What?? A road trip with a one-month old, you must be crazy?!
Turns out a one-month old makes a very good traveler. The less-fun travelers were the 2.5 and almost 5 year old :)
I was really rooting for an out East road trip this fall to see some fall colors. We decided not to go all the way to Vermont, where we have family, but kept it within an 8-ish hour drive and went to New York. We even added an extra day in Ohio so we didn't have quite as long driving days.
So first up was Cuyahoga National Park in Ohio, this was the Brandywine falls hike.
The next day drove 4 hours to Letchworth State Park in NY.
Accidentally hiked 1 hour in the wrong direction. Then on our way back took another wrong turn and ended up being rescued by the ranger who drove us back to our car. And then since it was getting darker quickly we drove the the falls we had attempted to hike to. They call this park "the Grand Canyon of the East" it has a huge valley that of course is not justified via photo.
Upper falls.
Middle falls.
This was the worst day of our trip. I think the long drive with crabby kids, combined with hiking the wrong way was setting us up for disaster. The other flaw with this trip is that out of 5 nights we had 4 different airbnbs, so EVERYDAY we were packing up everything, setting up pack and plays and monitors and sound machines and high chairs and packing lunches. And it was just a lot to do that. But since we were traveling across the state it was kind of necessary. Anyway, this night in particular we left the park at sunset and didn't get to our place nearly an hour later so everyone was hangry and crabby. Doug went to be mad saying he wanted to go home the next day and I fried myself an egg for dinner, which is not great when you're breastfeeding (it's good, it's just not nearly enough food for 1+).
Anyway, the next day we tried to plan better and would be staying at our next place 2 nights so I was more hopeful. We drove 2 hours to Ithaca for the next part of the trip.
First up, Watkins Glen, gorge trail.
So muddy and this girl was happy to tromp through every puddle she could find.
We actually didn't finish the trail because we had scheduled pictures with a photographer in the afternoon and had to leave to go meet her. So that was a bummer, but what we did see was beautiful.
That evening was better, we had our pictures, picked up a freezer dinner meal from Aldi, ate together and then relaxed with a netflix movie before bed. Nice to have one low-key evening on vacation! Haha.
The next day we drove around Cayuga Lake (the drive was not really as great as advertised IMO) but we stopped at Taughannock falls and did that hike.
Then we did a short little walk to Ithaca Falls
And last did the Cascadilla Gorge Trail hike that takes you all the way to Cornell.
Another quick freezer meal for dinner, hot shower, and I think we watched another movie.
The next day we went to Buttermilk falls before we hit the road. This one was one of my favorites.
Tons of steps on the way up and through a forest on the other side on the way down. We let the kids play at a playground for a bit while I nursed the baby and then drove 4+ hours to Ohio. This drive was better, August worked in a workbook for nearly 2 hours quietly, and the girls napped, we had a temper tantrum over the wrong cheese in a sandwich at Panera, but otherwise was a good trip.
Spent the night at our airbnb in Ohio, and then in the morning returned to Cuyahoga National Park for one last hike before we drove home. This one was the Ledges trail.
It was pretty, although poorly marked and we think we ended up only doing half accidentally. That was ok, after 5 days of hiking, we were pretty tired!
One last family picture and then we headed home! Got home at a reasonable time, unpacked and got clothes in the laundry, bathed stinky kids, baked a freezer pizza, and got a good night's sleep!
