Franklin, TN: day four, hiking

Day four

Day four was our hiking day, so we skipped our morning run figuring we would get enough exercise anyway. Our original plan was to do a longer hike in the morning, a picnic lunch, and then a short hike in the afternoon. We ended up just doing one hike, because I wore sandals and got a blister! I was rushed in the Target on Monday trying to quickly grab appropriate shoes, and I bought two pairs just in case one didn’t work out. Well, one worked out great, but the other one that I wore to hike in ended up giving me blisters. Some might say perhaps don't hike in sandals?! 

We let the baby take his morning nap while we drove to the trail. We parked at Percy Wagner Park and did the Moss Ridge Trail. It’s about 5 miles, and quite easy. I mean, I did it in flip flops with a baby in a carrier, it can’t be that hard. However, it did take a little longer than I expected, because I had to stop to feed the baby and change his diaper. I figured maybe two hours, and I think it took us an additional 15 minutes. 

Feeding the baby in the woods

It's a very low-barrier place to hike. You can just show up and do a hike: the trails are wide and well-marked, with absolutely no way to get lost, and there are trails of several distances. 

Plus, there are bathrooms and pavilions at the trailhead. I'd packed sandwiches and chips, and we ate lunch there, then played with the baby in the grass for a while. He’d been in the carrier for a long time, so he needed some exercise! We decided to head back to the hotel and play in the pool again, since he’d had so much fun there the other day. The pool had a 6” deep area that he could crawl in and he loved it. And we didn't hate relaxing by the pool, either. Then we went to happy hour for margaritas at a Mexican restaurant. We had nice seats outside in beautiful weather, so we ended up staying for dinner there and scrapping our original dinner plans. The baby was a huge hit - he is incredibly social and smiley and was making friends left and right. And the waitstaff were impressed by the way he plowed through his enchilada! We watched the football game later that night once the baby was asleep. I never thought I’d say a Cincinnati vs. Cleveland game was exciting, but it was a good game!