Whenever a guest visits from out of town, I try to bring her to one of my family's favorite places- Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Tonight, my family brought Summer there to go on a sunset hike. It was chilly, so we wore home-knit sweaters. I had my fingers crossed that we'd see some wildlife that Summer can't see back in Tucson.



We were lucky! As we walked up the path to the pond, we saw a raccoon climbing a tree! We stood very still, but the raccoon still saw us and ran away. After that, we stopped at a little bench to look the osprey platform, but the ospreys were not there.



Here's Summer in front of the pond at Jamaica Bay. The pond is a beautiful place where many different kinds of birds stop during their migrations. Usually the park is full of bird watchers, but tonight the sun was setting and they'd all gone home. We saw about 10 beautiful swans swimming in the water; they were so beautiful!



I love climbing on all the benches at Jamaica Bay. Summer was very patient and sat watching all the birds, but I couldn't keep myself from climbing all around! I was so happy to be wearing my green sweater for the first time- do you like it?



In this picture of me and Summer together, you can see Jamaica Bay behind us. Only a few feet separate the waters of the bay from the pond, but they are very different environments. Once when I was at Jamaica Bay, I saw a seagull opening clams! They do it by flying high into the air with a clam, then dropping it onto the rocks until it breaks. Seagulls are smart!



The sun sunk lower and lower until it was time for us to walk back to the parking lot. Can you see the lights in the background of this photo? The lights are on Far Rockaway, a community on the ocean shore. It was a wonderful, quiet trip to Jamaica Bay. I'm glad I got to take Summer to see one of my favorite places! Do you have a favorite place you like to bring friends when they visit? Where is it?