Traveling Interview with Finn

My youngest (11) has grown up traveling. Finn has been to 5 countries and 17 different US states. He doesn’t mind the 6 + hour car rides, the hiking, sleeping in a tent during a rainstorm and helping set up camp. I thought it would be fun to ask him a few travel related questions since he has become such a travel expert. I hope you enjoy his answers as much as I do!

What is your favorite travel memory?

Probably meeting other people and interacting with other people.

What is your least favorite memory?

getting scammed from a taxi driver in Vietnam or the hotel fire in Holbox, Mexico.

What do you do to entertain yourself on a long car ride or plane ride?

annoy people…. haha no looking out of the window, playing with a ball or being on my Nintendo Switch

What country do you want to visit next and Why?

That’s a hard one. I would probably say Paraguay and Brazil because I have lots of family there and you grew up there.

Have you ever met someone on your travels who has inspired you?

Captain Son from Vietnam because of what he experienced during the war as a child.

Of all the places you have been where would you like to go back?

Germany! Or Vietnam…. I would like to go back everywhere

Do you have any travel tips for young kids?

Don’t talk to strangers and don’t goof around at important places.

Do you feel like you learn while traveling?

Yes, the history and about the culture. The difference between my culture and theirs.

Do you prefer the beach or the mountains? Why?

Beach! Because I get altitude sickness in the mountains and the beach is more relaxing.

Which state in the US do you want to visit next?

Colorado, because I want to go skiing.

Three things you must have in your bag?

a ball, phone and water.

Last question…. who is your favorite person to travel with?

Mom!

Good answer!

3 Lakes Trip - Vermont - Part 4

Let me start out by saying: Vermont, has been forever on my bucket list.

When we originally started planning this trip and looked on the map I realized we would be only a few hours away from my friend’s lake cabin.

I met this friend 7-8 year ago on an online photography workshop. We, and many more from the workshop have kept in touch and met up a few times over the years.

She invited us with open arms and we couldn’t have been more excited about going!

We left Lake Placid from the swimming hole, stopped one more time at our favorite pizza place… Johnny’s Pizza and drove to Vermont.

Vermont doesn’t have many highways so most of our drive was on country roads. Usually we just want t get to a place but we loved that change in pace and Vermont is so gorgeous that it made the drive by go so fast!

Plus, the boys slept most of the way (a very rare occasion these days)!

We arrived at Maidstone Lake and felt welcome from the second we got out of the car! We received a warm welcome and a tour of camp.

Our plan for the weekend was to relax, relax and relax. The kids were free to do what they wanted to do. They went swimming, fishing, played pool, watched TV, learned all about throwing knives, played with other kids, got to drive the Pontoon boat etc. etc.…  Scot and I just sat back and relaxed… did I mention relaxing yet?

Saturday, Scot and I went into a nearby town and bought everything to make Schnitzel and German potato salad as a thank you.

We were treated to a really fun scavenger hunt that led us into a cave to find the missing puzzle piece.

After a very adventurous trip, camp at Maidstone Lake was exactly was we needed!

Sadly, we had to leave after just two nights. We had a 16-hour drive ahead of us which is even a lot for us! We stopped for the night near Utica and the next morning I surprised the boys with a stop at Walmart for a DVD player. We had 9 more hours to go that day and the cheap DVD player + Redbox movies got us through that.

We also made sure to stop on our way home in Vermont at a small road side market to buy lots of Maple Syrup.

We will never forget Maidstone Lake and our friends there… the boys are already planning a trip back and I am sure we will be back soon!

Sadly this was the end of our 2017 Summer Road Trip.

You can click here to read about PART 1, PART 2, and PART 3 of our trip!

3 Lakes Trip - Saranac Lake - Part 3

We woke up to our second morning at Saranac Lake to sunshine again! Our friends made a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausages. We sat around the table for some time and talked before making sandwiches for lunch again. Today we would kayak across Middle Saranac Lake and hike (climb) Ampersand Mountain!

From Alltrails.com: "Ampersand Mountain Trail is a 4.9 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Saranac Lake, New York that features beautiful wild flowers and is only recommended for very experienced adventurers. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from June until March. Dogs are also able to use this trail."

DISTANCE                   ELEVATION GAIN

4.9 miles                      1811 feet

"Only recommended for very experienced adventurers" never mind that we had a 4, 6 and 7 year old with us, but they had great practice playing adventurers at the campsite all day!

No photos from the paddle across the lake because of strong headwinds but I do have this short go pro video!

note the squashed mosquito on the page, which was a good indication how the first part of the trip went

The hike started out very easy, nothing more than a walk through the woods, and a little buggy but turned into a serious hike soon after and all the way up the mountain. It was a tough hike for myself and the only reason I made it, was watching 4 year old Isaac climbing up the mountain!

Let me tell you about a huge misconception about my kids... someone recently asked me "can you give me a list of your kids favorite hiking trails in Cincinnati" the truth is, there are non! My kids don't have favorite hiking trails because they don't like hiking! They do love an adventure though and that usually gets them through the hike! The first mile on the hike, I had one kid actually in tears crying "I hate hiking". He soon came to me and apologized because he realized how cool of an hike this was AND he beat us up and down the mountain. If I would give my kids the option of staying comfortable in our living room, campsite etc or go on a hike... they would always choose to be comfortable at home BUT I give them an extra push and they are always (seriously ALWAYS) glad they came a long!   well an extra push and a big bag of Swedish Fish in my pocket got them through!

On top of the mountain we were greeted with amazing views of the Adirondacks and some astronaut ice cream from our friend Matt! We explored the summit for a little bit, took a lot of photographs, and made sure kids didn't tumble down the mountain.

The pictures below you can see how far we paddled/ hiked that day! The first picture is from the summit of Ampersand Mountain (3,353 ft) and you can see our campsite (arrow) below! The second picture is of Jake at our campsite pointing up to Ampersand Mountain.

The way back down was tough!!! Apparently not for the big boys and Finn, all 3 of them just ran down the mountain and met us at the trail head! Isaac had a tough time and eventually fell asleep being carried by his Dad... Fireman's Carry Style! The paddle across the lake was not to bad but we did fight some headwind again!

We spent the evening around the campfire. The big boys, Ian and Jake, made dinner for us. Kielbasa & Jambalaya, I posted the quick recipe HERE! This was probably our favorite dinner of the trip. And we finished our Family Olympic Day events! You ask what Family Olympic Day is?

Scroll up, the second picture of our post you can see our home made trophy! We played about 10 games throughout the trip. The Roberts Family against the McGill Gamily. The winner gets to keep the trophy BUT needs to display it on their mantle at home for the year! Some of the games were (and we had funny names for them), who sets up their tent the fastest, who gathers the most firewood, who tells the spookiest camp fire story, who has the most mosquito bites, who catches the first fish etc. The other rule was that next year we are battling for the trophy again and the winning family has to come up with the games. The Robert's won but the McGill's are going to fight hard next summer and win it back!!!

The big boys (and Dad's) also played who can pull out the biggest rock out of the lake. Jake won and since no one caught a fish we counted the rock as the "catch of the day". Jake won us that game! Finn had such a bad allergic reaction to mosquito bites and required Benedryl that we decided we don't even need to count bug bites that he would win that game as well!

The next morning was sadly our last... we cooked breakfast and started packing up the campsite. It was a little bittersweet. We all would have loved to stay longer but we (the Mom's more than anyone) were really looking forward to a hot shower and a real bed! We will be back though Saranac Lake! 

Next stop was Lake Placid (hotel) and introducing the Robert's to our favorite pizza and swimming hole before we went on separate ways again! It was hard to say good bye but all good things have to come to an end... and next stop for us was VERMONT!!!

You can click here to read about PART 1, PART 2, and PART 4 of our trip!

UPDATE! and about 7 months later I finally put together a small video from our go pro footage. Enjoy!

3 Lakes Trip - Saranac Lake - Part 2

We met up with friends from back home in Saranac Lake. It was raining hard that day and I must have checked the weather forecast every 20 minutes... you know just in case the 4 day weather forecast of rain and thunderstorm will change to sunny and dry just because I checked! 

We had a quick lunch, purchased a few last minute items at Aldi and headed to the lake. Changed into our rain gear, unloaded kayaks and loaded them with our gear. One last prayer for our safety and a break in the rain, shuttling the trailer to a different parking lot, going back to that parking lot because of a forgotten life jacket and then getting pulled over and we were finally off. 4 adults, 5 kids, 1 canoe, 1 tandem kayak, and 3 single kayaks plus a lot of gear!

As soon as we started paddling, the rain stopped. Hallelujah! We arrived at our campsite, had enough time to unload the gear from the kayaks, set up camp, and started dinner.... and then the rain came again. And it rained, and rained and rained. The kids were all wet and cold.  The mosquitos seemed to all know that we were trapped under the tarp and they had a feast... We ate dinner (chili that we made at home, froze and reheated on our camp stove), quickly cleaned up and went to bed before 9pm. We felt defeated, especially with the forecast looking so grim.

It rained hard all night long! We woke up to clouds and soon after the sun came out! And the sun stayed out, no more rain for the rest of out stay!!! 

We made breakfast (eggs, bacon and sausages) and just hung around the campsite for a few hours. The little kids played "adventurers" in the woods, jumping from rock to rock looking to find paradise! The big kids (and the Dads) had a lot of fun gathering firewood (slim pickings and everything was soaked) and cutting down dead trees with a small hatchet.

After a few hours of just hanging out we packed up sandwiches for lunch and left to explore the lake with the kayaks. Our destination was the other side of the lake, paddle up Saranac River and kayak through the locks. We did this last year and loved it. You can read about it HERE.

It's about a 3 mile paddle (maybe a little more) to the other side of the lake and up to Saranac Lake. We went through the lock and kayaked a little bit further down the river. We stopped and we all floated down the river together while having lunch. On the way we saw a beaver dam, lots of loons, ducks and even otters! 

On our way back through the lock we decided to stop and stretch our legs. The lock operator let the kids help operate the locks and explained how everything worked.

On our way back to the campsite we stopped at a few unoccupied campsites to look for firewood. We really lucked out at one site (thank you #66) and brought a bunch of firewood home. We ended the night with some dinner (Hobo packs) and S'mores. 

Part 2 or Saranac Lake will come soon! I have a feeling this is getting a little to long! 

You can click here to read about PART 1, PART 3 & PART 4 of our trip!

3 Lakes Trip - Dog Lake - Part 1

Our last summer road trip took us to Dog Lake in Ontario, Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks and Maidstone Lake in Vermont.

How come these three lakes you ask?

We visited Dog Lake and Saranac Lake last year. Saranac Lake was especially amazing as we kayak camped on an island (yes we kayaked all of our gear and ourselves to an island and spent a few nights there). Friends of ours asked us if we wanted to come this year with them to Saranac Lake as they loved our pictures so much. So we started planning our trip.

Dog Lake we went last year too but we were so upset because it was only one night and we loved it so much. During our stay at the cottage at Dog Lake last year I took some pictures and the owner asked me if she could use them for her website. In return she gave me a major discount for any future stays. With only a few hours away from Saranac Lake we knew we would have to take advantage of that.

And the third lake… Maidstone Lake. We have never been but heard about this amazing place from a dear friend who has had a cabin on the lake for decades. In fact, even her grandparents have had a cabin at Maidstone Lake. I have always wanted to visit Maidstone Lake and realized it was “only” five hours from Saranac Lake.

This is how our big road trip of the year came to life. Three Lakes, three totally different reasons on why to be there.

I am going to blog this trip in 3 blog posts, one post for each lake.

Dog Lake in Ontario.

Our boys spent two weeks with my mom in Ontario and when we picked them up we stayed another 2 days with my mom and then headed north to the cabin at Dog Lake near Battersea. I found this cabin via AirBnB last year you can read about our last stay HERE and HERE is the listing on AirBnB.

There are three different cabins, hence the name, Three Little Cottages, and we stayed in a different one than last year. Just like last year, the cabin is the perfect size for us and has everything we need. We love the screened in porch, the adjoining farm where we purchased fresh greens for a salad, and a dock to swim, fish and kayak from.

Just like last year, the boys made quickly friends with the kids in the cabin next door. This time three girls (two of them the same age as Finn & Jake) and the first time I ever saw the kids brush their hair and teeth without being asked! Haha

We did a whole lot of nothing at Dog Lake. A lot of fishing, a lot of kayaking, swimming, bird watching, playing soccer with the girls next door, bonfires and marshmallows, walks on the farm, coffee in the morning on the porch… it.was.perfect. Just what we needed!

A couple of fun memories include:

On an evening walk we noticed a few of the chickens got out and with the owners not being around we tried to catch them and put them back. While running around, Scot was making fun on how much these chickens are worth (he was making up a rare breed) and if we don’t catch them we would have to pay for them and our trip would be ruined… “So catch these chickens!” I couldn’t stop laughing, the whole thing was just to hilarious.

Taking out the kayak on my own and coming across some strong headwind and then also being stuck in a blanket of seaweed that would totally stop my kayak in its track. I fought hard to get back to the dock that day but it was so awesome to be all on my own out on the water.

Seeing a beaver swim by. (No Photo <cry>)

Seeing a full double rainbow! My camera battery died after I took a few pictures and before the second rainbow became visible BUT it was there and I will never forget it.

Having smores with the family next door and just being so happy for their friendship even though we have never met before!

Eating Buttertarts at a small grocery story and washing them down with a small carton of milk.

Dog Lake we will be back! Next time even longer! 

Scot's favorite part: Meeting family next door who were Chinese who immigrated to Ottawa.

Jake's favorite part: kayaking and fishing

Finn's favorite part: playing soccer with the girls next door.

My favorite part: sitting early morning on the porch with Scot. It was so cold and we were bundled up in a blanket, sipping our coffee and watching the sunrise.

You can click here to read about PART 2,  PART 3 and PART 4 of our trip!

Backpacking in Grayson Highlands State Park

For my 38th birthday my boys asked me what I wanted and it only took me a few seconds to say "I want to go backpacking at Grayson Highlands State Park"

With only a few days to go, I booked hotel stays (for before and after the hike), planned our meals, purchased a few last things and packed our bags.

But with thunderstorms in the forecast and my husband spraining his ankle the night before, I almost cancelled the trip.

I texted a friend about my worries and she replied "You don't know, this might be the best trip of your life" and I thought to myself "Damn, I want to find out if it's the best trip of my life" and so we left... I made back up plans just in case we couldn't hike due to thunderstorms but we (minus my injured husband) decided to go anyways.

We stayed the night before our hike in the small town of Abingdon Virginia. Definitely a place I would like to go back one day. Very charming town and the kids and I ate at the Bone Fire Smokehouse and decided that this was one of the best meals we had in a very long time. If you ever go, you have to try the Cornbread Fritters.... yum! You will thank me later!

We set our alarm at 5:30 am for the next day (my birthday). We quickly checked out of the hotel and made the one hour drive to Grayson Highlands State Park.

We registered as backpackers, checked the weather forecast one more time at the Ranger station (50% chance for a thunderstorm in the afternoon) and left on our hike.

I think Jake (my oldest) was still hoping for our plans to be cancelled because of thunderstorms but he strapped his backpack on anyways without complaining.

A few friends asked what the boys each carried in their backpacks. Each boy carried his sleeping bag, sleeping pad and water. In addition to this Jake carried most of our clothes (rain gear/ thermal pants and a long sleeve shirt) and I carried my sleeping bag/ pad, tent, food and cooking gear. I nicknamed my bag The Beast because it was sooooo heavy!

We decided on a 12-13 mile loop that uses mostly the Appalachian Trail. We brought a water filter with us because the map indicated 4 water springs to fill our bottles along the way. To make it easier on the boys I divided our trail into small sections and we would only concentrate on making it to one section at the time. For example our first longer stop was the Wise Shelter (about 3 miles in) We ate lunch there, played UNO and hung out for a good 2 hours. In between I broke up the trail in miles... for every mile we hiked I had a small zip lock bag for the boys with a few candies. They looked forward to treat (and break) and the little bit of sugar gave them the boost to conquer the next mile!

At about 6pm we looked for a campsite and found a wonderful one the top of the ridge with gorgeous views and a spring only a short hike near by.

We were surprised to run into so many steers grazing on the ridge and they all seemed to be very curious about our tent. We found out quickly though that they left us mostly alone and were no thread whatsoever (though they looked scary with their long horns).

We made a quick dinner with the jet boil (Ramen noodles for Finn and I and mac n cheese for Jake). The boys were asleep by 7:30pm and I enjoyed the rest of my birthday sitting outside of the tent with a tiny bottle of Fig Vodka I got from a friend and watched the sunset and wild ponies. It was truly amazing!

I joined the boys at about 10pm and even though I went to sleep quickly, I woke up soon after to one of the scariest nights of my life. Even though we lucked out with the weather during the day at night was a raging storm. The wind and rain was just unbelievable. I was just waiting for our little tents poles to snap. At some points the wind was so hard (AND loud) that the top of the tent was pushed all the way down on top of us just to spring back up a second later and back down. That night I slept from 6am to about 7am. It was a very long night and I was extremely worried. We had no cell phone reception, no one near us and only this little tent that was keeping us safe and dry.

After we woke up, and we assessed what was going on outside (extreme fog, a little windy still but all over really eerie). We ate breakfast in the tent (UGH I wish I could get my kids to eat oatmeal on camping trips!) pop tarts, a few powdered donuts (that I brought as a surprise) and some granola bars. Finn and I hiked down to the spring and filtered some water while Jake stayed behind and packed up everything inside the tent. We packed up the tent quickly even though it was still wet and left for our hike. We had about 5 1/2 miles left to hike.

The first 1 1/2 mile was rough. I tried to stay positive but inside I just wanted to cry. Almost no sleep, the trail just went uphill on loose gravel and it was still foggy and a little windy out. Every time we went around a bend the trail just kept continuing up, and up and up. We finally made it 1 1/2 miles to the fork in the trail and we decided to take a break. Our tanks were on empty and we just felt defeated. This is where things changed. We sat on a rock in the middle of this intersection of 4 trails. We haven't seen anyone since about 5pm the evening before. After resting a few minutes on this rock (in still heavy fog) this couple stepped out from another trail who we met the day before. We were all excited to see each other (it also made me feel a bit safer) and we swapped stories from our crazy night. This seemed to really lighten the kids mood a bit. Soon after that yet another hiker stepped out in the middle of the trail (who is hiking a large section of the Appalachian Trail) and he was so good at encouraging and motivating the boys. (It all seemed a little staged like a play with characters stepping in and out of the stage). They all left and we packed up our bags again and decided that we all feel much better and we can continue on! I walked about 3 steps when I heard from deep inside my backpack a familiar BING! My phone!!! We didn't have reception since we left the hotel the morning before and no way of letting my husband know of how we are doing! We quickly got the phone out and (what seemed) a million birthday greetings popped up on my screen but we ignored them and dialed my husbands number. It was soooo good to talk to him and tell him about all of our adventures. He gave the boys and I the last little boost we needed to know that YES we can do this! Hearing his voice was just what we needed.

We kept going, the trail changed from loose gravel to boulders and got a lot more interesting. The fog lifted and the sun came out (and with that our rain gear went back into our packs) and we slowly started to come across more and more people. We still took many breaks, saw a lot more wild ponies. Had an amazing lunch under a tree and we knew we would be back to our car soon!

At about 2:30pm we finally arrived at our car! We were so excited! I promised the kids a bottle of Mountain Dew (hey whatever it takes to keep them moving), we got that from the Ranger station and off we went to our hotel about an hour away in Wythesville Virginia. I was so jealous of the kids being able to doze off and listen to their I pods while I still had to drive.

Before we left Cincinnati, I bought a bag of Epsom salt to soak in. So at the hotel we all took turns taking a long hot bath soaking our sore muscles! We were extremely proud of ourselves and talked about future backpacking adventures!

A few other things that happened on the trail that I didn't mention but want to remember are:

After dinner, sitting outside of the tent, cuddling Finn before he went to sleep he says to me: You know, out of 600 moms you are probably the only one to take us on such a crazy and cool adventure.

When we first came across the cattle of steer we had to hike through them. Finn and Jake counted over 40 steer and we were super nervous. We all held hands and took a deep breath and marched right through them.

Sitting outside of the shelter and playing UNO when we heard this loud neigh from a horse right behind us! It scared us so hard we almost fell over laughing!

Finn arguing that the white animal far in the distance is not a steer (or bull) but a pony. He got so mad at us but then all of a sudden his facial expression dramatically changed when he realized it was indeed a steer and he has about 40 friends with him.

Meeting the dog Skylar and her owner telling us that she doesn't want to hike anymore (Just like my kids). we had a good snuggle with her for a while!

We hiked 13 miles in 2 days. Highest elevation was around 5,600 feet. Check out the video we made below:

and to answer my own question from the top of this post... yes this was one of the best trips I ever taken in my life!

Ohio Road Trip - Part 2 - Cuyahoga Valley & Put-in-Bay - Travel Photography

We got up early in our teepee and prepared breakfast. Oatmeal and fresh fruit, for Scot and I (I wish I could get my kids to eat Oatmeal) and Fruit and Pop tarts for the boys. We packed up and headed towards Canton Ohio to visit the First Ladies National Site. Canton really surprised us with its charm and how clean everything looked. Definitely a place we would like to explore in the future some more.

The First Ladies National Site was a lot more interesting than we thought and we really enjoyed the tour of the President McKinley's home. Finn completed another Junior Ranger Program and the tour lady gave us a great recommendation to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

Bender's dates back to 1902 and the boys thought it was really interesting that there used to be separate sections and entrances for men and women.

After lunch we hit the road for Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio's only National Park. This is another place that we will have to come for a separate trip! We visited the Brandywine Falls, Finn did ANOTHER Junior Ranger Program, we heard about the history of the park from a Ranger and we visited the old Erie canal and just walked around the little towns and shops.

Not sure what Jake is doing in the above picture, but I am sure he is telling me a joke and is very animated doing so!

We settled into our hotel and were surprised when the hotel management offered us a free waffle and ice cream bar! We called that dinner (ha!) and had a great nights sleep.

We got up the next day and headed towards Put-In-Bay. Our last stop on this whirlwind Ohio Tour. I love that Scot is more than happy to make u -turns for me to photograph interesting signs. These were my favorite from the trip.

We decided to take our car over to the island, which we probably wouldn't do again. The ferry ride is always very exciting for the boys! We arrived on the island and headed straight away to Perry's Monument. A very kind ranger gave us an amazing talk about the history and why Perry is such an amazing guy. He really was into it and the boys were fascinated by the talk! Since then the phrase "Don't give up the ship" has been used on an almost daily basis! Finn of course finished another Ranger program - his 4th in 3 days! We ate lunch somewhere on Put-In-Bay and afterwards rented a golf cart to really explore the island.

The Mayflies were everywhere on the island and as annoying as it can be we were told its a sign how good the water quality is around in the area and if they weren't there it would be a sign that there was a problem with the water.

Unfortunately, the Monument itself was closed due to construction. Bummer!

The golf cart was a great idea and we just drove all around the island and stopped wherever we felt like it. We came across an amazing estate sale and we all got to buy something. Scot bought a beautiful set of Rookwood Bookends, Jake bought a vintage fishing net, Finn a backscratcher and I bought a box full of vintage boys bowties.

After a full day of exploring the island, we got back on the ferry and headed back home to Cincinnati (a quick stop at Kewpee's Burger in Lima was a must!) and this completed a really, really quick trip all around Ohio. Even though short, this trip showed us how beautiful our home state is and we now have a bunch more places we want to revisit and spend more time.

aWhat is your favorite spot in Ohio? I can't wait to explore the Hocking Hills are some more!

Ohio Road Trip - Part 1 - Travel Photography

WARNING lots and lots of pictures!!!

I used to say things like "Ohio is flat like a board" or "I wouldn't want to live anywhere in Ohio except for Cincinnati". Looking at a map though, I realized that I really haven't seen much of Ohio except for I-75. We decided that we needed to change that and so we left on our Ohio road trip.

I really didn't plan this trip like I plan other trips. I only had two nights/ three days for this trip and not much time to plan anything. Checking Pinterest brought a ton of ideas but what we really wanted to see where these three main things: Hocking Hills, Cuyahoga Valley and Put-In-Bay. We have been to Put-in-Bay but that was 13 years ago and without kids. Or other main goal was for the kids to collect more National Park Passports. See more about that HERE

Checking our National Park map we decided we would also add Hopewell Culture and First Ladies in Canton to our trip.

We left in the morning and our first stop was Hopewell Culture Historical Site in Chillicothe.  

As soon as we arrived we were invited to join a Atlatl demonstration. We never even heard of an atlatl (Have you?) and to hear about it's history and get to use one was an amazing start to this trip!

Afterwards we checked out the Indian mounds, learned about the history and Finn finished up his first Junior Ranger Program of the trip!

These pictures below crack me up... very typical if I try to take a picture and Finn is not the center of the universe (or the picture!)

From the Hopewell Culture we headed out towards Hocking Hills. Like on many trips (SEE HERE) we had to make a U-turn and save a turtle from it's looming death. We decided on Old Mans Cave for our first stop in Hocking Hills. But not before a quick lunch break with Spam sadwiches in the parking lot. Haha

It rained that morning and all the colors were so vibrant plus the waterfall was really strong!

We loved the stone bridges and all the little tunnels and caves so much we spent quiet a bit of time there.

We left Hocking Hills to head towards our tee pee we booked for the night near Logan, Ohio. It's only a short drive (maybe 25 minutes) and we checked out Logan Lake on the way. Another tip for road trips is that whenever you see a fruit stand.... STOP! We always buy something for a snack and talk to the locals about events or other things happening in the area!

We arrived at our tee pee mid afternoon. Set up camp and relaxed for a little bit. Our tee pee was next to this pond and as cute and entertaining it was for the kids during the day... at night it was LOUD! At some points during the night, I seriously thought there was a donkey in our tee pee. It was that LOUD! haha

After we settled in and relaxed we decided to head over to Rockhouse and take a (very) small hike there.

Rockhouse was really amazing and except for the million steps going up and down it was a relatively easy hike.

Back at the tee pee we fixed dinner... a family favorite and such an easy meal to make on a camping trip. Only three ingredients: Jambalaya Rice Mix, Crushed Tomatoes and Kielbasa.

We ended the night with a serious talk about behavior and expectations we have from the kids and settled in our tee pee.

My highlight of the day: driving down the winding roads towards Hocking Hills and realizing how stunning Ohio really is!

The kids highlight of the day: Throwing the Atlatl.

Scot's highlight of the day: learning about the Indian mounds.

Have you been to Hocking Hills? We can't wait to go back as there is so much more to do and see!