42 years!

Tuesday
We have come away to Hocking Hills to celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary! We’re just staying overnight at the Inn at Cedar Falls, the waterfall in the top picture. It was a beautiful morning when we left home at about 9.15, and the sun and predominantly blue skies persisted all day, reaching a high of about 70F (21C)! It was about a two hour drive, so we arrived late morning. We headed first for Old Man’s Cave, thinking we would use the facilities at the Visitor Center, only to find they are building a big new Visitor Center, so we had to make do with porta potties! It was a bit breezy here, so we ate our sandwiches sitting in the car, then set out hiking along the gorge to Cedar Falls, then returned along the rim trail, which takes you up to the dam at Rose Lake, where there were a mass of small toads among a bed of reeds in one corner, and they were making quite a racket! We realized this was the first time we had been during the week, being the first time we have come since Roger retired about this time last year, and it makes such a difference. It is a very popular area, and being only just over an hour from Columbus, the state capital, and two hours from Cincinnati, it can get quite busy on weekends. Today, although we passed several people, it was much quieter and more peaceful. We checked in to our cottage at the Inn at about 4.30, and enjoyed sitting out on the balcony, having a cup of tea and reading until it was time to get ready for dinner.in the dining room at the Inn.