Yellow Spring in my Step

I was up near 7am again. Another hot, sunny day was forecasted with little chance of rain. I whipped out 50 sit-ups and 50 push-ups for the first time since Friday, June 28th. Left for my run around 8am. Decided to do just three miles. Easy, enjoyable run.

The day's plan included a trip to Yellow Springs and most likely a hike at Clifton Gorge, the most easterly of the three adjoining parks. Before Mindy and the kids were up I watered all the flowers front and back. Mindy was up just ahead of 9am. The kids were up near 10am. She made cheesy eggs for all of us.

We left for Yellow Springs near 1130am, which was a bit later than I envisioned, but we didn't really have a schedule of any sort to keep, so we didn't worry too much about it. It's a pretty boring drive out 70 west (straight and flat). Got off at the route 72 exit in Springfield then headed south roughly 8 miles to route 242. The park entrance is less than a half mile on the left. We opted to take the south gorge trail first, a trail we hadn't hiked past. Glad we did. Saw some cool scenic views of the river, including deep gorges with narrow rapids. The trail, while lovely, was short by comparison. We back tracked to the trail head and then hiked west along the north gorge trail, the trail we took with Glenn two summers ago on our first visit to the Yellow Springs area. Mindy & Bella stopped by the Pilot to change shoes after Bella complained that her tennis shoes were too small/tight.

We hiked about a 1-1/4 mile along the water, both kids stopping frequently to look for crawl dads. We hiked to the John Bryan State Park entrance (the same point where Mindy and I turned around a month prior, only coming from the other direction). Hiking back to the Pilot, we took the north rim trail which hovers high above the river. It was about 230pm. The kids ran pretty much the entire way back stopping briefly at each fork in the trail and waiting for us to catch up.

Into Yellow Springs by 320pm, we parked just south of Ye Olde Tavern. Everybody was hungry and thirsty, but we didn't have a ton of time. We needed to have the kids back at the house by 5pm so they could spend time with Jimaken after work. In kind, Mindy and I had loose plans to visit Barley's at the same time. At Ye Olde Tavern we ordered soft drinks and appetizers - tie-dye fries and 12" pepperoni pizza. We were there no more than 45 minutes. It was close to 4pm when we hit the road for home. I had a difficult time staying awake. In fact, it was rougher than the drive home from the Outer Banks. Mindy slept most of the way home too.

Arrived home around 445pm. I headed directly to our bed without passing go. I slept for about 30 minutes. The kids were gone when I got up. I headed out to water flowers in the hot sun. At roughly the same time Mindy headed up to bed for a nap. An hour passed when I went to ask Mindy if she were still game for Barley's. She wasn't. I sent Darwin a text sharing my plans to head there. I never did hear back. I left the house around 630pm, I'm guessing. However, instead of heading directly to Barley's, I made a trip to Dick's and bought a new O'Brien 2/3-man tube. I also bought a new tow rope. On to Barley's.

April was tending bar. The place was sparsely attended. I enjoyed two Centennials while taking in the first couple innings of the MLB All-Star game. The NL scored 5 runs on the first inning. I ordered 20 KC wings to-go. Mindy texted me near 8-830pm asking my ETA. Soon! Arrived home near 845pm. Mindy was recently out of the shower, but shared that she still wasn't feeling a 100% - tired, diarrhea, etc. Like the evening before, we enjoyed some time on the deck before Mindy headed to bed around 10pm. Bella and I stayed up later than the others watching more of the All-Star game.