Feasting our eyes on fall foliage @ Spearfish Canyon

Two weekends ago we had the pleasure of a non-windy and not-too-cold weekend day -- woohoo! And decided to take a drive as a family through the beautiful Spearfish Canyon. Snow and very cold temperatures were forecasted later in the week and we knew we needed to go now if we were going to catch any of the pretty tree colors.

It turned out to be a gorgeous day. We enjoyed the spectacular drive, hiked up the Iron Creek Trail and picnicked along Spearfish Creek. It was really wonderful

Hiking on Iron Creek Trail

Soaking in the last warm days

It seemed like last Sunday would be our last really warm feeling day for the season. With cold days in the forecast we tried to make the most of the beautiful day by taking our canoe out to Pactola Reservoir in the afternoon for a paddle, some beach time and a bit of fishing --

To our surprise Luke caught a BIG rainbow trout! 17 inches!! Go bud go! We brought it home and had it for dinner that night. (Whew! Jason & I are very out of practice at fish cleaning. I don't think we've cleaned one since fishing in Palau!)

And it was a beautiful afternoon, so glad we went.

Earlier in the week, I had the chance to get the kids back up to Little Elk Creek with water shoes on and had a blast playing and wading in the cold, clear water.

Paddling back at sunset - couldn't ask for a prettier afternoon on the lake.

Our earlier trip wading at Little Elk Creek, the water was brisk!