Ogden Nature Center

A couple weekends ago (October 10th), Kris (Brian's Mom) came to visit us. It was a quick trip for her, but it was so nice to have her with us. Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE living so close to both our families? It's especially nice to be so close to Brian's parents... the closest we've been in our nine years of marriage. When we lived in Rexburg, they lived in Oregon. With our busy school and work schedule it was hard to make it over there to visit them. And of course, it was even harder to go visit them when we were in NYC. They got to come and visit us a couple times each year, but we only made it over there once every two years for Christmas. Now that they are a little less than three hours away, we can visit them basically anytime we want...and vice versa. It's also wonderful to be so close to my family again.

While Kris was here, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather. Saturday morning we drove over to the Ogden Nature Center to check it out. After parking in the parking lot we wandered down the nearby path towards the Visitor Center. There was a bird house competition going on, and the entries were displayed in the trees and on posts surrounding the pathway. There were dozens of birdhouses, in all shapes and sizes, and made from all sorts of materials. 

I snapped a few pictures of my favorites. I loved this barn bird house.

This castle shaped one was kind of fun, and I loved the stone chimney on the next one.

     

This little log cabin one was super cute. After seeing all of the birdhouses, I wanted to make one.

Inside the Visitor Center we paid admission to be able to go out and hike the property's various trails. It wasn't very expensive, $5 per adult. Before heading out on our hike, we took a look around the building. The main room was part information center and gift shop. A side room contained a menagerie of stuffed birds, and a stuffed beaver. Against one wall was an actually beehive. A pipe ran from the hive to the wall, providing an opening for the bees to get outside. The frames containing honeycomb were suspended vertically behind glass, so you could get right up close and watch the bees work feeding their babies, constructing the honeycomb, and making honey. It was kind of cool, but also freaked me out a little bit. If you stood still and were quiet you could hear the constant humming of the bees...it triggered my sense of danger. It was creepy to be so close to them, even knowing they were sealed behind glass. I couldn't stand by it for very long, and had to distance myself. Haha! It's not like I haven't been around bees before, my Dad owns beehives, but it was just too much.

While Brian was showing the hive to Kris, I wandered over to visit the center's resident snake.

The day was just gorgeous, and we had some very pretty views as we walked out on the trails.

The nature center offers activities and classes specifically for children to teach them about the area's native plants and animals. As part of that, there is a teepee set up near one of the trails. We also passed many painted metal animals, and a bear den--a small underground room.

Most of the trees were still green, but there were a few starting to show their fall colors.

It was nice to be outdoors in the warm sunlight, and I really enjoyed the fresh air. We passed by a few different streams and ponds. As we walked by one stream, the air wasn't so fresh...it smelled like something rotting. That wasn't so fun, but the rest of the area was nice. We stopped for a minute on a small little bridge to watch some tadpoles swimming in the water below. There were so many of them, and a few were quite big.

On our way back to the Visitor Center, we came upon an outbuilding housing some birds. Each of the animals had suffered some sort of injury and were being rehabilitated. They had a gold eagle (pictured below), bald eagle, peregrine falcon, red tailed hawk, and a barn owl. They were all very pretty birds. In one cage we found a raven. I don't think I've ever seen one up close before. It was huge, and jet black. I can see why people might be afraid of them.

Overall we had a good time, but I wasn't too particularly impressed with the place. If you're looking for a nice hike with great views, I'm sure there are many throughout the area that are free. Even though the admission was so cheap, I felt like it was unneeded for what we did there/got out of the place. If you have children, and want to participate in the center's many programs, I can see the admission being worth it, though. 

The rest of the weekend went by quickly, and soon we had to say goodbye. Kris left us with a couple sacks of apples that she had gotten from an orchard in Idaho. The were delicious and we enjoyed munching on the fresh-from-the-tree apples. We had enough that I was able to make an apple pie, and then a batch of apple crisp the next week. Yum!