It was time for another jaunt.
Time to swing on grapevines and perch on trees.
We headed to a local state park. We wanted to finish hiking a trail we'd started months ago. That hike had been interrupted when we ran into hunters. We politely rerouted, per the unwritten hunter/hiker code of conduct.
This trail didn't have much of a climb to it (thank goodness). It did have several tiny stream crossings, which we thoroughly adored.
At one such stream crossing, we encountered this little garter snake, wriggling out from under a rock and slithering away. It seemed a bit early to me for snakes, but he moved with such grace, that we stood transfixed, observing his quick getaway.
Look closely here. Those are ALL briars.
We walked through ALL of them, for SEVERAL minutes, because ~ onward!!!!!!!
Next time I'll take a machete to groom the trail a bit.
We came across this small man-made pond and were delighted with it. Surprisingly, it's not on the state park map, so we felt like we'd made a grand discovery!
Jake loved swimming in it because he loves swimming period.
Then, Blossom2 made an exhilarating discovery ~ frog eggs!
We promptly harvested a few to take home to observe.
This gelatin-like mass in the water above is hundreds of thousands more frog eggs. We didn't feel bad about the few we harvested for our scientific research.
We exited the woods and cautiously walked on the railroad tracks for a little while.
It reminded me of my own idyllic childhood,
since we walked the railroad tracks at times.
We stopped for a bit of quiet at the lakeside.
I just kept breathing deep, invigorating breaths of the silvery azure air.
Dominique
