Finley with Friends

On Thursday, David and I went with our friends, Eldon and Janeil Olsen to Finley Wildlife Refuge for a hike and picnic lunch. We enjoyed looking around the refuge and then walking on the Woodpecker Loop Trail. It was formerly called "Poison Oak Trail" which is probably a better name as we saw a lot of poison oak, but not a single woodpecker - didn't even hear one. There were many delicious blackberries abounding beside the trails so we made pigs (or is that bears?) of ourselves.

It was pleasant being outside in the warm morning walking and talking with old friends. Our picnic was also nice. We ate at a table at the parking site for the trail. Afterwards we stopped at the Cabal Marsh area and took a short trail to a lookout where we could see the marsh below. We saw some pelicans on the lake in the marsh and later a great blue heron. We also saw some hawks flying around.

After leaving the refuge we went to Hazelnut Hill for an ice cream. The owners of hazelnut Hill raise hazelnut trees and sell their nuts in the form of various nut delicacies such as dipped chocolate hazelnuts, hazelnut brittle and hazelnut pancake mix. We had "Nutty Buddy Cones" - a yummy creation of hazelnut ice cream in a hazelnut waffle cone (a new product) which is dipped in chocolate and then sprinkled with hazelnuts. It was delicious!!!