This past weekend we set out for a new adventure! It was close to home, just an hour away, and it was a new to us place, we had the time, and needed to get out. The perfect recipe for a road trip! I threw some snacks in my bag, filled our water bottles, and we piled into the Jeep, and headed to the wilds of …. Ohio?
Yep, Ohio. Who knew Ohio was hiding such great wonderful wildlife? I know when I think of Ohio, I think of the many farms, with their beautiful green fields of corn and other assortment of produce, that spread out over the state. And we did see such farms on our journey, like little jewels in the landscape. If I don’t think of farms, I think of cities like Toledo, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, full of their own fun activities. We were so surprised to find that hiding among the farms and cities was a huge wildlife refuge of wetlands, grasslands, and forest! Pleasantly surprised!
The Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge made our radar when we visited our local wildlife refuge and bought a passport book for Wyatt, called The Blue Goose Passport. It has places for stamps from all the wildlife refuges in the country, so we started with our local one, Humbug Marsh. The volunteer told us that about Ottawa National, and told us it was only an hour away, so we knew we wanted to go and get Wyatt a few more stamps. If you read here, then you know that Wyatt uses a wheelchair right now for most of his mobility, so I went first to the website to see how accessible it was going to be. Well, as far as trails themselves go, not very, but they DO have an wildlife drive! So, we decided we would do the small boardwalk trail near the actual nature center, then do the wildlife drive. It was going to be gross hot anyway, so we would stay cool on top of it all.
We arrived in good time, after passing through Toledo and past farms, and made our way into the nature center. We didn’t have a ton of time to do all of the activities they offered, since we timed our visit to be closer to late afternoon in the hopes of seeing more wildlife and the center closes at 4. (but the park is open until dusk) First thing we did was get Wyatt his stamps for his book! Then we toured the building, checking out the exhibits and making notes for next time, because there will definitely be a next time.
We started with the movie, then moved into the old hunting lodge type room, which was really neat. It had fantastic furniture that Billy and I loved, and an old radio playing. I would love a chair like that wooden one – or a few!
From here we moved on to the main exhibit and Wyatt had fun wheeling into the muskrat den!
Then because Wyatt is obsessed with gift shops (no seriously..he is like my dad lol) we had to go in there. We each picked out a sticker for our water bottles, and moved on. The ranger told us that had we had more time, there is a scavenger hunt for kids that they can do in turn in for a prize, and all sorts of gear you can borrow for your hikes, like nets, binoculars and exploration backpacks for kids.
Doesn’t that bird cruise sound cool! I also took some pictures of books I want to read. Because of course I did.
The center was getting ready to close so it was time to hit the wilderness! We stepped outside, and behind the building was a butterfly garden, all yellow and green and full of butterflies! Wyatt was ready to be on the move so we didn’t stick around too much, but I caught sight of Black Swallowtails, Red Admirals, and Yellow Swallowtails before the garden was out of view. We did the short boardwalk through the woods, listening to the wind rushing through the trees, one of my favorite sounds in all the world. I could sit and listen to that for hours, much like people can listen to waves. I also spotted an Indigo Bunting, the first of our many bird spottings! We also ducked into the adorable little wildlife blind building, which was full of really cool painted benches. I loved the frog!!
I gave Wyatt the space to explore under his own power, but that was short lived when I thought he was going to crash right off the side! He was just too busy looking all over and being danger boy.
When we finished our exploring by foot, we headed back to the Jeep for our wildlife drive! And I was so glad I packed snacks because we were closing in on 4:30ish by this point and danger boy was now a hungry wolf boy, or so he told me. He happily ate his raisins while we drove around, and I will be honest, Billy and I were way more excited about this then Wyatt. It was seven miles and we were going to do all seven miles darn it. About halfway through Wyatt started getting antsy, which I understood, but he did get excited when we spotted the cool birds, like the egrets and swans. He would also occasionally burst out with a “Wow!” over the scenery which I loved.
Overall, the day was a successful outing! We saw 19 different birds, a few of them new to us, saw some new things, explored a new place, and had a great time! We are looking forward to heading back in the fall, to see how the landscape looks once the green has turned to warmer autumnal colors, and there is a chill in the air. I can’t wait!
So…I have a reel of Wyatt and the part of our drive, but for the life of me I can’t get it to work!
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 