The Great Outdoors

This weekend we took the kids and met Ruth and Ron at Cloudland Canyon State Park just outside of Chattanooga. It was a nice overnight trip. We stayed in their camper so I didn't have to brave the bath house! I hate bath houses! Seriously, they gross me out. I was a little out of my comfort zone all weekend, but it was still fun. By out of my comfort zone, I mean, outside doing outdoorsy types of things. Now, it's not that I don't enjoy being outdoors, I love the great outdoors. I just don't like sweating, bugs, or getting dirty!:) This weekend I did all three. Right after we got to the park on Saturday we set off for a wild flower hike. I love wildflowers and much of what our guide told us was very interesting. It also helped that he had a great sense of humor and kept us laughing the whole time. However, at the beginning of the hike he told us there was just one steep part that he wanted to take us on so that we could look in these caves. Knowing that I had just finished five weeks of Boot Camp, I was feeling seriously prepared for this. And, I thought, "caves, this will be fun!" That's not something you see every day. I'm thinking this is a great adventure, right? The guide, Josh, proceeds to tell us that we need to be very careful because just the day before, a man had slipped/tripped and fallen and split his head open on a rock and bled profusely. My sense of adventure began to dwindle just slightly. Then I saw the steep part and the mud and I began to clumsily slip and slide my way to the top, but he just kept going and going and Lisa was growing more and more nervous. I finally called a halt and decided staying alive was more important to me than seeing a cave. I'm horribly uncoordinated and I just couldn't see risking it. At this point, I should mention that my in-laws who are in the sixties did this climb without missing a beat. I'm a wuss, I know.
We enjoyed the wildflower hike and came back to camp to just hang out and relax. There was a playground right next to the campsite and the kids made new friends and spent most of their time over there. There is nothing like camping to make you completely relaxed. Craig laughs at me because all I want to do when we get out there is sleep.
Sunday morning we got up and hiked down into the canyon to a waterfall. It was very pretty and very intimidating. You feel like a teeny tiny bug when you are standing in the midst of such vastness. You're surrounded by rock and water. The climb back out was quite a workout. There were about a bazillion stairs and, yes, I was sweating and out of breath when I got to the top!
We left the kids there with the grandparents and drove home. What an odd feeling to be in your house with no children and knowing you are going to have that deafening silence for a whole week! I love my children to pieces, but I'm not going to lie - I'm going to enjoy this week of getting to do things that we don't usually get to do. Like clothes shopping with just my husband with no time constraints, grocery shopping without having to constantly yank my kids out of the aisle so that they don't get run over, spring cleaning!!! By the end of the week, I will be crazy with missing them, but in the here and now, I'm going to enjoy a break from reality!