Ok, today we are determined to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors here because there are, at least, three park areas within 15 minutes or so from here to hike in and the leaves are absolutely beautiful here. So, after sleeping in until 9 or so we decided that once the temperature warmed up a bit (at 9 am, it was only 36 degrees outside) we would venture out to John Bryan State park to take a hike. While waiting for the temp to warm up we browsed our e-mail, scrapped a little, journaled a little, talked a lot and just kind of generally hung out together. After listening to a bit of the Cathedral versus Brother Rice football game that Ridley was cheering at in Detroit, Michigan (Cathedral scored the first touchdown in the first 15 minutes) we headed out. Once in the park, we found a trail head , parked and set off down a path that runs parallel to Clifton Gorge which was carved out by the Little Miami River.
We hiked for about an hour and a half and took a number of pictures of the autumn foilage. Aside from the group of yelling boys who were close behind us at the very beginning of our hike, we enjoyed a nice, peaceful walk through the woods on a gorgeous fall day. Much to my disappointment, we never really did get an unobstructed view of the gorge, but being outside and breathing in that fresh autumnal air was very refreshing.After our hike we decided that we deserved some ice cream so we headed off to Young's Dairy. Turned out that we were not the only ones with this idea on such a beautiful fall day. Young's Dairy is not only a working dairy but also the site of a pumpkin patch, hayrides, miniature golf (in fact, their mini golf course is cleverly named Udders and Putters)
and a restaurant that features homestyle cooking. Kathi and I decided to try the homestyle cooking of the restaurant before having that ice cream. I must say, that these Ohio folks know how to cook!! We went from yesterday's delightful gourmet meal of squash and pumpkin lasagna to today's Amish style beef and noodles and cheesy baked potato soup and buttermilk fried chicken salad following the appetizers of cinnamon applesauce, coleslaw and sweet potato bread with honey butter. OH MY GOSH!!! Once all the plates, platters and bowls were set upon our table, Kathi and I just looked at one another, then the waitress, and asked if we could just go ahead and get a doggie bag then, because there was no way on earth that we were going to eat all of that food in one sitting!!! The coleslaw was nothing to write home about, the cinnamon applesauce was good, the sweet potato bread was incredible. The Amish-style beef and noodles were fabulous, the cheesy baked potato soup was delicious and we didn't even touch the buttermilk fried chicken salad. We then ambled over to the the pumpkin patch area of the place and checked out the cows and goats in the barns before slipping into the line for ice cream. Kathi chose a scoop of pumpkin along with a scoop of cinnamon, while I went with a scoop of pumpkin and a scoop of chocolate. Mmmmmm, mmmmm good! Completely full, we decided to head back to our home base. Once back in town, our curiosity got the better of us and we drove around a bit in search of Antioch College which we knew was in Yellow Springs somewhere, but had been told had closed down at the end of last school year. We found the campus and it was a sad sight. All of those buildings just deserted. Through many of the windows we could see furniture; desks and bookcases full of books. It was like everyone just up and left, leaving everything behind. Further in we saw that many of the windows in the buildings were boarded up. When we got back to the room, we did some research on Widipedia and found out that less than 200 students had attended the college during the 2008-2009 school year, it's last operating year. Apparently many alumni have banded together with the intent of saving the college and reopening it in 2011. Best wishes to them. We went back to town after this little detour and picked up some wine and some Bailey's for the evening. We listened to The Last Lecture, which was the book chosen for Kathi's book club which would be meeting the next day. We planned on calling in to the discussion so we wanted to finish listening to the book. We topped the evening off with that and went to bed.
Ooops, I forgot to talk about the traditional tossing of the states. Kathi threw the states and we were left with these two. Talk about two totally different places!!! We'll see what happens.......
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