Jonathan is a hiker.


I love hiking. I love to go out into the woods and follow a trail for miles. I love the quiet, where you can hear birds singing and breeze rustling through the trees. I love the smell of pine trees. I love the solitude.



And now Jonathan has joined the ranks of those who love hiking.



While we were on vacation, we spent time in the Hocking Hills area, where the best thing to do is hike. One afternoon we started out on the trail to Cedar Falls (which the lack of rain has reduced to Cedar Trickle). That was a nice little hike, but we decided that we would like to go to Old Man's Cave. Jonathan had thoroughly enjoyed Ash Cave earlier in the week, so it sounded like a good destination.


So at the crossroads, Tara took Andrew back up to the car while Jonathan and I hiked on. Although some of the hiking included me carrying him on my shoulders, we had a blast. Jonathan loved playing, pretending to feed animals (mostly birds and fish, though he fed "snakes" as well). He also played his favorite Cow Finds a Friend game (I get to be the cow, and he gets to be the skunk) and the Tiger Can't Sleep game (mostly he is the tiger and I get to be the little boy).



We saw a deer up close, we got to go over bridges, we got to climb on rocks and roots, and we got to go through a tunnel. It was a lot of fun, and Jonathan loved it.


We were out hiking for three hours, and after that, we went into Logan to find something to eat. We ended up at the Spotted Owl Cafe, where we had a very good dining experience. The boys split a huge blueberry waffle (Andrew ate the lion's portion), Tara had the hummus plate - surprisingly delicious hummus! and I had the pulled pork BBQ sandwich. It was on some kind of pretzel bread, and it really hit the spot, as did the root beer in a frosty mug.

And, as you can probably imagine, it wore the boys out. Completely.