Dandelion Days: August 14, 2011

Outdoorsy Fun!

Today, we woke up and decided to take advantage of the high-80's temperatures and go do some hiking at Petit Jean mountain/state park about an hour and a half away. Of course, I ate before we left and we snagged some snacks for Jack on the way. He howled and complained and grumped for about 2/3 of the ride and then he chilled out after we gave him cheese puffs and we only heard the sound of contented crunching from the backseat. At one point, he dropped his Lightning McQueen and ordered Garry: "When I say sit, you sit down! When I say stand, you stand up! When I say go up and down, you jump up and down! Now get my Lightning McQueen!" Haha! It was bossy but cute.

When we first got there, we checked out the scenic overlooks. Jack was totally freaked out by the heights! A lot of places there were no railings and I think he felt like he was going to fly off the side of the mountain. Needless to say, we kept a close watch on him!

We made good time getting to the Cedar Falls trailhead and soon realized that we chose the most strenuous trail on Petit Jean to drag a 4 year old along. Great. The way down was awesome! We saw all kinds of animals -- a few lizards, a baby snake, a snail, bugs, fish, etc. After what felt like forever (a mile and a half of pretty rough terrain), we came to the falls and it was really pretty! It is nestled inside a large bowl-like area with SUPER high rock walls which we had to skirt and slide along to get around to the falls. It was a bit scary but we made it. We walked behind the falls and over to a little shore where Jack promptly stripped off and got in the water. There were other people there with kids and a couple of other groups there as well. The water was SO nice and cool and we all splashed around for a bit before heading back. Then, my blood sugar crashed. >.< I started getting a bit lightheaded and nauseated a mile and a half back in the woods and had an all uphill, over boulders, up rock stairs trip back to the top. I had to stop twice but we made good time on the way back and Jack was GREAT for the whole trip! He had an absolute blast and already wants to do it again! On the way out, we stopped and grabbed some sandwiches and some hand-dipped ice cream and I still ended up losing weight, haha! We are going to have to do this a lot more (but take food so that we are prepared this time). And yes, that first photo is Jack peeing on a tree, lol.