Boardwalk at Big Lagoon State Park

I was recently at the beach . . . recently. But, I'm not right now. Can you tell that I wish I was? *sigh*

Well, we had fun while we were there, at least. And, on our visit, we visited Big Lagoon State Park in the Florida panhandle—right next to Alabama. I'm starting to really enjoy this little state park. I haven't done too much exploring, but they have this really great observation tower. I was standing at the top of it when I took this picture. The sun was setting, and the lighting—well, "c'est magnifique." It was definitely a fun chance for me to play with my D90. If you were to follow that little creek out to the left of the picture, you would be in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a really beautiful spot.

While we were there, we had a close encounter with a Great Blue Heron. I'll be posting pics of that soon.

On the Empire Bluffs Trail

Empire Bluffs trail

Earlier this Fall, my mother-in-law and I went on a short hike on the Empire Bluffs trail in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It's a hilly, 1.5 mile (round trip) hike through beech-maple forest, fields, and dune plants. The day was perfect—blue sky, mild temperatures, light breeze, and blue, blue water. We had such a good time being outdoors, and taking in the wonderful fresh air. This was the only sunny day during our week-long visit.