Since spring has hit, we've been steady geeking out on wildlife and outdoors coming out of hibernation. I love this time of year and am not really sure how we make it through the winter. Pet stores help out a little bit.




We just recently camped at Hawn State Park. I've never been here until now and had no idea how great it is. I had no idea anything this beautiful was only an hour from the city.





This place is great. I was pretty blown away by the diverse hiking trails as well as the abundant wildlife. At the end of the Pickle Creek hiking trails I took a brief stroll through the glades, full of cacti, tarantula and various other critters found in a mini desert. Still haven't seen a rattlesnake. Yes, I actually want to see a rattle snake in the wild.







Of course we find this funny. Boner is always funny.



These trails are not only diverse and beautiful, but plentiful in creatures that we are always searching for, but don't usually find. We met several of these guys under logs and rocks in the cave and rock trails. This guy, (a slimy salamander), was really happy to see us. He wanted us to come in and have some tea with the Misses. (labyrinth)



These guys are so hard to find. In fact, the three I found this day are the only three I have ever found outside of the Smoky Mountains. To top it off, we came across a ball of little salamander eggs that look like tiny glowing marbles, with microscopic salamander larva in the middle. They all appear to be grinning.









Noodle enjoyed her camping trip.





Noodle got a little tired.



The wildlife was pretty friendly. This gentlemen greeted us at the trailhead.





This fella told us that he would like us to come back when it is a little warmer and go swimming with he and the rest of the midland water snakes.



Speaking of which, Monica spotted this guy who she decided to name "dog poop snake." I'm not sure he liked his nick name, but he was a nice guy.



If you had enough patience to watch the video above, you probably noticed that we came across some hot and heavy snake porn. Monica spotted a yellow belly racer from off of the trail. When I got close to pick it up, I noticed that it was mating with another smaller snake, so I filmed them like a nature show host pervert. You also get to hear Monica's award winning commentary.



About an hour later, we passed by the same spot on the trail and ran across guy sitting there looking at us. I assumed he was the same snake that was impregnating the other snake from earlier. However, Monica claimed that it was not, as he wasn't smoking a cigarette.



Spring peepers were super loud all night long. After hearing these guys, owls, and the howling of what I assume was coyote, we hiked out into the woods to find dozens of these little dudes clinging to trees calling for mates. We brought some back to wake up the entire camp ground.

Baby Water Snakes made in USA