Robert Allerton Park

On the day we completed our first biking trail we also completed our first hike. We will definitely go back to this park as there are several trails we did not get to take. The park is beautiful and very peaceful. The only problem with the park is that there were too many people getting hitched on the day we went and we kept getting in people's way when they were taking pictures. Once we left the paved part of the trail and actually entered the forest this problem was over.

Our hike was fairly short, only about 2.5 miles. It was mostly through the forest, so very shaded and secluded. We were glad that we remembered to apply Off! and I must say that it worked rather well considering we were in a swarm of mosquitoes the entire hike and I only got bit once and it was on my forehead where I had forgotten to put Off!.

Again, I was scared that we would run into a snake. There was one point where Immanuel said, "Look!" and I completely freaked out and took off running thinking that he was pointing out a snake (he was really pointing out a butterfly). I am not sure at all where my fantastic reasoning skills went considering that if he had seen a snake there is absolutely no way he would actually point it out to me for fear that I may never leave the city limits again. He then decided that he should describe what it would be like if he actually did NEED to point out a snake. He said if I was not in danger of coming close and disturbing it he would never point it out. If, however, there was one nearby he said he would firmly say "Stop. Don't move." I then explained that I am not a good listener and now that I know this would be code for snake I would probably run, which, of course, is a poor idea seeing as how THAT would get me bit for sure. Hopefully we will just never see a snake.

Also, since we were in an actual forest this time I had a new fear: bears. I actually asked Immanuel if there was a possibility we might run into bears. Five minutes later he stopped laughing. Fifteen minutes later he yelled, "Lion!" I actually asked, "Where?" and looked around. He, of course, laughed, but I made a quick recovery by explaining I thought it might be a statue of a lion. There were, after all, statues and sculptures throughout this park, so it was a legitimate thought.

Overall the trip was peaceful and nice and I do hope to go back again soon. We didn't see any bears or any snakes. We did, however, see tons of mosquitoes, tiny frogs, and butterflies. The tiny frogs and butterflies were cute, but the mosquitoes I could do without. Thank God for Off!

This is a statue called "The Last Centaur." It was in the middle of the forest, right before a fork in the trail.


















I thought there was beautiful scenery throughout our hike and this picture proves it.











You can barely see it, but there in the middle of the picture is one of those tiny frogs I was talking about.