With the car sufficiently loaded and our bellies just as full, we hopped in and headed off to our first destination. I plugged the address into my GPS and off we went! The first stop was only about two hours away and I was giddy at the anticipation of the arrival and surprising Garrett with this, and every, stop on the road trip. For the duration of the drive he kept tossing out guesses and I would just smirk and casually change the subject. Finally, the GPS guided us off of the interstate, we were getting close. My excitement started to dissipate; we were surrounded by flat cornfields as far as the eye could see. The little glimmer of hope in me vanished when the road with the flag remained the same…Looking around at the cornfields, I knew something was wrong.
There was just no way a giant waterfall could be here! We approached the flag and I had to break down and confess to Garrett that we were not in the right location while frantically looking through the plans and the map to figure out where I had gone oh so incredibly wrong. The address- I put in the wrong city. Not only did I put in the wrong location but I put in one that was two hours out of the way! Furious with myself and embarrassed, I put in the correct address and we turned around. The entire drive to the waterfall was spent with Garrett assuring me that it was okay and it wasn’t a big deal. He just didn’t get it…but he couldn’t get it because he didn’t know the full plan. We were on a timed schedule, and deviating from that could very well hurt the last stop on our trip for the day. So I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best the rest of the way.
Hours later we finally arrived at the waterfall. It was a short but beautiful hike with two levels; one closer to the top of the falls and another lower down. We shot some pictures and then moved on back to the car for our next stop. “Are you sure you have the right address this time?” Oh this boy was asking for trouble! He did realize he was stuck in the car with me for six more hours and he was moving in with me, right? Laughing I assured him I did and that he would never in a million years guess what this next stop was. When we reached the exit he claimed he was hungry. “Well, it’s probably a good thing you are with this next stop!” He would question if it was each restaurant we passed before getting very confused when the amount of restaurants greatly decreased as we got closer to the stop. Closer still and the name of the location popped up on the GPS.
“F-food court?”
“No babe, read that again…”
“Field of…What? Why are we going to a field of corn?!”
Yes, you read that correctly, field of corn. But not just any corn, and certainly not the corn that was located where I thought the waterfall was supposed to be! This was a field of 109 six foot tall concrete ears of corn all lined up in rows. The ears were commissioned by the Dublin Arts Council and sculpted by Malcolm Cochran in 1994. This field was created as a tribute to the inventor of many of the hybrid corn species, Sam Frantz. You can learn more about this fascinating field here! I could not contain my laughter the entire time. When researching possible stop ideas, I came across this one and thought it was too…unique…to pass up! How many people that you know can say they have visited a field of cement corn? I can’t think of any, aside from us now. We took a couple of goofy pictures, stretched a little, and hopped right back in the car for our third and final stop for the day.
The last planned stop of the day was the reason for the tight schedule. Thankfully we were okay on time and didn’t lose too much of it due to my mistake…Lost more than I would have liked to, but it would still be okay. Though he wouldn’t admit it, I’m pretty sure Garrett had lost faith in my road trip planning skills after the field of corn, but once we arrived at our final destination I could tell I definitely redeemed myself; the Cincinnati Zoo.
Rated in the Top 10 (at the time of my research) zoos in America, I knew we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit this zoo. Of course, we only had a couple of hours until they closed so we unfortunately would have to skip the botanical gardens in the center, but we still managed to see just about everything else. Yes, I definitely redeemed myself with this stop! And I would further redeem myself tomorrow. For now, it was time to head to the hotel and call it a night.
The next morning started off bright and early. A mere four hours from his new home, Garrett was bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to see what the final surprise stop would be at our half way mark for the day’s trip! Boy was he in for a treat…I actually had two stops planned, but they were both right next to each other so I just rounded down to one…That’s how it works, right? Right. Anyways…We were off to his very first cave tour, Ruby Falls! Two of my favorite things to visit are caves and waterfalls, so this location is a great combination of the two. As a place I have visited a few times throughout my childhood, I knew that he would have a blast! One new thing they added (or maybe it’s just new to my memory…) is the lighting system for the waterfall itself. What a gorgeous touch!
After emerging from the cave, we moseyed on up the mountain a bit more to wander through Rock City. It was a beautiful drive, though incredibly twisty and turny as the mountains tend to be…and the whole short drive I just hoped with all my might that the weather would hold out for us. I’m not sure walking on rocks in the mountain is exactly the safest idea in the rain…But thankfully for us, it held!
Here Garrett would learn a very valuable lesson he had not yet gotten a chance to learn; the extent to which I will stop to photograph every little thing! Thank goodness he’s such a good sport. Since we had been on the road for a couple of hours and touring Ruby Falls and Rock City for about as long, our stomachs reminded us that we shouldn’t neglect them, so we paused our visit to each at the little café near the overlook where you can see seven states at once. The food was divine, and the view stunning!
Now full with happy tummies, we continued our voyage and followed the winding pathways, admiring the sights and lush vegetation throughout the attraction on our way to see Lover’s Leap. We shimmied through Fat Man’s Squeeze, trailed over gorgeous moss covered stone bridges, passed through the Rainbow Hall, enjoyed the Fairy Tale Caverns, braved stepping under the 1,000 ton balanced rock, and paid respects at Lover’s Leap.
“For centuries there have been many Lover’s Leaps in all parts of the world. The one at Rock City has associated with it a Native American legend as moving as any. A young Chickasaw warrior names Sautee fell deeply in love with Nacoochee, a beautiful Cherokee maiden. Nacoochee loved Sautee as well, but their tribes were engaged in a bitter feud. The two eloped, but were followed by a war party. Sautee was captured and thrown from the tip of Lover’s Leap. While the attention of the tribe was absorbed in this tragedy, he despairing Nacoochee quickly followed her love, leaping to her own death far below.”
– Rock City’s Sign
All in all, it ended up being an amazing trip, full of new sights for Garrett and blasts from the past for me. I could tell that the two of us were in for some incredibly fun adventures in our future together!
