After our detour to see the Painted Churches, we picked up the motor home and finished our drive to our next camping spot at Lake Somerville State Park. Even though it was windy the day we arrived, we finally snapped this picture of a tranquil Lake Somerville on the third day of our stay.
Right on the beach next to the lake is a glorious hill of bluebonnets. Have you noticed that Denisa loves taking pictures of wildflowers?
Mark takes a few pictures too--but he insists that Denisa is in the picture--since flowers are obviously a "girl thing."
On the other hand, losing things is obviously a "guy thing." That is probably why Mark was sympathetic to the guy in the dark pants in the picture below. When we walked up, we saw him on his hands and knees in the shallow water--obviously searching for something. When Mark asked, he found out that he was fishing in the shallows and discovered that his I-phone was missing. So Mark took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his hiking pants, and searched for the missing phone with him. We would like to tell you that there was a happy ending and they found the phone, but it looks like Lake Somerville has claimed it.
We had two windy days at Lake Somerville State Park, where we spent our time hiking and riding bikes among the trees that protected us from the wind. We hiked most of the trails here in the Birch Creek section of the park. But even though it was windy, we couldn't even feel the wind at our camp site where we were tucked in between the trees.
Finally, the weatherman was predicting almost no wind in the early morning of the third day. We had been looking at that big lake with longing, and had already planned a kayak trip up its north edge where it looked like it narrowed to a little creek. So we were up before our usual alarm today for an early morning kayak. The water was blissfully calm, but the weatherman forgot to warn us of the very thick fog at this hour of the morning. When we got the boat on the water, Mark could see Denisa in the front of the kayak, but he couldn't see much else. If you squint just right, you can see the buoy in the water right in front of us, shrouded in fog.
We stayed on the edge of the water, keeping away from any passing motor boats that wouldn't be able to see us. It was interesting that even with limited visibility, eagle-eye Mark could spot an eagle on the top of a tree by the water's edge.
We were experiencing 100 percent humidity this morning. The water droplets were clinging to the spider webs along the shore, forming wet lacy masterpieces.
Eagles must like fishing in the fog, because we continued to find them in the trees this morning. We would see four eagles and several osprey sitting high in the trees.
Cormorants were also hanging out on the foggy lake.
Their silhouettes got crisper as they allowed us to row very close.
As we entered the mouth of the creek, the fog was lifting. But it still made for an eerily early morning float. We wouldn't have ordered the fog, but it made for an interesting change for our kayak trip.
It was fun paddling down the narrow creek, always wondering what we would find in the fog around the next bend. It seemed that the animals let us get unusually close, and we got this perfect profile pictures of a red-eared slider showing off his red ear.
We are in very shallow water by now, so few boats get to visit this part of the creek. Maybe the animals were just as curious to see us as we were to see them.
By 9:00, the fog had lifted and we had blue skies and wonderfully calm water. It must be time to turn around and finish this adventure.
What a neat place to be this morning with water like glass in front of us.
That's when we came upon our favorite bird sighting of the day--a green heron.
A green heron actually has a long neck that helps it to get more distance when fishing.
But they can tuck that neck into their body when they are at rest. They certainly have a different profile when they extend their neck.
Even though their necks are a beautiful chestnut color, their wings and head feathers have an iridescent green color in just the right light. We didn't have that "right light" this foggy morning. The most obvious green on our heron today was the lime green area around his eyes.
He allowed us to float quietly by, taking way too many pictures this morning. Mark is the master oarsman, keeping our boat steady and pointing Denisa in the right direction for taking pictures. We liked this pose with the heron's rock-star hair and long neck as he considered flying away.
By the time we got back to the boat ramp, we could actually see the surroundings where we had paddled this morning in the fog.
As we paddled home, we took one last wildlife picture. It's another of our favorite birds--a scissortail fly catcher.
Even though this boat trip started out with questionable weather, it was a great morning on the water. We like it here at Lake Somerville--another lovely Texas state park.
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