Weekend Trip (#4)

 Monday dawned bright and beautiful! For once I was able to get out and go read my Bible in the gazebo before everybody else came out. There's just something about going out in the quiet morning, out in the country away from the noise of the city, just to read.  After a little while another one of the girls came out and we got to talk for a bit before breakfast... and then we sat together during the breakfast talking some more. :D I think I rather like these HSAers: they know how to get into good discussions. ;)
    After breakfast it was time to start getting ready to go home. And of course we had to get group pictures! Tom and Isaac had already left to go do some work on the ranch so they missed the pictures. And Gavin... well... he missed the first few pictures too. :)

There he is!

  We were the last to leave and so, after packing up the van and checking out of the hotel we headed out for some pictures.

Hehe! Love it!

One of my favorites of the 3 of us. :) 

'nother one

Can I say I love that girl?! <3 br="br">

The sign... oh wait... there are 3 people under there too!!

Katie, Mrs. S. and Gavin

The long road home

   A little ways from the inn we suddenly noticed a neat red and green wagon on top of a hill!
 

The wagon

And a short distance farther there was a sign so we stopped to see it... and then we kids left Mrs. S. at the van and hiked up there to take closer pictures.

I like close-up pictures

Cactus on the way up

The wagon again :)

Katie taking pictures, Gavin perched on a post

They switched places... almost

They're so cute!

The van a long ways off!

A bee and a... umm... not sure what kind of flower that is

Horses across the street

More of 'em

   But then it was time to go back to the van. We'd had our walk, it was time to have our drive.

Somewhere along the road

Katie on the drive, looking at pictures

One the way to the get-together we'd been talking about Christmas and how people had taken Christ out of it... when suddenly we noticed this nativity scene on a roof between 2 buildings. We just had to get a picture on our way back through.

  Part way through the drive we stopped off in a cute town to get out at a park and stretch our legs for a bit. I love that park! I've only been there once but I fell in love with it when I went! I'd say one of the highlights of that visits was getting to see real, live swans! I don't remember ever seeing any before but when I looked out across that lake (or would it be a pond? I looked it up and I'm not sure which it would technically be called) and saw those swans, I was caught!

There's one, across the way

Nearing the end as we walked around

Love the rocks!

There were lots of trees too, which were very endearing to me!

This one brings back memories of an old tree that used to be in my front yard

Another shot of a swan before we got close enough for a good picture

This trees were neat! But I don't remember what they were called... I'll have to ask someone who does remember

Just had to get pictures with them :)

Katie and me <3 br="br">

This picture just makes me smile!

After snapping that picture of Katie we got back up on the sidewalk to see this!

The fountain

This has been dubbed the Teddy Bear tree. Anybody wanna guess why? :D

Reading the sign... ok, actually not really: he's already read it but then stood there for me while I got the camera to cooperate

Us girls!! <3 br="br">

We almost missed these!

Geese!

More of the lake

We were getting closer to the swans!

Ducks near the swans - picturesque but maybe not QUITE so much as the swans

And there they were! Big and beautiful!

Y'know, they really are majestic!

This is a neat monument there at the park

Anything with a waterfall attracts me so even if the rest of the park had been absolutely boring, I would've loved it because of this! As it was, everything added together, and the good conversation we had just made me fall in love with the place!

 After leaving the park we stopped at the store and then drove through more of the town on our way back to the highway. I love little towns like that! They're so cute!