When the temperatures soared up into the 60′s this week, the kids and I all played hooky for the afternoon and took a hike.
After all, having 60 degrees in January in southern Iowa is an event to be celebrated!
We made 2 rules for this adventure. The first rule was that each of us needed to have a piece of candy in our pockets that we could eat anywhere, or anytime we wished!
The second rule was that we could not walk on any trails.
We headed down the hill to the ravines and decided to follow them for as far as we could.
Winter is the perfect time to explore the ravines that surround our homestead since they are overgrown, inaccessible and full of ticks during the summer and fall.
But this day was perfect! The snow was melted, the sun was shining and we were all wearing sweatshirts, – no parkas, mittens, or hats – in mid-January.
We climbed over logs and crawled under branches. We slid down steep banks and shimmed back up the other side. We skated across the frozen creek bed and explored the wash outs.
We found several animal bones, turkey feathers, and part of an old foundation.
We discovered with awe that the rushing creek had frozen as it was flowing into amazing little frozen waterfalls.
We talked, we laughed, we ate chocolate and we savored the sunshine.
But most of all, we made a memory.
