Cloudland

As promised, here are the pictures from our trip to Cloudland Canyon, which turned out to be a really fun day, even if it was a bit on the chilly side. It was supposed to get to 72 degrees, but I don't think it ever quite made it. It must've been the breeze that kept things cool, because down in the canyon--out of the wind--it was pretty nice. I am so over March. The month is nothing but one big tease, and I've just about had enough. It's frigid outside today, and I am ready to put on a short-sleeve shirt and keep it on for crying out loud!

Anyways, here we are starting our hike. It was a really beautiful place. Everything was *just* starting to bud, and there were mountain laurels everywhere. In about two weeks, the scenery will be outta sight. It was unfortunate that our break was not a tad later so we could've enjoyed that. But they worked it around Easter and it was early, so too bad. I move that Easter be the third Sunday in April every year, like they do Thanksgiving. I see absolutely no reason to continue to base the date on moon cycles and equinoxes and whatnot, and if anyone knows why we should still be using this ancient system, please--enlighten me. Moving on...

The park has a 5-mile rim trail that we obviously skipped, having two preschoolers in tow. But there is also a hike down into the canyon that is only two miles round-trip and leads to two waterfalls. That was great for us, and there were only about five other people in the whole park, so we took it at a kid pace...which was good, because we got to pause and check things out. We explored some caves and overhanging rocks, watched for red-tailed hawks and noticed that the forest was beginning to emerge from winter. There were ferns starting to grow back and I saw lots and lots of toadshade sprouting up, a plant I discovered last year when Luke's mom found one growing in her woods. I had never seen it before, but since researching it, I have seen it everywhere. Anyway, it was in abundance on the canyon floor.


Ben zonked out on the way home. So did Patrick and I. Altogether a very good day. Yesterday Patrick had his first soccer game and dang it--it was freezing of course! But still a great experience. I got pictures from that too. They'll come later. See ya!