That Green Glow...

Last night we were inundated with some vicious storms, including a possible tornado south of the city (I live east of the city).  I'm not a good person when it comes to storms... I don't like them, I don't find them relaxing or pretty or exciting or whatever people find them.  They make me tense.  Very, very tense.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep well last night.  Walking outside in the morining... we were just drenched.  We have had so much rain that we're still under a flood warning tonight and it hasn't rained all day!  Despite all of this, I made plans to go for my first walk in the woods of 2011. 

Despite it being a gloomy, grey day... despite the severe temperature drop (it was in the low 60's F when I left for work in the morning and in the low 40's when I left work to go for the walk!) I still did it anyway.  Normally one for any excuse to not "exercise", this was a big deal for me. 

A friend met me at the park and we picked our path.  This was a park neither one of us was very familiar with (not the one where I took you on a walk last year).  We got into  a grassy area where it was marshy and soggy and not a fun place to be.  Soon enough, we found the real path and we were on our way.

I walked with someone who works out with me when I am with the Sadist.  (And yes, I have told my personal trainer that I call her that, and she does not seem offended, in fact, she seems a bit too happy about it... hmmmmm.)  It was a good walk, she slowed herself down for me, we chatted and learned more about each other...


Meet Colleen. Everyone say "hi, Colleen!"  :)

 ... we stopped on the bridges (my favorite places to take photos) to watch the swollen creek rush on by.  The water was quite high...

... we continued walking... we laughed and shared.  We stopped at the overlook and looked down over a canyon. 

You can't tell from the photo, but the blob of water to the left of the prominent tree
was a rushing "waterfall" of water.  Two actually.  It was pretty cool.

Toward the end we were a little lost and had to ask a park representatives how to get back to our cars.  By this time, we were both chilled to the bone as we both had underdressed and the wind was pretty relentless.  Wind-chill is not fun.  The park representatives actually gave us a lift back to the parking lot (in our defense, we had figured out the right direction, but we were cold!) where we parted ways.

It wasn't until I got home and looked at the few photos I snapped with my phone that I realized...

... that green glow is back!  I love the first pop of spring when the green on the trees is just a fuzzy green glow.  This is a little more developed than that, but with the air so cold, it felt more like February out there.  To see the green glow made my soul happy.

And y'all know how I love me some budding nature.  :)