Memorial Day Adventures Part II

I bet you were wondering all night if we ever made it to the Little Grand Canyon, didn't you?  You were just hanging on by the seat of your pants...ha.  If you are reading this and didn't catch Part I, you may want to go back a day and read it first.  You know I get a little wordy sometimes, so I decided to make two posts out of our fun-filled Memorial Day Adventures.

We had just finished a little pit stop on a bench and headed onward.  Lane and I decided to take the lead and figured out it was much easier to run down the hilly trail then walk and hold yourself back...so we did.  Jay and Madolyn walked.  They are the weak ones...haha...actually they both have ankle issues and Madolyn needed to be careful with her ankle.  We had just topped a little hill on the trail when I could see what looked like a humongous mountain of rock, but it was hard to see it from this angle...Lane and I moved ahead to a look-out and that was it.  There was a nice railing and a small bench and a ledge that was very wooded obstructing view from almost any angle.  I had a better view of that rock up the hill a bit.  We were so disappointed.  How could THIS be what we came to see?  It was pitiful.  And I felt really bad for the lady in the super cute flip-flops!  The trail continued to the right and downward and we thought, why not? 

Jay kept telling me he had seen a picture online and this was not it.  There had to be more, but what a disappointment to the folks wanting to taking the 'easy' trail and see something beautiful.  So there's a tip for you...if you want a leisurely walk through the woods on a nicely maintained path, there you go (and you may want to come at a different season of the year).  If you want to see what they call the Little Grand Canyon, you better get some good shoes on and continue on into the great unknown...which is what we did.  I was suddenly thankful I had brought along the water bottle.

 As the trail progressed, it was evident why this was the moderate or difficult part of the trail.  Wow.  I'm glad I'm young (yes, hush) because I was having plenty of trouble, I can only imagine how it would feel if I was out of shape (oh, who am I kidding, I was dying.)  The kids were great.  They complained a few times, but their comments were very similar to ones floating through my mind so I didn't get after them.  We just forged ahead...and finally, we came to something that looked like something neat...and started crawling around on rocks.  I must say it was beautiful.

It was at about this point that somehow, although I was standing completely still (basically) I slipped and fell flat on my butt.  I was so scared for a split second.   I thought my right wrist was going to snap in two, which I threw down to break my fall.  Ugh.  Thankfully, it didn't break.  That would not go over so well with work, you know.  But it did scare me into being much more careful and watching my kids like a hawk!  The rock had some moisture on it which made it pretty slippery.  I know the pictures just don't capture the enormity of the rocks at all, but I did my best.

The picture to the right is of a waterfall (only minus the water) and I bet it is absolutely beautiful when the water is flowing freely.  I hear this place is beautiful in the spring as long as there isn't a bunch of water.  If there had been a lot of water, it would have been tricky to maneuver around safely.

I'm telling you by the time we started back towards home base, we were pooped.  I was feeling pretty good until we started the uphill climb.  It was exhausting.  There wasn't anything difficult about it except it was all uphill.  The light at the end of the tunnel was knowing we were nearing the finish line! 

On our way up, we met an older couple taking a break on their way down.  They were smoking.  Honestly, I can't understand how anyone enjoys smoking, but besides that, how on earth could they make that trek with smoker lungs?!  They asked us how much further it was, etc, we (as kind as possible) encouraged them to turn around.  They were making comments about how they had hills like this where they lived and it was nothing...Well, that may be true from what they had seen so far, but they hadn't had a glimpse of the real beauty hidden at the bottom...and their number one concern, rattlesnakes...which, up to that point, I hadn't given a bit of thought.  Nice.

Signs like the one to the left would have been helpful as we drove around aimlessly.  This one was posted towards the end of the trail (at least the end to us).  The little white diamond with "LGC" on it, which is underneath the sign, were the markers for the trail.  Thankfully, they were scattered throughout the journey, although it was marked pretty well.

When we finally reached the finish line and had a break, we got in the car and headed back out.  It was pretty similar to trying to get there in the first place, a bunch of driving on hilly, winding roads, circling back and around in every direction.  We were supposed to meet my parents at Lambert's in 90 minutes, and we did finally get to the main route, but boy, did it take some persistence.  The kids were silent the whole drive.  We were pooped out and ready for a hearty meal.  Good thing we exerted all that energy and burnt so many calories...have you ever eaten at a Lambert's?!  Mmmm.

So after eating we headed back to Illinois, drove around Giant City State Park, which we've explored a little in the past, and headed home.  All in all it was a great day.  Our kids were very good and real troopers.  I'm so glad they enjoy doing stuff like that with their weird parents.  We hope that is just a preview for our vacation to Colorado which is nearing!  I realize last night that I should've been doing stuff like this earlier to prepare my legs for the hiking we hope to do.

If you're looking for some good family fun, without spending a lot of money, drive a couple hours south and enjoy the beauty of Southern Illinois and the Shawnee Forest.  It is worth it...(and we found gas for $3.33 a gallon!)