Vancouver, WA

Today my niece picked me up and took me out for lunch at Boppin’ Bo’s Malt Shop and Grill located at 7809 Plaza Drive, Suite 110. The place was loaded with 50/60’s film and music memorabilia, an old-fashioned soda counter and three rooms filled with booths and tables.

The biggest excitement for the kids was that their lunches came in cardboard replicas of antique cars, two Mustangs and a Thunderbird; we all chose sandwiches or hamburgers. My lunch came with shoestring fries, something I had never experienced before. They were very good…though I suppose a bit misleading because I didn’t feel like I was eating as many as usual.

When we finished with lunch, we headed out looking for an adventure. We had no idea where we were going and didn’t really want to travel far. I remembered a walk I had taken with my parents and son several years ago, not far from where we were; but I was not sure I knew how to get there. I surprised myself and took us right to it. Go to Burton Road, turn north at 98^th Avenue and take it all the way to the end, the preserve is marked by an old sign. Unfortunately there is no parking lot and we had to park on the street. The map also shows an entrance at 102^nd Avenue, but does not show any parking available there either.

My memory of the trail does not coincide with what we actually found though. With my parents we had only walked one side of the marsh and it seemed to take forever. Today we ambled along while the kids ran back and forth and we were back at the starting point within an hour.

This is a true wilderness trail, with a dirt path that widens and narrows as it meanders through the forest. There is a group of three trees with a single large base where we took a left turn and began the loop taking us on a long wooden bridge over a small stream and around the marsh. Though we did not see any beaver today, we did see what could have been beaver activity on the bark of a small tree near the large end of the marsh and had a lot of fun taking pictures of all the kids pretending to be beavers gnawing on the tree.

This was not as spectacular a walk as some of the others I have taken this summer; the photo ops were of miniature vistas: a family of 12 slugs strung out five feet or more, areas that looked like tiny rain forests, dead “woodpecker” trees, and small ferns arrayed against a tangled background.

Noted for its bird-watching, it is a nice, short, enjoyable walk suitable for busy moms with darting three year olds, older siblings and slow elders; those with strollers and wheelchairs might find traveling more difficult in a few places. There are even a couple of benches along the way if you need a rest.