Sol Duc Hot Springs

Welcome to Sol Duc 

Sol Duc Hot Spring pool

Only a fortnight ago I stumbled on the existence of a natural hot springs, which is a part of Olympic National Park. I mentioned the site to my fitness trainer Karina. Only days later she told me her hubby and she had driven out there to scope it out and she suggested we have one  of our fitness sessions at the 'Sol Duc' hot springs. Yay!  

Széchenyi Thermal Bathes in Budapest, Hungary

I told Karina I have never been to a natural hot spring. Then it finally hit me yes I had! In 2016 I visited mineral bathes during a central European vacation. Turns out that when Karina was a teen, she too had visited the same mineral bathes. That gave us the happy squeals!

Sol Duc Spring water pools

Shortly after 3:00, I got out the pool - I was one boiled potato! I took some photos, then headed back to the Women's locker room for a shower and to get out of my soggy clothing. I met up with Karina and Hutch outside by the main door, and after a short photo session we were off on a short hike. 

Now walking, is one of the better exercises for me. Requires no special equipment other than my chubby legs and it can be done pretty much anywhere. Karina was the one who suggested a post soak hike, and just before we headed out, Hutch asked if I'd like to walk out and back to the car (our hike's starting point) or if I would like him to meet us at the hike's end. I opted for a one-way walk, and thank heavens I did. For whatever reason, my left hip was aching. Why? Who the heck knows. 

Skunk Cabbage

On the moist forest floor, there were giant Skunk Cabbages - a wild plant that has large lily-like flowers. Not uncommon at all, but always fun to see, when in bloom.

Our hours long hike ended (OK, it was more like 20 minutes) we headed back to Port Angeles. By the time I made it home I was quite worn out. I'm not sure why I was so tired - perhaps being boiled? Perhaps hiking a whole 20 minutes? Maybe all that fresh mountain air did me in. I was happy and thoroughly done for the day. 

Sixty-fifth New Yard Bird!

Short-eared Owl

Late this afternoon I was listless. Chatting with friend Barb on the phone, and gazing out the living room window. 

As I watched, something BIG flew around the large meadow across the road. At first my brain though 'Northern Harrier' but there were now 2 birds flying low over the field and they were quite large, no white rump like Harriers have and their wings were just too broad... and it was daytime, around 6:30 PM and... could those possibly be...?

"THERE'S AN OWL IN THE FIELD ACROSS THE WAY!" I shrieked into the phone. "BYE!" I was out on the front porch in seconds but already the birds had disappeared - if there was more than one... had I actually seen 2 owls? 

Since moving to Washington I have seen Barn  Owls, Barred Owls and have heard Great-horned Owls, but for the life of me, I couldn't even remember if I ever saw local reports of Short-eared Owls  here in Clallam County. Could I possibly be so frickin' lucky? 

I didn't waste time. Jumping into my car, then slowly driving east on Anderson Rd, checking every field I passed. I KNEW the owls wouldn't go too far, as I am sure they enjoy hunting the same grasslands and fields where most days you can find Northern Harriers floating around.

Finally I spotted one of the owls. There is a HUMONGOUS field where I often see interesting birds. In winter sometimes mixed flocks of geese and ducks wallow around there. Numerous times I've watched Bald Eagles sitting on the ground there. Sometimes they regally sip water from puddles, and other times the eagles just sit - like me - and enjoy the view. But today was special. The birds present were Short-eared Owls.  

One owl floated around the field, much like the Harriers do - occasionally diving down into the grass, but sadly not catching anything. After about a half hour, the 2nd Owl was up flying around at the same time as the 1st owl. It only flew for a few minutes but at least I knew I hadn't 'wished' up a 2nd owl, there really were 2 owls. There was also a Bald Eagle that flew into a nearby tree along the bay, but today I only had eyes for owls. 

Most of my photos were fuzzy but happily there were some keepers

The Three Little Piggies

 

I've told this tale to anyone who will listen, and many would rather have skipped the story altogether. Anywho, t'was the season to be jolly, and I was driving home after a trip to Costco. I was a few blocks along when three not-actually-very-little-at-all piggies began lumbering across road in front my car. 

At that second there was only myself on the road, but just ahead of me a police car quickly pulled to the shoulder and got out of the vehicle, shouting, "Pig! Pig! Pig!"

Of course I was insulted, but then I realized the good officer was not dissing me, but was calling for the loose swine. At this point, you may make your own jest about cops being nicknamed 'pigs' and here are a couple of accompanying comments from a friend I told all this to: "The Hogs from the Bogs", "The Divine Swine", and saving the best for the last - "The Chops, fleeing the Cops!" 

Bravo Kristi! Couldn't have put it better myself.

The piggies were striking, and I was mesmerized but happily not so mesmerized that I didn't whip out my cell phone and start taking shots. The first thing I noted was they looked how you could imagine feral pigs would look, but I knew these were not feral - in fact, I was immediately certain that these curly coated pigs simply must be a heritage breed. Heritage breeds are olde timey domestic livestock whose usage has been curtailed & usurped by modern livestock breeds. These pigs, all looking about the same - agouti colored with curly hair on their backs, looked as old timey in a hog as one can  get. 

Collie on Call

By now the traffic was backed up and the good officer managed to get the 3 piggies moving in the same direction. At this point I knew I had to shout something snarky to the officer (I had to, it's the LAW!).

I called out, "Where is a Border Collie when you need one?"

The good officer, smiling, called back, "I Know, Right?!"

I cracked up laughing, because that is precisely what I would have responded, had our places been switched. The very good officer by now had the piggies off the roadway and headed for...? [Fill in your own amusing thoughts here ].

Two final notes: First, the reason I had gone to Costco in the first place, is I went there to buy a spiral ham for Christmas dinner. You have to wonder if I'd run across the piggies on my way to Costco, I might have got my hams for free, right? And how many would I have potentially nabbed? Um, let's see, that's 2 hams per piggie, so that's... give me a second to count here.... Six, my lucky number!

And a final note, some hours later this tale of 3 pigs, I looked up heritage breeds on a site I've used for such stuff for ages. The pigs are Mangalitza Swine, read all about them HERE