Labor Day Weekend Trip

This past weekend we took a trip to Ledges State Park in Central Iowa with the camper. We had heard wonderful things about the park and weren't disappointed! We found a nice woodsy sight with lots of trees and plenty of shade. We had stellar weather...constant sunshine, cool breeze and not a drop of rain. Thank you Camping Gods! :)
By far one of the highlights of the trip for the kids was the phone booth at the park enterance! Being part of the "Cell Phone Generation" they thought they had stumbled upon quite a relic. (Biker chick in the background is just a bonus.)

One of our nature hikes brought us to a nice gooey, green pond with a plethora of frogs and turtles much to our delight!

Reviewing the map with dad after we return from our walk. Before we began, Tony inquired as to whether or not this was a dangerous trail, because "he likes to live dangerously."

Posing on one of hundreds of really cool rocks along the Pea Creek. Finally a picture of me...in my camping clothes and hat....nice.

Day one of Creek Hiking....we'd have to stop periodically to empty the rocks and sand out of our shoes. Check out how wet Tony is! They had an absolute blast....walking in water and looking for rocks...they thought they were in heaven.

Olivia was bound and DETERMINED to catch a fish with her bare hands....

GOTCHA! That little guy was wiggling like crazy - thought it was funny how the camera caught his tail straight up and down!I was shocked to see this pole near the parking lot on Day 2 of our creek hike. The TOP sign is the high water level from 1993. Hard to imagine isn't it? The Ledges has a history of being flooded by the nearby Des Moines River. In fact, the windy road along the creek was closed while we were there due to high water and we had to hoof it in each day.

Here is nice shot of the sandstone "ledges" along Pea Creek where we spent two days hiking. These ledges rise nearly 100 feet from the stream bed...according to the park brochure, the sandstone was deposited 300 million years ago following the retreat of the shallow sea that covered much of the midwest. About 13,000 years ago, glacial meltwater began to cut down through the sandstone, forming the dramatic cliffs and valleys. Anyways....it's pretty darn cool.

We wised up on Day 2 and put the kids in their swimsuits for the day. The water is unbelievably clean and crystal clear. We had fun hunting for rocks and building damns and little "inukshuks"....(remember that guy along Lake Superior that builds those rock towers?)

A shot of Chris and I "relaxing" on a big rock...please don't drop the camera in the creek Liv!!!!

When we weren't hiking, Chris' hammock provided it's usual hours of entertainment for the kids. What you don't see in this picture is that as soon as I walked away they resumed fighting over who swings and who pushes, see - they are NORMAL!

As we were packing up on Monday I spotted this GORGEOUS spider web. Liv served as the perfect backdrop for me so I could capture it on my camera.....and they say humans are the superior species!

Today we are enjoying an extra day off (teacher inservice) as our friends in Minnesota have their first day of school! Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend as much as we did!

Oops! Almost forgot this one....is this just the CUTEST camper you ever saw? The little SUV that pulled it is the EXACT same color yellow. I wonder if it comes in PINK???