On Monday, only Meri and I were free to go explore at the park that I took the girls last year and the year before. I decided to take the scenic route where I knew that there was a meat locker on the way... They have the BEST beef jerky in the whole wide world!!!
Plus some interesting decor!
Jerky in hand and already opened, we drove down the highway where Robb and I always bark at a house. It's a long story and goes back 24 years. But there used to be an annoying dog that lived there.
It's tradition. Can't fight it!
She agreed with me that this way to cross the river valley is the most breath taking! She took a couple pictures from the car window, but the antennae and hood of the car were in it, so I stopped and told her to take it from the middle of the road.
Perfect! That highway goes almost straight down. Wouldn't a skateboard be death here?
Here is some of the view at the bottom of the valley. The river is pretty dried from the drought, but still beautiful.
We went back up the way we came down and starting meandering south where the park was. We had all afternoon, why not? The pavement turned into gravel and we meandered more. Every time I came to a T intersection I turned left because I didn't want to get to the river again and I wanted to stay on this side.
Meri got out a few more times to take some GORGEOUS pictures of the hillside. We live in flat land USA, so hills and trees are beautiful to us. If we lived in them all the time, then I'm sure the plains would be inviting... But I grew up in hilly Western Iowa and I sometimes feel nostalgic when I see a little hiccup of a hill now.
We saw a turtle in the road and Meri took about 30 pictures of it crossing the road and going into the brush.
We saw a hawk sitting on a fence and when I backed up for a picture, it flew off. Meri managed to get this shot of it though from her window. Way cool!
See this river bed? It's significant... just wait!
We drove on. The hills got fewer and far between and we saw a crop duster! He circled back and forth and we got lots of pics of him. We drove on and on getting more close up.
After a while we noticed that we couldn't see any more trees from the river valley... hmmm.. Curious! I hadn't kept track of how far south we'd come, but we should have come to the highway by the park by now... Peculiar! I was sure it had been more than 10 miles...
That's when I looked at the direction indicator in the car. It had a big fat W showing up. How could we be heading West??? Wouldn't we have had to cross the river to do that?? When did we cross it again?
We would have noticed, wouldn't we??
We would have noticed, wouldn't we??
Where in the world were we???
I'll tell you where! Well on the way to my home town!!! We turned South and I checked the direction indicator to make sure because I'd taken a wrong turn just a minute ago.
We went in a huge several mile square until we saw some kids on horseback. From a distance we were sure they were Amish, but the closer we got, we realized Amish don't wear tank tops and cut offs... right? We asked them how to get to the town where the park was.
"Oh! Go North 1/2 mile to that highway (which I hadn't recognized so we had disregarded it earlier) and turn right. It's about 8 miles East."
REALLY?!!!
We finally got there!!! After a few more false turns... It was gorgeous and open! For the past two years, flooding had taken out a bridge and it had been closed to cars. You could only walk down.
NOW I see the attraction of this place. It is truly a gorgeous place...
Purple Martins built mud nests.
Meri tried her best to catch tiny fish with her hands. I tried to imagine what the little fish was thinking... Coming here was a good idea! We had a great time.
Oh and if anyone ever tells you to GET LOST! DO it ! It's a blast!
5 comments:
Sorry, don't like getting lost, did it and didn't find it fun :o( But then, I'm usually with a hubby who is fluster by it which doesn't help;o)
Glad to see you had a wonderful day with your daughter!
Sounds like a perfect day to me! I love wandering around. Just because I don't know exactly where I am doesn't mean I'm lost. It just means I've wandered off the beaten path.
BTW, I've never seen scenery that beautiful when I've visited Iowa. Guess I've been visiting the wrong parts.
Maps are highly overrated.....
That sounds like some great wandering!
Don't worry about getting lost. You're a woman afterall! You can't be blamed for all the mistakes behind the wheel. wink!
m.
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