drawers to pull out to learn all kinds of information, and a table with different colored lights to show you how tides work.

We then went into the kids room to play some games,

 and do some "baking."

We then proceed into the room that has the tanks with all of the different eel grass, and other sea creatures. Can you spot the flounder?

 The people next to us found the eel on the very bottom.

 Purple Sea urchins are my favorite.

Once we were done looking at the tanks we headed down to the beach. There are nice paved trails around the center, but the kids wanted to go explore the beach. To get to the beach go left out of the Center and follow this paved trail

to stairs.

Once down the stairs you walk into this tunnel under the road,

and pop out onto this wooden bridge, which then takes you down more stairs.

The stairs are so tight and round that there is a sign stating only 3 people at a time on them.

 The boys of course were down to the bottom in a flash and decided that playing in the storm run off was a good idea.

 We finally convinced them to get out of it and start walking down the beach. It was so pretty, even with the rain and fog.

 We were able to walk and explore the beach, climb on trees, and look for shells.

 The dog wasn't too sure about the beach at first, but she decided that it wasn't too bad and started exploring on her own. We did discover sand that wanted to take our shoes off, and the rocks were extremely slippery. So do be carful when you go.

 We came upon this building which the boys were convinced that at one time was a fort to protect the land from an invasion.

 We ended up walking all of the way to Bay View State Park, which is the grass area in this last picture. It did clear up enough that we could see all of the different islands from this vantage point. 

We then turned around and headed back to the car, which was good because walking back the tide was coming in and most of the area we walked on was now covered in water. In all I think we did a mile and a half and had an enjoyable day. Until next time!