Happy 2015!!

Hope you all have a New Year filled with happy moments and treasured memories. 

We have really enjoyed the holidays but I'm glad to get back to our normal routine.  I love celebrating with friends and family but I'm not much of a shopper.  I would rather be out walking a trail than the mall any old day.

These pictures are from our most recent hike back in November the day after Thanksgiving.  We live only about 50 miles from The Creole Nature Trail in Southwest Louisiana and usually visit here once or twice a year.

There's a wooden walkway with an observation tower where you can look out over the marsh.

I love the colors of the different grasses and the way they look blowing in the wind. 

This day the wind was very strong. 

I don't know the name of this grass but it must have been about 10 feet tall and very thick. 

   We were pretty far from this pond so I couldn't get a good picture of the ducks.  There are usually roseate spoonbills here also.  We did see one flying but he was so far away that I didn't get a picture.

 It was nice being able to get out and walk after our Thanksgiving feast!

We only saw one alligator and we could just barely see him.  He was all tucked in so we almost missed him completely!  I always thought alligators hibernated but actually it is called "brumation” which is somewhat like hibernation, but not really.  The alligators don't sleep during this process, they just slow their metabolisms down, becoming inactive and stop eating as they wait for the weather to warm back up so that they can go about their daily routine.  On a warm day during the spring or summer you can usually see quite a few of these guys.

With the cold weather moving in "brumation" is sounding like a good thing!  We're expecting a low of 26 degrees which is quite chilly for us!

Hope you are staying nice and warm and enjoying the beginning of 2015.