Huntley Meadows

Looking outside our deck, a beautiful view opens up with green trees, little streams and lots of singing birds. I wake up each morning to a chorus of all sort of birds and at night we hear owls hooting in the dark. The temperature around our home is much lower than in the downtown Alexandria because of 1500 acres of Huntley Meadows.The air quality is simply pristine... and no it is not a park. It is a Nature Preserve meaning everything is done to keep people out of it. Sonia on the way to see the Meadows with her princess hair.

She loves doing her hair!

The history states that military had this piece of land until 1975 when it was transferred to the state government. The military drained all the water off it and tried turning it into a flight fields. Then when civil authorities took over they wanted to build a park but beavers flooded a whole chunk of the area. Yes, beavers built this huge dam and flooded everything... I'd say, darn beavers. Now there is lots of them residing fully protected, there is only two ways into the forest and both walks are no longer than a mile; they don't connect with each other. I would think it was one of the cheapest projects that this county has accomplished.

Plus there is lots of super hipper naturalists who are researching effects of deer over population... If you detected notes of sadness, you are right. I think it is a huge loss and if a nature could recuperate itself in such a short time, if there are migrating birds in the Zoo who build their nests next to busy streets, why not turning this huge piece of land into something more? Building a few loops of trails so people could exercise and run in the park, some playgrounds for little kids to explore and learn about nature where kids can feel, touch and play and doing some landscaping perhaps might spoil life for these beavers a little bit... but they would be just fine;-)

For now we take our walks and look at ducks, listen to a choir of frogs, watch beavers, cranes, and hoping to see a red fox...

By the rules Mischa is not supposed to be here at all... however ducks didn't seem to mind him and he was on his best behavior, making much less noise than Sonia.

If there are so much deer why wouldn't they introduce wolves to control for overpopulation? oh, I forgot not everyone is so nature oriented even in Alexandria ;-)