We went to Malabar Farm State Park

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Today, I am working on school with the kids and getting ready for the week after we had a busy weekend. 

Saturday Bill, the kids and I headed out to explore Malabar Farm State Park. This is an Ohio state park and was once the home of author Louis Bromfield. The property was also the site of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's wedding in 1945. Various areas of the property were also the sites of filming for the movie "Shawshank Redemption." 

Never having seen the movie or really knowing very much of Louis Bromfield, I just saw this as an opportunity to explore a new to us park. *One of the positives of living in a pandemic is that I am looking for more natural areas to explore locally that I might have overlooked before. 

When we arrived we parked next to the visitor center (which was open) and we went in to get a map of the property. (Quite honestly the maps were a little misleading and not very clear). Inside the visitor center they have a lovely parrot that supposedly says Hello, but he never talked while we were there. 

Then we started walking around the grounds. We went through the barn area and came across a couple adorable pigs 🐷🐷🐷🐷 and some goats 🐐🐐🐐. 

We also went around "The Big House" which was not open for viewing due to COVID. We also got to see some of the animals out to pasture.

 

After we started walking toward trails. At one point we went the wrong way while trying to follow the map, but we eventually made the way to the trail we were looking for. We ended up walking up one of the horseback riding trails first before we realized our mistake and then backtracked to the Butternut Trail. This trail takes you to a cave that you can enter and explore. It was really neat to see!

After we got done hiking, we headed back toward the barn so Ben could see the animals again. As we were walking we came across a tiny snake in the grass. 

When we got back to the barn, one of the pigs was awake and let me tell you... those pigs were SO CUTE! I have decided that I want a pig! LOL Maybe one day.

 

We then headed to our van to drive up to the top of Mt. Jeez. This overlook offers spectacular views of the valley. Seriously the views were GORGEOUS! 

Malabar Farm State Park is a great place for our family to enjoy. We will definitely be going back sooner rather than later! 

Well, Ben needs some help with his Zoom meeting! I hope everyone has a great Monday!