A Nice Surprise

This weekend had perfect fall/summer weather so after our weekly shopping, we decided to travel a bit and go to a nearby state park. We were there a long, long time ago but kind of forgot about it until we were driving somewhere else and saw signs. It was a relatively short ride so it is probably a place we should visit more often.

We are still a few weeks off from peak color so the leaves were mostly green. But there are trails the go along a river and through some older forests with rather large trees. So we walked a couple of the trails. Since my state is mostly flat, there isn’t a lot of real rugged terrain nearby but there were some hills and stairs to climb.

The park is near a city of around 50000 and you drive right through what must be the commercial area on the outskirts of town. Going past all the chain restaurants and shopping places, we drove by a Thai restaurant which seemed a bit out of place. Not sure what the building used to be but the restaurant had decked it out pretty nicely.

It was close to dinner time after we finished at the park, so we ended up deciding to stop at the Thai place. Turns out we made the right call. It seems like every Thai restaurant has the same general selection of dishes which makes comparisons easy. Thai is a balance of different flavors and it can be easy to screw up but this one was actually among the better Thai places we’ve been. Last thing we expected but it was a nice find.

Quick update on the cat. He isn’t chipped (got that checked today). I guess he went over to the neighbor’s house today since he heard voices and wanted attention. She said he used the litter box they had set out for their cat so at least we won’t have to worry about that if and when we let him inside. So far, he’s sought attention from everyone who’s come to the house. He had to have been a pet at one time so I wonder how he ended up in his current situation.

After a couple of days of food, he’s a lot less hungry so he’s content to just lie around the house (except when he goes off to get attention). At some point, the weather is going to cool off and we’ll have to make a call on bringing him into the house. For now, we’ll stick to offering food and attention from time to time.