Jim Thorpe

In celebration of my 40th - I decided to abuse my body!

I dragged, or is it drug?, the family out to Jim Thorpe in the Poconos and we hiked the Falls Trail in the Lehigh Gorge Park. because it was *my* birthday ,and I wanted to do what *I* wanted to do.

This place is just gorgeous. It is really hard to capture the beauty of the trees, the height, or the sound of the water on film.

The water was not running as much as it should have been considering the little rain we have gotten this month. But we still enjoyed ourselves.

There are a number of falls along the trail. They get higher and higher as you go up.

This trail was A LOT steeper than I expected. There were places where we literally were grabbing tree roots and dragging ourselves up the path. we kept wondering if we had somehow wandered off the path!

My monkeys loved to climb all of the rocks.

This is the fall that is second from the top. That little white speck up there now is J. We climbed up with him a few minutes later. No not up the fall, the trail goes along the side. And it is steep. Then this is the fall that we could see from the top of the last one. We could have climbed up there as well, and I would love to say we did. But the trail was even steeper. I have been relatively inert since my accident, and knew there was no way my body was going to make it. I did vow to make it to the top before my next birthday. The kids were more than happy to hear me say we weren't going up there! I really wanted to though.

The kiddos and I. They were soaked at this point since they were dying to cool off in the water.
Then, as promised before we went up, some rock skipping and water play before we left.
When I saw the graffiti on the underside of the railroad bridge, I couldn't help but shamelessly channel Tara Whitney and attempt to get some cool pictures of the kids. Notice the "I am too cool for you" look that K is attempting. C tried it too but just kept giggling.

Then my day finished up with a little surprise. Ice cream cake.

All in all is was a wonderful day. J came through with an awesome, as he put it "You only turn 40 once" gift of a day at the spa for me and a friend. Although I can only keep thinking that we can not afford it. And Iam not sure I can pick just one friend! I may wind up going alone. My family really made me feel special today. It was very nice.