First Hike of the New Year…Lost Valley

Jason and I were both lucky enough to have Monday off in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Since the weather was warm we decided to get outside and take Luci on a hike.  We headed to the Buffalo River and Lost Valley…it's an easy hike with beautiful scenery and it happened to be a place that neither Jason nor I had been in probably 15 years.  The following are some highlights of the outing.        

View through the few leaves left on a tree 

 

Beautiful Eden Falls…we have had lots of moisture in January so it was flowing nicely 

 

 

Luci REALLY wanted to get in the water but it is still January so no luck...explain that to an 18-month old!      

Found a couple of sticks so naturally we MUST play in the dirt!  Who needs toys when you have sticks, rocks, and dirt?! 

 

 

Luci receiving her first Geology lesson from Daddy 

 

 

Luci rode the 1 mile in… 

 

 

…and she HIKED the 1 mile out.  Seriously, she hiked nearly the whole way out! 

 

 

This was how she hiked most of it; hands jammed in her pockets, running full speed ahead (great for balance!!!) 

 

 

The elk at Ponca…this was the 3rd time we saw them and I finally MADE Jason stop the car and take a picture.  At this point in time elk are his least favorite animal.  Yes, he is deep into the dissertation again and not really feeling the love for his research subjects!