-
Japanese Friendship Garden
Lawrence, KS, October 2025 When we visited the area in 2024, we know about the Japanese Friendship Garden. We looked up the location and discovered it was right next to the Watkins Museum which we did visit in 2024. The Friendship Garden started with Hiratsuka, Japan donating $5,000 to Lawrence in 1995. The city of…
-
Pelicans, Egrets, and Herons, Oh My!
Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 We did not have a lot planned today. We thought we would sit out at the 261st Street dirt road to we could find some new birds, look for the Belted Kingfisher, and mail postcards in Canistosta, SD. The first activity was to go to Canistosta Post…
-
Falls Park
Sioux Falls, SD, August 2025 Kate found out that there was a Farmer’s Market in Sioux Falls at Falls Park. We decided to kill several birds with one drive by going to the Farmer’s Market, touring Falls Park, and getting groceries all in the same trip. On the way out, we saw a Great (White)…
-
Greenway Bike Trail
Sioux Falls, SD, August 2025 I started out the day watching the birds from the back window. We had quite the variety. Unfortunately, Mackie slept through it. Sioux Falls is about 30 miles from Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area and is the largest town in South Dakota. Throughout the town runs the Greenway Bike Trail.…
-
It’s a Blue Bird, not a Bluebird!
Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 We planned to rent paddle boards to putter around the lake today. John had been planning to hike the Otter Stream trail with the tripod to try to get better pictures of some of the subjects from the last hike. Since it was still early, he decided…
-
Palisades State Park
Garretson, SD, August 2025 Today was supposed to be a reasonably nice day with sun and no rain. So, we decided to visit Palisades State Park in South Dakota which is about 45 minutes from our current campground. We set the car GPS and off we went. Needless to say, the car GPS took us…
-
Waterfowl Game Production Area
Lake Vermillion Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 South Dakota has a lot of “Waterfowl Production Areas” that are managed by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department. The website indicates that the Production areas have hiking. Based on what we saw, you can hike in the areas but there are no designated trails. I…
-
Southeast Yellowstone Day 41: Part 2
Yellowstone National Park, WY, June 2025 This is the first of the three days of Yellowstone pictures that have not been posted. This was two days before the Sunday that we left the park. In the morning, we got up early to see the wolves. (We posted these pictures and videos here.) Some of us…
-
A Stroll Along Lake Vermillion
Lake Vermillion Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 The weather in South Dakota changes on a flip of a dime. Last night and this morning we were not supposed to have rain. Guess what? It rained. So, we had a wonderful breakfast while we waited for the weather to clear up. The weather started to clear…
-
Hike The Otter Stream Trail, Not This One
Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area, SD, July 2025 Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area has a figure 8 hiking trail in the western camping area that circles the Maple Campground and passes near Juniper and Oak Campground. The trail is flat smooth and wide. It appears to be a mowed path through the prairie about 4…