Sunday Drive

We went for a nice Sunday drive today. We drove to a nearby lake (or, resevior... I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it is a body of water). It has a nice park nearby with several playgrounds. We played for a while and then walked around the, um . . . body of water. It was a lot of fun, but not nearly as adventurous as last week's Sunday drive.
We hadn't planned on being gone six hours, but my husband's sense of adventure took over and none of us were sorry about it. We ended driving up through the Palisades area, then over to Wyoming, and then made a loop back home.
Our first stop was at a rest area between Ririe and Swan Valley. There was a beautiful view of the Snake River below. The valley carved by the river was so lush and green! It was breathtaking. At that point I was ready to turn around and head back home for dinner. It was 6:30 and we hadn't had dinner yet. But we had a late lunch, and I had brought some snacks, so I gave in to my husband's pleading to continue on.
I had never been to the Palisades before. It was absolutely gorgeous! I had no idea we lived so close to such an amazing place. The scenery was beautiful, but what was even better was the smell. It smelled so fresh and clean, and the air was deliciously cool. We plan on taking a camping trip up there sometime.
We continued on and were just passing through Etna, Wyoming, when my three-year-old threw his coloring book out the window. Luckily, we were going slow since it was through a small town, so we turned around to pick it up. That's when we spotted a park. We decided to get out and let the kids run around for a while. It was a fun park with old-school equipment made mostly of steel and wood. My three year old love the "tator-tots" or, rather, teeter-totters. They were huge! At the highest point, he was sitting at least five feet in the air. It's too bad they don't make them like that anymore. The park had a little garden area with various trees and bushes all labeled with both their common and scientific names. We found a current bush and helped ourselves! It took me back to my childhood days when we ate currents in my grandma's backyard.
It was getting dark when we started back home. We drove near a swampy area, and almost hit a big crane (the bird, not the construction truck) in the middle of the road. About a half an hour later, we came close to some deer, and half and hour after that, we kept coming across cows in the middle of the road. At one point, we almost hit a big black one that seemed to pop up out of nowhere! The cows were scary. They were as big as our car, and their eyes glowed... kind of creepy.
We finally made it home at around eleven o'clock at night. The kids fell asleep only half an hour before. They did surprisingly well for such a long drive. I enjoyed the beauties of the earth, and I think my husband's need for adventure was met.
All in all, it was a good Sunday drive (though I wish I had taken the camera!).