Meadow Lake

I lived in three Great Lakes states (Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio) for most of my life, but I never lived close to any body of water until we bought this house in semi-arid Colorado. Meadow Lake Park is literally right across the street, offering tennis courts, a playground, green space, and, best of all, Meadow Lake. The park is bordered by a paved trail which is perfect for dog-walking.

Michiganders would call Meadow Lake a pond, size-wise, but it supports an amazing amount of wildlife, some permanent, some transitory. There's always Mallards, a few Canadian Geese, fish, and some turtles, including a large snapping turtle that sometimes wanders onto the trail. (A small boy, rubbing the snapper's shell under the watchful eyes of his parents, confided, "He likes to have his back scratched." The turtle, whose eyes were half-closed, did indeed look blissful.)

In early spring, a half-dozen pairs of Northern Shovelers came and stayed for a couple of weeks. A Great Blue Heron has been lurking around for the last two weeks. Occasionally, exotic visitors stop in: a Hooded Merganser, American White Pelicans, and a Black-Crowned Night Heron.

Meadow Lake has become a miniature nature observatory for me, so I felt proprietary pride yesterday when I noticed that two pairs of Canadian Geese had successfully brought five goslings each into the world and launched them onto the lake for an inaugural paddle.

One last thing about Meadow Lake: If you walk to the far end of the lake, you suddenly get a stunning panorama of the mountains to the west. At sunset, you feel as though you should be paying for that view.

Meadow Lake (Click on the image for a better view!)