Monday, March 22, 2010

Go take a hike!

The first day of Spring brought us some rather summer-like weather,
so we spent most of the weekend outside enjoying every moment of it.

In Friday's post, I said that I was planning to take the kids on a hike and hike we did.
We loved that it was a very rustic trail with lots of steep climbs and makeshift bridges.
The kids and I have been studying survival skills in our science class.
Fortunately, we didn't need to use any of our new skills, 
but it gave us a chance to discuss what we've learned.


The flooded area reminded us that making camp too close to a river bed could be dangerous
And Julia recalled how to get yourself unstuck from muddy swamps.
I was pleased that she remembered, but even more pleased that she didn't feel the need to demonstrate this skill.


The hike wasn't terribly strenuous, but without even realizing it,
we went from the river's banks to an overlook high above the river.


This bridge was the one "real" bridge there,
most of them were just four or five wood planks stuck together.
Grant was disappointed that they were even that wide,
I think he would have preferred to have to balance across just one 2x6
or even better... a fallen log.
I guess my version of rustic differs a bit from his version.
We found remnants of fall still clinging to the trees.


Now... this may not bother you or me, but for Grant,
who's main goal over Thanksgiving was to remove all the leaves of of this tree,
all these leftover leaves were quite annoying.


I think that the new Spring buds will push away all the dead leaves soon enough.

We had our first picnic of the year!
Grant had been saving the sausage for the first day of Spring
and we were more than happy to help him celebrate by eating it with him.
It was so good, we ate the leftovers for dinner that night.
There were some old buildings on the property,
the ruins of an old coach house and granary,
that provided us with some picture taking opportunities.

Unfortunately, it was noon when the photos were taken, so the light was not great,
but that just gave me a chance to play around with some photo editing.
Cool, huh?

Now, I know not everyone had summer weather this weekend
(yeah, I'm talking to you, Alita),
but what did you do on this first weekend of Spring?

10 comments:

Leslie said...

this looks like you guys had so much fun. i can not wait until you get here. i love the last shot of quincy. we, on our first weekend of spring, let the kids go play and roam as they pleased.

Tia Colleen said...

FUN!!! I wish there were nice places like that around here to hike. I'm afraid to do anything adventurelike in this area- rattlesnakes are not my idea of a good time, haha.

HAh, a log as a bridge. I would have loved to hear about crossing that!

wenn said...

great shot!

T.J. said...

Just as I had suspected- the hike was super fun! Love the opening shot- it reminds me of a storybook picture (those B&W ones are stellar too, though)

Champ would be right there with the leaf issue- we barely can see parches of brown under our snow, and yet he tries each day to rake our driveway (it's dirt) and remove singular leaves he fins to the compost pile. Guess we all celebrate Springs arrival differently!

Anonymous said...

These shots are gorgeous. I especially like the ones taken by the old buildings. Beautiful job!

Jientje said...

Yaaay for the first picnic of Spring, Yaaay for new green leaves and Yaaay for breathtaking views! I loved this post.
WSe did not do much, it was raining in the morning and my husband has been working ( from home) all day on Sunday so we stayed in. :-(

koreen (aka: winn) said...

Love your pictures... and yes, the editing is great. ;)

Grammie/Mom said...

First day of Spring....I was at work! Too bad for me but the weekend made up for it. Your pics are great. I could say something about each one but my faves are the black and whites.

Alita said...

A picnic?!? A PICNIC?!? Now I'm REALLY in a state of jealousy. (ha) That picture of the sunlight kissing the leaf. GORGEOUS! What a wonderful day to take a walk in the woods. Oh and those black and white photos are so very adorable. My black and white pics always look so dull. Great job!

...

My first day of spring? Frigid with snow. But it all melted away ;)

Unknown said...

Great outdoor shots - the picnic looks good :)