A Family Outing

The family decided to go for a little hike at a local state park today. While climbing around on some rocks out in the creek (which is really the size of a river, IMO,) I saw bunches & bunches of these wee tiny little froggies. They were so tiny! The hand holding one in the picture is Cole's small hand, to give you an idea of scale. About the size of my pinkie nail! Maybe they were new froggies... just recently tadpoles?







Due to last year's drought (which is still happening, but not quite as dramatic as last year - yet), the water is down. This is a picture of the old historic mill in the park. It dates back to 1845 & was a textile mill (built by slave labor), later used to make uniforms during the Civil War. Union forces put it out of business. Grumpy ol' Yankees!
We left the trail once we got past the old mill ruins & were walking/climbing our way down the creek via rocks which were in the middle of the creek and should have been underwater. The rocks you can see in the mill picture should barely be visible - more like rapids, than dry path ways. Well, it wasn't exactly a pathway...more like a challenging obstacle course at times. I'm VERY happy to say I didn't trip or fall into the creek. Nope, not even once! (I think that's a record! *G*) Riley had some difficulties navigating the rocks, but he managed to keep up. You would think it would be easier for him - having 4 legs and a lower center of gravity. BUT I think he was worried....a thunderstorm built up & gave us a nice shower while we were quite a ways down stream. Riley turns into a quivering wreck every time it thunders. So instead of romping in the water like he usually does, he was rather distracted. He's quite the weather-dog.

So, despite the heat, and then getting soaked in the brief, but cooling rain, we had a nice day hike. Even Ian managed to enjoy himself...grumpy ol' teen.