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Nature!

Kevin's been talking for years about taking every Friday afternoon in June off.  This year, due to no long road trip plans, we were able to do it!!  One the last of those Fridays, we finally got out of town to a nearby out of state, state park.  Lake Pahoja Recreation Area.  We talked with some friends the night before and they decided to come with us.  I packed lunch and supper and we were going to stay until bedtime to make the most of our outing.  Some of the beautiful things we saw: 

A painted turtle:  which everyone decided was too far from the lake, so Anna (not me) decided that she would pick it up and return it to it's home.  Apparently, her husband was teasing her that he wouldn't leave the park until there was evidence that she was having fun.  Well, she laughed her way down the hillside as the turtle was trying to get her. 

Milkweed in bloom:  I hadn't realized that milkweed has these beautiful pink flowers! 

A root formation:  It looked so neat, and so much like a nest, that I had to photograph it. 

Elderberry flowers:  They were all over the park.  It made me want to come back when the berries come out and pick all that I could...I'd have to get permission though as it was a state recreation area! 

Poppy leaves:  It looked like a poppy leaf, but had been mown down so had no flowers...not certain of it though.  We just planted poppies this spring and found that the leaf formation was somewhat like a carrot. 

The view from my shady blanket/picnic spot.  By this time it was almost supper and I had a bit of a headache.  I decided to sit with the food while the rest of them went wading for treasure in the water.

Shells:  The treasures that were found and brought to me.  Do you spy the wildlife coming out of one of the shells?

Some thorny type of stuff, that I assumed fell from the tree in the last picture.  I need to look that up though to see what it was.