Violets on our Earth Day Adventure

Earth Day also happens to be my husband's birthday. So, we went on a birthday/EarthDay hiking adventure at a state park that is close to us. The name of the park is Devil's Lake State Park--not the pleasantest of names, I know. I guess it was actually supposed to be Mystery Lake, but due to a translation problem with the local Indian tribe it came to be Devil's Lake. Name or not, it is a beautiful area, and I highly recommend it to anyone passing through Wisconsin. It's a great picnic place as well. There is a lake, of course, with little beaches and cliffs on all sides with many, many hiking trails. It was a homeschooling adventure for sure, for we discovered violets (the Wisconsin state flower) in purple, white, and yellow (I didn't know yellow violets existed until I moved to Wisconsin) as well as saw wild strawberry blossoms and blueberry bushes with blossoms galore. We saw vultures, woodpeckers, a snake, and even a coyote. We looked at moss and trees and a tent caterpillar nest crawling with little caterpillars. It was a day of getting plenty of sunshine and fresh air and lots of discovery.
On the trail at the top of the bluffs we saw beautiful views of Devil's Lake and Lake Wisconsin and the trees budding into leaves. It was a great spring day indeed, and a day to enjoy and make discoveries in God's Creation.