Weekend Camping

My son turned 7 the other day–it’s still a bit surreal that he’s not a chubby cheeked toddler anymore–so for his birthday in lieu of a party we took him on a camping trip. A good time was had by all, but I think the kiddo had a better time than the rest of us. 🙂 He took to hiking like a duck to water, and seemed to be nearly tireless–which when it’s hot outside is quite a feat!

Anyway, in honor of my post last week about stereotypes, I thought I’d help dispel another one. You know how there’s the saying about Kansas being flat as a pancake? It’s not really true. See?

Image from Kanopolis Lake State Park website. Click the picture to for more information.

Yes, we visited Kanopolis Lake last weekend. The hiking was beautiful, and there’s also horse trails and mountain biking trails (I’d never be able to bike in the sandy paths, but it would definitely be a fun and beautiful challenge for someone tougher than me). The tent campsite we stayed at was maybe a bit primitive for my taste, but then, I was only a girl scout for a couple of years, so I’m maybe a bit of a whiner on that sort of thing. 😉

Anyway, here’s a couple of pictures that I actually took of the landscape, I thought it looked rather awesome considering this is the first year they’ve had much for rain in several years (portions of the plains have been in a severe drought for around 4 years I think). It feels like an eternity, so it’s easy to lose track of the time.

The hills, they be sneaky…

They hide this…

So well that people think the whole state is flat farmland or prairie grass. Guess the secret is out now, huh? 😉