Blue Jay Point
A couple of weeks ago, after spending the majority of the previous Saturday either in our bed or on the couch and foreseeing a Sunday spent largely in the same way if we didn't act quickly, Drew and I were determined to get out for some fresh air and exercise. We headed over to Blue Jay Point County Park on Sunday morning, just a few miles from our apartment. We had been there before, on a Sunday afternoon when we first moved to Raleigh and were staying with Drew's grandparents. That time, we were completely lacking direction or a map and ended up getting a little lost, but having fun nonetheless. We started this visit with a park map and discovered that there are two small trails around the Blue Jay Point Environmental Education Center that we definitely didn't see last time, so we selected those for our adventure.
We started on the Sparkleberry Trail (which sounds like it might belong in Candy Land, not North Raleigh), which was a short 0.3 mile loop. The fun of this trail and the rest of our morning in the park was in the details - lichens and fungi here and there, particularly colorful tree bark and leaves, the enormity of the trees, the blueness of the sky, a hobbit hole in the base of a tree - the details only noticed when the tempo is slow and the weather is perfect.
As the trail brought us closer to the Blue Jay Center, we found a magnifying glass in the leaves, no doubt left behind by distracted students. Their loss was our gain - that little scientific instrument provided quite a few minutes of entertainment and laughs. We never did get around to using it to look at plants or critters up close...
After we finished the Sparkleberry Loop, we headed to the other side of the Blue Jay Center to the Azalea Loop Trail, which, like the Sparkleberry Loop Trail, was really rather short. This one was neat, since it had markers periodically along the trail with explanations of the natural or man-made features found there. That was both fun and educational and helped us learn a little more about our own backyard.
Just as we got back to the beginning of the Azalea Loop Trail, the sky started roaring, and just a few seconds later, the bottom fell out. We ran back to the car, most of the time staying just ahead of the curtain of rain trailing us. We were soaked by the time we made it to the car, but we kept the camera dry, so there was no real harm done; in fact, we had a lot of fun with plenty of adrenaline and belly laughs. Between the two trails and our rainy run, we definitely made up for so much lounging about the previous weekend. Blue Jay Point is a great little park and so close to home; we'll certainly be back again.
We started on the Sparkleberry Trail (which sounds like it might belong in Candy Land, not North Raleigh), which was a short 0.3 mile loop. The fun of this trail and the rest of our morning in the park was in the details - lichens and fungi here and there, particularly colorful tree bark and leaves, the enormity of the trees, the blueness of the sky, a hobbit hole in the base of a tree - the details only noticed when the tempo is slow and the weather is perfect.
As the trail brought us closer to the Blue Jay Center, we found a magnifying glass in the leaves, no doubt left behind by distracted students. Their loss was our gain - that little scientific instrument provided quite a few minutes of entertainment and laughs. We never did get around to using it to look at plants or critters up close...
After we finished the Sparkleberry Loop, we headed to the other side of the Blue Jay Center to the Azalea Loop Trail, which, like the Sparkleberry Loop Trail, was really rather short. This one was neat, since it had markers periodically along the trail with explanations of the natural or man-made features found there. That was both fun and educational and helped us learn a little more about our own backyard.
Just as we got back to the beginning of the Azalea Loop Trail, the sky started roaring, and just a few seconds later, the bottom fell out. We ran back to the car, most of the time staying just ahead of the curtain of rain trailing us. We were soaked by the time we made it to the car, but we kept the camera dry, so there was no real harm done; in fact, we had a lot of fun with plenty of adrenaline and belly laughs. Between the two trails and our rainy run, we definitely made up for so much lounging about the previous weekend. Blue Jay Point is a great little park and so close to home; we'll certainly be back again.
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