Off Topic -- Hocking Hills

I just had to write about this because I had such a wonderful time.

Eric and my 8 year anniversary is today. We had made plans to go down to Hocking Hills the last weekend and wanted to find someplace nice to stay and go hiking.

Originally the plan was for just the 2 of us for only one night. However, most of the cabins down there have a 2 night minimum stay and the weather was so nice during the week that we agreed that the weekend would work out better. We would take Nathaniel with us Friday night and then my in-laws would watch him Saturday evening.

We dropped the dog off at my in-laws, got the cats set up and drove down to the cabin. The weather was still fabulous when we got there, it was about 60 or so at 8 pm. Nathaniel and I just sat outside on the porch swing and relaxed and listened to the sounds of the outdoors. I think that the boys tossed the football for a bit and we went inside to watch a movie and turned in.

The steaming sunlight woke us up about 8 am and I made us a nice breakfast so that we'd have fuel for the hiking excursion.

The state park was SO beautiful, Nathaniel did as good of a job hiking as any 4 year old would. It was so great to be able to travel to some place so close to home and still feel like you'd made a long journey. The sights of relatively untouched nature were wonderous. I remember stopping several times and just sitting down and closing my eyes and listening to the waterfalls, the wind in the trees, and sometimes just the silence.

It was amazing to see the plant life growing on top of the rock formations. At one point you would just see moss growing and small sprouts, but at the end of it all, there were three or 4 HUGE trees just growing over top of a large boulder.

We did get QUITE a workout. During the first half hour there were a lot of steps, my legs were shaking and I was *certain* that I was going to have a heart attack right on the spot. I just rested a few times along the way and by the time we made our way back, if Nathaniel hadn't been tired, hungry and cranky, I could have continued on the rest of the afternoon.

The trip there was really a lot of fun and I would like to make an effort to go back to the hills in the summer as well as locate some other things in our little state that we can do that wont break the bank. Especially those things that get us outside and exercise in the same shot. :)

We were beat after walking I don't know how far, that would have been a great time to have the pedometer I haven't used since the fall. We went back to the cabin and made a quick lunch, then drove back to P-Town to drop off Nathaniel with his grandparents.

We had originally talked about having a nice dinner out somewhere, but came to an agreement that we probably wouldn't be too hungry and that we'd rather enjoy some time at the cabin alone. We had a fire going, made some drinks, got in the hot tub, talked a lot, and had a fabulous evening.

Eric and I talked a bit about buying a place like that, using it as a rental property and having somewhere to go when we needed to get away. I know that with the market the way it is, that we could probably find ourselves a deal. However, financially, I just don't know if it's going to be possible.

It was so nice to take a weekend, just slow down, and spend time together as a family. I hope we'll be able to do something like that again soon.