Sunday, September 02, 2007

Red River Gorge, III

Ame, Isabel & I took our third trip to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky earlier this week. It was an excellent trip!

Posing on the deck of the cabin. Awesome views!

For me, the highlight was watching Isabel enjoy participating in the action. She really wanted to do some hiking rather than simply being carried in the backpack. So, we let her walk the trail to Balanced Rock.

We figured this would be a short walk on her part, that we would end up carrying her after some short distance. She only turned two this past June.

She's a tough little girl! She fell down twice and brushed it off, saying, "I ok. Let's go". She scaled all of the stairs by herself, at her insistance. This is no small feat for a 2-year-old, as you can judge by the photos.

Isabel leads Mommy up the stairs, up the mountain.

This is the joy of being self-employed: Take off on a non-holiday Monday for a couple days. It's ok, the boss approves.

Goofy Daddy and Isabel at Balanced Rock

4 comments:

Lalita said...

Excellent post, Mr. Kole! Looks like you were in a most beautiful spot and enjoyed yourselves immensely. I love the woods (country kid that I am) and I'll be sure to share this post with my husband. We were just talking about camping or spending some real time outdoors.

I, too, am among the SOHO (small office/home office) set and I love seeing self-emp'ed people like us able to use the flexibility our companies can provide to spend spend time with family and friends!

Rock on!

Mike Kole said...

Thanks! I'll never regret leaving a regular job behind. Sure, there was security in that, but little opportunity for meaningful flexibility like this.

Of course, the other side of the coin is that I've worked 12 hours today (so far!) while so many have their paid holiday. There are no paid holidays for us self-employed home office types. But, the rewards are many if willing to work the longer days to fulfill contracts on a day like this, (labor day is quite an irony to a self-employed person) not merely financial.

billbean said...

Been there a couple of times myself. Beautiful area though the hike to the top must be tough with children.

Mike Kole said...

Actually, it was great hiking with Isabel. Ame often hauls her on the backback. We do this on the trails with cliffs or other hazards. But we let he hike the flatter and hazard-free trails. As you can see, she took all the stairs.

Our thinking has been to start her at an early age, to develop an appreciation for the outdoors, for wildlife, and wilderness. But also, to develop an ability to 'rough it', and an appreciation for that too.

We took Isabel to the Adirondacks at 14 months for her first wilderness campaing experiences. We hiked in about four miles, packed in our own food, and lived remotely for 3 days. She loved it! So far, the experiment is a success. This was the third time we've taken her to Red River Gorge. We're going to keep it up!