Day 2

"We can never have enough of nature."- Henry David Thoreau

Let's see if I'm still thinking that by the last day of this trip, haha!

Today I woke up at 5am because I heard the wind change and thought for sure we were about to get rained on, with all of our tent windows open. Luckily, there was no rain headed our way. For awhile. By the time I woke up for real (7:30) my weather app showed rain in 45 min. With hotels in line for the next few nights, I did not have any desire to pack up wet tents/gear in the rain. Thankfully, the kids are now professionals and we had both tents, all gear, and the car completely repacked and ready to go before the rain hit. 👍

We made our way to Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio - a mere 4.5 hr drive. Once there, we grabbed all of the food we were going to have for breakfast and grilled it up for lunch at the park. Lunch being at 3 with the time change.

We then took a gorgeous hike around Brandywine Falls - about 1.4 miles (not too long). We didn't wander off too much for this one, but if we hike tomorrow, I think that will be on our agenda. The kids were itching to rock climb, despite the warnings not to 😳

After the hike we went to the hotel, where I was informed the pool was down. Devastated kids. Hayden and I snuck off while everyone was showering to go get Frosty's to make up for the lack of a pool. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and cooking dinner - walking tacos per Abel request. Looking like an early evening for all of us, which makes me wonder how much sleeping actually went on last night...

(Here we see Hayden in his natural habitat)

Today's Totals:
$197 - a little much for today, but we booked 2 hotel rooms instead of 1, and this includes toll/gas cost.
335 miles
1 National Park

Today's Song: Talking Heads - "Road to Nowhere", because we all laughed when it came on.

Today's Lessons:
1. When properly motivated, the kids can move fast. I'm storing this for future reference.
2. Even if you can't see a stoplight because of a truck that's in front of you, don't assume the light is green - even if that truck goes through it.
3. Double check the amount of gas left in a tank before cooking.

Tomorrow we should be able to get in a hike - a little bit longer of one, but it sounds promising, assuming the weather will hold out (less promising). We then head to Niagara Falls for a couple of nights - looking forward to it! 🎈