Joshua Springs Park & Preseve - Sunday, April 5, 2015

Today we reconnected with Hans and Lisa of Metamorphosis Road blog fame. Our destination was Joshua Springs Park and Preserve to do a long walk. When we arrived at 9:30 am, it was cool and cloudy/misty, 54 degrees with about 94% humidity. We could barely see the top of Ring Mountain.

I had a debate with myself about whether or not to wear a light jacket. The jacket choice won because it wasn't quite warm. Our walk started along Joshua Springs Lake, then we branched off to walk through meadows hoping to see birds, deer, armadillos, something!

Joshua Springs consists of over 400 acres and is run by Kendall County Parks. Within the park are trails for walking, biking, jogging and hiking, bird blinds, Joshua Springs Lake for fishing, canoeing and kayaking (no swimming), open air picnic pavilions, and a 3,000 square foot event center at the top of Ring Mountain.

As we walked through multiple fields on our hike, our shoes and socks became waterlogged. The grass was just tall enough that the dew or residual drops from recent rain permeated the breathe-able hiking boots. Squishy socks accompanied us as we walked.

Young cypress tree growing in the lake

Fire ant nest (we saw a few of these in the meadows)

Fishing pier next to the lake

Lisa, Bob and Hans on the South Bank Loop trail

We did see a number of wildflowers!

Sand verbena

Spanish bayonet yucca

 In the photo below, you can see what our weather was like...foggy, humid, cool-ish.

On Ring Mountain looking down on Joshua Springs Lake

Indian paintbrush

Spanish dagger yucca flowers

I love bluebonnets!

New oak tree leaves

Woolly Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

Following a road

Too cool for snakes today

Ring Mountain (event center at top)

Lisa

A turkey in one of the meadows

Picnic time

After our hike and lunch at Joshua Springs Park, we went to Comfort, an Antique Town. Because of the Easter holiday most of the stores were closed, but not all. Our goal was to show Hans and Lisa the historic town.

Comfort State Bank

Bird sculptures along the roof line in Comfort.

What you can find in Comfort

Beautiful flowers

Comfortable Pizza station

Bikes

Must be mesquite for wood-fired pizza

Cute place

A Texas longhorn

Find Comfort on the porch of The Tinsmith's Wife

Hans, Bob, Lisa in front of Comfort State Bank

We then drove over to the Treue der Union Monument. Enlarge the signs to read the Civil War history that led to the building of the monument.

Treue der Union Monument

Next, we went along Cypress Creek and that completed our day in Comfort. Hans spotted black squirrels along the bank. Their thick black fur sets them apart from their cousins with gray or brown coats.

A black squirrel

An old bridge

Cypress Creek

We said our good-byes to Hans and Lisa until the next time our paths cross.

Back at Travelers World RV Park, we walked around the park in the evening and found a couple of interesting rigs.

Minimalist camping!

The trailer is not much bigger than the picnic table!

 Does anyone else see the incongruity and irony of the small tow vehicle below?

Big foot with small tow. LOL.

Check out the following two photos of Bowie. Is he sleeping with his eyes open or giving me stink eye? It all depends on how you look at it.

Sleeping with eyes half open?

Or stink eye?

Travel Bug out.

You really know you're on vacation when... - Mon., May 26

...you don't know what day it is!

This morning Frank called and said it was a good thing we didn't go visit yesterday because they really got the rain. I also saw Betty and Joe's Facebook post with photos of Sunday's rainstorm on I-5 in Washington.

Today we headed to Goodwill, bought four cheap vases and brought them to Mom's house where she cut enough peonies to make four bouquets. At lunchtime, we took the bouquets to a nursing home close by and put the bouquets at four tables with people eating lunch. 

Mom asked what we were going to do today. I said, "How long has it been since you've been to Silver Falls State Park?"

She replied, "About 20 years." 

Decision made, we're going to Silver Falls. Mom packed a picnic lunch of veggie salad, vinegar and oil dressing, my sister's homemade banana bread, and two apples. An hour and 15 minutes later we pulled into the parking lot at Silver Falls State Park, known for its Trail of Ten Waterfalls.

Silver Falls State Park, at 9,000 acres, is Oregon's largest state park. In eight miles, it is possible to hike to all ten main waterfalls. The park is a temperate rainforest of Douglas fir and western hemlock trees, meadows, creeks, and a great array of plants and wildlife.

We parked, found a picnic table, had lunch, used the facilities, then hiked to South Falls and Frenchie Falls (about a mile roundtrip from our parking place).

Lunch - eight-veggie salad and banana bread

View from our picnic table.

South Falls, Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

South Falls (enlarge to see trail behind falls)

Mom

Me at South Falls bridge

Monkeyflowers in bloom.

Moss-draped trees

Frenchie Falls - one of the small waterfalls.

Maidenhair ferns.

Mom

Silver Falls State Park was the busiest I've ever seen it in my life. A nice day, and lots of people with a day off, equaled a trail that rivaled rush hour on I-5. It looked like busloads of people were hiking today. Crazy. I think we're going back on Thursday if it's not pouring rain.

Trails were extremely crowded.

Looked like a tour bus just disgorged
people (not!); the park was just crowded.

We were going to stop at the viewpoint for Winter Falls, but all the parking spots were taken. Then we were going to park and hike to North Falls and Upper North Falls, but that parking lot was full as well. 

At that point, we kept on driving and headed home through the farmland around Silverton. A farm stand was selling fresh strawberries where we stopped and bought two pints. The berries weren't Hoods (our favorite), but I thought they were still pretty good.

On Interstate 5, around the Aurora exit, the freeway traffic came to a halt. We thought there might be an accident ahead, but we never saw one. We had stop-and-go traffic for miles. It finally dawned on us that today is Memorial Day and everyone was headed home. We laughed and laughed because we both thought it was Sunday. 

Tonight, we again had Hawaiian meatballs, wild rice, mashed yams and a spinach salad. We ate dinner on the patio overlooking the golf course.

Tomorrow, I am going with Mom to her exercise class. After that, I will pick up my rental car, then we will meet our wonderful friend, Kimmie, and have lunch at a Thai restaurant in Wilsonville.

When my son, Michael, finishes work tomorrow, he will meet me at Mom's house and we'll go to dinner, then out to see "X-Men: Days of Future Past."

Meanwhile, back in San Antonio, Texas, Bob is dealing with huge storms. Our RV site is flooded. He had to pick up our outside Welcome mat, and pick up the plastic chocks from around our tires or they would float away with all the water around our 5er. Thankfully, we know the site floods and we put the 5er up on wooden planks to keep it higher out of the water. He may have to move my Escape. Last year in the Memorial Day flood, the water came up to the bottom of the chassis and I had to move my car to higher ground.

Travel Bug out.