Flying by the Seat of Our Plans

We decided against heading to the spillway on Father's Day to avoid the crowd and Laura suggested that we pick a day the next week to go instead. We went early in the day and nearly had the place to ourselves! Lucy was in a docile mood and wasn't too entertained by the waterfalls, so we headed up the hill to the lake to increase her energy level. After Lucy had a snack, she was in a much better mood for the falls, so we went back downhill for some splishing and splashing. Laura and I even got in on the fun! As predicted, Lucy fell asleep as soon as we put her in the stroller to head back.  Knowing that she was behind on naps for the day, we stopped a few times to enjoy the little things along the way.  There are so many insects enjoying the area along the lakeshore and its many flowers.  Laura was also entertained by a fledgling indigo bunting (not pictured) that sat on a branch above her head and just kept calling and calling.

Laura was sweet and let me swap our workdays and Lucy days for the coming week to better align with my upcoming evening plans (frogging and astrophotography).  That meant that this morning was suddenly my day with Lucy.  I made a quick decision to head to Kinkaid Spillway so that we could get some miles and also go swimming. I was concerned about the potential that it could be very crowded, but hoped that the 72-degree weather this morning would keep people from swimming early.  We hustled out the door and got there ahead of the crowd.  We were the 7th car in either of the two parking lots (there were dozens of cars when we left).  We took a detour along the river and through some woods in an attempt to pick up a bit more distance, spotting this structure along the way. We still don't take Lucy on long hikes in the pack that Julia, Blake, Ivy, and Finn sent us, but we are trying to get her used to it on shorter walks.  This was only about 1 mile, so it was ...