As I was scrolling down my Facebook wall, checking in with life, I noticed a thumbnail that looked familiar, and when I begin to read the content, I was very happily surprised!
Ferris Wheel at the Exton Square Mall Spring Carnival
Earlier in the week, while driving near the intersection of Rt. 30 and Rt. 100, I noticed that something was going on in one of the parking lots at the mall, and for the must part, thought nothing about it.
The next day, when I drove by, poof, there were rides and things all setup, but since there were not signs, it was kind of hard to tell what was going on.
Later on, once at home, I posted something to my Facebook wall, asking if anyone in the local area knew what was going on. Several other folks, also commented that they were wondering the same thing.
In doing some more research, it turns out that Powers Great American Midways was hosting the Spring Carnival at the Exton Square Mall from May 4th – 8th, which included Mother’s Day!
Needless to say, the kids wanted to go, so after a lazy Sunday Mother’s Day morning, we headed toward the mall to have some fun!
Not being sure where to park, we snaked our way through the various roads near the carnival, and were able to find easy parking right next to the main entrance!
Blue Fish Bowl Game at the Exton Square Mall Spring Carnival
As the four of us started to walk in, we were taken back at first with the lack of a crowd, and that none of the rides were operating yet, so it gave a chance to walk around and scope out what was available.
The vendors were scurrying around preparing for the day, setting up games, replenishing the prizes and cleaning up their areas.
Madison seemed to want to go on everything and Logan was eager to follow, but like many kids his age, he was going to be limited because of height requirements.
Because it was so early, the kids were easily able to go from ride to ride, and only pausing to grab tickets from us, and then running to the next gate.
Then came the bumper cars, and of course the kids wanted to go, but Mom had some reservations, but gave up when I handed the tickets over, and they were off like a shoot.
At the edge of the rides, both Amy and I watched as the two kids found a car, and buckled themselves in.
Finally, everyone was in their cars, and the main power was switched on.
It took Madison a moment to find the go pedal, followed by a giant lurch forward, and two kids twisting their necks to look at each other in a combination of “Did we do that?” and “This cool!”.
Moments later, they crashed into their first car and smiles and laughter erupted.
Eventually, the ride was over, and we headed further into the food and games area.
Yellow Rubber Ducks at the Exton Square Mall Spring Carnival
We stopped at one of the drink stands, got some lemonade, and rested as we plotted our next adventure.
The Ferris wheel as a family!
We got into one of the pods, and were slowly raised into the air as other folks got on an off the ride.
Madison and Logan, gitty with delight as they looked all around as we got higher and higher.
A view from the Ferris Wheel at Exton Square Mall Spring Carnival
Once the wheel was ready, we began to go around and around, each time finding something new as we looked over the landscape.
What was once fear of going so high, transformed into excitement of seeing things from a different point of view.
Finally, the ride came to and end, and we disembarked, and took another walk around the carnival, eventually we all agreed it was time to go home.
As we found our way back to the parking lot, we realized that their Amy nor I had the keys to the car.
We began to panic…
Where could we have lost them?
When we got to the car, I looked in, and there were the keys!
While sitting on the couch and my laptop open and surfing, I fired up Google Earth to search for more information on the little park next to the barn that I’d seen in December.
To get the kid’s approval, I showed him some more of the pictures on Google Earth, and told them about what I had read.
They both seemed excited, so we gathered some provisions, backed up and headed off for our Sunday journey.
As we turned onto North Creek Road, I pointed out the barn, drove a little further, and turned into the parking lot.
Both Madison and Logan were eager to get out of the car and start running around.
I took a couple of photographs of the barn from the opposite direction trying to capture all of the yellow flowers that were carpeting the fields.
We crossed over the bridge and started down the long path that was in front of us.
To the left of us were steep hills blanketed in yellow and to the right some marshland that led to additional fields.
As we walked, I was amazed to see all the various birds flying around and was busy trying to point them out to the kids, including listening to the unique calls such as the red-winged blackbird.
Stroud Preserve – Fields of yellow flowers
While I was setting up another shot with my tripod, a fellow photographer was walking by and we started to chat.
During our conversation, we exchanged information about the preserve, and started to talk about the Flickr and Facebook groups, and finally realized that we both knew each other from the Chester County Flickr group!
Turns out that, Kelly Colgan Azar, is a long time visitor to the preserve and does a lot of ornithological photography in the area.
Stroud Preserve – Research Center
After a few more minutes of talking, and the kids being very patient while Kelly and I talked, we said our goodbyes and continue down the path.
As we got closer to the split in the path, it was amazing to see that even with all the rain that we have been having, the pond was missing several feet of water which was exposing the pond bottom.
We continued up the small little head towards the barn and once we got to the top we took notice of the sign saying that the area was off-limits because it was a private residence. To the people who live in the house, I am very envious!
Heading back down the hill, both kids wanted to find a path down to the pond to see what they could find, but I had to explain to them, that it was nothing but mud and we would probably get very dirty if not stuck, and it would be very hard for mommy to find us, let alone get us out!
Thankfully, they agreed and we started down the other branch of the path heading south.
Shortly into the trail, we decided to head up the steep path to the top of the hill, and once at the top, we stopped and rested while we drank some water and recovered from the climb.
After arrest, we walked the path along the ridge, and eventually reached the tree line and started down the wooded path.
At first Madison was very scared to go down the path because she feared rolling down through the woods, but her brother happily skipped along the path, causing me to tell him to slow down.
Stroud Preserve – Wooded Trail
I stood with Madison near the top for a second and pointed out the switch-back nature of the path, and how it would help us get down the trail without injuring ourselves. Finally she agreed and we continued on.
It was really surprising to see how lush the trees were so early in the spring, and the flooring of the woods was covered in Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) that were still young and had not even developed flowers yet to bear fruit.
Finally we got to the bottom, turned right and followed the path along the Brandywine Creek, heading once again in the southerly direction. Eventually we had to turn around because of the “no trespassing” signs that marked the edge of the preserve.
We continued along the Creek path, exiting the woods and finding our way back to the main path, taking a right and heading back towards the bridge where the kids wanted to do some more exploring.
Once the exploring was done we headed back to the car, climbed in and headed towards the Highlands Orchard the to get some fresh apples and maybe something else, but that is another story for another time.
This afternoon, I got a chance to help a friend out, and also enjoy a good time!
I have known Greg Ramirez for over 12 years now, and it is always nice to have a chance to help him out.
So to this afternoon, I got a chance to go down to Exton Beverage to participate in their “Spring Sampling”!
and never passing on a chance for doing some photos, and sampling some good beers, I took a little time to capture some of the following images which are now only available on the Exton Beverage Facebook Fanpage.
2011 Spring Sampling - Exton Beverage
My next technical task, is to figure out a better way to display Facebook images in my Blog.
