Lesson 1: If the sun's out, wear a tank top, no matter what the temp feels like at the house.
We didn't stay long, but were there for enough time for me to notice a few things.
Mal played with a little girl who had probably just recently turned 2. When we first got there, the dad was with her. A few minutes later, the mom came (back?) with a drink for both of them. The mom had backed their SUV into the parking space nearest the playground, which is a space reserved for the handicapped. It's entirely possible that they had a tag; I have no idea. But when they left, the dad is the one who drove. He cut to the right too quickly and rubbed an orange wood pylon all down the passenger side back door. Oh, I hated that sound for them. I've done the same with a borrowed truck in a parking garage! And their SUV looked flawless otherwise. Hope they do what I'd do and just ignore it. Poor kids.
When Mal and I were getting ready to leave, there was a couple getting ready for the boat launch. The guy was climbing into the boat and the lady was getting into the truck to back down the ramp. The guy asked her if she had her fishing license. She responded irritably, "I don't know. I'll check when I get into the boat, and if I don't get to fish, it won't be the worst thing that's ever happened."
Once she started easing backward, he was hollering directions to her: "Straight. A little left." She had both windows up and I wouldn't be surprised if she was blasting the radio and the air. I don't know why she was so miffed, but she was. Then he yelled really loudly because they hadn't unhooked the boat from the trailer and he wanted to do that before they got into the water. She did stop for the yelling. I hope they had a great time once they got out on the water.
Finally, we left via the exercise stations they have near the walking trail. Unlike some trails that have the exercises spaced out, these are all just scattered in the same area. Mal calls it the "grown-up playground" and he loves to see what he can do. While he was doing them, I noticed, again, a truck idling in the boat parking. I'd been aware of it, on and off, since we'd gotten to the park.
I mentally put the pieces together: When we'd arrived at the park, there was a guy sitting in a docked boat. A few moments later, a woman wearing (carrying) a baby and walking a preschooler went down and put the older child into the boat. The guy and older kid took off, down the arm of the lake, and the mom and baby disappeared. They had apparently been sitting in the truck the whole almost hour we'd been there and I presume were just waiting for the others to come back.
I HATE noise pollution in places like this. I get that it was borderline hot today (low 80s), but in the shade, it wasn't bad. I can't imagine sitting in an idling diesel for more than an hour. It wastes gas, plus it means everyone else around has to listen to your truck running the whole time they're trying to enjoy nature! It might not be as bad as when people rent pavilions and they think it means they get to blast the whole park with their music and/or public addresses, but it still detracts from the whole "we're outside getting closer to our host planet" vibe.
Anyway, we also saw these. which was nice. And Mal got to taste his first drop of honeysuckle nectar, which he liked.
I neglected to mention in the last post that we'd acquired an inflatable kayak. Now that it's heating up, I'm super excited to get down to the lake to try it out! Hopefully soon!
Sounds like an interesting day. The butterflies are beautiful.
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