Milford State Park

 

The State Park that is closest to where we are is Milford State Park, home of the largest lake in Kansas.  We spent a lot of time here this summer.  (And we might visit some more!)

 

We actually hadn't been in the State Park part of Milford Lake so our first time we took the boys swimming and drove around the park to check it out.  It was a very windy day, and the wind was blowing the water in waves right into the shore.  It was like being at the beach in Jacksonville, FL.  The waves were very big.  Gabe LOVED it.  We couldn't get him to stand up, he just kept diving into the waves.  Ell was more cautious, as usual.

 

As we were driving around, we found a friend and Gabe was eager to jump out and say hello.

 



 

On our next visit, we took the boys on a hike.  It was the longest hike they had been on so far and they did great.  It was shady most of the way and they didn't complain until the very end.

 

 

Jake and I tried a longer hike on a date night.  It was over 100 degrees and we went 6 miles.  I had been running consistently, but this made my leg muscles very sore.  Great date, but next time we'll wait for cooler weather.

 

 

We usually tent camp, but they have these tiny cabins you can rent so we tried it out.  This was such a fun time.  We would do it again!

 

 

We didn't technically do the boating at the state park, but this was such a blast!  Gabe skied with Daddy!  AND, he knee boarded alone.  Awesome!

 

Cheyenne Bottoms

On our same trip, we visited Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area.  Jacob and I have kind of gotten into birding in the last couple of years.  I call it our "old people nerd secret".  We get pretty excited when we see or hear a bird that isn't just an every day sighting.  Jacob even bought a special camera lens just for this trip and for capturing some bird pics.  This new hobby was influenced by Birds and Blooms magazine and the movie The Big Year.

 

At certain times of the year, several species of birds migrate through the wetlands at Cheyenne Bottoms.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of water there when we visited.  We will definitely go back when there has been more moisture. 

 

 

 

Here are a few of the birds we did see:

 

 

The Killdeer.  These guys were all over.

 

Blue-Winged Teal Duck.  This was the coolest one we sighted.

 

Red-Winged Black Bird.  These are very common in Kansas, and probably my favorite local bird. 

 

Female Yellow-Headed Blackbird.

 

There is a very cool website called Project Noah.  You can check out pictures Jacob has taken on his profile page.  We have spotted some cool critters and learned about them on this site. 

 

 

Mushroom Rock State Park

SUMMER IS HERE!!!

 

Upon cleaning out the file cabinet, I found a brochure we picked up last summer on all of the State Parks in our great state (Kansas).  We decided to pack our summer full of fun trying to visit as many as possible.  We even bought the passport to put on our van when we renewed our tags, which gets us into any KS state park for a full year.

 

We planned a big three day trip just after school let out, visiting four parks and camp two nights in a row.  However, severe weather, specifically tornado season, thwarted out plans.  It turned into a day trip, checking out three of the parks for hiking and pictures.

 

We started with Mushroom Rock State Park.

 

The website describes it accurately, I just thought it would be bigger.  However, it was just perfect for our boys.  It was a great intro to hiking, staying on the trail, exploring, climbing, and even finding a couple critters on the trail!  Gabe said he saw a snake, but we're thinking it was just a lizard.  And a deer ran by during our picnic lunch.

 

 

Always time for a little snuggling.

 

 

 

We would definitely recommend stopping here if you are nearby.  It's certainly worth the visit, especially if you are planning to visit Kanopolis Lake.  It's just a few miles West of Kanopolis State Park (which has been our favorite, so far!)