Great Falls, VA

On Veteran's Day weekend, the 4 youngest and I escaped to Washington DC to visit Drake, see old friends, and have some fun time together. This is us at a state park called Great Falls, in Virginia. Just behind the kids you can see the Potomac river. We arrived at the park and we were amazed at the number of folks out enjoying the beautiful fall day. Though it seems we are in the wilds, we were surrounded at all times by tons of people. Think Boughton Park with everyone in Bloomfield there at the same time, and you may have an idea of what it was like. We had a ball though. It was quite the hike.

Our journey began on a nice, flat trail, an easy walk with a canal on one side of us, and the Potomac on the other. We took a side trail to the real 'hike' and we had a ball. It started out nice and easy, pretty soon we were stepping over rocks, then stepping on rocks, and in the photo of the kids climbing the boulders, that is the trail. Oh, and to the right of Rem and Madi, well, it's a drop a couple of hundred feet into the rapids of the Potomac. Just below Madi's elbow, you can see the rock wall on the other side of the river.

Photo #1, me hiking the hard part of the trail, Rem was on the trail below me and took this shot.

Photo #2, the easy part of the trail and the beautiful fall day it was.

Photo #3, the kids on an overlook of some of the rapids. We saw kayakers there. Fun.

Photo #4, some of the local wildlife, a monkey in a tree.

Photo #5, me and the handsome guide.

Photo #6, hikers on the medium part of the trail.