D - Branson (part 3)

Our last full day in Branson we spent at the Dogwood Canyon Nature Park. It is an absolutely beautiful area with 6.5 miles of paved walking/biking trails. Because we found prices in Branson laughable at this point, we elected to make our children WALK the trails for $30 (for all of us) rather than the cushy $55 bike ride. Oh, yeah. They're tough!

There were sooooo many beautiful waterfalls.

Truthfully, Noah wasn't big on this day. It actually was quite hot, and a 10+ mile walk didn't appeal to him much. In fact, he pretty much had no fun at all until he figured out that by feeding the trout fish food, he might be able to catch one with his bare hands.

Mike had a lot of fun photographing the trout as they ate. There are MANY more pics just like this that I had to choose from.

If you look closely, you'll see Noah on the shore by the lake. While the rest of us hiked up the small mountain to walk under a waterfall, Noah stubbornly stayed behind because he was SURE he could catch a fish here.

Unfortunately, he never caught one; although he did touch several of them.

Another little guy enjoying the park...

Here are some hot and sweaty, exahausted kids celebrating because we finally reached our destination - the prettiest part of the park. Unfortunately for them, that just meant they had to turn around and walk back out....

I'm pretty sure that every time a bike rider passed us by the kids uttered thoughts of how they would never be so cheap on their family vacations when they grow up. We'll see....