Day 7

After a refreshing trip around the fitness trail, we had a wonderful breakfast of fresh blackberries and yogurt. The blackberries were so delicious and got a thumbs up from everyone except Brayden.  

We got a super late start as all the kids slept in, especially Brayden.  We decided to head east to show Grammie Tallulah Gorge.  After a quick stop at a very busy visitors center where Ryan bought a bear, Brayden & Laney bought a bag of rocks, and Grammie and I received our first punch on our Canyon Climbers Club card.

Once we walked into the interpretive center, the kids remembered being there in December, especially finding all the animals in the wildlife display.  We filled up with as much water as possible and headed out. Laney had curvy road issues on the way, so she was especially slow at the beginning.  Once we began our descent to the bottom, she bounced right back though.  

Grammie didn't believe me when I told her how far it was, but she ended up doing all 1,000 steps down (you can see her and Ryan at the bottom below) and back again.  I'm sure she was thinking some not-so-kind words about me on the way back up, but thankfully kids were present so she just smiled through her exhales instead.

After watching the park movie and a quick shopping trip, we were on the road find lunch.  Using Urban Spoon I found a great little spot in the middle of a small town that had great beer and even better food - perfect!  After we waddled out to the car, we were on our way again, this time to Black Rock Mountain State Park.  I had to stop and take a picture of this after the epic fail of missing the 1/4 way around the world mark sign last year.

Anyway, this mountain's claim to fame is it's the highest mountain in Georgia.  And after the walk up, I believe it!  The kids did awesome and the views were spectacular!    

I have a new kid-friendly rating system to propose to the state parks, however.  I think they should rate them based on the possibility of injuries requiring band-aids.  This hike was pretty tough for kids and I would rate it at a 2 band-aid level.  Laney ended up receiving one on her hip and Grammie wanted but didn't get one on her wrist. 

With our late start we needed to head home shortly after finishing this hike, but we did take a moment to enjoy this view first.

The kids have been enjoying listening to Roald Dahl reading his books as we drive.  Yesterday we finished "James and the Giant Peach" and "The Magic Finger" and today we finished "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Fantastic Mr. Fox".  We have a bunch of books to mark off our reading list already!