Tag Archives: ducks

Marlake at the West Hylebos Wetlands Park

Marlake

Dear husband and I wanted to stretch our legs today so we went to the West Hylebos Wetlands Park in Federal Way. Our intent was to walk along the boardwalk path, but we turned right instead of left and ended up at Marlake (that’s what Google Maps says it is called). It is really a beautiful spot and some of the surrounding area must have been an orchard at one point because we found plum, pear and apple trees, as well as grapes and blackberry bushes. The blackberries and plums were delicious!  The lake itself has a dock with a bench on it to contemplate life. Many of the trees leading up to the lake were actually labeled and my favorite was a ginkgo tree. Such lovely leaves. The park really is a perfect place to take a walk.

On an amusing note, the handwritten sign that greats visitors asks us to protect the wetlands and no dogs (I get it), bikes (still get it) or Pokemon (what?!). I’m not sure what damage the not really there Pokemon could do. Perhaps they meant no Pokemon players. But there were a bunch of players and they were all respectful and having a good time with their families. Perhaps the highlight for me was that I won my first gym (it’s a game thing) and let out a yell of victory. An older teen smiled at me and we talk about the game for a while. He even set it up for me so that I could really win the gym since I obviously don’t know what I’m doing. I love that the game gave two very different people a chance to visit and work together. What fun. 🙂

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Yauger Park, Olympia

10375312376_ea29bd01f8_bYauger Park in Olympia has a lovely wetland area that doubles as a storm water retention pond during times of heavy rain. Per their website, the area can hold 27 million gallons of water which is slowly released into Percival Creek and eventually into Budd Inlet. One comment I noted on Yelp said that the rain water will sometimes cover the parking area also, which is better than local streets! The park also has picnic facilities, sports areas and playground equipment.

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Mill Creek Earthworks Park

8701045748_4395d4cdd1_b(1)On Wednesday I was in Kent and stopped to enjoy the day at Mill Creek Earthworks Park at 742 East Titus, Kent, WA. It was a lovely day and there were baby ducks! The park had good and bad to it.

The Good:

  • It was designed by Bauhaus Master, Herbert Bayer.
  • It is a very cool storm water detention system and designed to handle a 10,000 year flood.
  • It looks like a place that hobbits would live in.
  • The restrooms have delightful art on them.
  • It is part of a restoration project.
  • It connects to other Earthworks Project.
  • Plenty of free parking.
  • It was recently restored.
  • Did I mention the baby ducks? You can see them crossing the trail on the photo above.

The Bad:

  • The toilets in the women’s room don’t have doors and I really like doors.
  • The trail was closed, so I didn’t try to go down it.
  • There was a homemade cross on the site that said “the truth will come out about how you died”. Kind of creepy to me!

So the good out ways the bad and I’d love to go visit again.

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China Lake Park

I’ve always been a little nervous about visiting China Lake at 1811 S Shirley St. Though I can’t point to any particular warning, it seems like I heard of unpleasant happenings. It is really a lovely park and feels just like being in a forest (except for the SR-16 noise). The lake is nice and had various ducks. It did feel a little lonely though and next time I think I’ll take a friend.

I did find this interesting article that is well worth a visit. http://www.tacomaweekly.com/news/view/tunnels-tunnels-everywhere…-sort-of/

The park district’s site plan is here http://www.discoverparks.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ParkDetails&PropertyID=87