Social Distancing Weekend 5

The weather was MUCH nicer than on Easter weekend. We were able to hike a bit on trails close to home, while social distancing, grab some fun food, cook out, and hike some more. The first trail we hiked was named Roller Coaster trail (it's actually a mountain bike trail in Greenwood and Ashworth Parks but there were mostly hikers on the trail). I decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to hike it since that's how life feels these days. On Sunday we hiked trails in Ewing Park on the southside of Des Moines. The trails were interesting to say the least, but somehow, the minis absolutely LOVED all of our hikes that were just minutes from our house.

The Roller Coaster trail is a mountain bike trail near the Art Center that goes from Greenwood to Ashworth Park, in the back of houses (in the woods), and near the back of Water Works Park. The trails weren't very busy (minus the paved bike path, that looked crazy busy) and we really enjoyed "getting lost" in nature for a few hours. I imagine this trail would be a nightmare in the summer and fall with a lot of bugs.

One of their favorite parts of the trails we were on were the wooden bridges we crossed (both on the Roller Coaster trail and Ewing Park on Sunday).

Looking at a tree suspended in the air by another tree. I also love how close these three have gotten over the last several weeks. I'm taken back to when they were small and each other's best friends. I hope they always have an amazing bond.

We had to take a break because some of us thought they weren't going to make it.

After hiking we decided on Smash Park for a treat. We settled on nachos. adult juice boxes for Hubs and myself, a fishbowl (of juices) for the minis, and the biggest surprise: free Jello shots with our order! Awesome Saturday afternoon treat!

Sunday at Ewing Park. I've never been here without the playground being filled with kids. It seemed oddly quiet with the playgrounds closed. I downloaded the All Trails map on my phone and instantly made notes of the trails we hadn't done in our area. We noticed mountain bike/hiking single track trails in Ewing Park and decided to check them out. They're a bit confusing, mostly run along the paved walking path, but in the woods, which are clearly teenagers hang outs when a quarantine isn't happening. Very interesting, but new to us, so we had fun exploring. We discovered crews working on the trails (they seem to be working on new bridges) so we only did a few of the trails, but the minis LOVED them. Looks like we'll be back there at some point!

The minis were scared of this bridge at first. 

A low bun for hiking Sunday morning.

We found a bridge fallen into the creek. And that sums up the status of the trails we walked. We also spotted an empty Corona box. The minis couldn't pass up posing with it (without touching it of course).

Driving through downtown on our way home an spotted a train. That was also a highlight of the weekend: counting the train cars. Big happenings over here.