Amicalola Falls Hike

Our outing today was to Amicalola Falls State Park. Ken and I did this hike last July, and Julie and the kids did it a couple of years ago, at which point Julie was carrying Jesse up the steep trail. Ed had never been to the falls. The rest of us were happy to go again. It's a nice state park, not too far north of Cumming, and very green and refreshing. Today was a lovely day for a hike, sunny and warm, but not hot.

After a stop at the visitor center, we started up the Creek Trail. Julie asked Jesse if he was ready to use his "strong legs," and of course he said "yes!" He actually did a very good job of the uphill hike, keeping up with the rest of us just fine. Sam had to be reined in. He was zooming ahead around every bend. Cate is a good hiker too. We soon arrived at the Reflection Pool and joined the Appalachian Approach Trail, which leads to Springer Mountain and the southern terminus of the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail. Of course we didn't go that far!

Instead we climbed two sets of stairs up to the top of the falls. Along the way we saw some spectacular scenery, especially looking up at the base of the falls. At the top we rested for a while and had some cheese and crackers before starting back down the East Ridge Trail back to the visitor center. The kids were looking forward to playing on the playground. Amazingly they still had plenty of energy.

When we got back home, a package had arrived from Aunt Terri. Everything inside was in Japanese, a veritable treasure trove. It included a coffee mug with "Bubby" on the side--Terri's nickname for Ed when they were little.

After dinner we watched the third episode of the Cosmos series. The kids had seen the first two. Even Jesse was enthralled, because space is his personal interest. He says Jupiter is his favorite planet because of the big red spot.