Walking, walking, walking...aagh! Tick!

Well, I was right! Not only was it sunny today, it was darn hot! At least to me...it certainly felt hot! I spent the night at the resort town of Soap Lake, WA. It's called Soap Lake due to the mineral-rich water that has a soapy feel and has supposed medicinal benefits. Before leaving town, I took some pics of the lake and I got a nice shot of a black necked stilt feeding in the shallows.

My first destination of the day was Ohme Gardens in Wenatchee, WA. The gardens were initially created by Herman Ohme as a family retreat, but he was convinced to open the beautiful grounds to the public. It's now part of Washington State Parks and managed by Chelan County. It was fun negotiating the many stone steps, enjoying the flowers, waterfalls and pools. Not only are the gardens a quiet and serene place for people, birds like it, too, such as this Mourning Dove and an American Robin.

After a brief stop to buy goodies at the Aplets and Cotlets factory store in Cashmere, I visited the nearby Peshatin Pinnacles State Park. Most of the trails were a little too steep for my liking, but I still got some nice pics from below.

While walking along the dirt trail, I saw a blur of brown movement out of the corner of my eye. Marmot! A yellow-bellied marmot to be exact. There were also a lot of swallows flying around the pinnacles, nesting in the natural holes. The pic below shows a violet-green swallow.

By now, it was starting to get pretty warm. I had a leisurely lunch under the shade of a tree in the park's picnic area. Afterward, I spent the afternoon in the the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth. I trolled some of the shops, but the high point was my visit to The Nutcracker Museum. The museum houses more than 7000 nutcrackers of all shapes and sizes, and from all over the world. It was nutcracker overload! I found myself looking for the cat ones.

 

As I was checking into my hotel for the night, the desk lady pulled something off the side of my head. Wood tick! The funny thing was, I was thinking about ticks when I was at Peshatin Pinnacles, and was careful to stay of the trails. Well, apparently the tick must have come off a shrub I brushed against...that's my theory, anyway.  I checked myself pretty well later, but that was the only one, thankfully. It was only the second time that I've ever had a tick hitchhike on me. Not exactly the best ending to my road trip adventures. And, it has been an adventure, full of ups and downs. But, I'm ready to go home and hug my cat. Until next time...