Thawing waters of youth beckon return to nature

By: Billie Ann Albert

I live on Union Road, down the road from a little creek that goes back what feels like forever until you hit private property blocked off by a barb-wire fence. It is only about a five- to 10-minute walk from where I live, so I used to go down there quite a bit with some of my friends and walk down by the water, carrying my sandals and trying not to get my clothes wet. There is a path of rocks going across the creek so that you can get from one side to the other without stepping in the water, and it looks really pretty in the summer when the sun is shining down on it.

Now that it is late winter, though, it is not fun to go to because it is covered in snow, but surprisingly not frozen. I decided to go down there this past week just to show you guys that it is pretty, even when it is covered in snow.

I didn’t go there a whole lot when I was a little kid, like the rest of my friends, because my mom did not trust me to go there without a parent, so I went there quite a few times over the last couple of summers. There is a corn field right next to it that I have gotten lost in before, but I eventually found my way back into the rows of trees on the side of the creek. It goes under the road, so we used to stand at the edge of the road and throw little rocks to see who could throw the farthest, and I always lost because that is not my strong suit.

This would be a good place to go to get away from everything because it can be a good stress reliever. Even if you do not have anything to get away from, it is just relaxing, listening to the water run down the stream and the birds chirping in the trees.

The walk is pretty great, too. There are not a whole lot of cars that drive by, so it is pretty isolated for the most part. It is a great place to go because it is very pretty during all seasons of the year, and it is peaceful.