Out and About this week

We went to our regular park day this week and not long after we got there, we sat down to eat lunch and were almost immediately met by Elmo walking aroung the park! He was there along with his "handlers" to promote a local children's gym, but what a weird thing to see walking around the park - especially this park which is more hiking trails and trees then playground (although you do partially see the playground in this photo.) I started to crop the photo so it would be more of a close up shot, but I think you really get a feel for how strange it looked from the wider angle.

Today we went out and did a little geocaching at a cool find in a neigbboring town. This park burned 25 or so years ago and there was talk of developing it, but the State wanted to keep it natural, so they've paid the County each year to let it go "native", which it certainly has done. For many years, it was closed, but the State forced the County to open it to the public, as it is public land. Here are some photos of its having gone "native." I did pick up a (non-lyme disease carrying type) tick in here (I wouldn't let the kids come through the brush at all, so they didn't pick one up though I did check them)



This fireplace/BBQ thing is cool and the top sticks out from the side of the road.