I realized something after yesterday’s follow-up cranky post: I’ve already got four posts under “Surly” but I don’t even have a “Happy” category. So consider this post me fixing that problem. I’m actually not an unhappy person; I just carry around a lot of surliness inside me. I might be an early 30s girl on the outside, but inside I think I’m more like that cantankerous old dude that Dana Carvey used to play every now and then on SNL’s Weekend Update.

So here’s my first official post on things that make me happy. Today, for instance, was a happy day. First day of the season to break the 80-degree mark (Fahrenheit, that is). It was hot, it was sunny, and it was perfect for a hiking trip to Great Falls. Of course, when I say “hiking,” what I really mean is, “walking along a dirt path for a few miles up and then turning around and coming back.” No actual climbing on rocks was involved this trip. But it was a perfectly lovely hike. Not too many people, but plenty of wildlife. We saw little lizards, turtles lined up on rocks to catch some rays, dogs running everywhere – plus two blue herons. One even let me get close enough to it for the lovely shot below. Of course, he probably felt more than safe since there was water between us, but it was still nice to be trusted that much by wildlife. And look in the lower right corner of the photo. I didn’t realize it at the time, but there’s a little turtle surfacing.

We even saw a snake swimming in the canal. I snapped a few shots, but the canal water is so disgusting looking…it didn’t make me happy to look at it, and I can only imagine that it didn’t make the snake happy to be swimming in it. So I left it out of this post. Maybe I’ll use it later…when I’m back to feeling surly 😉