I know that it has been a couple of weeks, but as usual life has been busy. Life has been so busy that we decided that if we were going to get to enjoy a weekend without him getting called into work, we were going to have to get away. Jonathan found a neat little cabin at Little River Canyon 
right outside of Desoto State Park in Mentone, AL. We drove up on Friday night just bubbling with excitement. It was cold out side and the leaves were at their peak. The children were all bundled up in the back seat with their pillows and blankets, 
and jamming to The Jonas Brothers on the MP3 player. Once we got to Fort Payne the owner said that he would just meet us and we could follow him because we would never find it in the dark. It was about a 20 min. drive curving and going from paved roads, to gravel road, to dirt road. The cabin was so nice and cozy. It had a large fireplace, two king sized beds, a full kitchen, charcoal grill, and Jacuzzi tub! We unloaded the car and went back into town to get some groceries. We went to bed early since we were going to be dong so much walking the next day. Saturday morning I got up and Taylor and I cooked breakfast. We had bacon, link sausage, eggs and homemade blueberry pancakes. I felt as if they would have to roll me around the canyon after that meal. We headed out right on schedule but still not fast enough for Jonathan. We drove around from one scenic overlook, to another, to another. We stopped at one place that had huge boulders everywhere. Tanner talked some man into helping him get on top of the boulders and he had some much fun running from one to another one. Tanner was truly in his element.
right outside of Desoto State Park in Mentone, AL. We drove up on Friday night just bubbling with excitement. It was cold out side and the leaves were at their peak. The children were all bundled up in the back seat with their pillows and blankets, 
and jamming to The Jonas Brothers on the MP3 player. Once we got to Fort Payne the owner said that he would just meet us and we could follow him because we would never find it in the dark. It was about a 20 min. drive curving and going from paved roads, to gravel road, to dirt road. The cabin was so nice and cozy. It had a large fireplace, two king sized beds, a full kitchen, charcoal grill, and Jacuzzi tub! We unloaded the car and went back into town to get some groceries. We went to bed early since we were going to be dong so much walking the next day. Saturday morning I got up and Taylor and I cooked breakfast. We had bacon, link sausage, eggs and homemade blueberry pancakes. I felt as if they would have to roll me around the canyon after that meal. We headed out right on schedule but still not fast enough for Jonathan. We drove around from one scenic overlook, to another, to another. We stopped at one place that had huge boulders everywhere. Tanner talked some man into helping him get on top of the boulders and he had some much fun running from one to another one. Tanner was truly in his element. 
The last overlook that we stopped at had a trail down into the bottom of the canyon. We hiked down this beautiful wide trail with benches about every 1/3 of the way down. The bottom was so beautiful. The kids found out that they could flip rocks over and lizards would run out. Jonathan and I, exhausted from the walk found some big rocks on the side of the river and enjoyed watching the kids. Tanner decided that now was the perfect time to pay his dad back for scaring him during Halloween. He tried to keep his cool as he carried a lizard over to his dad who is slightly afraid of them. Trying to keep a straight face he threw it on Jonathan who took it like a pro. Of course, Taylor follow behind deciding to follow in Tanner's footsteps. Tanner climbed on the rocks and decided to cross the river. He did eventually slid in, but only got his shoes wet. After some other hikers who look fairly serious walked up we thought it best to start the hike back up. I quickly realized why they put benches on the trail. It was to give people break so that they didn't have a heart attack. None of us were prepared for the hike. Finally we made it back to the parking area. We must have looked as rough as we felt because the guy who was walking towards the overlook asked us "You didn't just get back from the overlook did you?". We went into town to eat at Cracker Barrel, the perfect place to eat when you are in the mountains. When we finally got to the cabin that afternoon, Jonathan and I were ready for a nap and the kids were still fired up. Tanner was content to sit and watch Man vs. Wild and I thought this was the perfect time to show Taylor how to make friendship bracelets. The kept them both busy enough that we could take a nap. We got up, drove down to Desoto Falls for a few minutes. We stayed in for the rest of the night. Jonathan grilled us some pork chops and we had baked potatoes. We played Pass the Pigs and Jonathan rolled a double leaning jowler. I have only seen this once before. Then we played Skip-Bo and Tanner ran the table. I was glad to have him as my partner. We got up the next morning and went to Chattanooga to see my brother, sister-in-law and my precious nephew, Gray. We went to the Children's Discovery Museum which was really neat. It was nice to get to spend some time with them. Gray is so sweet. He never cried the whole day. He is just content to sit and look around. We made it home by bed time. It was a relaxing and much needed trip. Now when life is hectic I just look at my pictures of the beautiful trees and take a deep breath. 
That place looks SO pretty! Sounds like you guys had a good time =)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great vacation!
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