Yesterday the kids and I decided to head out to Colorado Bend State Park. It's about an hour drive from our house and is supposed to have some really great fishing. My poor boys have been out fishing several times at various locations and have yet to catch a single fish! So, before fishing season really kicks in we thought we'd head on down to Colorado Bend and check it out (we haven't fished there yet). The river is really low thanks to the darn drought we've been stuck in. It was still beautiful though. They have some great rustic camp sites (we all agreed we want to come back and camp) and really gorgeous scenery. There are hiking trails all over as well as a guided trail of a water fall that we'd like to go back and do another day.
When we first arrived we walked down from the parking area to a big open grassy picnic area that led through some tall grass down to the river. There were armadillos all over the place! It was hilarious! We're
talking a dozen of the little buggers rooting all over, and tame enough that Bella and I both pet one!
The mud next to the river was really impressive. You'd be walking along on relatively solid ground and then be up to your knees in mud the next step, then a couple steps later it'd be back to solid ground! I watched Bella and Soren splash in the shallows while Odin and Magnus hiked further down the river to a deep area to fish. They didn't catch anything, but they got in some good practice. The white bass are just starting to spawn, apparently by the end of Feb. the fishing should be really good. Maybe good enough that the poor guys can catch something (besides sticks, algae and the occasional plastic bag)!
After the novelty of casting and not catching and stomping through mud wore off we all took a break for a picnic lunch on the river bank. Koda stood guard over the kids the whole time. He is such a good puppy! At just 10 months old he's already a devoted guardian. If he's with the kids, he guards them. If he's loose at home, he guards the livestock. Raven is around too... probably cuddled up with Odin!
After lunch we decided to explore up river. The weather was so gorgeous. It was in the upper 60's/lower 70s. A little windy, but not too bad. The water was cold, but that has never slowed me or the kids down! They started out wading....
And ended up wallowing....
Soren was a little put out that I wouldn't let him wade out into the river with the big kids, but he's been fighting a cough so he contented himself with hanging out with me in the shallows throwing rocks.
And of course no outing would be complete without a few interesting discoveries. Soren was totally enthralled with the little frog I caught and let him hold. When we let it go we told him it went back to it's home. This morning when he woke up he told me all about holding the frog and how it had to go back home. Amazing what a 2 year old can remember!
Magnus found a really pretty rock with a bunch of calcium crystals on it (the area is known for it's calcium deposits), but we didn't get a picture of it. We found tons of animal foot prints in the mud (raccoons, deer, cows, horse and bird) and Odin found a snake skin:
All in all it was a great day and we're looking forward to going back. Just as soon as I finish getting all the mud off our shoes.....
