Posted by Laurie Sullivan at 11/3/2011

My Trip to Occoquan Bay and Mason Neck RefugeBy JacksonNovember 2, 2011 Today I went to Mason Neck Refuge and Occoquan Bay with Mrs. Frick, Mrs. Cohen, Dr. Sullivan, my refuge group, Mrs. Garmen and some fifth graders. Both refuges were tremendous blasts. These refuges were peaceful, beautiful, big, fun, interesting, observational, all natural, not-wanting-to-leave, full of life, grassy, marshy, full of joyful noises, gorgeous and millions of beautiful, natural sights. The best thing about this place is that it has such nice noises you don’t feel alone when you are alone. This is the story of my trip. Five minutes after I got to my classroom in the morning, I immediately got my backpack and lunch and went to the library to meet with my refuge group. We got into groups two groups of three and got either into Mrs. Frick’s or Mrs. Cohen’s car. We went to Occoquan first and got there in about 30 – 40 minutes. Occoquan was an amazing and beautiful sight. You could hear animal sounds, and yet it was so peaceful. You could see tall grass blades and tress of all widths. It was usual to see flocks of birds. Occoquan was also very observational. It was just filled with interesting things that you wanted to see everything. My favorite site was a huge lake with a tremendously beautiful reflection of tress. You could also see a tiny island in the distance. Something I thought was interesting was fungi on the trees that looked like a rotting Frisbee with moss growing on it. We observed and hiked longer. Then we ate lunch and drove to Mason Neck Refuge and State Park. Mason Neck was peaceful just as Occoquan. A park ranger taught us things and we hiked on a long bridge. There was also a reflecting lake which was tremendously beautiful. Me and my group hiked for a bit, then left the refuge. I had a blasting day.