Adventures in Walking From the Couch to 5K - Chapter 16

The main entrance features a dark brown wood sign that says “Merkley Nature Preserve” and has green trees and a blue river on it. There is a long winding driveway that is lined with a variety of trees on the way to the parking lot. AJ rolls down her window so they can smell the flowers and listen to the gravel under the tires as they drive back to the parking lot. AJ parks her truck close to the dark wood framed information board.

“Hey boys, ready to go walking?” asks AJ.

“Yeah!” the boys holler.

The boys hop down out of the truck and stand by the information board. Carson spots the sign for the tree house off to the left. “Mom! Look! The tree house!” he says and points at the sign.

“Ok, let’s go to the tree house boys,” AJ says and takes their hands as they walk towards the sign for the tree house. On the sign is a picture of the tree house and the hours it is open. They follow the paved pathway to the ramp of the tree house. This tree house is barrier free and has a long winding ramp up to the door. At the entrance to the ramp the boys let go of AJ’s hands and run up the ramp to the door where there are metal sculptures of a bear and a fox.

“Come on in,” says the park guide, who is sitting inside the tree house.

As they enter the treehouse Cooper looks up and says, “Cool! A Frog!” There’s a large frog head on the wall right above a chalkboard. They look around and see a tree that is coming up through the floor in one spot and exiting through the roof in two spots. On the tree is a wasps’ nest that is about the size of the boy’s head. There are benches along the outer walls and windows above them.

There’s a door next to the chalkboard that leads out to a balcony. AJ takes the boys’ hands and says, “We can go out there, but no goofing around.”

Out on the balcony they look down into the swampy area that still has water in it from recent rains. Off to the left is Kearsley Creek where there are a couple of Canadian geese that are swimming by. The one goose is honking and honking, after a few minutes the other goose responds, and they swim off up the creek.

They go back inside and the boys sit down on the floor and AJ sits on a bench to listen while the park guide reads Tall Tall Tree.

“The end,” says the park guide and everyone claps.

Everyone gets up and some go out on the balcony while others leave. AJ and the boys leave the tree house and take the stairs down to the tic-tac-toe tree stumps. There is a sign that says to play tic-tac-toe you need to pick up nature things. The boys pick up some rocks and twigs. Carson wins the first game and Cooper wins the second game.

“Alright boys, let’s go walk over by the pond and see if we can see any turtles,” AJ says.

“Ok,” the boys reply.

They follow the trail back towards the parking lot and walk up by the nature center building. Continuing on to the dirt trail behind it, where there’s a sign that says, “Quiet Area.” AJ leads them to the right and the path goes between two ponds that they can peak through the tall grass and see the water. The pond on the right has slimy pea green water, and they stand still and listen to the bull frogs making raspy, throaty, croaking noises.

Continuing along the path they come to another split, and they take the path to the left. The boys get to the lookout tower, stop and look out onto the pond where there is a Canadian goose swimming close to the shoreline. AJ taps them on the shoulders, puts her finger to her lips and points to the stairs of the lookout tower. They all quietly walk to the stairs and go up without making any noise.

At the top of the tower the boys get up on the bench seats to look over the sides. Carson sees the Canadian goose walking up the bank of the pond and it stops in the middle of the path to peck at the grass. Carson looks back at Cooper and motions for him to come over next to him. Cooper quietly moves next to Carson. The goose walks under the lookout tower.

Cooper gets down, tip toes down the stairs and turns around to look through the steps at the goose. The goose stays on the opposite side of the lookout tower and stops to look at Cooper. It then walks towards the pond and Cooper peeks around the side of the stairs to see the goose looking back at him. The goose turns away, walks down the bank and into the pond.

AJ and Carson join Cooper at the bottom of the stairs. They continue on the path around the pond to where they see dozens of orange carp swimming around the water covered dock. To the right of the dock there is a painted turtle on a log.

Carson turns around and through the trees he sees a path leading to a couple of logs being held with guide wires. He tugs on AJ’s hand and points to what he sees. She turns to see the bridge posts. Taking both boys by the hand AJ walks with them to the bridge. It’s a suspension bridge.

Carson goes first onto the wooden planks, and they move as he steps on them. Cooper joins him and then AJ says to them, “Boys, turn this way so I can take a picture.” They turn to her and smile. After taking the picture she joins them on the bridge. They all jump up and down and the bridge goes up and down with them.

Cooper says, “Let’s race across the bridge.” They all go to the end of the bridge where Carson and Cooper stand next to each other. “Ready? Set! Go!” says AJ and the boys are off across the bridge. Cooper nudges out Carson for the win. “I win!” exclaims Cooper.

Catching up to the boys, AJ says to them, “Let’s go see what else is on the path.” She takes their hands, and they walk along the path going up the hill back to the “Quiet Area” sign.

Walking across the parking area they go down a path that leads to another pond. There’s a brown wooden arched gateway leading to the pond. In the center of the pond is an island with a tree on it. There is a Canadian goose on the island pecking away at the grass. To the left of the island is a fallen tree branch in the water with a large painted turtle basking in the heat from the sun.

When they turn around, they see another Canadian goose laying in the shade under a tree and it appears to be sleeping with it’s beak tucked into it’s feathers. Tiptoeing through the grass they quietly step back onto the path and head to the truck.

At the truck AJ gets the cooler out, and they walk over to the picnic table area for lunch. “Here’s an extra crunchy peanut butter sandwich for Carson and a strawberry jelly sandwich for Cooper.”

“Yeah!” both boys reply.

“Here’s a bag of Frito's for us all to share,” she puts the bag on the table in between the boys. AJ sits down across the table from them with her apple cider jelly and extra crunchy peanut butter sandwich.

They finish their lunch, put their wrappers in the trash can and take their cooler to the truck. The boys get in their seats and AJ gets in hers. Then she backs out of her parking space to drive back down the winding driveway to head for home.

The boys are watching the clouds in the sky. “Hey, that one looks like a dog,” Cooper says.

“I see a dinosaur on my side,” Carson tells them.

As she drives, the boys shout out what animals they see in the clouds. They have very active imaginations.

Arriving home, AJ pulls her truck into it’s space, and they all get out and go inside to relax after a fun-filled afternoon.

Continue Reading - Chapter 17