Weekends Are For Exploring

 I think every weekend since we've returned from the PNW, I've mentioned how much the minis and I are missing the mountains. To console ourselves, we've been hiking (nearly) every weekend since. On Saturday, we had a handful of must-do's in the morning, but our afternoon was free to explore. We grabbed lunch to go from The Chicken and had a picnic at Maffitt Lake near Cumming, Ia. After we filled our bellies, we set off on the trail. It's an out and back trail that follows the lake. The total lenghth of the trail is over 7 miles, but we only did 3 because the minis were certain they needed to see Eternals that night (read about that here).

There was so much to see on this trail. The trail isn't right next to the lake, but there were plenty of off shoots of smaller trails that led to the lakeshore. We took advantage of a couple of them because the dog wanted a swim. Yes, a swim in November. I nearly got pulled in by him and I can confirm that water was COLD. The dog seemed to love it though.

The highlight of the trail were the hedge balls. The minis got a lesson in what they were and the dog hunted them! Legit hunted them. It was hilarious to watch.

It was here that I nearly got dragged into the lake not once, not twice, but three different times. The dog acted as though it had been ages since he was able to swim in a lake.

Zeus was so proud of all of the hedge balls he found. Of course, he paid no attention to the feathers all over the trail. Hedge balls are what gets this lab hunting apparently.

This is definitely not the mountains. We still miss them A LOT, but it's good to get out and explore. We still have four more state parks to hit before the end of the year. I'm not 100% confident we'll make it, but we're looking forward to attempting it in December.