We had another Saturday morning short little bike ride that turned into a lovely all-morning discover-someplace-new event. We need to start packing our bikes with the appropriate things for longer jaunts even when we plan short trips. Where's the sun hat? the gorp? the extra water bottle? Some days we do actually go for an hour ride but not always.

Anyway, this morning we retraced our steps from earlier this week and went to find Chengcin Lake. We made only one little mistake finding it. It still amazes me when we discover these peaceful, natural settings in the middle of a city of 2 million people.

We found a nice section of bike path that skirted around this young, little tree....

and past a much older tree with the most amazing root system trying to take over the sidewalk....

  This is my favorite picture for the morning.

After circling the lake we came to the Chengchin Lake visitors' center, paid our NT$100 entrance fee (about $3 each) and joined the throngs of other people who had come to the lake for Toyota Family Fun Day. We plan to come back when it's not Toyota Family Fun Day and enjoy a slightly more peaceful experience.

It was still very nice, despite the throngs.  We saw giant-leafed trees, lotus flowers and orchids....

The trail was often quite secluded.

We even found an observation tower nestled among the trees on an island in the lake.

Getting there was a half hour of crowded, busy streets but it was worth it. We'll be back again with a picnic, a good book and plans to spend the day.