Hocking Hills Autumn Splendor

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Travel Spirit

A quick two-day mid-week trip to Hocking Hills State Park for hiking followed by soaking in a hot tub with girlfriends was just what the doctor ordered! Located in Southeastern Ohio, 2 1/2 hours from Cincinnati, the rugged cliffs, breathtaking gorges, cascading waterfalls, and flourishing forests of Hocking Hills State Park, afford visitors a pristine outdoor wonderland. Our first hike was to Old Man’s Cave. The well-marked one mile round trip trail, includes both man-made and natural steps. The view from inside the mouth of the wide cave looks down onto a small stream and stone bridge…

Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year to visit this park…

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Hiking in Spring

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Travel Spirit

My girlfriend came over today and we had a wonderful afternoon savoring a homemade lunch of Swai fish, rice and a Salad. She brought the fish and rice and I made the Salad. Here’s a pic of what the salad looks like. It has zucchini, squash, grilled corn, grape tomatoes, red onion, pine nuts, red and orange bell pepper with feta cheese over a bed of lettuce and a homemade vinaigrette dressing…yum!

We went hiking at Cincinnati Nature Center’s property called Long Branch Farms in Goshen, Ohio. Of course, I took my camera and captured a few shots. Using Lightroom 5, I altered the feel of this one by decreasing the clarity. I like the muted look sometimes…

There’s a pretty barn there…

Of course Jake had a blast! I noticed the tree limbs were glistening in the sun…almost as though they were covered in ice…

We had a great time talking and catching up on what’s been going on. Here’s the barn from a different angle…

My next goal is to purchase a wide-angle lens and start taking photos of homes. I’ll contact some Realtors and see how I can get my foot in that door!

Autumn at Long Branch Farm

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Long Branch Farm is a Cincinnati Nature Center property, located in Goshen, Ohio with 632 acres and 5 miles of hiking. I live very near here and trail jog five or six times a week with my dog…Jake. Many days while I’m jogging, I’ll wish I had brought my camera because everything is so beautiful, but when you have a dog like Jake with you…that’s not an option. So I laced up my shoes, while Jake was prancing around thinking he was going, and left without him to take photographs. I usually jog about 4 miles and cross the creek about 3 times. This is an area where you jog along the trail bordering the creek.

There’s a moss covered pond that looks quite pretty in the early morning sunlight…

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Hiking the Rock Shelter Loop Trail

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Travel Spirit

I love hiking and so do my girlfriends, so on our recent girls’ weekend, we went hiking on the Rock Shelter Loop Trail in Morgan Monroe State Forest, Indiana. I had researched hiking trails in the area, and this trail seemed to be a good choice. The trail was only supposed to be 20 minutes away from our Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO), but getting lost on those back country roads made it seem much farther. We couldn’t find the trail head once we were in the State Forest, but luckily I had the phone number for Morgan Monroe State Forest with me, so we called its location. We weren’t going crazy…there was no sign for it. The large sign said Low Gap Trail and then once you park and start that trail, there is a small sign (see below) indicating that the Rock Shelter Loop Trail is part of that trail.

Anyway, it was supposed to be a three-mile hike, but ended up being four miles. I took a photograph of this leaf that was on a slick rocky portion of the trail. The sunlight was illuminating it…

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Hiking at Elm House

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Travel Spirit

For my annual girls’ weekend, I found a Vacation Rental by Owner in Bloomington, Indiana (aka Elm House) that had everything we were looking for—a home located on 100 acres with hiking trails, three bedrooms for five of us, two bathrooms (a must), a hot tub, and two wineries located within five miles! If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll recall our first stop was a winery located five minutes from the property. From there we found the house, unpacked the car and took a quick tour of the house. Elm House has three short maintained hiking trails on the grounds, so we laced our hiking boots and headed for the longest trail…a one-miler. There were only three of us at this point. Two of the ladies weren’t arriving until around 6:00pm.

Here’s a beautiful view from the house looking down at the sawmill that is located on the property.

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Hiking St. Mary’s Glacier

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Located only an hour from Denver, St. Mary’s Glacier in Idaho Springs, Colorado is a beautiful hike and at 1 mile round trip is perfect if you’re looking for a shorter length hike and as an added bonus…you can enjoy a 10 mile scenic drive from I-70 to reach it. Having spent six wonderful days in Colorado (except for having to escape Estes Park flooding), my girlfriend and I had a full last day planned before we left and flew home to Cincinnati. We stopped at the magnificent Red Rock Amphitheater to take photos before returning later that evening for a concert and were stopping in the quaint town of Golden to have a late lunch after our St. Mary’s Glacier hike.

Here I am taking in the view on the hike…

I couldn’t stop taking photos…it was so pretty!

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Hiking from Grand Lake Lodge

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Grand Lake Lodge in Grand Lake, Colorado has an absolutely stunning view of the lake. After checking in on Thursday, my girlfriend Gina and I decided to take a hike down the hillside to the town to check it out. Here’s the beginning of the trail and that’s Gina up ahead…

We were delighted it wasn’t raining having left the flooding in Estes Park earlier that morning! The path forks off to the left but is not well-marked.

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One Week Itinerary for Colorado

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Travel Spirit

I love to prepare travel itineraries and I spent at least 20 hours over the past week perfecting an itinerary for a one week trip to Colorado I’m going on next month with a girlfriend.

This is a photo from two years ago of a trip to Durango and Silverton, Colorado. This time I’ll be exploring Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Boulder, Denver, Golden, Evergreen, and Idaho Springs. I booked lodging through Airbnb for two of the locations and used Vacation Rental By Owner for the third location. I’ve packed quite a bit in for the week…but with good planning utilizing a variety of online travel sites to include Trip Advisor, Yelp, and google maps, I’m confident we’ll be able to see it all without feeling rushed. I’m flexible, so if we want to switch something up once we’re there, we can. If you’ve been to any of these places or have any other recommendations, please share! I have prices listed to give people an idea of how much things cost in the event someone wants to use any of the itinerary. By choosing rentals that have a kitchen, we can cut down on the cost of food.

I can’t wait to hike and take some photographs!

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Discover Treasures While Hiking

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Hiking is such a great way to get exercise, enjoy the great outdoors, and if you’re a photographer, discover treasures along the way! I’m fortunate to live five minutes away from a 500 acre nature preserve filled with burbling creeks, tons of wildlife, wildflowers, 4 miles of hiking trails and if timed correctly, I can usually have it all to myself. Tuesday evening my husband, my dog and I took a 3 mile hike and here are some of my discoveries…

Not sure what these are called, but I like…

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Harmony Hill Vineyards

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Harmony Hill Vineyards in Bethel, Ohio is the perfect way to spend an afternoon and/or evening! I met my Meetup.com hiking club there yesterday and took a short hike…probably a mile…around the vineyards. The history of the farm is really interesting. The owners named the farm Harmony Hills after witnessing all of the wildlife existing in perfect harmony. They grow hay and medicinal herbs in addition to the grapes on their 70 acres of sustainable farmland. In 2006 they were certified as a National Wildlife Federation Remote Wildlife Habitat!

Here’s the entrance…

And some of the beautiful vineyards…

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Itinerary for Great Smokey Mountains Nat’l Park

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Travel Spirit

I’m in the midst of preparing an itinerary for a last-minute trip to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park for this weekend! I found the cutest studio cottage for only $60 a night–10 miles from Gatlinburg, situated on 2 acres–with a pond. Here are some photos from the owner’s site…

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Hiking Dayton, Kentucky

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Saturday I went on a three-mile hike with my hiking club through Meetup.com in Dayton, Kentucky, which is located along the Ohio River, across from Cincinnati. It has finally started to warm up some and the sun was shining! We split into a faster group and a slower group. I’m always in the fast group, but wanted time to take photos…so I joined the slower group. In this photo you can see the faster group up ahead…

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Hiking Rowe Woods

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Rowe Woods, aka The Nature Center is located in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. My husband and I (and Jake the spoiled hunting dog) went hiking there yesterday. We probably hiked 4 miles. Hiking is one of my favorite things to do. Even in this cold, dreary weather–there is beauty!

Snowflakes would drift down lightly from time to time… Continue reading →

Hiking with the Clouds

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Travel Spirit

A few days ago, my husband and I headed over to the Longbranch Farms located a few minutes away from our home and took a hike! The sky was gorgeous and it was warm..50 degrees…compared to recently.

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Hiking at Mt. Rainier

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Hiking at Mt. Rainier National Park is another great experience. My husband and I visited there in July of 2011 and were fortunate to have beautiful sunny weather!