Nature should be enjoyed wearing a full body net suit

Adventure on the Audubon Passport #4: Emilie Ruecker Wildlife Refuge in Tiverton, Rhode Island

I added anti-itch cream to the traveling first aid trail kit today, as I have learned from the past three trails that it gets obscenely buggy.  And unfortunately today's hike was no exception.  The four boys and I looked like Mom and the Musketeers, with backpacks and water bottles, swatting away mosquitos as if it actually helped.  We walked swiftly and carried a big stick, sorry for the Roosevelt reference.  I should have added one of those electric skeeter swatters.... maybe I will stop at Job Lot to get one for the next trail.  Or a whole body net suit.  My legs look like I have been attacked by the Tasmanian Devil.  None the less....

 

We followed the trail and located the hidden shell symbol and rubbed it into our passport to prove we have made it through another journey.  Only 1/2 mile or so hike, it wasn't too bad.  Though I did have to carry Mudge a good portion of the way back.  The trek was easy, nothing too steep or rugged.  Just challenging enough for the little ones.   

The interesting part was the drive.  It was long, but for as long as I have been a Rhode Islander, I have never been through Tiverton.  It is a beautiful part of the state with scenic views of waterfront, some gorgeous-make-you-jealous-houses, intertwined with farmland.  But since the drive was long and the hike was short, we stopped in at the Butterfly Zoo just 5 minutes down the road from the trail.

A small observatory with a variety of beautifully winged creatures in various states.  I even got to see the larva of a the death's head moth (below) from Silence of the Lambs, one of my favorite movies of all times.  For $23 for the five of us, it wasn't too bad, though I wished there were more in there.  It is towards the end of the season, so they aren't really replenishing them.  But it added to our Tiverton experience.

So if you are headed down 195, divert to route 24 South, then 77.  Bring the best damn bug spray, and let me know how it is.  Because OFF is NOT cutting it!