Ohio, Part 2

While the kids were having so much fun in the backyard with Oma, the parents opted to go for a hike in Hocking Hills with Papa.  It was a little disappointing when Owen turned down the hike, but it was actually very nice to hike at an adult pace, with no cumbersome backpacks, snack load, extra potty stops, or whining (at least not much). 

Specifically, we hiked to Old Man's Cave.  Us and half of southeastern Ohio.  We are spoiled by Idaho's lack of people, and Old Man's Cave had a close proximity to the parking lot, and it was undoubtedly the last Saturday before school for some families. Anywho, the scenery was very Tolkien and worth fighting the crowds.  The cave is more of a huge sandstone shelf, but impressive nonetheless.

The CCC did some good work here with these charming bridges over the creek and tunnels through the rock on either side of the cave.

A little ways downstream of the cave was supposed to be a waterfall and a swimming hole.  I guess the water dries up at the end of summer.  :(

You can almost imagine the waterfall...

Once we headed further downstream, the crowd thinned out a bit, and you could actually hear some nature.  How cool is this picture?  I love the light coming through the leaves and the huge mossy boulder with the quaint path between the trees.

Some trees' roots were desperately trying to find some soil to grab onto.  Makes you wonder how it came to grow where it did.  Tenacious roots!  Unfortunately, we had a limited time, so our hike was cut short before we reached Cedar Falls and we had to U-turn back to the car.  Might be worth a return though!

Our last dinner in Athens was at Lake Hope Lodge (sorry, no pictures captured!), but no trip to A-town is complete without a stop at Larry's Dawg House, for reasons unknown.

Our last morning in Athens was spent at a familiar playground.

Flashback 3.5 years ago...  Not much changes!  At least with the boy.

But now he has a playmate.  :)

Then it was time to pack up and head back to Cincinnati for our flight the next day. Luckily, some of Oma and Papa's friends lent them their minivan, so we could have moments like this together.  Road trip!

We did have a detour to the Newport Aquarium, which was on the river just across from Cincinnati, in Kentucky.

There were plenty of interesting animals and fish to see, so we spent about two hours taking it all in.  Owen is standing by Mighty Mike, an enormous alligator that was completely submerged and motionless for as long as we stood there ~10 minutes.  Maybe he was fake...

Owen still remembers the spider crabs we saw at an aquarium over two years ago, so he has a soft spot for them, although he thinks they are creepy. I'll agree they are pretty fascinating to watch.

Newport aquarium was very kid-friendly with a few different touch exhibits and a playscape. This wall had jellyfish projected on it that responded to touch.  When H jumped to touch one, it would change direction away from her.  Pretty neat!  I think they could have spent half an hour here jumping and slapping the wall.

The penguins were especially active, darting and zipping through the water.  It looked like they were having a lot more fun than our local penguins do.  I happened to capture these two penguins on either side of Owen.  It seemed like they were looking through the glass for audience reactions to their antics.  So cute!

Our favorite part of the aquarium is usually the shark tunnel, if there is one.  Sure enough, Newport had one!  They even had fish under the tunnel.

Watch out for the sharks, Oma!  Hadley will defend you.

Owen pretending to be a sea turtle before we saw the real one!  The divers were sifting through the sand for something, but they were very friendly to the kids waving to H and fist bumping to O through the glass.  They thought that was pretty cool!

One of the last things was crossing the shark bridge, which is a 75-ft long suspended rope bridge over the shark tank.  It was optional, and Owen was not going to do it, but Hadley was definitely doing it!  She led the way fearlessly, and Owen could not be shown up by his little sis, so the whole family went across.  :)

Afterward, we walked to the Hoffbrauhaus for dinner, where someone drank a personal bucket o' beer.  But I'm not naming names...

Love this moment of my three thirsty companions imbibing together.

Besides drinks, there was lots of delicious German food and love shared.

That was a pretty fast week!  We had a great time. The travel back was smooth; it helps to gain a couple of hours. Our layover in Chicago was apparently even long enough for a little yoga workout. Until next time...