Vertical Panoramic View, Friends and Turtle

The ''Leaf Blowers of Hardin Ridge" were out bright and early this morning blowing leaves. I am not going to post another photo of that, I think you get the idea from other pictures. I followed along in the truck with the flashers on....I felt guilty being in the warm truck while they were out in the cold. These are our friends that visited today.  Lucinda, used to be Art's sub at the Post Office until he retired, now she is the Officer in Charge (OIC), her husband John, and their friend Rick came down to see us. I think they came to see the park and we were just a bonus :)  They all rode down their motorcycles, they love the hilly, curvy roads down here in Southern IN. We took the driving tour of the park and then we had apple crisp and coffee out on the picnic table.  Cooper was eagerly awaiting plates to clean off.  Then they hopped on their bikes and rode off into the sunset......:)

Lucinda, John, Rick, and Cooper

When they were ready to leave Rick walked over to the restroom and shouted, "hey, does anyone over there like turtles?" LIKE TURTLES! Ok..I grabbed the camera and ran, well walked really fast, I'm too old to run. Oh he was soooooo cute. He was sitting over in the pine straw just resting. I picked him up and was carrying him over to the site for everyone else to see, and I said, "now don't you pee on me." You all know what I am going to say don't you? Yep, pee all down the front of my shirt. You can stop laughing now! :))) I forgave him immediately, I'm sure he was scared. So guess what you are going to see...
 

"Hey, get back here I'm not through taking pictures of you yet".  Amazing how fast he could go on the pavement, but in the woods, he moved a lot slower. Too many obstacles in his way.

Ahhh look how he is holding on to my finger. I KNOW he is pushing on it, as you can tell the other leg is moving,  "PUT ME DOWN!"

See how he blends into his surroundings. If you didn't know he was there you would miss him.

We took our friends down to the beach area and I got a picture of this butterfly. I am not sure what it is I just didn't have time to look it up this evening. I'll identify it and write it in later.  Unless someone out there knows what it is.

I liked how the blue color on the wings showed up in this shot.

This is such a neat occurrence.  With the air temperature being so cold now, you can see the lake steaming in the morning when the sun comes up. Now you know it is cold when that water is ''warmer'' than the air outside.

Ok let me explain what I am doing next. I was thinking of the panoramic pictures of the lake area and how neat that would be. Then I thought it would be neat to do the same thing with the road only top to bottom (vertical) The leaves are just so pretty I wanted to share it with you. And I wanted the hosts that have left to be able to see the leaves. Terry had asked me to take lots of pictures of them. They had to leave early, and since they live in Georgia they only get to see green she said.  I got in the truck in the back and stood up  in the bed, that way I was higher and you get to see more leaves and less trunk :)  Boy oh boy was it cold back there...brrr!  But it was worth it for the pictures I got. Here we go....

Turning left out of our campsite onto Southern Point road.

Now we are on the main road, heading up to the gate.

Still on main road, office turn off at top of photo on R.

Now past office turn off.

Standing under the gate looking back towards the park. Neat outline isn't it? Would not have been able to get this without standing in the back of the truck.

We see turkeys cross the road in this area a lot.

This is the entrance to Eads. The turkeys like to feed here in the grassy area.  I'll bet you are wondering if I know all this where are the photos? Well the times I have seen them I don't have my camera. :(  And other people tell me they see them in this area.

On main road, I think this is a very pretty part of the main road.

Drive to office on L this time.

I just loved this combination of color.

The entrance to Holland Loop is on the right. Very pretty loop.

Now we have turned back on to Southern Pine, this is my favorite picture of the trees. I put it on as my background on the computer and blown up it is gorgeous!  THIS shot was worth freezing over.

See the turn to our site on bottom left.  Not a bad view to drive is it? Simply gorgeous...no traffic, no stop lights, no houses to spoil the landscape, no ''trash'' along the side of the road, no traffic signs, no animals that have been hit, no mailboxes, no real estate signs, no businesses, I think you get the point. But the best part you can drive it on the golf cart, going 10 mph and just relax and enjoy the view. Now I know what the Amish must feel traveling so slow. :)

Back at our site.  The end.

                               So from Hardin Ridge we send hugs and best wishes.