Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Hocking Hills

We went to Hocking Hills this past weekend.  Years ago, Shaun's sister told us about it and thought we'd really like it.. we revisited going there again in 2007 - I have a tourist book from then.. and recently saw an ad in a magazine and hung it on my fridge thinking that THIS time we were GOING!!  and we did!!  I marked the dates on the calendar a few months ago, but didn't book the trip until the morning we were leaving, we stayed at one of the state parks cottages!  We had a great time, the natural beauty was amazing!  We can not believe it took us so long to go to this special place, that is less than 5 hours away!  We will make this a recurring vacation spot for sure!   Here are lots of pictures from our trip!  Enjoy~~~
Shaun and Delaney morning snuggles!
Gwen looking at the forest from our screened in porch.
Yatta!! (I did it!!)
us at ash cave
Delaney touching the walls
I believe Gwen is driving an airplane!  Notice that she still has tennis shoes on..  she can't resist the water!
She ended up asking me if she could go on a bridge.. I said sure!  Didn't realize the bridge was IN the water!
Delaney enjoys the sand
Gwen draws pictures in the sand.. one of them is a dancing kitty!
We took the fun way back - this was a stroller friendly trail (there were two) so we left the stoller and went back the ridge way..  it was a loooong way down, so we kept a good handle on the kids.  Since we didn't realize we were taking this way back we had to carry Delaney, since we left the carrier in the car.  At the end of the trail, a group came behind us and said... it can't be THAT difficult, there's a lady with an infant! HAHA 
Gwen spotted this red mushroom with white spots! A magic shroom!!
hiking to old man's cave!  Gwen got a fox walking stick, which actually made her want to hike even more!!  YES!!

Even Gwen has to duck
Gwen met a friend and once again went in the water (which is against the rules..) how can one resist!?


So much to climb!

A cool stone bridge
This tunnel was completely dark!  
We wore her out!
Shaun needed a break! haha  Actually I told him to pose... 
We had to get back to the state park after old mans cave to do some nature prints!  Gwen did hers on a t-shirt!
All the toys she NEEDED for the trip!  Her barbies jumped up and down when I said they could come too! 
Father's day breakfast in bed!
Gwen coloring her t-shirt
Delaney having a snack before we left the cottage.
We started our hike at Cedar Falls on Sunday morning.. as soon as we got down a bunch of steps, Gwen had to go to the bathroom!  So, they took the shortcut!


Delaney loved to touch the trees and leaves!
One of Gwen's crazy poses!
Look at that big guy!!  
We made it to Cedar Falls!!
More Nummies!!  :)Our last hike was Conkles Hollow.. another stroller friendly path.. the ridge looked really cool here, but also very treacherous.. so we'll save that for another day!  
Delaney snacks while watching her big sis climb!!
Gwen wanted to take a pictures, so I crouched down next to Delaney and naturally she pulled my hair!!
What a great trip!!  We can't wait to go back!!



9 comments:

Danielle said...

Those pictures are gorgeous. Looks like all of you had a great time. I want to go now. I have never heard of Hocking Hills before. I just love Gwens striped shorts.

The Fabulous Ms. Beth said...

Looks like you guys had a blast! :) Hocking hills is awesome, isn't it? It's one of our fave places to visit!

Michelle R said...

Wow Shannon, awesome pics! Glad you all had so much fun!!

k@lakly said...

I am so jealous!!! That looks like a perfect, beautiful, amazing vacation. Makes me want to throw everyone in the car and just go there. I've never heard of it, prob b/c I am in SoCal, but have to say, boy are you LUCKY to have something so majestic in arms reach.
Thanks for sharing!
xxoo

Fireflyforever said...

That is SO gorgeous ... and it looks like you all had an amazing time of it.

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Melissa said...

How fun!!! Now I REALLY want to go! :) Great pics!! I think 5 hours may be a bit to far for Chloe to travel just yet, though. Please let me eknow if you know of any other cool areas like this that are a little closer! :)

NEEDLEWINGS said...

I was just blog hopping and I took notice when you had Hocking Hills on your post. We actually live here! Small world! So glad you got to visit. I guess we take it for granted sometimes, but it truly is a gorgeous place to be.

infant girl clothing said...

amazing photo, i love it, great and happy family. you make me jealous. hehehe