It was so fun to be at the cabin for a few days in September. The days have cooled significantly and coming up from the deep south, this was such a relief!!! I could smell the pine in the air and it was wonderful. The first night, we had a fire in the fire pit and let the kids roast their own hot dogs.

In the morning, we decided to take the hike along the elm creek trail and then around the lake. This was a 3 mile hike to do both and come home again and so much fun! I mapped our hike and you can see the photos below.

Hike along the Elm Creek Trail from the cabin.

When we got to the beach, we stopped to look at some animal tracks:

Who made this?

…and this?

We then hiked around the lake and upset some ducks who took off across the lake.  When you are the only people at the lake, they make quite the sound as they take off.  We also upset a blue heron, which was quite the sight!  The kids loved watching him fly across the lake!

And who else but my daughter can get a shot like this!  A chipmunk in his hole, looking right at her!

My daughter makes friends with all the chipmunks in town!

On the way home, we took some shots of the last of some summer wild flowers:

Some daisies amongst the ferns.

Is this Goldenrod?

Taking nature walks with the kids is family time well spent.  I’m so happy we had this beautiful morning together!

Ciao for now!  Karen