Hocking Hills for the Fourth

Things celebrated this Fourth of July:

• The First Amendment. We're protected by the Constitution to rant, rave, express our anger, excitement, and disappointment, poke fun, or celebrate the things we like or don’t like about anything and everything. God bless America!
• We (as Americans) invented the chocolate chip cookie, Coca-Cola, the Post-It, blue jeans, the I-Pod, Starbucks, Ray Bans, and Converse All-Stars.
• Americans know how to rally, and this year has been no exception. From the earthquake in Haiti to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we've come together to do our best to help those in need.
• Our fondness for joining in the celebration of anything. From awkward family photos to face painting to Snuggies to reality TV shows, we are there to bask in the glory and join the parade.
• At our core, we are an optimistic, innovative and inventive country.
• Pretty much an awesome holiday because it translates into 2 short work weeks and everyone is firmly in 'vacation' mode.

This Fourth of July, Kyle and I departed from our typical barbeque and fireworks celebration. Instead, we (along with our pals Jeff & Nicole), booked a cabin at the Hocking Hills State Park in Southern Ohio.

Our weekend was an adventure from the start (at which point Kyle and I locked ourselves out of the cabin. Keep in mind these factors– its dark, no cell service, keys inside the cabin, car locked, bare feet, no one around for miles, strange animal noise not far away, and Jeff/Nicole not arriving until Saturday morning. Definitely going to need a separate blog to fill you in on this portion of the weekend). Our weekend was filled with miles of hiking (and still didn’t get from corner to corner), saw some amazing sites, barbequed, ran through waterfalls, relaxed in the hot tub, slept in, ate too much, got bitten by random insects, smelled of smoke and bug spray, and enjoyed the peace and quite of nature (NO cell phones!!). I thoroughly loved every second!!
If a picture is worth a thousand words...be prepared for tons of words below.  I just couldn't pick from all the sites we ventured to:  Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, Ash Cave, Cantwell Cliffs, Rock House, Rock Bridge, and the Hocking River.

Found this written on a railing - Betty and Jimbo...Have anything you want to tell us??