A Scenic Drive

What kind of everyday adventurer would I be if I didn't take you on a nice scenic drive now and then? I like hiking more so I can see and discover new things than just exercise. Sometimes driving can serve the purpose of discovery just as well or even better. After all, I wouldn't be able to get to my hiking spots without driving there.

Today I decided to see if I could drive through one of my favorite driving spots, Hines Park, and see if I could drive from end to end. I'll do a park profile of this place some time in the future, but for now I'll tell you that this place goes on for many miles. To drive from one end to the other, you'll pass through several cities. I did that today.

This park is a road with smaller park areas on the sides through the whole thing. The purpose of the place is to have a scenic drive. I know exactly where one end of this place is, but I'm not really sure about the other. I think I reached it today, but I'll have to actually look at it on a map to find out for sure. It has many false endings along the way.

This place has nature scenery on both sides the whole way through. There are also several types of wild animals throughout the park. Normally you won't see most of these animals because there are so many people here. I happened to see a few though.

While I was driving through here, there was a deer running along the right side of the road. The poor thing was terrified of all of the human activity and was a little panicked. There was nothing I could do for it except to drive by and leave it alone.

I did my best to get a few pictures of it before it came to its senses and ran into the forest, but it's not easy when you're in a moving vehicle trying to maintain the speed limit. I hoped to get a few close shots, but in the end I got the one you see here. At least I got it at all. It was just when the deer slowed down and began moving towards the trees to safety.

I traveled many miles and saw many more animals. At least there were no skunks. This place is full of skunks, and the smells can get really bad if somebody runs one of them over because they're not paying attention. The lakes and rivers here were absolutely full of geese and other water birds. I didn't stop to get any pictures this time though.

If you look closely, you can see some motion blur from my moving vehicle in the trees in this last picture. I drove past parks. I drove past lakes and rivers. And I drove through forests. This was like a fun hike, but on wheels. The trail was much bigger than usual for me, but I got less exercise doing it.

I wouldn't want to do this every day because I like to get out and move around while I explore. But this was fun for a Sunday afternoon. Many of you can do the same thing and have a great time doing it. And some of you can imagine this wonderful journey through my pictures. You're all welcome to come along.