Hello Friends and Hivers happy Wednesday. It's downhill for most of us at this point of the week. Today I take a walk close to my house. I'm not going by myself today and will be bringing my English Bulldog, Watson. This will be my submittal for #wenesdaywalk initiated by 
It's often I will catch Watson sleeping. I will hear him snoring before I catch what sleeping position he is in, haha. Once up he does his typical stretch and yawn. I barely caught a picture of the stretch, usually he does it for a good 5 seconds today it was barely a second. Maybe it was his excitement as he knew he was going somewhere because he saw me grab a leash and collar.
You would not believe how hard it was to get a selfie picture with him. It took a good 10 minutes to get this one. He was so camera shy with the phone so close. He was completely the opposite on following direction when I opened my car door. He jumped in before the door was even completely opened.
Well we reach our destination which is only about 1/2 mile away. Why not walk there? Bulldogs arent marathon worthy, well most anyways. Watson limit is probably 1/2 mile total. We are going to explore the area around the Western Historic Trails Center.
Unfortunately it's missing some outside exhibits and the building is locked up. This is because the place is temporarily closed. If I had to guess it's due to lack of State budgeting. Really sad, it's got some really cool things to offer. It's one of those places that is kind of off the radar. It's located on the outskirts of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Also not everyone knows of it.
The first thing I came across were some depictions describing the journey of Lewis and Clark. These two were assigned by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the newly acquired land of the Louisiana Purchase.They were tasked to provide answers back to the president. Such as native tribe locations & numbers, mineral opportunities, waterway destinations,locations for military forts, and others.
Camp White Fish was the site they bedded down in this area. Reading about its location it puts it really close to where we are standing.The name of the camp was named after a member of the team caught a big white fish. I tell you I think this crew member caught a blue catfish. There big and can be grayish or white in color. It was a temporary camp though so no such site exist today.
The next stop is some slabs of stone with some so cool murals on them. I really liked this exhibit and they just told a story graphically. Watson also wanted to say hi again and flex his stature:)
Aren't these murals magnificent? The top one is the Missouri River and boats that would of have been on it at that time. The bottom one reveals what wild life was here. Buffalo and wolves are no longer in this area. They almost became extinct due to over harvest and just pleasure killing.
The Native American tribes flourished this land. They were people who lived off the land and were very useful of the resources.
Maybe the message in this mural is welcoming each other's cultures. Perhaps an agreement or treaty is being discussed.
This one looks like what Camp White Fish would have looked liked. Surely there would have been tents and a camp fire.
This one seems very obvious to me. I see Lewis, Clark, and team taking notes and perhaps making outlines of the river to create a map.
This mural is of a Keelboat. There use to be a replica of one displayed out in front of the building here. These boats were designed to hold lots of supplies.
On the other side of the stones you can see some maple leafs imprints. This was a nice creative touch.
The last photo gives credits to all who were involved making this Mural monument visible for so many to see. It's great to see who was involved with the sculpture design,mural paintings,and the sponsors who aided with the funding of it.
Next we walked closer to the building which inside contains many historic tails,exhibits and trail information. As I mentioned this building is temporarily closed.
The next area I went to was a picnic area provided with shade by various trees. It was time to take a break from the sun and give Watson a breather.
Our next agenda is to climb up a small hill. I began to walk and check out the scenery around me. Watson decided to investigate and check for scents along the way. At the top of the hill are some additional trails and a levy protecting the neighborhood in this area from river flooding.
This levy was built in 1946. I don't know for sure how many times it has saved the community from being flooded. In 2019 the river flooded and the water was nearly at the top of the levy.
There were parts of that system that became weak and almost were compromised There was a lot of equipment, trucks, sand and engineers. A lot of workers were working around the clock reinforcing the levy. This levy saved our asses from being flooded. It was projected if the levy had broke houses in my neighborhood would have been in 6 feet of water. So I'm really thankful for the workers of the past and future who keep this levy strong.
There is more walking that could have been taken. The temperature was starting to get warmer and it's not healthy for Watson to get too much exposure to the weather and too much physically activity.
I've walked these trails before and they do lead to other interesting places to visit. A good stretch of it is along the Missouri River which is beautiful to see. The morning time in late spring and early falls is the best time as the river puts off some cool looking fog.
Watson takes one last moment to pose. I think he's proud he made it this far. Shortly after this we went back down the hill we went up and went home.
Thanks for coming this far on my walk with my buddy Watson.Take care, be safe, and enjoy the rest of the week. Until next time folks, peace out.
