cabin trip in 3 different state parks - 1/3 done!

let me start by saying that i have no idea why there are so many native clevelanders i know who have never been to hocking hills. it's a three hour drive, what on earth is stopping you?!

now that that's out of the way - when we lived in austin, we would make an annual trip to a beautiful state park called lost maples, rent cabins, make s'mores, the whole deal. my favorite part of the trip was always the 5 mile hike, which was a pretty tough one and always felt like such a great work out when you were done. tucker and i made the mistake of going in may one year...if you don't know texas weather, just know that you shouldn't attempt a strenuous 5 mile hike in may, unless you want to die of dehydration and/or extreme sunburn. i mean, we finished it, but only because we're really stubborn.

so, we wanted to keep our annual tradition going, which is why one of our trio quest goals is to do a cabin trip in 3 different state parks, we are now 1/3 of the way through that goal! we were hoping to find a beautiful hiking spot here in ohio and totally nailed it with hocking hills. or, i guess hocking hills totally nailed it. either way, we know this will become an annual thing for us. we really, really loved the cabin we rented - it sits on 32 acres, has its own private hiking trail, a hot tub, a huge awesome deck, a fire pit, and it was really new and nice, and the hike was so beautiful. since we had luca with us (two and a half years old) and hugo with us (a little over a year old), we definitely didn't get to hike as long or as often as we wanted but that'll make it even better to make this an annual tradition, because it'll only get easier and easier with luca. we chose the "easy" hikes this time around since we had two littles with us - we first went to old man's cave, which was easy even with a toddler on my back, but so beautiful and really, really worth it. and the 2nd hike of the day was at ash cave, which luca walked the whole way (including up 75 stairs!), and was really nice and sandy for him to run around and explore safely.
he spent most of his time looking for dinosaurs, dinosaur eggs, and fossils (you can see him finding "fossils" in a few of the pictures below). and i quickly learned that carrying 34 lbs of toddler on your back while hiking makes up for skipping workouts and eating/drinking like crazy when friends are in town!

here are some of my favorite pictures of the trip:



on being a well-traveled trio

when tucker and i first met, i learned pretty quickly that he had never had a passport in his nearly 30 years of life, and that blew my mind. we grew up in very different families, in very different cities, with very different types of family vacations. so, it made perfect sense.

but, within a year of getting together, he had a passport and had quickly started collecting his new country stamps...and now there's no stopping him. we are really, really thankful to have gone on some incredible trips in the almost 9 years that we've known each other, and have no plans of stopping.

travel is something that he & i are equally passionate about, which is why it's such a big part of our trio quest list - we've learned so much about each other, about ourselves, and mainly about different cultures and customs - which is something that seems more important than ever right now.

we've gotten locked out of our apartment at night in barcelona without cell phones, gotten strep throat in london, took a rental car down an unpaved and extremely scary, rocky road to a secret beach in baja california, zip lined over canyons in maui on our 5 year anniversary, and met a friend in the bahamas that we've now had drinks with in 2 different countries.

those experiences (both the good and the bad) are the ones that have made us adamant about cultivating that same love (and need!) for travel in luca.

we hope that he can be an adventurer and when he's 18 and tells us he's heading to italy with his best friend for two weeks (exactly what i did at 18), we won't freak out.

and that when he gets locked out of his rental apartment in barcelona without any way to contact people, that he doesn't freak out.

when he's zip lining over 7 canyons in maui, even though he's terrified at first - that he ends up the one to volunteer to go first on the 3rd round.

and, that most of all, he appreciates not only the hundreds of pictures his mom and dad take when we all travel together, in hopes that we never, ever forget the good (and the bad) memories. but also, that he appreciates the people he comes across, their different points of view, their customs, and finds the light everywhere he goes. so far, he's been to 3 countries and a few different states, so we have no worries about him becoming a travel pro pretty quickly.

these are a few of our favorite pre-luca travels: maui twice, mexico (a few times), baja california, london, the bahamas, and spain.