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Summer Hiking & Travel Adventures: Shenandoah National Park, British Columbia, Mount Rainier, & Mexico City (Ep 90, Pt 4) · Virginia Outdoor Adventures: Hiking, Camping, Kayaking, Local Travel and more!

• 0:00
  From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia is a mecca for outdoor travel and adventure. Virginia Outdoor Adventures podcast is your local guide for hiking, camping, kayaking, travel, and so much more. Get the information and the inspiration to plan your own adventure right here in Virginia, I'm your host Jessica Bowser. What do you get when you pack a season with mountain hikes, national park trails, sunset paddles, waterfall rappelling, and a little international travel? A pretty epic summer. In this episode, we're going on a North American extravaganza from the snow-capped Rockies of British Columbia to the trails around Mount Rainier and into the mountains surrounding Mexico City. Back in Virginia, there are sunset paddles in regional and state parks, a road trip to a national wildlife refuge, conquering the Cascades of White Oak Canyon, a weekend escape in Shenandoah National Park, and a sneak peek visit to the first Virginia's Adventure Towns episode of the new season, but this isn't just a recap of places I visited. Along the way, I'll share the trails, parks, paddling spots, wildlife destinations, and practical details that can help you turn some of these ideas into adventures of your own. So, if you're looking for inspiration for your next trip or just want to discover somewhere new?
• 1:21
  There's a lot to cover. This is part four of a multi-part episode. Here we are in part four of this multi-part episode.
• 1:30
  I never intended this episode to be so long, but there's so much to share. I really do want to leave you with some information that will help you plan your own trip should you decide to visit any of these places on your own.
• 1:45
  So after a few days in Whistler, we headed over to Vancouver. I didn't spend too much time in Vancouver. We really were just there for the first World Cup game. The first one being the first one that we attended. I did spend one afternoon birding at a local park nearby, what I love about Vancouver is there are parks everywhere. There's water everywhere, and there's just natural beauty everywhere.
• 2:06
  And it seems that that city really does value outdoor space because there seems to be quite a lot of it. So I spent a little bit of time birding, but then we caught a train to Seattle. One little tip, which I found out while we were there, is if you are taking-and I believe it was Amtrak that we took-since it's an international train ride, they do of course check passports. But if you have your global entry card with you, you can jump to the front of the line and board the train first.
• 2:36
  Now that is not as big of a deal as it sounds, because there's not that many people in line to get on the train. But if you would like to skip the line, all you need to do is have that card with you. We didn't know that, so I was trying to pull it up on my phone and doing all these things, and they were basically laughing at us because that's not the way that you present your ID. So we got on the train.
• 3:01
  It was a very lovely and beautiful scenic ride. It was really neat to see Mount Rainier appear in the distance as we got closer and closer to Seattle. So we did go to one game in Seattle that was Bosnia and Herzegovina played Qatar. That was a really fun game because Bosnia was one of the only Slavic countries that played in the World Cup, so we decided-we, being my husband and I, decided we were going to support our Slavic brothers and show up wearing our soccer gear from our country. So my husband was in a Macedonia T-shirt and carrying a huge Macedonia flag, and I was in my Slovenia soccer jersey carrying a Slovenian flag in the World Cup because people are coming from all over the world for different matches that are sometimes on the same day or on back to back days. They're going to multiple games dressed in their country's attire, so it was fun for us to see who else was at the game from different countries dressed in wherever they were from, but we decided we were going to do our own countries.
• 4:06
  And at one point, my husband said he felt like we were at a Macedonian wedding, and that is what it felt like. It was it was again that party atmosphere, but also the culture is familiar to us. It was fun to have people coming up to us who were either from Macedonia or from Slovenia.
• 4:20
  There weren't that many Slovenians there, but at the end of the game, when we were all leaving out, I did finally hear somebody yell, "Hey, Slovenia! from up in the stands. After my husband basically just had all kinds of people coming up to him and wanting to take pictures.
• 4:37
  And again, this is the fun thing about the World Cup: is everybody takes selfies and gets in group pictures together with strangers that they just met five minutes ago, so we were doing a lot of that and really had a great time. But I didn't have much more time in Seattle.
• 4:49
  Normally, if I'm in Seattle, I would go to one of the three national parks, which is North Cascades or Olympic. Or Mount Rainier, and then there's just a plethora of other public lands all around the area. So if you find yourself in Seattle, don't feel like you have to go to one of those three national parks because that's where everybody goes. But I was last year in Seattle and visited Mount Rainier, and I want to share that because I haven't shared it yet on this podcast, and even though it was last year, it was less than a year ago. And there are some really wonderful hikes that I did that I want to talk about, but also some key planning points that I want to make sure that I pass along. The first thing I did in preparation for my visit to Mount Rainier was I picked up this guidebook that I highly recommend. It's called Day Hike Washington Mount Rainier. More than 50 trails around Mount Rainier National Park, Longmire, and Paradise area. I really loved the way this book was set up. It was very easy to read. It was also very easy to pick out which hikes I wanted to do. I made the massive mistake of purchasing this book months in advance and then allowing myself to get too wrapped up in work between the time the book arrived and the time I left for the airport to actually open it and read it, so I did exactly the thing that I tell everybody not to do: was I showed up completely unprepared.
• 6:12
  My husband had made the reservation for a lodging, so I knew we had a reservation, but I had no idea where it was, and I was completely unfamiliar with the park. Big mistake, and here's why: because the first time I opened this book to start reading it was in the car on the way to the airport, and the first thing I needed to figure out was where were our accommodations in relation to the park, because there are five entrances to the park, and I didn't know which one we were going to be going in, so I had to figure that out. Once I had the address, then I typed in directions to the main visitor center, and it routed me from Seattle down to the northwest corner of the park, which is where our accommodations were, and then back up and around to the other side of the park, which was from our lodge to the park entrance, four and a half hours. And when I saw that, I thought, "What is going on? I don't understand what's happening here. Why would I go all the way around the park to that entrance when there's all these closer entrances that I could get into really easily, well, then I open the National Park Service app. If you don't have that, you need to get it because all of the information about every park is on that app.
• 7:32
  Also, you can now access your National Parks Pass digitally if you haven't heard that news, which is a wonderful addition.
• 7:41
  And then also you can download maps from that app. There are hike descriptions too, but you do have to download it while you have access to Wi-Fi, not when you get into the park and there is no Wi-Fi.
• 7:52
  But if you download it in advance, then you can see where you are on the map. That is exceptionally helpful, much better than a paper map, but also have a paper map too. I opened up the NPS app and saw a big red exclamation point that said park alerts. I had seen it a couple of months before, but I didn't spend the time to actually pay attention to it.
• 8:16
  Another big mistake because when I tapped on it, I found out that there were major construction projects going on, and several entrances were closed, and that was why my app was trying to reroute me to the other side of the park, and I just about had a panic attack because I thought there's no way we can drive four and a half hours just to get into the park, and then four and a half hours to get back out of the park. That's the entire day.
• 8:43
  What time are we going to have in between to actually be able to enjoy the park? So I called the accommodations where I was staying to see if they had any information about road closures.
• 8:53
  They did not. I tried to find more information online. For some reason, it was exceptionally hard to find any info. I started emailing the one person I know who lives in Seattle to see if he had any information. He did not. It was really, really frustrating to try to find any info. So from that point, I was like, "What are we going to do now? Should we cancel this whole section of the trip and try to find somewhere else to go? We had to prepay for our accommodations, and we were staying. I think five or six days, so it was a lot of money that we had fronted. And if we canceled, we would have lost it all. And then also, if we wanted to go to a different national park, I believe that North Cascades and Olympic, maybe not North Cascades, but Olympic, I think, has time to entry, and you have to buy those tickets usually 30 days out, so we were unprepared for any of the other parks either, and I was so frustrated.
• 9:45
  I wasn't really sure what we were going to do. I think I posted this horrendous video of me the next morning waking up at an airport hotel in Seattle with my hair all out. Control and my face practically out of control too. Asking everybody for recommendations. Anybody who has ever been to Seattle or who's been to this park, please send me recommendations. I can't remember how we ended up deciding to just go anyway, but I'm glad that we did because, as it turns out, the main road was open during certain hours so that we could get into the park.
• 10:22
  Once we got there and got in, it was no it was no big deal at all. It was no problem. But I did just check the app now because that was a year ago, and it turns out there are still the same construction projects going on. So if you think you're going to visit, this is something you're going to want to take a look at before you start making reservations for lodging. We stayed near the southwest corner of the park, which is near the Nisqually entrance, known as the Paradise area of the park. I believe that some of the other entrances are also still closed at this time. But a little bit about Mount Rainier in general.
• 11:00
  I will tell you, I only saw a small corner of the park because that's what was open. But this is a massive, massive national park. So if you think you're going to tackle all of it, you really need a lot of time, and you're going to be spending a lot of time in your car driving around. You cannot cut through the middle of the park because Mount Rainier is a volcano in the middle of the park, so you really do have to go outside the park and go around to other entrances if you want to get in from different locations. If you're looking for the perfect Virginia mountain getaway, I've got a recommendation for you.
• 11:38
  Just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Iris Inn and Cabins and nearby Afton Mountain Vineyards make an incredible base camp for outdoor adventure.
• 11:49
  The two properties are only about nine miles apart and surrounded by some of Virginia's best public lands and hiking trails. You can spend the day exploring iconic destinations like Shenandoah National Park, humpback rocks, or the waterfalls at Crabtree Falls, then return to relax in the mountains. If hiking is the reason for your trip, be sure to ask about the Iris Inn's Trail Hikers Package. Whether you choose a cozy room or one of their private cabins tucked into the forest, you'll have a peaceful place to recharge after a day on the trail, the cabins offer a quiet mountain retreat where you can slow down, soak in the scenery, and enjoy the fresh Blue Ridge air. When it's time to unwind, head over to Afton Mountain Vineyards. Their estate-grown wines reflect the character of Virginia's Blue Ridge, and the tasting room offers sweeping vineyard and mountain views that make it easy to linger over a glass. It's the perfect way to celebrate a day spent outside. Another reason I love supporting these businesses is that both the Irisin and Afton Mountain Vineyards are proud Virginia Green Travel partners, helping protect the beautiful landscapes that make this region so special. So if you're planning your next hiking adventure? Make a weekend of it.
• 13:03
  Stay at the Iris Inn, enjoy an afternoon at Afton Mountain Vineyards, and discover why the Blue Ridge is one of Virginia's most unforgettable outdoor destinations. Start planning your getaway now by clicking on Iris Inn and Cabins and Afton Mountain Vineyards in your show notes. Mount Rainier is the fifth oldest of our national parks in the U.S. It sits in the Cascade regions at about 60 miles southeast of Seattle. It is a 369 square mile protected area in Washington State, centered around Mount Rainier, which is a massive 14,410 foot active stratovolcano. Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S.
• 13:47
  featuring over 20 named glaciers and spawning five major rivers.
• 13:52
  So the ecosystems are the lower slopes, feature ancient old growth forests. These are some really huge trees in a temperate rainforest, which give way to vibrant subalpine wildflower meadows higher up. Some wildlife that you might see. The park is home to black bears, elk, hoary marmots. I love those chubby butt marmots, and numerous bird and amphibian species. I will also add that I've never seen so many mushrooms anywhere in my life. The mushrooms just love the rainforest. Some other things that you might want to keep in mind as you're planning your trip, aside from all of the closures, making sure that you do not rely on your GPS to get you into the park, you need to use maps and actually do it the old-fashioned way because GPS will take you all kinds of different ways, and you might end up reaching a blocked road, and then it could take you hours to reroute. So make sure that you actually know exactly where you're going and how to get there without relying on. GPS.
• 14:58
  There are wildfire closures. In fact, I think there are some right now, so be mindful of that. Air quality is impacted by wildfires, not just in the park but in the surrounding area. Of course, it could be hard to plan around those, but I just wanted to mention it. And then, lastly, there is no timed entry for this national park, but you can expect long lines at the entrance gates if you're going in during peak times. So, of course, that means try to go early in the morning or later in the day. So, we stayed at the Paradise Village Hotel and Restaurant. This particular location has different types of accommodations. We stayed in their little cabins, which is basically very much like a hotel room, it's just a standalone cabin. So one room with the bathroom. I thought it was very comfortable. We really enjoyed it. There are several of these little cabins on the property.
• 15:53
  Also on the property, they have tiny cabins that don't have any plumbing or bathrooms inside of them. It's sort of more or less a campground feel to it. We saw a lot of families staying in those. Then back in the woods, they had these huge A-frame cabins that were just massive, but they looked absolutely stunning. We walked by at night when one of them was all lit up, and it just it was definitely luxurious.
• 16:21
  So if you want to splurge a little bit, that is an option too. There's a restaurant on site. The owners of this property are, I believe, from Ukraine. So, the food is all traditional Ukrainian food. We were in heaven. We ate there one night because you do need to have a reservation and you have to make it in advance. It's one of the most popular restaurants in the area. But if you can't get into that restaurant, there are so many options all along that highway. We stopped at several different places to eat on different nights, and you know which ones are good because you'll be driving by and there's just a line out the door. One more thing I wanted to add about the Paradise Village Hotel and Restaurant is that it is also a spa of sorts. So my husband made this appointment for us one evening. They have, and I don't know what this is actually called, if it has a name, but so I'm just going to do my best to describe it. But it's like an outdoor tub. You could probably fit like five or six people in there comfortably, and they heat it with fire underneath. So when we walked up, there was an attendant there who had just gotten the fire going. There were a bunch of logs. The thing was really roaring, and the tub was just being heated by the fire, which meant that it was really hot, and you could like see the steam coming off of it.
• 17:42
  It had a roof over it, and then there was like a cold water tap that you could turn on in case it got too hot, which was really good because I think we had that thing running the whole time. It was so warm; it was like you were being cooked. The whole thing was surrounded by like a deck, and it was a was a platform that you had to walk up some stairs to get to, so it's big. But across from that, they had a changing area with showers, and then outside of that, there was a cold water tub. So you could go back and forth between this hot water tub and the cold water tub. I will tell you, it was definitely an interesting experience. There's no chlorine or salt or anything like that. We were having breakfast at the restaurant one morning, and we we overheard these people walk in, and they ran into somebody they know.
• 18:25
  They had been in the tub the night before, but he's like, "It was like human stew, and I was thinking, "Yeah, it kind of is like human stew. It was relaxing. I enjoyed it. I don't know that I need to be cooked every night, though. But it was really good after a long day of hiking. So if you've got like a big, big day of hiking and you know you're going to be sore, your legs are going to be sore, your feet are going to be sore, I would recommend doing it on that day. I think that's probably the most beneficial.
• 18:56
  There are other lodging options inside the park. I only had access to one because of all the the road closures, but that was the Paradise Inn, and I would recommend visiting this even if you're not staying there because it is a famous historic property. It is really beautiful. You walk through the front door and you're inside of a historic lodge with really high elevated ceilings with log beams, and the more you look around, the more you start to notice. So, for example, there is a beautiful grandfather clock next to one of the fireplaces that looks like it's made of logs. There's also a mail Dropbox that has a cute little carved black bear on it. Also, looks like it's made of logs, there are really beautiful chandeliers that appear to be hand painted with flowers and trees. So the more you look, the more you see. I had this fantasy of enjoying a glass of Merlot and sitting in front of the fireplace for happy hour before going to dinner. Well, unfortunately, everything was closed because there was some major water main break. It did not seem to be related to any of the construction projects. It was just separate. So all of the restrooms were closed, and the restaurant was closed.
• 20:16
  The things that were still open were the visitor center minus the restrooms, and both the gift shops in the visitor center and in the lodge. Unfortunately, that fantasy did not quite come true, but it was still worth visiting. Hopefully, it's open now. I haven't actually checked, so if you're visiting, you'll probably want to look. I have heard from other people who have tried to make reservations at the Paradise Inn Lodge that they are very difficult to get, and you need to make reservations sometimes a year in advance. I haven't tried that, so I don't have any advice on that front other than to start planning sooner than later if you think that's where you want to stay.
• 20:57
  Known as the Grand Canyon of the South, Brakes Park is a hiking destination in the heart of Appalachia. You'll find trails for every skill level, featuring geologic wonders, canyon overlooks, stream crossings, and abundant wildlife. Stay close to the adventure with lodges, cabins, and campgrounds inside the park. Beyond the breaks, the heart of Appalachia invites you to hike and bike through breathtaking mountain landscapes, paddle hidden hollows, reel in trout from crystal clear streams, or hop on an ATV to conquer the rugged spearhead trails. Take a scenic drive, embark on an elk tour, and explore Virginia's treasured Southwest, where you'll also find vibrant local dining, shopping, and celebrations. Your next outdoor adventure starts in the heart of Appalachia. Tap the links for Breaks Park and Heart of Appalachia in your show notes. Let's get into the hikes.
• 21:50
  I'm not going to share every hike I did, but there are a few that I really do want to share.
• 22:00
  All of these hikes came out of the guidebook that I recommended earlier, so I'm not going to get into every little detail because you can pick up this book and find this information for yourself. The first one that I want to share is Panorama Point Skyline Loop. This particular hike has a five star rating. I would have given it 10 if that was the scale, I thought it was amazing, and the reason for that is because of the elevation change and the scenery change.
• 22:27
  It's a 5.5 mile loop. The book estimates the hiking time at four hours. I suppose it could be four hours if you never once stop to take a picture or to have a snack or eat lunch, or to just look around at how incredibly amazing the scenery is, or admire the small things under your feet. I guess if you just kept moving and never stopped for any of those things, it would be four hours. I can't tell you how long it took me, but it was probably six or seven. I want to say, lots of people passed me multiple times, and that's okay. I'm a slow hiker in new places because I want to really take in everything. So it took me a little bit longer, but the difficulty level is four out of five. The elevation gain is 1700 feet. It's important to note that this trail is only accessible after July, usually July to like the first snowfall because the elevation is so high. It is maintained by the park. It's one of the highest elevation trails that the park maintains. After the it starts to snow, it it would be difficult to access the top of this trail. As you start off on the trail, you're going to see some streams, forests, some small waterfalls, and of course, Rainier in the distance is always looming. But as you head up the trail, it starts to get steeper. I think this trail is probably rated strenuous because of a couple of steep sections. I didn't think it was particularly all that difficult. I did see a lot of other people, but what I noticed is as I got up, especially as the elevation started to climb, the wind really picked up. Like it was a hot day when I started, and I was dressed appropriately for that. But it got pretty cold.
• 24:22
  The wind was pretty extreme, so I do remember having to stop and layer up. But once I got to the highest elevation, I didn't really need those layers anymore because there was no wind issues at the very top.
• 24:34
  Surprisingly, as you start to climb, the vegetation gets lower and lower, and you start to see things become more and more rocky. You have these incredible mountain vistas in the distance.
• 24:49
  I have beautiful photos of jagged mountain peaks unfolding in the distance. They're just like different shades of blue, really, really beautiful. And then as you. Close to the highest point of elevation, all of the vegetation practically vanishes. You're you feel like you're walking on the moon. It kind of looks like a dump truck came and just dumped a bunch of gray gravel everywhere because that's all that you're walking on. At some points, there are some really interesting rock formations that kind of reminded me of the columnar jointing that you see in Shenandoah, where it's like columns of interesting rock shapes on the mountainside, much smaller than the columnar jointing you see in Shenandoah, but the similar column-like patterns. Also, different colors within the rocks. Like most of the rocks were gray, but there were lines of pink and white, which was really pretty. It took a lot of pictures just of rocks because the geology was interesting. And then when you get to the very top of it, there are snow caves. I don't recommend going in the snow caves. The book actually says try to stay out of them, especially in the summer months because they could cave in at any point in the warmer temperatures. They are very neat to look at from a distance.
• 26:12
  Also, as you get to the top, there is a waterfall. Hopefully, there is water there now. It was running kind of dry when I was there, but if you want a hike where there are drastic changes in just a few short miles, this is it. You go from lush greenery and plant life and waterfalls to just feeling like you're on another planet when you get to the top. I enjoyed it so much.
• 26:40
  There were many, many marmots on the way down, so I think that's the other reason it took me way longer than four hours. Is I probably spent 45 minutes just watching the marmots and sitting down on the side of the trail and taking pictures of them as they would come out of their holes and stand up on the rocks and and call to each other, taking photos of a marmot with all of these jagged peaks behind them in the distance is just lovely. The wildflowers are fantastic. I do recall that I was looking for again gray-crowned rosy finch, but of course did not find one, and also a white-tailed ptarmigan.
• 27:19
  So ptarmigans are members of the grouse family, and they are white in the winter to blend in with the snow. And then, as the warmer months come around, they molt and they become this like marbled brown color. And I had been looking for one when I visited Rocky Mountain National Park in an area where I was told I could find them. I only ever found their feathers, so I was really, really hoping to find this white-tailed ptarmigan at the highest elevation that is accessible easily by trail in the park. And I looked and looked, couldn't find one. I did pass a gentleman on the trail who said he lived in the area and hiked there often. He said he remembered seeing both gray-crowned rosy finch and white-tailed ptarmigan pretty frequently about 20 years ago, but he said he hasn't really seen them in the last decade, which made me really sad because it makes me wonder what happened, what's going on that all of the birds are not where they're supposed to be. But that was sad. I'm still on the search for a white-tailed ptarmigan, we already know the gray-crowned rosy finch success story, which I'm still excited about. But white-tailed ptarmigan has still eluded me, and hopefully one day I'm going to find this grouse-like bird. The next couple of hikes I'm going to share are a bit easier because I had my husband with me on this day, and as I've mentioned before, he is not a hiker, so these are beautiful trails that require a little less effort.
• 28:46
  This is the Bench and Snow Lakes Trail. It's a 2.6 mile round trip. The estimated hiking time is one five hours.
• 28:55
  If you're going to spend time taking in the scenery, especially once you get to the lake, I would say give yourself much more time than that. It's ideal in July, August, September, and October, which seems to be the ideal hiking season for Mount Rainier anyway.
• 29:10
  If you want to avoid heat and also snow covering trails, there are two lakes on this trail, but the one that I found absolutely stunning was at the end. That is Snow Lake. There's also a campground there, so if you think you might want to camp, I would look into the campground at Snow Lake because you are literally right on the lake with these incredible mountains right on the other side of the lake, the lake itself is turquoise colored, and it just juxtaposes all of the dark green pines and the beautiful blue sky, and just the mountain peaks all around.
• 29:52
  Even before you get to the lakes, you're passing through alpine meadows, and these. Are absolutely full of wildflowers in the summer, the spring, the summer, and from what I have read, it's really stunning in the fall when everything starts to change colors. So you've got these wide open meadows with a few pine trees here and there.
• 30:16
  You can sort of see the trails winding through the meadows, which is also really pretty, and on the way back you are walking towards Mount Rainier, and you can actually see snow coming off the top of the of Mount Rainier.
• 30:27
  Both of these lakes were shaped by glaciers, and they are both fed by mountain streams. That's why the water is so clear. We did not see very many people on this trail, which is one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much. The farther you get away from the visitor center and the inn, the less traffic you see.
• 30:47
  So it gets easier to pull off when you see a trailhead and decide if you want to do this hike without having to compete for parking or see a lot of other people on the trail. The last hike I'm going to share is the Silver Falls Loop. It's a three-mile loop. Hiking time is 1.5 hours, and the difficulty is one out of five. This is a really great place to see huge trees. One of the most popular parts of the park to see really large trees is called Grove of the Patriarchs. That's usually where people go to see the big trees, but that area has been closed since there was a storm a couple of years ago, and I don't think they have even started construction to reopen it yet.
• 31:31
  So unfortunately, you cannot get to the area of the park that everybody goes to to see the biggest trees. But this hike does have some really big trees, so it's probably the next best place to go. It is a lovely loop trail through the forest to Silver Falls. Once you get to Silver Falls, there are benches and a place to sit to observe the waterfall. But don't stop there. You want to keep going up the trail, and if you do that just a little bit, you can come around closer to the waterfall and get much better views of it, and just see it from a different perspective. So it's more like you're near the top of the waterfall looking down, whereas the area where the benches are that is sort of looking straight on. It's a very big waterfall and very powerful waterfall. My husband, of course, found the first bench and sat down. I kept hiking and got closer to the top of the waterfall. I could see him sitting on the bench playing on his phone, and I was calling to him and trying to get his attention to tell him to come around to where I was standing so that he could get a better view. And he could not hear me at all, even though he wasn't that far away because the waterfall is so powerful and so loud. We spent quite a bit of time there, just enjoying it before we headed back down the trail. I just thought the forest was sort of the quintessential Pacific Northwest rainforest with the really big trees and lots of birds, and just very very green, and everything very lush.
• 33:06
  So if that's something that you enjoy, you get the combination of that plus the waterfall on this hike. If you are driving from Mount Rainier back to Seattle on your way home, you're going to be passing the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, and this is worth a stop as well. The scenery is not nearly as dramatic. It has a beautiful visitor center, and the property itself is a mixture of forest and lake. And of course, with Mount Rainier still being able to be seen from a distance, wonderful for birding.
• 33:33
  And that, of course, is what I was there for. So I just did some really quick loops around the area. There's an old farm.
• 33:41
  There's a couple of streams.
• 33:45
  It's just different habitats to look for different species of birds. The next stop after Seattle was Kansas City. We were
• 33:53
  there for two games: the Netherlands versus Tunisia, and then of course Austria versus Algeria. I wasn't rooting for any team in particular during the Netherlands versus Tunisia game, but I was really excited to participate in the Dutch left-right dance that had been taking over the internet. Before every game, there is a fan fest, which is like a big outdoor festival with vendors and events and other things going on, and that's usually where these dances and other traditions that you saw the different countries participating in would happen, so we were super stoked to go to the fan fest and participate in this left right dance. You see it happening on the internet, and then all of a sudden you're in the middle of it. You can't believe it. Tunisia ended up winning that game. Then we were on to the Austria versus Algeria game. I will tell you, it is definitely a strange feeling to see the flag of the old country that my grandmother had talked about all the time being rolled out across an NFL stadium field.
• 34:50
  there for two games: It was just a surreal experience. I don't even know how to describe it, but my husband and I went all out. We had Austria. Flag everything. We had our faces painted. We had hats, t-shirts, the flag itself, of course. Oh, and sunglasses.
• 35:05
  there for two games: Some random guy that I bumped into told me I needed Austrian flag sunglasses, and he gave them to me off his head. So I took them, and we were just all fanned out and sitting in the fan section as well. So there were polkas and chants and all kinds of things going on. The game itself was a little bit boring right up until the very end. There was just over two minutes left when Algeria scored to take the lead, and it got super quiet after that. I think we all thought that this game was over, and then with less than two minutes left in the game, Austria scored to tie it.
• 35:45
  there for two games: And oh my gosh, the place just erupted. The guy who was sitting next to me picked me up, tossed me into the air like a rag doll, caught me in a bear hug on the way down, and started jumping up and down with me. There were drinks and beer raining everywhere. People were hugging and high fiving. It was fantastic. I had just met that guy like earlier when we sat down, and it was like we were long lost best friends. We were all one big family. These are memories that I will never forget. I I told my husband afterwards I was so grateful that he had the idea for us to come do this because after that game, Austria lost the next game, so they only advanced one more time, and that was it. So this game that we saw was their last hurrah. So what an experience! Other than the games, I really enjoyed Kansas City. That was my first visit there. We went to the Truman Presidential Museum. We went to the train station, which is really beautiful on the inside.
• 36:48
  there for two games: The architecture spectacular, and then something else that you will only ever see in the Midwest. We saw the famous Idaho Potato Tour, which, which is it's supposed to be the biggest potato in the world, but it is this giant semi truck that has this huge fake potato on the back of it, and they are apparently on tour.
• 37:09
  there for two games: So I got potato stickers, I got a potato coloring book with facts about why potatoes are good for you, and I got a potato pin which says Idaho on it, and it is now on my hiking pack, only in the Midwest. And I can say that because I am from the Midwest. From an outdoorsy perspective, there wasn't a whole lot going on. We didn't have a lot of time, but my husband did take a private stadium tour and sent me a picture that was on the wall inside the stadium of a lesser prairie chicken, and he said,"Did you know that these were here? And I did know that they were there, but they are very difficult to see except during the breeding season. Lesser and greater prairie chickens are two separate species that are both native to the area, though their ranges do not overlap. So you will not find the same species in exactly the same place. Both of them are declining. Their numbers are declining drastically due to habitat loss.
• 38:05
  there for two games: So they primarily like sandhill countries like sage and blue stem grass, but because of development and changes in the climate, their numbers are drastically shrinking due to habitat loss. So I looked into how exactly to see these birds, and in the spring when they're doing their mating, that's when you can find a tour that you can take to their lex, which is what they call the mating grounds out in the prairies, where the males will put on these dances in order to impress the females. So the lesser prairie chicken has these red inflatable pouches on the side of its neck that will inflate as the bird is doing almost like a little stomping dance on the ground in circles to impress the females. The greater prairie chicken has yellow pouches in the same place, and they make these really interesting sounds that I'm going to try to play for you right now because I think they're so funny. Here's the lesser prairie chicken. Isn't that wild? I just love that. So I think I'm going to have to plan a return trip probably in March or so because that's usually when the breeding happens. Sometimes it starts as early as February, if I remember correctly. But I am definitely going to try to get back there to see that before that bird is before either of those species are gone. The final leg of my international adventure was still ahead in Mexico City, but what awaited me back home in Virginia would become some of the most memorable adventures of the summer. From paddling beneath colorful sunsets to scrambling and cascading down White Oak Canyon and Shenandoah National Park, the next few weeks reminded me that you don't always have to travel far to find something extraordinary.
• 39:58
  there for two games: And then the summer ended with
• 40:02
  an experience I'll never forget: witnessing a sea turtle nest hatch on the coast of Virginia Beach. So let's make one more stop on this adventure. Join me next week for the final part of this multi-part journey.
• 40:12
  an experience I'll never forget: Virginia Outdoor Adventures is inspired by and supported by listeners like you, which is why your messages and feedback means so much to me. You can text me directly by clicking on Send Jessica a text message in your show notes. I answer questions, respond to comments, and share your feedback on the show. Never miss a new episode. Sign up for my email newsletter and receive my listener resource guide with the top podcast episodes, a Virginia Outdoor bucket list, and exclusive brand discounts for my listeners. Click on newsletter sign up in your show notes, or visit VirginiaOutdoraAdventures.com.
• 40:52
  an experience I'll never forget: Thanks for listening. Until next time, adventure on.