Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!

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Trip start
May 2, 2024
Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
A beautiful day to travel!
May 2, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F
Clear blue skies, 80 degrees. Ready to have some fun! 7 hour drive to Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. As we got closer to the park, and left the interstate behind, the flat Ohio landscape became beautiful rolling farmland. In the distance we could see our destination...the Hocking Hills. It was truly beautiful. The campground is full, but quiet. Friendly neighbors. Tomorrow, we hike!! Thanking God for watching over us as we traveled, and praying the rain holds off tomorrow.Read more
Sprinkling on &off allday ere t9day. [Mama]
5/3/24Reply
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
This man!
May 2, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F
This man makes me laugh. He laughs with me, and almost never at me.... I love our time together when we don't have to talk about work. Today was a sweet day together. This man is so good, in every way. It was good to see him get away from work. As John Muir said..."Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike. ..."Read more
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
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WOW!!! Just WOW!
May 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
Hocking Hills Is AMAZING!!! We hiked 5 trails...6.5 miles. Absolutely beautiful. We were blessed with overcast skies which kept the Temps lower...in the 70s....but no rain!! Friendly people and dogs! One 13 year old dog, Jane, was being carried by her momma in a doggie backpack! Here are pictures from multiple hikesRead more
Traveler Great pics!!
5/9/24Reply
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
Old Man's Cave
May 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
Cedar Falls
May 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
We got our stair climbing in!!
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
Ash Cave
May 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
It's not like they're going to arrest us
May 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 77 °F
....or will they?? They are serious, with good reason, about staying on the trails. Lots of deadly cliffs. Most of the trails are one way, also. DON'T hike the wrong direction! But y'all know I'm a rulebreaker at heart....the struggle was real people!! Lol.Read more
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
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Rock House
May 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F
This was probably the most difficult hike today. Mainly because of the long climb out of the gorge. But I loved this hike (I loved all of them!)
Traveler Yeah...the old bridge is a bit sketch!
5/6/24Reply
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
Cantwell Cliffs
May 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F
This 2 mile hike was supposedly the most difficult and rugged hike in the park. Maybe it's because it was our last hike and we were purposely going slowly to savor it, but it wasn't difficult at all. It starts with a stunner you don't see coming!Read more
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
The Sound of Joy
May 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

The crunch of crushed stone under her hiking boots….

My Lovely's favorite sound.

Isn't it awesome that she has a favorite sound. I think it is Faaaaaaabulous.

We are in Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio (more on Hocking Hills in another post), and we are here for the hiking.

My Lovely is a conservative woman in almost every way, especially in speech. She would not be known as verbose. So this post may come off as a little mean-spirited, but I assure you that it is not intended that way. I could just say she was excited. But it just simply wouldn't do.

My lovely woke up this morning, and well, someone had pulled her string. I was sipping coffee and smiling. I couldn’t even understand what she was saying. After about the fifth utterance – and she still hadn't made out of the bed… and me, I hadn't a clue. I had thoughts of the Tower of Babel.

And then she asked me a question and I understood the question. My Lovely asked, “Honey, do you think we should have caffeinated coffee today?

I love this lady. She brings me so much joy. I love that she was so excited. And she really needed this trip.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. The pebbles under her feet today. Smiles, ooohs and a few aaahs. And a couple of remembrances of hikes with her boys. This is the type of place where the boys would have gone hog wild running about.

We did 5 relatively short hikes in all today. They were chock full of wilderness wonder.

A happy day for My Lovely makes for a happy day for me.

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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
Ohio for Camping???
May 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

How did we end up camping in Ohio? Honestly, I didn’t remember until we actually got here.

So we don't watch regular TV. Quite often we entertain ourselves by watching YouTube videos on camping and hiking. A few months back, we were doing just that when we saw a video on Hocking Hills. We literally booked the trip the same day, based on the video.

Time passed, and I am old. I knew I was excited about the trip, but I honestly did not remember why. I didn't remember what we saw on the video.

And you know, when you think about camping, you think The Great Smokey Mountains, or Yellowstone, or somewhere in The Natural State – Arkansas. Ohio would never cross my mind.

The truth be told, we are just excited about getting out. And, we are going to Indiana to see our nephew Zack. Super stoked about that. So it was going to be good no matter what.

But let me tell you, the video we watched that inspired us to come to Hocking Hills State Park was all about the hiking. Folks, if you like to hike, this is a great place.

The trail maps list the hikes as short, but they budget a lot of time for them. That is because the views are just packed. You just can't see it all. This is awesome.

Ohio for camping.Read more
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
Photos from the Road
May 4, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
I'm still not sure of the correct word to discribe the feeling, but during these drive days, I am taken by the views of Americana. Nothing special really, but growing up in the city then driving from state to state seeing these vast farmlands. Yeah, I know it is silly.

Wholly Pitchfork Batman!! We live in the middle of a cow pasture and I am still awed by all the farmlands we drive through.

We enjoy the small towns, the old clapboard houses, and the small town churches with the bell towers below the steeples - and almost universally, the church bells are long since gone.

We enjoy the drives. We see the scenic views, listen to our music or Amy reads to me. And without fail, we talk of new places we want to go.

Just a few pics from our drive today between Ohio and Indiana. A few sprinkles of rain, and then the sun came out. Pretty farmland and peace.Read more
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
Beautiful Bicycling in Brown County
May 5, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F
We got a relatively early start this morning because we were meeting Zack and Marina at the University of Indiana this afternoon. It was a beautiful day for a ride. A little chilly at first, but not uncomfortable, then the sun came out and we were in the 70s. It's a lovely, hilly park with curvy up and down roads from pretty overlook to pretty overlook. We biked 23 miles today. Lots of other bicyclists too!Read more
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Hocking Hills and Visit Zach!Traveler
It's All About The Love
May 5, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
It's all about the love.

The whole point if this particular trip was to see our nephew Zach. He is at the University of Indiana working on his PhD in chemistry. We are very proud of him.

As a bonus, we got to meet his girlfriend Marina – also working on her PhD. Marina is adorable in every way and they are incredibly cute together.

With luck, Zach will finish his degree in about 6 months and Marina will be about a year behind him.

I love Zach. A young man full of heart. He gave us most of his weekend. We are blessed.

Zach and Marina joined us at camp for dinner both Satuday and Sunday nights, and they showed us some of the campus, including their labs Sunday afternoon.

The campus is beautiful. They have a small forest on campus. Brick walking paths crisscrossing through the mass of “Dunn's Woods" --- the way to get from studying to burgers and wings.

Zach explained what they are working on and told us about some of the equipment. Most of it didn't register in my brain, but it was fun all the same.

They spent several hours telling us about their teaching and their research. And we just ate it all up.

But the best thing they showed us - what touched me - was this hallway in the Chemistry building. It has block walls. And when you get your PhD, you get a block. You sign it and share what you want to share. A block for prosperity. Again, we are proud of him and can't wait to see his block

We taught them to play Rummikub which was fun, but the best thing was watching the two of them interacting together. It was special.Read more
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Trip end
May 6, 2024