Natural Bridge

This past Saturday marked the first weekend since July that Rich was truly free. There would be no early morning drive to the hospital to put in a long day on call, no soccer or baseball games to cheer the boys on, no board exam to cram and study for and no random visits to the ER to tend to our wounded children (thank heavens!). So you had to know I had something fun in mind to fill our time. In fact I have loads of things I want to do, but there are only so many hours in the day, so those other events will have to wait. Rich is always so sweet to go along with my plans. I am sure he would have rather caught up on some much needed rest, but he patiently listened as I rattled off my ideas, helped load up the kids and was our chauffeur on the drive down. Man, I found myself a good man. I do realize I am one very, very lucky girl.And the kids always love an adventure. Hand them a movie player and some snacks and they are good to go. Lucky me.I decided to check something off my list that would be fun to do in the fall because of the lovely changing leaves and cooler temperatures. We drove just over one hour southeast to Red River Gorge to see a very cool tunnel road through a mountain and to hike to the top of Natural Bridge. We went to the Gorge with our friends the Badgers back in May and I thought it was lovely then. It was even prettier now with the vivid autumn colors. I found out about the tunnel as we were leaving the house when I searched online for directions to the park. I only saw one photo, but it looked amazing and I wanted to see it for myself. When we got off the highway, we took a ten minute detour to find the tunnel. As we drove up a quiet Kentucky road (trailers, beat up cars in the front yard, a stray dog or two- I am always left wondering, who the heck lives out here and why?) the road lead up to this.....
I was hanging out the window taking pictures. Then Rich read the sign- ONE WAY TUNNEL. What in the world? We proceeded closer to the opening with caution and were relieved when we entered there were no other cars driving through.There were a few cars waiting on the other side.On the other side, the rock formations were incredible. We drove until we found a place to make a U-turn and headed back for our second drive through. We waited until a few cars passed and then travel down with two other cars in front of us.I just kept my head out the window while we drove snapping photos. I thought it was really, really cool.We then headed to our real destination: Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Again, I didn't know anything about this except that I had seen signs for it on our first trip and a few of our friends had been down before and enjoyed it.There was a camp ground, restaurant and lodge at the bottom of the trail.
We got lucky when I asked some descending hikers about the trail and they told us to make a right at the bridge instead of going straight. This would lead to the easier half mile hike instead of the dangerous 3/4 mile trail that had cliff like edges. Whew. To say that would have been scary would be an understatement!The whole gang. I love outings when Rich can come along. I hate that he has to miss so much!Rich and Brynn Kaitlyn and me The trail started out flat, but soon we were headed one way only- UP!The higher we climbed the more dark it became and I was getting worried about making it to the bridge in time so we could descend in the light. Rich told me we could hike for ten more minutes and then we would have to turn around if we weren't there yet. I kicked it into high gear, but it didn't matter, I made the next turn and realized we were already there. It was lovely. Pure and simple. As we marveled at the arch and took a seat to catch our breath we noticed another set of stairs carved into and between the the arch. I sent Rich and the boys up to see where it lead. The view from under the arch looking out. While the boys were away, the girls will play (and take LOTS of pictures...).
(Brynn's forced smile is killing me!)Rich and the boys came down and he told me I HAD to go up and take the camera with me (though, would I really have left it behind?) While I had been mesmerized by the beauty of the arch and the trees, I didn't have any idea what I was missing by staying below. The small set of stairs led up to the lookout which was on TOP of the bridge. The view was far more breathtaking from above. (And I was so glad we took turns and left the girls down below. So, So, So glad.)
Heading back down to the girlie girls and Rich.The absolute best way to wrap up an eventful and memorable fall break- all together as a family.