Bloedel-Reserve on

Willow.

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Bloedel mansion and willow in winter

Armour.

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

the bark of an alder

Onward.

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

alders along a path

Bloedel, trees, waiting.

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve been doing most of our walking lately in The Grand Forest and wanted a change of pace but still close to home. Fortunately, the Bloedel Reserve’s appointments are easy to come by in the winter on late notice so off to the Reserve went we.

First order of business accomplished, my daughter’s discovery of the perfect walking stick for each of us, we embarked.

mansion by the lake

The willow isn’t dripping in green as it does in the summer, but the orange reflecting in the water still draws the eye.

Mushrooms, Bloedel, fungar.

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

We enjoyed our last trip to the Bloedel Reserve enough to become members and membership has its privileges – an annual mushroom walk.

wide view of the meadow

I love the meadow.

First, our guide, Andy, was outstanding – extraordinarily knowledgeable with fantastic stories of growing up on BI, hunting for mushrooms and fungar: knowing where to look for mushrooms.

Bloedel Reserve, summer and biddies.

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Somewhat surprisingly the budding naturalists had yet to visit the Bloedel Reserve – so visiting we went.

We were greeted with a gorgeous meadow.

meadow

A walk past the bird refuge and through the woods opens to an impressive pond in front of the visitor center, originally the Bloedel residence.

weeping willow

Bloedel residence

The views from the back yard are stunning. We saw an adult Bald Eagle perched on a tree and moments later a juvenile flew from nest to perch.