Today Henry and I went on a pretty strenuous 3.5 mile hike to the Upper Falls at Graveyard Fields. It kicked. My butt. It is a gorgeous hike, covering a bunch of different types of terrain.

We started in the parking lot, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway and made our way down a huge flight of stone steps. After walking under a thick canopy of rhododendrons for about a quarter of a mile, we came out into an enormous field of blueberry bushes. We had taken the boys berry picking here before, so Henry immediately started hollering for berries. Since he was speaking Henry-ise, however, it took me about 10 minutes to realise that he was asking for 'tabies' (strawberries, and thus, allberries) and not Telitubbies. The Telitubbies thing threw me because I ahve made it a point to stay away from that show. The baby sun thing freaks me out. Anyway...most of the blueberry bushes had been pretty picked over, but I managed to score a small handful, which Henry insisted I hand him one by one upon request. Ever hiked for a mile with a 2 year old strapped to your back with a handful of blueberries to dole out? Not so much fun. I was pleased when the berries ran out and I didn't have to worry about squishing them while trying to use my knee for leverage to get up onto rocks and such. After the berry field, we started up a series of inclines where you have to step on large rocks to go up and up and up. Having been just told by my fairly cute and very competent doctor that my knees suck and will get progressively worse, I was dismayed at this development. The incline lasted for about a half mile before we popped out at the river, which was beautiful.

We stopped and ate some snacks (Jess and I realizing that neither of us had eaten breakfast and now only had a granola bar each to fuel us up for the hike back) and let the boys throw rocks into the river. When Henry threw a big rock particularly far one time, I said "Awesome!". From that point on, every time a stone connected with water, it was followed by an enthusiastic "Awesome!" screamed by both boys. Cute? Maybe just a little.

The hike back to the car was pitiful. Both Jess and I were done by the time we stepped back onto the trail. Our legs were wobbly and we kept stumbling around trying to get our footing. Jess even managed to stagger off the trail and step into a bush. Oops. My favorite part was when we got close enough to see the car and were confronted by that same huge set of stone steps that we started out hike on. Awesome!

The boys both fell asleep in the car on the way home, making Henry positive that 2o minutes in the car can take the place of his usual 2+ hour nap perfectly well thanks.

Little does he know that his lack of nap just makes me feel less guilty about my plot to put him to bed an hour early so I can watch The OC in peace tonight. MmmmmOC...