Pre-Anniversary Date

Saturday, Oct 26, turned out to be a beautiful day. That week, the local news ran a story on a new hiking/nature preserve about 20 minutes outside of town, so we checked it out. It was just okay. It's still pretty rough as they are still developing it. We walked about 2 miles, fighting mosquitoes the entire way. If I was going to get malaria, this would be the day. Yep, I once again forgot the bug spray. And once again, Double D played caddy with my camera equipment. Carrying all that equipment around is getting really old. Well, maybe it's me getting old, but we won't go there.

Not much to see on this hike and the heat put the kibosh on my desire to take photos.

Black swallowtail

Abandoned train tracks bordering the new preserve

Unknown wildflower. Anyone know?

After the hike, we were pretty hungry, so we thought Bass Pro Shop's restaurant might be a good place to try. Do y'all have one of those? It's a huge hunting equipment store chain. We love eating outside and this location had a large pond with ducks. The mallards were quite bold, walking up to our table, demanding food with their eyes. We finally gave in with a few pieces of bread and some crackers. How did they repay us for our kindness? By pooping all around our table. Leaving took some careful maneuvering. Oh, and the food was AWFUL!

We managed to have a little fun before dinner with some of the decor.

Double D trying to ham it up

Oops, too late!

After dinner we looked around at the indoor pond and wildlife. It was too dark for photos which made me sad, because there were two very real, plump wood ducks, lounging on the fake cabin steps. Getting past that, I spotted a pink fishing pole and I finally had an idea what I wanted for our anniversary. Double D got one, too; a black and silver one. I'll tell you all about our anniversary day fishing in the rain in another post. :)

Y'all have a great weekend and be good!

Linking to Weekend Reflections.