Palo Duro Canyon

We spend a decent amount of time at an area state park - Palo Duro Canyon. It is claimed that it is the second largest canyon in the United States. We spent Memorial Day there doing some hiking and playing in the water. Our area rainfall has been above normal so far this year and the result is an abundance of wildflowers in Palo Duro Canyon. I do not recall ever seeing so many Indian Blankets in the many years that I have been going there. There was quite a variety of flowers and colors to enjoy.

This Memorial Day also happened to fall on Amy's birthday so she got to choose what we were going to do. She likes to hike and usually two of the children do as well. However, Cyrus is usually our complainer and he made good on that description this time as well. We used to take him on regular hikes in Palo Duro Canyon which he greatly enjoyed when he was younger. At 10 he seems to have outgrown that enthusiasm for hiking. Deveny gives out before we are done and ends up on Amy's back or my shoulders. Alonzo tires himself out by going nonstop even when we are making a rest stop.

You could hear the buzz of bees as they made their way between the many flowers. You could see a bee in almost every flower on the prickly pear cactuses that were in abundance. Cyrus had the opportunity to chase some lizards. However, those lizards were too darn quick! We would try to corral them but they would make a dash past one of us.

At one of our rest stops we noticed a spider web on the cliff beside us. Upon closer inspection I noticed the nice little spider happened to be a Black Widow. Luckily, none of the kids were curious enough to check it out more closely before I noticed what it was.


To see more pictures from our day at Palo Duro Canyon go to my web album.