Weird evening and no ice cream...

Because the walkers ran errands instead of exercising we had to face the evening - hot as it was (temps pushed 100 even as the sun set).

We had decided on a wade in the creek and arrived in the park to find a group of teenagers filming something - class project? music video? Whatever they were doing, we wanted none of it.

Avoiding the cameras we hustled to the creek side as fast as two distracted and misbehaving pups would allow.

A sketchy character was riding a bike back and forth on the sidewalk. I cannot put my finger on only one thing that made it feel wrong....he was not riding for a distance or with any focus. He stayed on a small segment (maybe an eighth of a mile) of the path - back and forth. We agreed to keep an eye on him as we waded with the dogs.

Rocky creek side

There were children playing in the culverts under the bridge. Their laughter and shouts were amplified by the walls of concrete. While we enjoy the happy sounds of children, this was too much noise for us and so we cut short our "swim." [It also frightens me to see kids in culverts, even when the water level is low. Our parents impressed upon us the hazards of running water. Those warnings were often reinforced by the drowning of those playing in drainage ditches or wading too close to culverts or underwater structures.]

Junk has floated in with some of our earlier big rains...

Giving up on this park, we decided to race to the other and its ice cream stand...as the clock ticked closer and closer to closing time. The "OPEN" sign still blinked as we arrived, but there were lines of people at the stand and lines of cars in the parking lot. Our patience spent, we turned as if to give up and head home.

Instead we detoured for a drive through this park.

All ball games were done. These parking lots were empty. No runners or walkers remained in the park.

We talked about some of our history with this park as we cruised the empty roads - kite flying, river trips, scout meetings, kids learning to ride bicycles...and then we caught sight of the park cat prowling near her culvert.

We headed home with our memories - leaving the park to a wild calico on the hunt.

What? No ice cream?