Red River Gorge Hiking Trip

It was the kids' last weekend before school starts, so we went on a hiking trip to Red River Gorge.  We took a lovely picnic of sandwiches, carrot sticks, fruit AND a delicious vegan Triple Berry Lemon Bundt Cake (it was sooooooo good!).  Then we set off on the trail to Gray's Arch.

First of all, let me just say that I am convinced that the distance to Gray's Arch is longer than 1.2 miles, as indicated on the sign at the trail head.  Holy moly.  It's been a long time since I've been to Gray's Arch (20+ years?), but I really don't remember the HUGE wooden staircases descending from the ridge to the base of the arch.  And then it was a pretty difficult climb up the rocks and roots to the arch itself.  Ah well, it was gorgeous day (sunny and not too hot!) and we had a lot of fun.  However, the kids were really whooped by the time we got back to the car.  My thighs were feeling the burn, too.  I kept telling the kids it was character building and that they would look back and remember this experience with fond memories someday, but they weren't buying it.  They just wanted air conditioning and electronics!

To treat everyone after the hike, we headed over to Miguel's Pizza (on the road to Natural Bridge).  We'd never been there before, seeing as we usually just go the Red River Gorge side of Slade, but it was REALLY GOOD.  And super crowded!  I felt so trendy sitting there with all those athletic young hikers. 

Anyhow, it was a really wonderful day and we hope to get our family hiking more often.  Go Kolasas!

It's a bug hunt

Well, my poor feet and legs have had a rough couple of weeks.  I appear to have been bitten several times by a venomous spider (our thoughts are possibly a brown recluse).  I eventually ended up at Urgent Treatment because the main bite appeared to be infected and I just finished a course of antibiotics. The FIRST attack involved a large bite wound area on my shin and several lesser bites on my other foot.  Ouch.  The SECOND attack caused a quarter-sized black-and-blue and very painful spot on the bottom of my big toe.  Double ouch. 

After some thought, we decided that I most likely ran into the evil spider upstairs in Caileigh's room, since both incidents were discovered upon waking up in her bottom bunk  (Yeah, yeah, I know.  We are slowly weaning CK off of having a parent sleep in her room, but she was having terrible night terrors/hysteria at bedtime.  You do what you gotta do.)

In any case, no one is sleeping upstairs right now, until we finish de-spidering the room.  Blargh.

Wish us luck!