Almost Heaven

Deeply ensconced in our concrete jungle gym, we often forget that our city is blessed with lovely areas of greenery, right in the city limits. This glorious Saturday, with unseasonably warm temperatures, we were reminded.

Since we returned from our mini-vacation in Colorado, JR has been asking to go back to the Rocky Mountains. Well, we couldn't give him the Rocky Mountains, but we did manage to find our way to Valley Green and the Forbidden Drive. We had a marvelous afternoon hiking in the woods, on our safari for "interesting things" (sprouted acorns, disintegrating logs, mushrooms, lichen, and an amazing long-legged, broad-winged bird wading in the Creek, which, after some Internet research, I believe was a Great Blue Heron). It was heaven.

Well, almost heaven. If it had truly been heaven, we would not have returned to find the little deer tick embedded in JR's skin under his arm. It's been removed, amidst many tears, and I've downloaded every Internet article on deer ticks and Lyme disease that I can find, just to enhance my worries.

Maybe concrete jungles aren't such a bad place to stay. Even on the glorious sunny Saturday afternoons.