No, this is not a rare sighting of the Washington State Bird. This is Sluggo. While we were on our walk yesterday talking to people, taking pictures, stopping to sit on a park bench and just enjoy the day, this fellow was having no part of the hurry-up life. He managed to meander a whopping 10 feet or so. That seemed to be about all the exercise he could handle. I tried to get close once and he made an aggressive move so we just went on about our business.

North of Olympia, in the city of Lakewood is Ft Steilacoom Park. The park lies across the street from Western State Hospital, a well known Mental Hospital. This is a portion of the ruins of the Hill Ward. I actually took this photo in the summer of 2007. If you click here, you'll see the changes that have taken place here.

Every once in a while my wife and I get a weekend without kids. Today after we both worked, we had a chance to take a nice relaxing walk in one of the local parks. This caught our eye as we were walking along the trail.

Tonight I dug a photo out of the archives. This was taken on a sunny summer day last year at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood. I love the multi colored silos.

Sometimes you find color in the most unlikely of places. While on a walk at Tumwater Falls Park, we spotted this little maple showing it's colors against a backdrop of gray concrete.

While on a walk from Tumwater Historical Park around Capitol Lake, this caught our eye.

My wife suggested today's photo. Back in January on a day that neither of us had to work, & the kids were all in school, we took a drive to Tolmie State Park. Neither of us had been there before. It turned out to be a perfect way to spend a few hours. The park covers about 105 acres. There are no vehicles allowed on the beach, only people (and a few dogs). There are about 3.5 miles of hiking trails, picnic sites, a kitchen/bathhouse/comfort station & parking for approximately 60 cars. All in all a very nice park, & very nice day.

A beautiful Dogwood in one of our favorite places to go. Tumwater Falls Park.