Deer Hunting

Last week my daughter decided she wanted to go find some deer at John Chestnut Park. Very doable – there are lots there. Sadly, you have to be there very early to see them. Why must I get up before the sun to see cool animals?

We decided (my best interest?) to be there when the park opened.  6 am. Then we changed it to 6:30 because I can’t see in the dark anyways.  I actually got there a few minutes early. Too bad they didn’t open until 7.   (Cue detour to Starbucks for coffee and lemon cake)

Wanderings through the woods at the you-know-what of dawn is actually really fun.  I’d say peaceful, but I was there with my days away from 16 year old daughter. Sadly, she takes after her mother and the sarcasm is strong within her.  It’s amazing we saw so much as a mosquito as much as we were laughing.  Would have been a fair trade.

But we DID see deer, quite a lot of them.  Here’s crazy shaky proof.  Try not to get nauseous watching it

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYG9Jr90SjA?rel=0] We saw a bunch of other cool animals, including a HUGE alligator.  I probably should have removed the sound on this one but it made me laugh. It’s my typical any moment.  I’m confused, so confused. Oh wait, I’m happy!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPttSwZtuwQ?rel=0]

Counter-intuitive as it seems I highly recommend getting up stupid early on the occasional day off to do things that just aren’t as cool later in the day. Or impossible due to the heat! That way when you take your afternoon nap that you deny you ever take you can feel justified because you are actually catching up on much needed sleep.

What would it take to get YOU out of bed dark-early on a day off?