David and I don't always choose conventional dates, usually we go to lunch or a coffee shop and then hang out at a bookstore.  This weekend we decided that we would take an early morning hike at Brazos Bend State Park.  So, we started out early; it turns out that it was earlier than we needed to leave.  The park opens at 7AM Saturday and Sunday.  The rest of the week it opens at 8AM and darn it, it was Labor Day Monday.  Since the gates were locked when we arrived we drove to a convenience store, used the restrooms and then headed back to the park.  We got back to the park a little after 8AM.  After consulting a map we decided to take the slough trail from the Nature Center to Elm Lake.  From there we started around the lake, it was breezy along the trail.  The lake was full of coots and greves.  We saw some ibis, snowy egrets, lesser blue herons and one great blue heron.  AND alligators.  As we rounded the bend that heads away from the trail to the observation tower and 40 acre lake, about 120 feet up the trail ahead of us was a 5 or 6 foot alligator.  That ended our plans to go all the way around the lake!  Instead we went back to the trail to the 40 acre lake.  That is where we saw the great blue heron.  He stared at us, but did not move.  When we got to the observation tower we climbed up the three flights of stairs and enjoyed the view.  We climbed down, and headed back towards Elm Lake.  The alligator was still sunning himself on the trail, so we continued around the south edge of the lake.  We followed the trail to the park road and then took the trail back to the Nature Center.  We were very pleased to see Jacqi at the Nature Center.  We caught up on our family news and promised to once again try to get together.  David and I drove over to the parking area for the 40 acre lake and had an early lunch.  It was a thoroughly pleasant morning.  I hope that we do something similar again soon!