Waterfall Glen

When we made the decision to come home, Zak and I promised the girls (and ourselves) that we would hike as often as we could at home. This morning we wiped out the last of the glass shards from our hiking boots and headed to Darien, a full 20 minutes from our home. We pulled into the lot and Zak’s phone rang, one of the calls we’ve been waiting for from the insurance company. We sat there, tying our boots, listening to the kind women explain the procedures of how to replace our stolen things. As she continued through what we need to do in the next couple of days, we looked around and saw prairie grasses to one side and an oak grove to the other. Everything together reminded me of where we were and where we weren’t. But the call ended with simple enough directions for us to follow: go shopping, get some of it reimbursed. With our head’s full of visions of new tents and sleeping bags, we hit the trail.

Ahh, the trail. It wasn’t very rigorous. It was a consistent eight foot wide crushed limestone bike path. There was very little elevation gain, only 500 feet throughout the 10.5 miles. We didn’t even bring hiking sticks and managed just fine with our only three remaining water bladders and packs. The biggest two challenges were the intense humidity that we had not yet faced this summer, and these nasty long centipede creatures that made me screech each time I almost stepped on one.

All in all, the miles flew by and we all did our very best to get the most out of the hike. Although, the waterfall consisted of a few pavers the CCC laid in the 1930s in the middle of a small stream. It kind of sucked. Not going to lie. We didn’t even take a picture.

You know that we like to end each hike with a few Coors Lights. We usually stop at a local bar and the girls get Orange Crush. Well, now we are in a situation where we had laundry that had to get done, dinner that had to be cooked, insurance claims to be claimed, flowers in the garden that need to be watered, and groceries that need to be bought. So we stopped and bought two tall boys of cold Coors and sipped as we got our household chores done. I’m telling you, it’s a different summer already. But we are bound to make the most of it.

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