I’ve been dying to do something really fun lately.  It’s summer and we have the time, so I’ve been suggesting lakes, rivers, outdoor pools, and any fun outings that come to mind.  My kids, on the other hand, usually respond with , “Ehhh.”  

Ehhh?  What do you mean, ehhh? It’s summer!  It’s time to get out and have some fun!  We only have about 4 weeks of nice weather around here and we can’t spend those weeks lounging around the house!  Well, my speeches have been falling on deaf ears and all the kids want to do is hang out at home.  Yesterday, we didn’t give them a choice.  We just told them what we were doing and where we were going.  My oldest thought hiking to the ice caves sounded pretty cool, but the youngest just wanted to stay home.  Guess who won that battle?

It’s called a hiking trail, but it’s really more of a short walk with a slight incline.  The trailhead is about an hour from our house.  We got there about 1:00, on our rare 90 degree day.  I think the threat of heat chased people away, because the parking lot was practically empty.  I won’t lie.  It was hot walking up there.  When we got to the top, the view was pretty neat!

There are signs all over, warning people not to go exploring in the ice caves.  A few years ago there was a death up here when ice fell on someone exploring.  Everyone was very respectful of the power of Mother Nature and we didn’t see anyone going inside the caves.

We did, however, stand on the ice at the bottom for a picture.  Cooper (the dog) LOVED cooling off on the ice.  He rolled around on it and tried to eat it.  I guess he was a little hot.

The caves were truly amazing.  Like I said, it was about 90 degrees, but when you stood in front of an ice cave, the mist would blow down and it was about 30 degrees cooler.  Then, you could move two feet to the left or right and you’d be baking again.  It was really awesome!  

I don’t usually encourage my kids to bring their electronics on days like this, but I wanted them to take a few pictures, so I reminded them to put their phone and ipod in their pockets. The next few pictures were taken by the kids.

Not too shabby for my budding photographers!

We cooled off in the river on the way back down.

We all had a great day and I’m hoping I won’t have complaints when I want to take them to do something fun now.  Maybe this is just what they needed to get out of their I’m-on-summer-vacation-and-I-just-want-to-be-lazy moods.

Happy hiking!