The four of us went on a camping trip to Oklahoma over the weekend to the Salt Flats. Saturday morning we did a little nature exploring before heading to the dig site. We found this cute little interpretive nature trail and the kids had a ball looking for animal signs...
... and liberating the cattail seeds. : )
We saw lots of birds including a Great Horned Owl. We scared it from it's roost and a Red-shouldered Hawk decided to mess with the poor guy by screeching and doing fly-bys the rest of our walk. Too bad I ran out of battery by that point. : (
The kids really enjoyed the chewed beaver tree but we never located the little guy's den. We did, however, find a really awesome groundhog burrow!
After lunch back at the campground we headed to the Salt Flats to dig for selenite crystals.
The hourglass shape of the crystals is only found in the salt plains.
It was a beautiful, sunny day...
... and the crystals were plentiful.
We found many, many treasures after only a few minutes of digging.
In total, we spent an hour digging, but that was enough for the kids. With NO shade even a nice 70 degree afternoon can get a little hot.
They are already talking about when they can go back! : )
And here is our collection... some big, some small...
... and one more for the record books for our 2011 Digging for Treasure tour through the US. Anyone have any ideas for our next trip? Our shovels are cleaned and ready! : )
After a cleanup back at camp we took a bike tour of the Great Salt Plains Lake. Oklahoma has been experiencing a severe drought this year, but there was still some water to attract the birds.
And
LOOK! I can prove I was really there! : )
This park was thriving with wildlife. This little critter is the first armadillo I have ever seen in the wild
ALIVE!! I see them dead on the side of the road all the time, but this park had a very healthy population and we saw many on this trip. The kids were so excited... maybe because their mom was making a big to-do out of it?
This state park also had the BIGGEST group of turkey vultures I have EVER seen!
We were sitting at the picnic table and I look up to see over 70 of these guys flying above us. I know, because I tried to count them and got up to 70 before I had to give up!
Of course, what family camping trip would be complete without a big, ugly bug for all you to gasp at? This preying mantis was in my chair and climbed up the pole when I tried to take his photo. The the kids ran around like the monkeys they are trying to catch a bug to feed him.
HA! I just love those crazy kids to pieces... and I have no idea how they would have gotten that idea in the first place. : )
We finished out our night with a sunset drive that took us to the top of the dam.
Beautiful.
Dough is getting longer and thinner...
... and becoming spaghetti!
He is still playing with the recipe and perfecting his technique but the taste testing has been quite fun.
