Trip planned by Sarah - part 1

Ideally we all would have liked to wish William a happy birthday in person but because he could not miss school and accommodations in Nashville are difficult right now that just didn't work out but Sarah was off two days and wanted some family time. She planned an incredible long weekend for her family and James and I were welcomed to join in whatever we could/wanted to do. Up to just a few days before I wasn't sure whether my back would let me do a more extensive walk. 

Lately I had felt much better though. James and I had gone for walks and I actually could show16 days with more than 10,000 steps/day in a row. We decided to join the first day Thursday May 13.

We left our houses about the same time to meet at Great Falls National Park in about 2 hours for us in Virginia close to DC. The drive is mostly on I-95 which is notorious for bad traffic but outside of rush hour it was not bad. There is a big parking lot next to the visitor center and a huge picnic area. As it was lunch time that was the first thing we did. Sarah and I had packed picnics. 

Sarah had studied the map and suggested our hike. Excellent choice.

The hike started out with the three fall overlooks. This is # 1.

The photos will not do justice to how beautiful everything was. The overlooks are fun but so many rocks ... irresistible for the boys not to climb on. I was very happy that Dad and Mommy were in charge. Omi would have had a heart attack. And, of course, I had to take great care to be safe climbing those rocks myself. But yes, it was a lot of fun. 

Outlook # 2

Outlook # 3

We watched for quite a while to see what birds we could see. And yes, there were quite a number of different ones. The first photo is my attempt to catch one of the herons. Can you see it standing on the rocks? Might have been a couple who were diving for food and majestically circling around.

Can you see which little place the photo above is in the photo below? I can't believe my phone still could do that close-up so sharp. Wonder whether my expensive Sony could have done that? Have not used it in years.

The three outlooks are close to the visitor center / picnic area. Then the 'real' hike started. 

Looking into a creek from one of the bridges. Oh my... did we count 7 or 9 snakes? A ranger we talked with later told us that these were totally harmless. Well, that's nice to know.

Sarah had linked together two trails which made a nice loop. Back at the visitor center a ranger told us that they boys should become junior rangers. A little paper work ... answering just some questions with letters or drawings. Caleb is pretty good in writing himself. The twins of course needed to dictate to an adult.

Swearing in! Promise to protect nature etc ... Owen told me later he didn't really want to be a junior ranger because he didn't want to have to work. The ranger had added in that they also should keep there rooms clean, ha-ha.

This altogether had been great. An outing highly to recommend. But it was time to leave. We had quite a drive to the place were we had reserved rooms. Very special rooms. Don't miss the next blog!