Beautiful park with small ponds, boardwalks, ... and a wonderful view of the city.
More Red Eared Slider Turtles in the ponds here.
We slowly make our way through the dog park --- lots of dogs running around well, being dogs this morning. I'm watching some ducks on the lake when I hear a big splash. I look up and see a dog paddling out to the middle of the lake. I see the ball that he's after but he doesn't as he slows and starts looking around. Soon he finds its and shoots after it like a rocket. He paddles to shore and waits for his owner to toss the ball again. (So cute!)
We had off west down the trail. Tons of people out this morning; walking, jogging and biking. Nothing really too exciting so after about 1.5 miles, we had back and off to our next adventure at McKinney Falls State Park.
We arrive and are greeted by a mass explosion of Blue Bonnets (TX state flower)!!!
We proceed to the Lower Falls parking. It's only a short walk to the river area -- but first we have to cross this rock moonscape.
Would need a LOT of rain for this to be covered by river!
We standing on top of the falls and its really pretty.
Unfortunately, the trails are on the other side of the river. Yes, that means walking thru the water (and a day of wet socks and shoes) but we head across and start the 3.1 mile Homestead Trail. It's very green - grass and trees. There's a few flowers around
but just mostly green vegetation. We pass the old McKinney Homestead earlier on as we head clockwise around the loop.
The best part of the trail is the last 1/4 miles where is opens up and there are catcus
and Paintbrush.
I even find a Red banded Hairstreak on one of the flowers!
We finish the loop, re-cross the river and head to the Upper Falls area.
From the parking area, there is basically no walk and we're on top of the Falls.
There are a few people jumping off the Falls but most are just poking around. Since our feet are wet, we cross the stream to the other side.
While standing there, I see a Giant Swallowtail fly by and of course, land on the other side. (Oh well!) There's also a Monarch that flies by!
We make our way back and the Giant Swallowtail is still there!!
Well, we're done here and head off to have lunch where I find out my niece really wants to see Longhorn Cattle. So after massive Google search, we're off to the Lyndon B Johnston State Park as they have a herd!!! (It's a little over an hour away to the west.)
Along the way, I'm surprised to see no cattle just goats. But a few miles from the park, we see a small herd of Longhorn along side the road.
As we turn into the State Park, there's another herd of Longhorn not far from the road - we'll be visiting them shortly. At the park entrance, we're informed that there's 2 other Longhorns (7 & 8) that if we're lucky we can get close to, so off we go. We have to track thru the woods to get to them as they were on the far side of the enclosure -- but we were very close. My niece, the cattle whisperer, actually put this guy to sleep :)
On the way back, the butterflies were zipping around: Pearl Crescent, Dainty Sulpher,
lots of Buckeye, a Red Admiral, Monarch, Checkered White and a couple of Reakirts Blues.
There also a bunch of what I think were Black Swallowtails flying; they just never stopped.
We also spot a lizard.
We make our way over to the other herd of Longhorn by the entrance. They are near the fence by the trail. The one is using an old post to block his one nostril and blow his nose -- no kidding!
But my niece get the best experience of all.
They soon move off and so do we.
Awesome day!!
