The River

You know, a dream is like a river

...except this one. This one is called Skunk River. 

But really it is beautiful. We discovered this part of the river when we went to explore one of the parks here in Ames. We've now discovered two different ways to get there, one with about a 1/4 "hike" and one with a 1+ mile walk/bike ride. Both are fantastic and its fun to end up somewhere we can wade and play in the water while catching all sorts of wild life. 

And really, even though its called Skunk River, it doesn't stink any more than any other river.

 After searching in the water for a while we began to find fresh water clams! They were super cool and we collected quite a few before we decided to put them back because it was time to head home.

We also found tadpoles! I don't know that I've seen some this big before. They were super cool.

We also caught crawdads and baby fish with our hands!

*Disclaimer, the dragonfly on Tony's finger was mostly dead when he found it. That's how he got it to hang out on his finger, but he thought it would be a cool picture ;)


On a side note: This past couple of days we've had our good friends the Bryner's come and stay with us as they are passing through on their way to move to North Carolina! Jay got into PA school there and we are super excited for the whole family! Except we wish they would have gotten in somewhere right by us...:)