Second Outing - Saylorville Lake and Beyond

On my second outing I thought it would be nice to take the camera and a map and see where it took me.  I knew I wanted to head up to Saylorville Lake just north of Des Moines and I really like small towns being from one so I picked Minburn to go and visit and see if I could get any good shots there.  Unfortunately Minburn turned out to be a little bigger then I had hoped and kind of a bummer.  I did however get some good ones at the lake as well as some great barns between here and there. 

The first thing I came upon was a trail right off of the Lincoln Boat Ramp into the Saylorville Lake.  When I drove up I was greeting by this gate.  I was all by myself this day so I pulled up the gate a little unsure if I should go past.

I am very glad I did.  Once past the gate I was led down a snowy trail that was very overgrown with trees.  No one had walked on it since the snow quite a few days before.

Off of the main trail was a smaller animal trail.  With a little help from photoshop I made it look like the sun was shining right down on it when in fact it was no where to be found at that moment.

My last stop at Saylorville was the Lincoln Boat Ramp.  The boat ramp is located right under the bridge where Hwy 415 crosses the lake.  This is probably my favorite picture from the day.  I love how you can see the waterline along the supports.  This area has flooded several times in the last few years so it was neat to see how high it had actually risen in this specific spot. 

Once I was done at the Lincoln Boat Ramp I headed to Jester Park.  I had a feeling most of the park would be closed but decided to check it out.  As I thought it was mostly closed but I was able to take a great picture of one of the gates.  A long time ago I saw a picture of a lock on a barn door and I fell in love with it.  Ever since then I have loved taking pictures of chains and locks. 

After Jester Park it was on to Minburn.  As I mentioned before it was bigger then I thought and didn't have much to photograph so I headed home.  I took the highway south out of Minburn and headed towards Adel and then on to Des Moines.  On my way home I did find 3 barns that I photographed and I am very pleased with the pictures I got.

I've decided this is what I am going to do on the weekends to keep myself busy as my husband studies.  I plan on taking day trips (or at least taking my camera out at least once) every weekend.  Since this post is a week late I already know that the next one involves lots of SNOW!!!