Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Dauset Trails-Jackson, Georgia


The single Adults in our stake went on a hike to a place called Dauset Trails in Jackson, Georgia. About 3 hours from my house. I wanted to go, it sounded like so much fun. I was hoping the boys would have a good time also. I invited my friend Rhonda, and she invited her friend Dennis and his daughter Payton to go too. Dennis lives outside of Atlanta so it wasn't as far of a drive for him as it was for us. But Rhonda lives in Destin which is 3 hours west of me, so her day was really long with traveling.
The weather was absolutely perfect. Blue sky, wind blowing the colorful leaves off the trees. The company was great. We had a wonderful time. I have been excited about going to SA activities, and hoping to have good time. There were 12 of us there at the hike, half kids, half adults, although only one guy. Sad, but fun because he flirted with me most of the time. And I enjoyed flirting back.

Back row: Dennis, Amy, Rhonda, Ruby, Lari & Paige.
Front: Payton, Chandler Samantha, Lucas, Hayden & Owen.

Chandler is laughing at me, because we were playing hide and seek around a tree, and I was trying to take his picture. Well, I caught him, and this was his face. I really like the genuine laugh. He has such a beautiful smile.
Owen climbed almost every tree he could. He has this new love to climb trees. So most of the pictures I have of him today are climbing trees.



This is the beautiful foliage that was surrounding us. It was absolutely amazing. Some of the trees like the one on the bottom looked like they were on fire. And the contrast between the reds, oranges, and the blue sky was really gorgeous too. This middle photo is a blue bottle tree that was on the scavenger hunt that the kids did during the hike. They had fun checking each thing that they found.



Left: Paige, she is our Stake Single Adult Rep. She was in charge of this hike.
Middle: Payton and Dennis-Rhonda's friends from Atlanta area. And my new friends too.
Bottom: Rhonda, my friend from Destin posing by a bird house tree. She has a beautiful smile.



Left: Payton swinging around a tree. Middle: Hayden picking up leaves and throwing them into the pond. He has so much fun finding leaves. Bottom: Paige showing Payton, Chandler & Owen something on the scavenger hunt.



There was a bench on the trail that looked really inviting, so Rhonda told Dennis and I to sit on it, so she could take a picture. Well, it turned into a bunch of pictures. The First one she took she said it would simulate our first date and so both of us were on opposite sides of the bench. The the one on the left is our second date-closer holding hands, and the right is the third date, and I was saying oh no get away from me, and then the others we were back sitting next to one another again, and Rhonda said we were back together again. It was absolutely hilarious. We had so much fun goofing off. Every time I look at this set of pictures I just crack up. I didn't put all of them on here, I thought these two were good, and the hands up is the funniest one.

Left: A beautiful Bald Eagle. The boys were sad because it's wing was clipped, but they understood that would keep it in captivity.
Right: Lari, Ruby and Samantha walking down the trail. I wanted to take a picture of the pretty leaves, and it was funny Lari put her arms up at just the right moment to look like she was showing off the tree. I really liked that, but I'm not sure what she was talking about.



Back Bear and a Buffalo. It was really hard trying to get in between the gates and fences to get pictures of the animals.



Here is one of the otters looking right at me. I really tried to get through the fence, but it blurred so I thought it framed him in a cool way. The Bobcat cat had two fences, one wasn't as tall as the other. But he jumped from the ground to that pedestal, and it was probably a few feet up. So he must be a pretty good jumper.



Paige, Ruby and Lari taking a break while the kids stop and play.
Amy and Rhonda posing by the pond and the water. Rhonda is a great friend, and I am glad I met her, and have gotten to hang out with her.



Amy and Dennis. I took this with my camera. I tried like 3 times to get it zoomed out enough, but this was the best shot out of all of them. And it's not too bad. We were having so much fun. We kept stopping to take pictures at different places along the trails.

Dennis and Rhonda, my two new friends. We really had a great time all of us hanging out together. I hope we get to do this more often. Even the kids got along, and had fun together.


Payton and Owen looking into the water.



Group shot on this harvest set up they had at the entrance to the park. And two Alligators in the Reptile room. All I got to see was the Alligators and one turtle, because as soon as I saw the snakes I could feel my heart start to race. I had to get out, it was a strange feeling. I don't like snakes and it was not fun being in a closed room with them even though they were in cases. I just couldn't stay in there.



This is Payton doing cartwheels. There was a big field across from the harvest set up, so we let the kids run around for about 30 minutes hoping to tire them out for they ride home. Well, it didn't work except for Hayden.



Amy doing cartwheels too. We were trying to see who could do the most. I think I got to 7 in a row, but can't remember. I do remember that I couldn't stand up straight for a good 5 minutes. But it was so much fun playing with them, and doing cartwheels.



Then we played tag. There were a few groups playing, and that was fun. The space was so open that we just ran and ran.



Owen and I were playing tag, and I almost caught him, but he turned just as I was about to tag him. It was fun to play like that. And the wind in my face was great too.

I can't wait till we can get to back again. This was a very fun activity. And now that I know where this place is, I know we will visit there again. Maybe next time in the spring, when the trees are blooming.




3 comments:

Kori said...

Hey.
I just sent you an email with your partners info. You may want to check your spam file. I have had a couple of people tell me that is where their partners information went. Please let me know you got it.

Linda and Dave Browne said...

I'm so thrilled you had fun. The pictures are beautiful and the place is gorgeous!! Even the weather seemed to be lovely. Looks like it was a terrific day for you and the boys. And, I'm sure it was well needed! I know you are going to meet lots of people and then you'll find just the right one. Enjoy the journey!!

Love you!
Hugs,
Linda

Anonymous said...

Looks like a lot of fun! And those pictures are great! Beautiful area of the country!