Thomas Mitchell Park - July 2017

Thomas Mitchell Park is another place that the Dreams in Fiber household likes to frequent.  There is a playground and area where the kids can play ball, a pond for catching frogs and things, and some trails that weave in and out of a wooded area near the campgrounds.  It's not a super lengthy trail but it is well kept and there are always things to check out :)

These photos were taken a few days after we went to the Annett Nature Center.

These beetles - they were everywhere last Summer. They were eating my garden, they were eating our buckeye leaves... At one point we grabbed gallon-sized baggies, scooped them into it, and the minions/neighbor kids smacked them with a hammer for fun. They loved it. There's a lot of goo crammed into one of those little bugs!

I've always loved the woods - I spent a lot of time growing up in the woods near my house. I would hike and explore, read, sled, run the trails... Even though you can find the same trees and plants and things in various woods across the state, each has it's own personality and feel.  If memory serves, we were at Thomas Mitchell for a birthday party that day and I took these pictures when I did a quick loop around the area between festivities.

Mark Twain Lake - Camping Excursion - Day 2 - Back to the Woods

Once we got back to the cabins everyone else changed to swim at a different part of the lake.  I needed to get my daily walk in and since a) I don't like swimsuits and b) I don't like swimming in lakes, I took the opportunity to go for my daily FoggRun2017 and after walking around all 3 campsite loops, I hit the trails.  Here are some photos of what I saw during my walkabout. I had to make do with my phone since I didn't take my camera with me.

 

The trail was nice because it took you deeper into the woods and then brought you back out to catch various glimpses of the lake. It was a really big lake. Parts were soft, parts were green, parts were rocky. Parts were steep, others smooth. It was a nice variety. I want to go back and explore some more!

 

From this photo you can see the rocky shoreline close to where we were staying - look about halfway down the rocky portion of the coast and (if you enlarge the photo) you can make out the log little miss was sitting on.

 

One of the troubles with hiking with my phone was a few random shots like these.

 

Oh well :) Growing up there were some woods near my house and I spent countless hours alone in them; it was how I recharged.  Whenever I can spend time in the woods it's rejuvenating and feels like home at the same time.  Not everyone gets that though.  I was accused of being 'antisocial' because I opted to go for a hike instead of sweating on the beach and to that I say "suck it!".  I get it, though, not everyone is an introvert.  Sometimes though, I just like 'to be' and I'm still glad I went hiking!  ;)

Showers were had by all and after dinner I was gifted with another beautiful sunset.  The boys went fossil hunting while I sat and enjoyed the view.

 

Dinner that night was kabobs and smores of course!

   

The light was too dark for my camera and phone but trust me when I say that H is a lightning bug catching machine! It was time to pack up and head home in the morning.

  

After saying our goodbyes, we stopped for one more view of the lake as we headed out.

   

I'm sure we'll be back! With better mattresses though - the cabins were nice but the bedding was a bit lacking... A big "THANK YOU" to my SIL and her family for coming up with this excursion :)  As always, there are more photos on my flickr page for any interested parties.