Found a treasure in our community!

When we moved to our current city, we lamented that we had lost access to the city parks and trails that we had just discovered in our last city. Rebecca was starting to really enjoy walking the trails and we did not know of any in the city that we were moving to. We moved from a large suburb outside of Columbus, to a smaller town. But we said that we would take her the city parks and let her play on the playground. That was 6 years ago. 

Now, we have discovered that our town DOES INDEED have a series of trails and wild space for the family to walk and explore. The Kokosing Gap Trail is a 14 mile paved trail built on an old railroad line. We have only explored the first 3 miles or so before yesterday. 

Well yesterday, the weather was cool enough that we wouldn't freeze and so we decided to take advantage and just get out in nature a while. So Bill, Benjamin and I decided to take a walk before we had to get Rebecca and Jacob from school. We decided to go to a different entry point to the trail, near Kenyon College. As we were walking we saw trails and paths marked by Kenyon and their Brown Family Environmental Center, that takes you off the main paved trail and takes you near the River and up some steep areas. We will definitely have to go back with all the kids once it is not so muddy and explore some of those areas. 

We ended up walking 3 miles! Ben was a trooper. He loved looking at the river and he especially loved the bridge that we walked through. I will admit it was beautiful. 

We saw and heard a ton of birds and squirrels. We saw several cardinals, a couple bluejays, a couple chipmunks, robins, and a scarlet tanager bird. I had never seen one before and it was beautiful. I only had my cell phone with me, so I didn't get a very good picture of it...

I am finding that the more and more that we are spending time in nature, the less stressed I am and the more I can focus. I like solitary walks and walks with the family. Even when we get goofy on our walks and take goofy selfies:

I am so glad that we found this treasure in our community that we will definitely enjoy from here on out!

Do you have trails or parks near where you live that you like to walk?