The Great Outdoors!

Happy 4th of July Everyone! Hope you all had a great day. I know we did.

Normally, my hubby has to work on the 4th and so we do nothing more than a BBQ in the evening and go watch fireworks. This year we were lucky. Since it fell on a Saturday, it was his day off and we finally got to do something fun for the holiday-we spent it in the great outdoors. We were so happy that the weather was good so we wouldn't have to cancel.When I was little, my family had a tradition every Memorial Day. We would get together with lots of friends to go hike Devil's Head. I remember how fun it was and I have always wanted to do that with my kids. For the past several years, I have tried to do that during the summer but we have never gotten up there. Until now! It was just how I remembered oh so many years ago. And they even still give out squirrel cards for making it to the top. We were lucky because the ranger headed down just after we finished looking around up there. I would have hated to hike all that way and not get anything to show for it. For those who don't know the hike, it is a 1.4 mile hike up to an old fire tower that was built on top of a rock back in 1912ish. It was one of 7 that were built to keep an eye out for forest fires. This one is the only one left that still is active. After taking the difficult hike up, you have to climb 143 stairs straight up to get to the ranger station above the tree line. It has a 360 degree view and it is breathtaking. We made it up there just in time for the clouds to roll in. But to our surprise, they rolled out just as fast. We couldn't believe how fast they were moving. So some of the pictures I have are of the clouds plus the scenery. It was gorgeous up there and it sure brought back a lot of memories. I was joking that the ranger was so old that was there, that he probably was the same one that gave me my first squirrel card 30 some odd years ago.

Of course, the walk down was really easy and fun as we played along the way. Once down, we broke out the lunch for a picnic near the creek. It was nice and peaceful and very green. It should be for all the rain we have gotten this summer. After we packed up, we went geocaching. It is so fun that there is never a time that we go hiking anymore without our GPS. There were 3 that we looked for--one was not there anymore we suspected, the other one we found, and the last one was a mile hike each way from the road and we were too tired to make the trip. So we took the scenic route home over a major dirt bike and ATV ridin' road. We were glad we were not in the van as my hubby thinks we would have been high centered on most of those bumps. It was tons of fun even though it took us longer to get home that way. By the time we hit town, it was pouring rain. Thank goodness it waited for us to be on pavement.Anyway, we all had a blast. The kids liked it so much that they want to make it an annual thing. So I guess it will be tradition, just like when I was a child. I love it! Who wants to come with us next time????

Side Note: At the top, there were literally thousands of lady bugs in the crevices of the rocks. It was so cool looking and K had a blast collecting them. I think she liked that better than anything else up there. It was amazing how many there were-never seen anything like it.







Below are some pictures I took during the day. I took M's camera for the day as mine is broken, so I was having fun getting close ups. Not bad for a camera that fits in your pocket, eh?!