Last walk

As our 46 years in Colorado were ending very soon, we wanted to spend as much time as we could fit into our hectic schedule to do some of our favorite things.
One of our favs was walking the St.Vrain State Park Lake loops around what was originally called Barbour Ponds in Firestone/Longmont Colorado. 

There are multiple lakes in this state park that offer amazing scenery and wildlife, especially birds. This is one of Colorado's state parks that have nesting Bald Eagles near, nesting Osprey, and many other raptors flying around. 
There is one huge dead tree in the middle of the park that you can see from miles around. This is the fav for the local eagles as they like to perch high up in its branches ever alert and vigilant. When you see them, time to go for your walk. 

As we walked around for our last time we really felt glad that we took the time to appreciate what God had put just a couple of miles from our home. 
Every year for the last 10, we would frequent this state park as it was so close. 90 % of the time we were there the eagles were there smiling down on us. A few of the times we were walking the lakes the eagles would grace us with a show of their fishing skills. There is nothing like watching a Bald Eagle hover over a lake, swoop down catching a fish in their talons and fly off to enjoy lunch perched in a large tree overlooking their domain. 

(Not my picture, public domain)

During one of our walks here we were able to watch one of these beautiful Bald Eagles feasting on a Mallard Duck. The eagle ate everything but the wings...
One of my favs, Duck Confit!

We were blessed as we could go during the week when there were not as many visitors at the park. On the weekends the ponds where circled by numerous fisherman, fisherwomen and children. 
The lakes/ponds are stocked by the state with a variety of fish from keep to eat or catch and release. As we walked around we would talk with the fisherpeople and listen to their stories of fortune or misfortune. One day we watched as a woman standing on a paddle board, paddled to a spot in the middle of a lake grabbed her pole and started fishing? never seen that one before... 
As we do not fish it was fun to watch and learn about what many of these people were doing just to put food on their table. Whole families would be there working the poles with their small children playing around the family unit as they caught today's dinner.
Think about it, fresh fish for dinner, not bad and it would be yummy yummy for my medium sized tummy...

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