Farewell to Summer

Every year we try to do something fun for Labor Day weekend. In the last few years we've done this, this, and this.. for this year we found a new place to take our bikes. A little way southwest of the city, there's a forest preserve with bike-friendly trails and there was supposed to be a waterfall in there somewhere. The water hole sounded extra great since it was supposed to be a warm day this year, and I figured it'd be a nice place to rest from the bike ride.

We loaded up the car and headed out. We recently got a new toy, a tandem bike attachment for Townshend; it's a nice step between dragging them both in the trailer and a regular bike with training wheels. He really likes it, but it takes two grownups to use it if we've got Moon with us, so we don't get to use it too much.

The whole path in this park is nearly 10miles... that's a bit above my stamina level at this point (especially carting around kids behind us). So, I found a map and planned out which lot to park in and which direction to go, so we could see the falls, but bite off a little smaller chunk. We had some really lovely scenery, a bit of water and lots of trees.

The path I chose brought our ride to about three miles to get to the waterfalls and then again coming back out. This place had crushed limestone paths with rolling hills... it didn't occur to me how much that would add to the challenge of the ride.. but we made it!

They weren't very tall waterfalls (they were made by the the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s) but it was perfect for splashing around in and cooling off. Our little water bug had a good time:

Townshend was all over the place; on the top level, down in the pool, and also jumping over on the rocks by where the river trickled away.

Hubby and I waded in too.. We rested, cooled off and ate a little picnic. It was great fun; worth the trek in. I just wish I had remembered my flip flops 'cuz the gravel in and around the water was pokey!

The return trip was a little rougher... three miles seemed much longer going back and we got a little turned around, but we all survived and even made it back to the car.

As we were nearing the end, the clouds rolled in, bringing with them a blessedly cool breeze. Not too long after that though, there began to be rumbling and a bit of flashing.. so we knew our window of nice weather was quickly closing.

Happily, we got everything loaded back up and were in the car just as the sprinkles started. I was glad for it too, 'cuz it turned into an intense thunderstorm.. the kind where the lightning and thunder are almost simultaneous and the wipers can't keep up even when you're driving 40mph on the highway. Ending summer with a bang, indeed.