My brother Philip suffers from a disability that requires him to wear braces when he walks and he has to use a wheelchair when it comes to longer distances. It was neat to see the braces Roosevelt wore in his day (the best of the best at that time) and compare them to those Philip had on today. Medical science has made leaps and bounds in the last 70 years and Philip is much more comfortable thanks to that! In fact, even his wheel chair is 100x better than those Roosevelt used – who’d have thought you could improve so much on the simple concept of “wheel+chair” so much.

Labor Day is the only time of year when the pools that Roosevelt used during his time at Warm Springs are filled. The last time we visited the pools were empty, but today they had crystal clear, warm, spring water in them. Both Trey and Philip were very tempted to get in!

One advantage of having a Friends of Georgia State Parks membership is that you and 6 others get into any historic site for free. Today we saved $32 – that’s almost half of the cost of the annual membership! Don’t you want one?

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Hugo and Trey had a blast in the water and the adults spent a lot of time stacking rocks (like we’ve done there before). Before leaving we hiked up to the lookout point to get a great view of the river bend as the sun started to go down.

The biggest surprise was Becky Kelley, director of Georgia’s State Parks, showed up with her husband and a family that visited 30 parks in 30 days last year. She presented me with some State Park swag and made me an official volunteer.

It was a fun time of hanging out with friends and enjoying the park’s facilities. Some folks explored the falls to take photos, the kids all enjoyed the playground, and a few others went hiking down along the water. At the end of the day we were all exhausted and had way too much leftover food to take home.

For kicks you can do a sort of “Where’s Waldo Trey” and look for his little head in some of the giant images.

Click the image above to launch a new browser window with an interactive image viewer that will let you pan across the photos by moving your mouse left & right.

Mistletoe is located on a peninsula extending into the massive Clarks Hill Lake and has a great beach area that Trey really enjoyed. The park was packed since it was the 4th of July and one nice lady let Trey borrow a float.

After swimming for a while we headed over to a nature trail that follows a small canyon created by wash-off from poor farming practices in the early 1900s (like Providence Canyon). After the hike we treated our sweaty boy to a bucket of ice cream from the visitor center. He deserved it after trekking all over our great state!

The Georgia State Park named after him sits on the 2nd largest man-made lake east of the Mississippi – Lake Clarks Hill, which is known as Lake Strom Thurmond every where but Georgia. Apparently in 1987, a South Carolina representative had a bill passed in Congress to rename Lake Clarks Hill after their long-serving Senator Thurmond. Georgians were quite upset (and rightfully so) but failed to pass a bill renaming back to Clarks Hill at the federal level. Instead, in 1989, the State of Georgia legislature named the dam and reservoir Clarks Hill again but their authority only extends to all Georgia state maps.

At the park, they have a great recreated log cabin museum of his frontier home from the 1780s. We visited on the 4th of July and there was a volunteer re-enactor present. She gave us a tour of the cabin and gave Trey a little wooden gun to play with. I must say, that thanks to Georgia’s State Parks my son now has gun fever. “Kaboom! Kaboom!” was all we heard for the rest of the trip.

After touring the cabins, we hiked a 3/4 mile nature trail through the woods and saw some incredible spider webs (of course Trey “kaboomed” them all). At the end of the hike, just before getting back in the car I found a very impressive rhino beetle. Normally, Trey loves holding bugs but this critter’s horns and size were a bit too much and he opted to let Daddy do all the bug handling.

After hiking we cooled off in the lake and Trey had  a great time watching other families bring their boats & jet skis in and out of the water at the boat ramp (I really think he wanted to ride on one of those jet skis).

I spent a ridiculous amount of time photographing a spider that had a web on a reed in the water 20 feet from shore (how did he get out there?!). I’m very thankful for a patient and understanding wife who lets me obsess over things like that. I think it was worth it because I got a cool set of images from it.

This park has been another victim of our current economic crisis. Like Hart State Park, it was recently changed to a State Outdoor Recreation Area. I hope that in a couple years, the park service is able to re-open these parks.

The bridge is Georgia’s longest covered bridge and was built in 1885 by the son of a freed slave. It is remarkable to see that a bridge built so long ago using wooden pins still holds up under the modern day vehicles that drive over it.

The park boasts of several miles worth of trails, but once Trey saw that we could go on the rocks and enjoy the water any thoughts of hiking were over. After walking across the bridge and exploring the river’s banks for a while, I had to give in and let Trey swim. We didn’t have our river shoes so we had to be extra careful on the slippery rocks. I took Trey up to the waterfall under the bridge but he was not a fan of the spray. Don’t know what his issue is with that – for the same reason we can never give him showers, only baths.

Click the image below to open a panoramic image in a new window:

This state park’s main attraction is its 18-hole championship golf course, but you can guess that wasn’t what Trey and I were particularly interested in. We spent all of our time on a playground near the banks of the lake and had a picnic lunch on the shore.

The park boasts that it has one of the oldest steel pin bridges in the area but when we went to see it, the trail leading to it was closed.  Just as well I guess since Trey was already pretty exhausted from climbing on the playground and running around on the beach.

Trey and I hiked down a nature trail to Lake Hartwell and then followed the shoreline a bit. It was a blistering hot day and Trey really wanted to swim, so I stripped him down to his undies and let him splash around. The red clay under the water was a neat contrast to the bright blue skies above.

Trey and I camped at Tugaloo in one of the “primitive” campsites. I still don’t understand why our secluded campsite right on the lake had running water, an outhouse, and only cost $12. Had we camped at a normal campsite we would have been packed into area with dozens of other campers and paid $22. The only extra amenity would have been electricity.

Trey really enjoyed roasting marshmallows before going to bed and in the morning we got up and headed down to the lake. We walked a short nature trails before hopping in the car and headed south to Hart State Park.

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We purchased a new annual pass and this time got a family membership. The family membership includes two tickets for a train on the SAM Shortline – a treat Trey will really enjoy.

I’m really proud of Trey for being such a fun companion and I’m glad Heidi got to join us on a lot of the excursions. When Trey grows up he is going to have a great photo album to remind him of the adventures we had.

I’m a bit behind on posting photos from our park visits, so over the next week I’ll be putting up the last six.

I was reminded how the littlest things can leave the biggest impression on kids. With all the amenities this park has to offer, Trey was most impressed by a portion of the road where the creek flows over it. It blew his mind that we got to drive the car through the creek. Ah, the simple pleasures of life!

The fort was built way back in the early 1700s at the southern most point of the British Empire. The soldiers were defending the Altamaha River from the Spanish and their Indian allies. After the Revolutionary war, the fort was dismantled and replaced by saw mills as the nearby town of Darien became an important exporter of lumber.

While we were there the park ranger spotted two manatees in the river by the fort but we were too late and missed them. I tried explaining to Trey what a manatee was without having any visual references and it didn’t go to well. Referring to them as “Sea cows” only confused him more as he kept looking around and saying “Daddy, I don’t see any cows.”

We didn’t spend too much time at this site as we had to drive to Fort King George and then on to Tampa. The nature trails led us from the tabby ruins to other restored structures that showed what colonial life was like in the early 1700s (hint, not good). Given the heat, humidity, and bugs we experienced in the two hours we were there, I don’t think it would have been that pleasant to live there.

After the tent was up we walked a nature trail that went through some woods to the banks of the Ogeechee River and its marshes. I neglected to put on our 100% deet bug spray and we were slaughtered by biting flies and mosquitoes.

In the morning, before heading out we swung by the fort and where they let Trey borrow a wooden rifle to patrol the grounds with. What a brilliant idea! He had a blast pointing it and shouting “Kaboom!” – it kept him so preoccupied that I didn’t have to worry about him messing with the historical ruins and artifacts.

This historic site is an earthwork fortification, meaning that there weren’t above ground buildings but instead mounds and trenches. It is one of the best preserved forts we’ve visited in Georgia. Several of the underground barracks and storerooms are restored and you can go inside of them to see exactly how the Confederate soldiers lived while defending it during the Civil War.

Once again – kudos to the staff at Fort McAllister for coming up with the idea of giving kids the toy rifles!

One of my few complaints about Georgia’s park system is its camping reservation system. Camping in a tent costs $22 – about the same as in an RV (a few parks do offer a couple walk-in sites at $16 with no reservations available). To reserve a camping site you have to use their online system and it charges a “convenience” fee and requires a minimum 2 night stay. So for me to reserve a spot for us to camp for one night it would cost over $45 (and be for 2 nights). We had originally planned to camp at the park but Friday nights fill up quick and our lack of reservations forced us to camp in a nearby Days Inn. I suppose it was worth it because in the end, the motel cost us less than the tent reservation would have.

Trey and I enjoyed the amazing vistas on the eastern rim and then hiked down to the first waterfall that cuts through the mountain. It was a very strenuous hike and I was impressed with Trey who made the whole hike on his own.

We had hoped to camp at James Floyd, but when we arrived the campground was already full (it hadn’t realized how busy the campgrounds are on Friday nights). Instead we walked around the lake and played on the playground before continuing north where we got a cheap motel room for the night.

You may notice in some of our recent photos of Trey that he has a red stripe on his chin. He recently fell while running in our driveway and got a perfect vertical scratch up his chin. It is so perfectly straight and centered that it looks fake – as if we drew it on there.

With that in mind, going to John Tanner State Park on a cloudy day is a bit of a bummer. Nonetheless, it just threatened to rain and never actually did so we still had fun in the water. My photos aren’t the greatest because of their stormy nature, but all that really matters is that Trey had a blast in the water.

Throughout his presidency during the Great Depression and World War II, FDR visited his cottage in Warm Springs to relax and hang out with “ordinary folks”. His interactions and friendships with the poorest of rural Georgians are what inspired many of his New Deal programs. If you are planning a visit to Little White House or just interested in FDR and Warm Springs, I highly recommend the movie “Warm Springs” starring Kenneth Branagh. This historically accurate biopic was filmed on location in Warm Springs and came out in 2005.

The museum had tons of FDR memorabilia and gifts that he was given during his presidency. People handcrafted for him everything from plates, to quilts, to canes (lots of canes!) with his name and/or likeness on them. We got to see the innovative, custom-built cars that allowed the president to drive using just his hands. One item that stood out to me was a small pocket Bible issued to all soldiers in WWII that had a foreword by FDR. Here’s a quote you won’t here from any 21st century presidents:

“As Commander-in-Chief I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States. Throughout the centuries men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel and inspiration.”

After touring the museum and cottage, we drove over to the pool where he used to swim in the warm spring water. It is currently empty, but they do fill it once a year and open it to the public (apparently you have to make reservations due to the turnout).

We stopped by on the way back from Helen, GA and were disappointed to find all the trails (yes, all 18 miles of trails) were closed due to the excessive rain. The only trail we were allowed to walk was the still-under-construction, paved, ADA approved path. We walked the short trail to and observation deck that looks out over the lake and Trey got to see some turtles and a snake. After some fun on the playground, we headed over to the old fort (which is just a little cabin) before heading home.

We didn’t visit Helen for its Bavarian facades (pun!) but for Unicoi State Park which is just outside of town. We let Trey get some playground time and then we did the 2.5 mile hike around Unicoi Lake and its dam. It was a cool 60 degrees out and perfect for for a long walk.

Our visit was on a rainy day that kept us damp but not drenched. Our friend Jym Davis drove over from his home in Canton to hike some trails with us. We hiked up to the falls first then headed on a much less traveled wetlands trail.

That trail led us to an amazing part of the forest in which the ground was covered with bright green ferns. We spent a lot of time taking photos of and in the ferns. It wasn’t until the end of our hike that we saw a sign telling us the area was restricted. Oops! They need to label both ends of the trail!

The museum is located in the center of Dahlonega in the oldest courthouse in the US. In fact, the courthouse’s brick walls were made from mud in nearby creeks and you can still see specks of gold in the brick. We arrived in town and found out it was the annual Fine Art’s Festival so we also got to see lots of artists’ work on display.

After watching the best mini-documentary I’ve seen at a state historic site (projected on big theater screen as well!) we toured the displays of old mining tools and photographs from the the mid 1800s. Trey was most interested in the water canon which was used to wash away tons of dirt to expose veins of gold in the mountain sides (apparently this was one of the worst ways of mining for the environment). He is into fire trucks and things that shoot right now so that was a perfect blend of the two for him.

Trey would have spent all day at the putt-putt course but we walked the mile-long nature trail that loops around the lake. Highlights for Trey were the “gooses” and their babies and the man who had caught two trout.

This small park is located in the town of Reidsville and has a swimming pool (was closed), a 9-hole golf course (not even 18? come on!), a playground, no history behind it, no landmarks, and not even a nature trail. Shouldn’t this be a city park? Definitely not up to state park caliber.

We picnicked on the playground then walked over to the lake and checked out the lily pads. Then we drove home.

**UPDATE** I take back my golf course comment. Apparently, they just expanded it to 18 holes. Couldn’t they have at least added a nature trail? Take a machete, hack a path through the woods, put up a sign, and TADA! – a nature trail.

Magnolia Springs was the site of Fort Lawton, the Confederacy’s largest POW camp, which held upwards of 10,000 prisoners during the Civil War. The spring itself has crystal clear water and tons of underwater plant life which in turn hides turtles and alligators.

After we set up our camp site we walked a trail that passed through the Fort Lawton remnants and then up the stream to the spring. In the morning after packing up we visited to the “aquarium” and were pretty disappointed by it. There was a massive school group there and the ranger was giving a presentation about alligators. He let everyone pet a baby gator and Trey was more nervous about it this time (he did that at Crooked River State Park too). I think it was because I kept reminding him not to get to close to the spring because there were alligators in the water that could bite him – I was really hammering that point in on this trip.

We skipped the park museum (there was a $4/person fee and I’m never too impressed by the collections of Indian artifacts – nor is Trey) and headed straight to the nature trail leading to the great temple mound. The park has a total of 7 mounds but most of them just look like bumps in the ground (one we couldn’t even find). These mounds are supposedly the oldest ones in Georgia and date as far back as 250AD.

As usual, Trey got a kick out of climbing the “mountain” and the view from the top was pretty neat.

The park is located around a cove of the huge Seminole Lake and is a popular destination for campers who enjoy fishing. It had a couple playgrounds, a single 2.2-mile nature trail, and some beach areas for swimming in the lake (though there are signs all over warning of alligators).

We stayed long enough to play on the playground and hike about half of the nature trail. Apparently, a lot of notorious Florida mosquitoes had crossed the state line and we were nearly devoured on the hike. I literally had a swarm of them around me! I guess winter is over and I need to start making sun screen and bug spray a habit again.

That’s what C.W. Lapham did and we now have a beautiful, bright orange house to visit on our National Historic Landmark Registry. The house was custom built to his specifications and everything about it demonstrates his fear of being trapped in another fire. Each of the 19 rooms in the house has at least one door leading outside; there are a total of 45 doors and 53 windows. Every room had a fire extinguisher (unheard of at that time), the chimney has two connected flumes (in case one clogs up, smoke can exit through the other), the doors are designed so that you could find your way out in the dark (external doors are taller and have protruding panels, doors to closets are shorter and have inset panels), windows are low to the floor and open into the wall above them (giving more room for a person to step through them), upstairs rooms were equipped with rope ladders, and the list goes on…

There are more oddities in the architecture of the house. The home has no 90 degree angles in any of its rooms – this was to  conform to a theory that a healthy home lacked right angles since they were not found in the natural world. Lapham had traveled to East Asia and may have picked up on some philosophies similar to Feng Shui. As a result, nothing is symmetrical in the house and nothing is centered in any of the rooms.

This historic site is one of my favorites that we’ve visited this year. If you are ever headed south on I-75, I suggest you take a little detour and visit it.

The most popular theory combines Cherokee and Welsh folklore and claims that legendary Welsh prince Madoc discovered America in 1170 and settle in the Southeast. Supposedly those settlers are the “moon-eyed people” Cherokee myths describe and they were eventually absorbed by Native American groups before Columbus arrived a couple hundred years later. I highly recommend you check out some of the crazy legends of Prince Madoc. Other theories about who built the wall range from an albino race, ancient Hebrews, and Hernando de Soto.

Trey and I had a picnic and then hiked to the peak of Fort Mountain. I was impressed that Trey walked the entire way up without being carried; this trail was one the most strenuous and rugged that we’ve been on yet. We went to the overlook and had a spectacular view across the Chatsworth valley north of the mountain. Then we went to the very top where the CCC-built fire tower still stands.

The site is the most intact Mississippian Culture site in the Southeastern United States and was inhabited some 500-1000 years ago. The two tallest mounds were probably used as platforms for the homes of priests and the smaller mound was a burial site for nobility.

Trey called the mounds “mountains” and really enjoyed climbing the looooooong flights of stairs to the top of them. After climbing all three mounds we headed down to the Allatoona River and followed the nature trail around the property. We wrapped the visit up by following a family of geese (“gooses” argues Trey) around.

We didn’t do any fishing, but we toured the visitor center (with its array of stuffed wildlife), had a picnic, and walked a mile down a secluded road to a nature trail that we hiked. Trey got a tired of walking and insisted on being carried a good portion of the walk down the road, but once we got on the trail and near the water he was ready to run around again.

We went across the street to a hiking trail that follows Moccasin Creek up to some waterfalls (the 2 mile trail belongs to the National Forest Service, not the State Park). Trey was fascinated by the dam that routes water to the Lake Burton Trout Hatchery adjacent to the park. The hatchery is open to the public so we toured it and looked at the thousands of trout swarming in the pools. Trey was pretty impressed as he had never seen so many fish in such small quarters in his life.

We drove up the mountain and stopped at the visitor center where we had a great view of Clayton, GA to the south. Then we hiked up to the peak where we got to look north to Appalachian mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina.

The terrible haze in the air gave the mountain ranges the look they are named for: Blue Ridge Mountains. However, it also made photography from the overlooks pretty challenging. I was forced to touch up the images quite a bit in my photo editing software to salvage a few scenic shots.

The park has one of the best “interpretive centers” that I’ve seen in Georgia’s state park system. We hiked along the north rim of the gorge and then went down into the canyon. We made it down to the suspension bridge that hangs only 80 feet over the river but had to stop there. There was some sort of kayaking event below and they had closed off the trail to Hurricane Falls. Nonetheless, after climbing back up 602 steps while carrying Trey, I was quite content with having gone as far as we did.

Saturday morning we headed to Toccoa, GA and visited the Traveler’s Rest Historic Site which is right by the South Carolina state line. The inn was built in 1815 by James Wylie who had “insider knowledge” that the Unicoi Turnpike would be built right there. It turned out to be quite profitable as it became a favorite stop-over for all the stagecoaches passing through.

Due to budget cutbacks, this is yet another Georgia state historic site that is suffering. It is now only open on Fridays & Saturdays, and 3 hours on Sunday. The ranger who gave us a tour of the inn was one of the nicest, most knowledgeable guides I’ve had at a Georgia state park. He was very passionate about the preservation and history of the site he maintained (he was also really good at dealing with a 2 year old while giving a tour & history lesson). If you are in the area, I highly recommend you check this spot out and support them with your $4 entry free!

So who is Laura S. Walker and why does she get the honor of being the only woman to have a Georgia State Park named after her? Born in 1861, she became a prominent civic leader, writer, and teacher in Georgia. She was known for her passion for environmental conservation and also defended African-Americans’ rights and founded the Negro Library (Books for blacks? Unheard of at the time). Until 1941, Laura Walker was a National Park and then the State of Georgia acquired the land. You can download a more comprehensive biography of Laura S. Walker from the State Park website.

What I didn’t realize when we drove up there Monday was that this island is hard to get to. The island isn’t a tourist destination, it is a research location for UGA’s Marine Institute. You don’t just jump on the ferry and go there – you have to have someone on the island host you or you have to reserve a spot on the small, limited DNR tours that run a couple times a week.

Long story short, we drove 2 hours to get there on Monday and were told to come back Friday to get on a tour. We returned Friday to find out the tours didn’t run that day and even if they did they were all booked weeks in advance. As we sadly got back in the car to drive away, a park ranger called us over and introduced us to a good Samaritan who worked on the island. He took us under his wing and “hosted” us for the morning.

What luck! The man not only gave us a private tour of the Reynolds Mansion (owned by the son of big tobacco founding father R.J. Reynolds) but a golf cart to tour the island on our own with. We cruised around for about 2 hours visiting the beach, the marshes, and the 1820 light house.

The historic site’s museum did have an interesting mini-documentary that we watched. It covered the history of the city/port of Sunbury, GA – a town that once rivaled Savannah, GA but slowly disappeared after the war with the British. It is so odd that a once important, bustling town can disappear without a trace (well, other than the earthen mounds of Fort Morris).

As we toured the grounds and the plantation house we got to see the family’s original furniture, tools, artwork, blankets, and china – all things they made and used for over a century.

What are now salt marshes on the plantation were once massive rice fields. Prior to that they were cypress marshes which hundreds of slave laborers cleared by hand to begin planting rice.

I was a bit disappointed that we weren’t allowed to take photos in the plantation house, but keeping our squirmy 2 year-old away from the antiques took most of our energy!

It was a really hot day without a cloud in the sky and that drained all three of us of our energy. It took us an hour to hike just a mile through the woods. We did stop at a bird watching platform (didn’t see any birds but Trey enjoyed running up and down the ramp) and we went off course a bit to wander through the muddy salt marshes along the river.

One highlight was getting to spot a wild Gopher Tortoise. This creature is Georgia’s official state reptile and Trey was really happy to see it since he has been reading some Franklin the Turtle books a lot lately.

Trey was excited to get out of the car and onto a playground. Before hiking one of their nature trails we stopped in the “interpretive center” (I can only figure they call them that because they interpret the origins of our natural world much differently than me). A park ranger was doing a talk on alligators and had a live baby gator that the kids got to touch. There was also a fossil replica of a giant sloth – for some reason, Trey refused to look at it and would cover his eyes every time passed it.

So what makes all that worth it? Here’s the cast list for the film: Robert Duvall (The Godfather), Bill Murray (Ground Hog’s Day), and Sissy Spacek (In the Bedroom). That’s two Oscar wins and a nomination right there! Plus the director Aaron Schneider is an Oscar winner as well and the screenplay was co-written by Chris Provenzano who has written for the TV show Mad Men.

The movie is a dark comedy based on the true story of a man who staged his own funeral so that he could attend it. Tomorrow they are filming the grand finale – the funeral scene. So if we don’t freeze to death, maybe we’ll get some face time on screen!

This historic site really reflected the budget cuts our state is facing. They bumped admission up from $3 to $4 and don’t run the heat in most of the building. When Trey and I arrived the two staff were upstairs trying to prevent a leak in the roof from damaging the furniture and antiques. It’s a shame to see these places and buildings that hold so much history have to struggle to stay open. At the same time, I understand how the state government has to choose to direct funds to more pressing issues.

An interesting side note – this is the first State Park/Site where I have been asked not to take photos. I’m not sure why, maybe the ranger thought my flash would damage the antiques?

Robert Toombs (who actually just went by “Bob”) has a fascinating history that I could write a book about (several have). However, I’ll just list a couple highlights that we learned during our tour of his home today:

• He was kicked out of Franklin College (now UGA) for threatening to shoot two students
• He became an attorney and passed the GA bar exam at the age of 20
• As a State Senator he voted for the US to purchase Cuba from Spain (imagine how that would have changed the world today!)
• He served as Secretary of State for the Confederacy for only 5 months before he resigned because of differences of opinion with Jefferson Davis
• He was then a brigadier general for the Confederacy but resigned in early 1863 after being denied a promotion. That move probably saved his life as he would have fought at Gettysburg a few months later.
• After the Civil War and a few years of self-exile, he returned and was pardoned but refused to pledge allegiance to the United States and never regained citizenship.
• His biggest achievement was leading the GA constitutional convention in 1877. The constitution he helped pass was not amended until 1945.

Its website boasts that it is one of the nation’s best preserved Civil War battlefields and that mislead me a bit. I envisioned canons and forts and stuff, but in reality it is just woods with a couple open fields. The only structures are some crisscross wooden fences and some of the trenches the soldiers dug still remain. I guess that’s why it is considered so well-preserved – there aren’t any replicas of old artifacts cluttering up the landscape that so many men fought and died on.

The visitor center has a mini-museum which Trey was a bit too hyper to enjoy. At one point he went under a velvet rope and began pounding on an antique war drum on display under some original flags. In his defense the sign only said “Please do not touch the flags.” I didn’t take as many photos as usual because I actually had company on this trip. It was nice to be able to converse at a level higher than a 2 year-old’s for once! Thanks Jym!

Alexander Hamilton Stephens was a governor of Georgia as well as the vice president of the Confederacy. The park has 12 miles of horse/hiking trails, 2 large lakes for fishing, and Stephens’ home which has been converted into a museum. Unfortunately, due the budget cuts, the museum is only open 5 days a week now and we weren’t able to go in.

Nonetheless we had fun chasing ducks, picnicking, playing on the playground, and hiking through the woods. I’m not sure what happened to their forest, but it looked like a storm had blown down tons of trees. I’m sure after the Spring kicks in and vegetation returns it will look a lot better. Click the image to the right to open a panorama I made of the woods in the park.