Monday, September 04, 2006

Labor Day Picnic/Hike

My parents called today, and asked what plans we had. Since we didn't have any, they asked if we wanted to come out for a picnic and a hike.

Sounded good to me!

We got to my parents around noon or so, and we headed out to Osage Hills State Park. I didn't even know about this park. It is about 15 minutes west of Bartlesville on Highway 60.

They have camping (tents and RV), hiking, a pool, tennis court, a ball field. There is a lake that is suppose to have good bass, crappie, catfish and perch fishing (no gasoline powered boats).

After cooking and eating some delicious hamburgers, we went out for a hike. It was beautiful.


There is also a lot of wild life. Today, we saw buzzards, hawks, lizards, grey and brown squirrels, armadillo's (alive can you believe it), turtles, and deer. My parents have seen bobcats out there. I'm know I didn't see one, but I think I might have heard one, but I'm not positive.

I have never seen so many armadillo's alive in one place. I'm use to seeing them dead on the roads all the time. At one point, I heard a noise, so I got everyone to be mostly quiet. (You'd have to know my family to really understand that). I tracked the noise to something that was under some leaves. Turned out to be an armadillo. As I got a bit closer to it, it turned into a ball (self defense).


That was too cool! I tried to get closer to get a really good picture. As I did, I guess it decided I had gotten close enough. It jumped up, and took off running. When it did that, I about jumped out of my skin, and jumped back myself. I know what happens when you corner wild animals. They tend to turn and fight and I didn't want to get whooped by an armadillo. What I didn't know about them is how fast they can run. Which is very, VERY fast. hehe My wife laughed so hard!

We hiked for about 2 hours or so. Maybe 2 and a half. My boy did great! I was a bit concerned taking him on such a long hike. But he couldn't have done better.

I plan on going back when foliage starts changing. It should be beautiful!

If you want to see some more pictures, I have posted some as a set on Flickr.

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