Birding

Recently Eric and I watched the movie "The Big Year" which is all about birding (which is the cool name birders call bird watching).

So when Amy suggested a trip to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, I agreed. I felt the movie had sufficiently prepared me for the joys of birding, and I could happily tackle a new hobby. 

Not really. The truth is I have never enjoyed looking at birds, but any trip outside of the house always sounds good to me!

We had planned to leave early (the preserve opens at 6 am), but found ourselves leaving around 9:30 a.m. instead. Those of you from Las Vegas know what a significant error in judgment that ended up being. Nevertheless we continued on and mentally prepared ourselves for the heat.

We were the only guests there (big surprise!), which was kind of okay because we received quite a bit more attention from the workers than we would have otherwise had. Which would have been great if you had any interest in birding, which I previously mentioned I did not.

But one major bonus was that they gave us each a pair of binoculars to use while we were there:

The Preserve is pretty huge. They have 9 lakes, a 3/4 of a mile paved pathway, and over 2 miles of dirt pathways. We decided to tackle the 3/4 of a mile paved pathway that took us past 3 lakes.

I find these next pictures to be the cutest things ever! And they were not even staged!

About a quarter of a mile into the hike the kids started to lose the will to move. Amy and I were also struggling, but had to overcome our own urge to lie down and die and pretend for the kids sake that this was a fun adventure. We convinced them that they were tough and could finish out the 1/2 mile.

The Preserve was actually quite fantastic, and I plan to go back, albeit in the fall.

We found this sign at the end of the trail:

There is no danger I would ever approach a coyote, but I found it odd that the sign was at the end of the trail and not the beginning. This is something I would have found helpful just starting off. For the record we did not see a coyote, but we did see rabbits, roadrunners, and lizards. And of course lots of birds!

For the effort we treated ourselves with some Nielsen's Frozen Custard on the way home.

And then.........We got stuck on the freeway for one and half hours. COMPLETELY STOPPED. NOT MOVING AT ALL!

Oy vey!

Also, if you want to come on these adventures just let me know. I know they sound thrilling. Amy and I tend to go together because we have older kids that don't nap. But if you are up for it, please join us!