We had planned to go to Utah and Idaho this summer and even bought plane tickets back in February, but amid the virus we decided it best that we not go. Our options were limited but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves right here in Kentucky and the near by states. We tried to do a lot of hiking near us.
Tioga Falls
Creekside Loop
Buttermilk Falls & Emmert Falls
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| Bo likes to get as close as possible to Scott while in the car |
Saunders Springs
Mammoth Cave National Park- River Styx Spring Trail
Natural Bridge State Park
It is a two hour drive to this gorgeous state park. The first hike we did was the original natural bridge trail, it was .75 miles, it was a gradual incline, completely shaded with some stairs, and to get on the bridge you had to go through this super narrow spot that was carved out of the rock. The kids thought that was so cool! Once on top of the bridge you can see above all the trees but there was no way you could get a picture of you on top of the bridge from below because of all the trees.
Instead of going the way we came we took a different way down on the Rock Garden Trail, it was 2.5 miles. We were hiking up against all these beautiful rock formations and caves. There were a ton of rhododendron bushes and spider webs in the caves. When we got to the bottom we got our cooler from the pick up and had a picnic on some tables. We had pretzel chips, tuna and cottage cheese, grapes and apples. We refilled our water bottles with extra water we had in the car, took a little rest then headed over to the Skylift.
We saw the Skylift up close as we were coming down on the Rock Garden Trail, and the kids were very curious about it, they have never been on anything like that, so we thought that would be a good break between hikes. The lift took us up across the canyon to a spot where you could see the Natural Bridge we had just hiked from a distance. The lift dropped you off and you had to hike about .25 miles to get to the lookout point.
The lift was so high! I rode up with Ian and he was loving it.
After our rest I wanted to do one more hike, it was only 1:00pm and I strategically picked one that was relatively flat and shady with a waterfall. It was called Whittleton Arch (2.5 miles) and the trailhead was at the back of a campground. The kids were not happy about doing another hike and were kind of complaining a bit, it was kind of muddy in spots. Maddy and Ian were fighting so we had to separate them. Ian saw a snake and he bolted ahead of all of us yelling “snake.” He kept walking but he wouldn't answer our questions until he was able to take a breather for a couple minutes. The rest of us didn't see the one Ian saw, but we were extra cautious after that. Maddy saw one and she was behind Scott and she said, “dad there is a snake right by you” Scott (who was in the front of our line) did this dance, where he ran super fast with high knees in a zigzag pattern. The kids and I were laughing so hard, but really that is what a true survivalist would probably do, especially if it was poisonous but we sure teased him about it. After that comic relief the kids were not fighting or complaining anymore. The end of the trail was a small waterfall with a cave and huge rocks that we had fun exploring. We let the kids soak their feet in the creek before we loaded up to go home. My Fitbit said that we hiked a total of 7.5 miles for the day. 
Click
here for the YouTube version of this trip
Land Between the Lakes & Lost River Cave
For Scott's 41st birthday we decided to take a little trip to Tennessee. We woke up early and drove 2 1/2 hours, found a spot for a picnic, then went to a hike I had researched at home. It was called Honker Trail, and it was 4.5 miles. It started in the forest then went along a lake and we walked through the lake on a place that was built up with rocks and plants.
We heard thunder and walked a little faster, it started to sprinkle but by then we were under a lot of trees and they were keeping us dry. We came to a spot at the lake where we saw a ton of fish jumping! There was a road that led to this spot and Scott thought he could get us back to this place in the truck after our hike and he did! So we fished for about an hour but the fish were not interested in our worms, we saw them jump all over though.
We drove through a bison and elk preserve, it’s 3.5 miles long and for the first 3 miles we only saw two elk, then towards the end we saw over 50 bison in a large herd. There were about 20 babies.
We found a Chicago style restaurant that we ordered take out from and we checked into our hotel and Scott was able to reserve the pool for just our family from 6-7. They were only letting one family in at a time. Score! A pool to ourselves, the kids were in heaven!
The forecast wasn’t looking good for the next day which was going to be our boat day. We decided to make a decision in the morning with the hope that maybe the weather pattern might change and there might be at least a couple hours of no rain.
Nope, we woke up to pouring rain and the forecast was changing hourly. The boat rental place kindly gave us our rental deposit money back. We tried to find indoor things to do in the area but there wasn't much we were interested in. We thought of the Lost Cave which is a boat tour in a cave so we wouldn’t get rained on, but it was far enough away that it wasn’t worth coming back to the hotel we might as well go home after that which the kids were fine with. We had a fun day yesterday so we were still happy we came. The kids were such good sports, we drove two hours and signed up for a tour. It was so cool, at the beginning part, we all had to duck down because between the water and the top of the cave was so narrow! But it opened up into a huge cavern and they had lights so you could see all the formations and stalactites from the ceiling.
To see a YouTube video about our trip click
here
Trying to soak up a couple more trips before school started we went horseback riding just north of Lexington at Whispering Woods Riding Stables. We went on a 1 ½ hour trail ride, our horses names were Meatball, King, Apache, Chief and Hagrid. Ian’s horse was up near the guide, her horse and his horse were besties and she wanted him close to her since he was little and the least experienced. I was in the back, the horses kind of had a pecking order of who likes to be ahead of who. My horse Hagrid was so calm and obedient and I hardly had to direct him at all he just followed the horse in front of him. At one point there was a shallow creek to cross and the guide told us to put the reins in one hand and to hold on to the horn with the other hand because the horses sometimes slip and it can get bumpy. Well, Ian’s horse went up to the creek and stopped, Ian tried to get him to move and the horse leapt over the creek about 6 feet wide! I saw Ian’s head and upper body whip back but he held on and leaned forward when the horse landed. The guide was shocked that his horse Apache did that. She said she has never seen him jump like that. She kept teasing Ian that he did something magical to the horse to make him jump like that.
Cave Country Canoes on the Blue River
We drove over to Indiana, the Blue River was was about 1 ½ hours away, we left at 7:30 so we could get there for our 9:30 reservation. We rented two canoes and one kayak for Rylan. We rode a bus with masks on for about 10 minutes and there were people there to help us get our canoes in the water. The water was so cold, Ian was the only one brave enough to get in and swim. It was so pretty, most of the time the trees were covering us and we were in the shade and the river was moving at a slower pace. There were a couple spots that the water was moving swiftly and there were teeny tiny rapids. It took us about 3 hours to do the seven mile stretch. We saw a lot of turtles perched on logs sticking out of the water. We stopped for about a 20 minute break to have a snack.
Here is a video of our canoe trip!
Even though our big travel plans were cancelled and some of the kids' fun summer camps, we still had a great summer of family fun seeing some local area sites.
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