nature!

The second part of our Saturday during our anniversary weekend getaway was spent at Dogwood Canyon. This area was amazing, so beautiful. We got there around 2p and rented bikes and took off on the trail. It was four miles if you went all the way to the end, and who are we to putz out, we went the full four miles. Totally hard core.

It was a beautiful day, not too hot, but the area is so shaded and the breeze from the streams and creeks keep it amazingly cool. Plus I met one of the coolest running guys EVER, oh yeah, you'll want to read that story! It's posted under one of the pictures, so you have to hunt for it. We love us some nature, so I thought I would share our pictures. Enjoy.

*the bike man, gettin' his ride on at the start of the dogwood canyon nature path*

*a cool bridge in the nature preserve*

*this is a long explanation, but trust me, worth the read! i met the coolest runner ever who took this picture of us in front of thunder falls. oh and i decided i hate these sunglasses, they look like those huge medical wrap around monstrosities... consider them trashed, blech*

we met a 50-something couple along the path, asked them to take our picture and the guy was all, sure! are you a runner (please note my shirt) and i was all... yeah i guess so. he asked if i have done a marathon and i was like, wellll... yeah. so i told him my story and we got to talking. i mentioned it would be awesome if dogwood canyon would do a 10K in there, he then told me how they have devoted an entire weekend to races in dogwood canyon. then he told me how he rode a plane next to bill rodgers on the way to springfield, mo. one day and how cool bill was.

bill was on his way to run the bass pro marathon, which is all a part of the dogwood canyon/bass pro fitness week (bass pro, big cedar and the canyon are all owned by john morris). so talking to this random run guy who we just wanted to take our picture ended up being one of the coolest conversations i have had in months, this guy was awesome. he also made me feel a ton better about my marathon experience, humidity kills him too, and this guy looked like a pro, you know you can tell the type, you can just SEE that they are a great runner. plus he lives down the road from the canyon and runs there almost every day, can you say jealous?! and just talking to this runner guy got me totally convinced to go back to table rock this fall to do the dogwood canyon trail run 25K... i had considered doing the ultra, but uhhh, maybe i should get used to trails before i try my hand at that.*

*do you see the sneaky dorky snake poking his head out. and aren't our bikes with the baskets adorable*

*ed climbing up thunder falls (please note my picture isn't first, but i went up first, not that i was keeping track...)*

*i had to climb up thunder falls to check it out up close. I HEART NATURE!*

*this was ed's idea, and it was a good one, it was starting to get warm*

*ummmm, even though it said no riding over the water bridges, well... we do what we want. and this has to be one of the most un-flattering photos ever, but you have to deal*

*these are the crazy, massive, and intense trout they have in the nature preserve, these guys know when it's feeding time. we got some feed and were having fun watching them fight and go crazy for it, this sadly was the best action shot i could get*

*because i am married to someone who is 12 years old inside... otherwise no comment*

*after our nice dinner (sorry peeps i refuse to take pics of food and/or in restaurants), we headed to the resort bar called buzzards and sat on the patio, this was our delicious view*

*meet your resident mojito queen, yum. there is a reason i grow mint in my herb garden, luckily i didn't have to make these (yes plural)*

*edder went for a lil' double shot of jack and coke.... yeah we had a lot of laughs this night!*

*a room with a view, this is a picture of the view from our room, i took this right before we left. until july table rock... until july. sigh*

NEED OPINIONS AGAIN!!
I'm thinking of starting a Flickr account to link on the side of my blog so I can put all my billions of great photos on that instead of weighing down all my posts with TONS of photos. What do you guys think? I aim to please, so let me know what you think.