Red River Gorge

Hello y’all! 😉 I’m back from Kentucky and hard at both work and working out this week. I’ve got my first triathlon next Sunday, the 31st (the day before my birthday 🙂 ), so Ryan and I have decided to get up at 5:45 basically every day until then to get in our workouts. We’re both behind on training, but since mine is a mini-tri, hopefully I will do okay!

Here are some pictures from my mini-vacation last week!

Beginning of the hike to Natural Bridge

Lots of steps and inclines…there was a 600 ft altitude climb

Bat caves

Standing under Natural Bridge, after about 40 minutes of hiking

Isn’t it beautiful? 🙂

Narrow steps lead to the top

A super narrow passageway at the top of the steps before you reach the top of natural bridge

This is how narrow the passageway was…

Posing at the top of the Bridge. I couldn’t believe they let people up there, it was a straight drop off a cliff, with no banister. I was terrified (and actually cried from fear before this pic was taken…)

We hiked another half mile out to that ledge to get a picture with Natural Bridge in the background.

The view from the ledge

Said picture 🙂

Our first hike was in Natural Bridge State Park. It was only 1.5 miles from the parking lot, but it was a 600 foot ascent, with LOTS of stairs and winding uphill paths. The Natural Bridge was pretty cool. I didn’t realize until we got there that you could actually climb up on it, so naturally, we did! It was a terrifying drop off, however, with no rails. It was probably at least 20-30 feet wide though, so it was more mental because I didn’t go anywhere near the edge 🙂

Getting close to the Hut

Looking down at where Daniel Boon supposedly stayed for a while (gated off)

The view from his “Hut” (more like a cave).

The second hike we did was to Daniel Boon’s Hut/Cave. This one was another 1.5 mile hike through the woods (plus 1.5 miles back), but it was mostly flat until we got closer to the caves.

Taking Yoyo for a mild puppy-friendly hike

It’s difficult to see in this picture, but Gray’s Arch is in the background

Posing with one of my favorite boys 🙂

His Highness required some carrying (okay, mostly we carried him voluntarily to give his paws a little break. He didn’t protest…)

The third and last hike we did was a modest 1.25 mile hike on a mostly flat, wide pathway. We wanted to bring Yoshi on at least one of the trails, and this one ended up being perfect. He pulled on the leash most of the way going in because he was so excited and wanted to see and smell everything. He gave him water every 5 minutes and carried him just a small ways back, mostly because we knew he would need breaks but was too excited to sit still. I loved having him with us on the vacay 🙂

Overall, it was a (mostly) relaxing long-weekend in our private little cabin. We brought a ton of fresh fruits and veggies and so we had hearty, healthy meals to look forward to. We only ate out once at Red River Rock House (it was recommended to us before we left), and it was incredible. I highly recommend it if you ever stay in RRG. We had zero service in the entire area, but would randomly pick up signals here and there on the paths. We DID have satellite TV, so we kept up with Big Brother, and even got into some Dateline mysteries (yes, we’re wild ones). But mostly we just played games, took Yoshi on lots of walks, and read books.

Hope you have a fantastic week! XO