Camping sounded like a great idea for this weekend. The weather was supposed to be nice (it was great!), and we hadn't taken Matthan camping since last year. We wanted to give it another shot now that he is older. So with way too much camping stuff in tow, we drove up to go hiking at Dukes Creek Falls, about fifteen minutes north of Cleveland, GA, before heading to our campsite.
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| "Go bridge myself!" |
The trail is about a mile, one way, to the waterfalls...which at 2-year-old pace was going to get us there by dinner... of next year. The trail was about 1/4 paved, 1/2 dirt path, and about 1/3 graveled path... or something like that. For the most part, the path was a very moderate descent down to the falls.
We had to stop and look at the "CAT-PAT-ter". On our way back, at the exact spot where we had seen the caterpillar the first time, Matthan started yelling "want to see CAT-PAT-ter!". A 2-year-old never forgets.
Matthan loves "puppies" (all dogs are "puppies"). Some people stopped so that Matthan could pet their puppy. When they took off to continue hiking, Matthan took off after them yelling, "RACE YOU PUPPY, RACE YOU!" (meaning he wanted to run with the puppy).
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| "RACE YOU PUPPY, RACE YOU!" |
Even though it caused a meltdown, we finally put Matthan in the backpack and finished hiking down to the falls.
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| Watching the water |
It was getting to be past lunchtime so I provided Matthan with a snack for the ride back. Notice the perched stash for his eating pleasure.
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| A ride and a snack. Don't you wish you could hike this way? |
On the hike back, Tim carried Matthan in the pack up the trail (up hill the whole way). I heard a man say "now that's the way to ride" to Tim, and I looked up in time for the man's wife to come into view from just behind him...
...pushing a rather posh, very pink baby stroller... with their terrier puppy in it. Now THAT'S the way to ride. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it.
On the way to our campsite, we stopped for lunch at Downda Earth, a roadside restaurant. It ended up being a winner with great food and great service. The back deck was sort of closed in with bamboo growing behind it, through which you could hear sheep and donkeys from the pastures across the way. Matthan charmed the waitress...of course.
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| How to entertain a 2-year-old |
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