9/29/12 - Jewels and Gems

River Legacy Park, Arlington, Texas

For Nonni's 7th birthday, I wrote that we had discovered a jewel: Legacy River.  Well, it turns out that the section of the park I had discovered was just the game fields - with a few trails.  Earlier this week, we discovered the real Legacy River Park, just a mile or so further down the road.  Wow!  What a gem!

According to their website, it is a public park that opened in 1990 with just 376 acres and  has grown to become a 1,300-acre oasis along the Trinity River. Among many features, it boasts a 6-mile mountain bike trail, a canoe launch for a 2-8 mile trek down the river and a 12,000-square-foot nature center!

We barely got our toes wet (so to speak) in exploring the many, many trails.  The park is known as a forest floodplain park and is Arlington's segment of a visionary 75-mile greenbelt parkland from west Fort Worth through east Dallas.  The trees are incredible!

Here is a magnificent tree reaching for the sky...

And another interesting tree... going nowhere.

There are so many interesting things here.  I think this is a remnant of a bridge for a road that no longer exists.

There were primitive trails to explore...

And peaceful places to rest.

Nonni and Bentley didn't want to leave so I let them take one last look.  Don't worry babies.  We'll be back soon!