Believe it or not, the Hattie and dad adventure didn’t start that way. Looking to get a small hike in with her, and check out some local history, I found a place nearby called the McGilvray “Seven Bridges Road.” According to a local history guide, a Scottish settler by the name of Alexander McGilvray started a ferry service in the mid 1850s to cross a local river in order to shorten the distance of travel between two populated counties. The original road cut across marshland, and due to spring floods and inclement rainstorms, an eventual seven bridges were constructed to assist horse and wagon travel. The initial bridges were made of wood; later, steel bridges engineered by Charles M. Horton were installed.
Eventually, the bridges became abandoned and left to rot and decay, until a group of "friends of the road" came together in 1989 and restored the bridges (more info can be found here if curious: http://www.7bridgesrd.org/
So with some history in hand and something I had yet to explore, why not take an adventure on 85F Saturday morning? I packed up some water, a fruit/veggie pouch for Hattie, some sunscreen, Hattie’s binoculars, and away we went to visit an area of a long bygone era. For whatever reason, I forgot to pack the damn BOB stroller…more on that later.
The area is part of what is known as the Van Loon Wildlife Area, and I was hoping we at the very least would see some creatures, big and small, to watch. As we pulled up to the reserve, I noticed right away a parking lot full of vehicles. No big deal, but I do prefer to take in nature with a minimal amount of people walking around. Still, this was going to be epic; bridges, nature, wildflowers, decent temperatures…how is this not going to be fun. Mind you, at this point, I did think about the fact that I forgot the damn BOB.
As we started the trail, I noticed the bugs weren’t too bad, the heat was still bearable, but also that a 3.6-mile round trip hike was going to be pushing it. Why didn’t I think to bring that BOB?
The first bridge was just up a bit up the trail. You can see the interesting design of the bridges, and the amount of restoration that went into it.
It never ceases to amaze me that people still love history, let alone go out of their way to help finance restoration projects like this for the sake of it. Hey, once I become a Bitcoin / Hive millionaire, I too will be interested in helping out projects like this.
Satoshi fantasies aside, we then came upon bridge number 2:
This one had the same design, more or less, but now we were now throwing sticks into the water.
I was also beginning to notice the lack of shade. This Irish / Norwegian started to sweat in the growing heat and sun. A few more feet ahead and we came across bridge number 3.
The design, again, was very similar, and Hattie was having fun jumping on the wood planks. I looked at my phone for the time, wiped the sweat away from my eyes, and realized I made a big mistake not bringing that damn BOB. Still, we ventured forward.
We made it to bridge number four after what felt like a very long walk…only 2 more bridges to go, I thought. “We can do this,” I thought??
Then came the “I’m hungries,” so we found a bench to sit on and take in the views while sucking down a pouch. Not bad views at all, really. Plus, we found some shade.
Then the bugs came.
I thought we could get away with no bug spray for a May 1 hike, but as usual, I was wrong. Hattie wanted to keep going, but I knew it was time to turn around. Of course, Hattie was getting tired too, and with no BOB to assist, it was time to carry her. I thought to myself, “Let’s go look for fish in the pond behind us” (a small pond we had passed before bridge number four), and she bought it and no longer wanted to keep going. We started walking back to the pond to look for fish.
“Perfect,” I assumed; “There will be no fish and we can keep moving back towards the car.” Of course, as we managed to arrive at the pond, she immediately noticed frogs in the pond. No fish, as I had deviously planned, but plenty of frogs. And so began “Great Frog Hunt of May 1”.
Like most young kids, she was memorized by the frogs. What’s not to like, after all? They hop away into the water…swim in the water…and make cool noises. They also seem to like to stay away from the shade, and so the sweat continued to drip out of me. Yet, despite the pain starting in my back, the sun burning on the back of my neck, and the sweat in my armpits, I have to say, it was lots of fun looking at these little things with her. Such curiosity! Here were some of the friends we met that day:
Frog hunt over, and a car ride, lunch, video time, and potential nap time required to be slammed into the next 90 minutes, I offered to carry Ms. Hattie back to the car. She accepted, and away we went. This is where I was dreading a) not bringing the BOB, and b) having lots of people in the area. Not only was my back starting to kill me as I sped walked while carrying her, but I also knew my face was turning red like a tomato, and that my Milwaukee Brewers hat was beginning to soak through. Every time we passed someone coming my way, I had to say “Good morning, beautiful day, eh?” It’s the friendly thing to do up here, you know? Some would reply, but most were probably thinking “That guy looks like he’s ready to pass out from the heat.” They were right. My back was throbbing in pain, the sweat was gushing into my eyes, and the bugs would not leave my ears alone. Still, I pressed on; that’s what dads do, I think. The history was worth it, totally.
I don’t know how I did it, but we made it. I managed to get Hattie into the car, crank up the A/C, and blew out of that parking lot. I put on some Halloween music and we drove back home. And, believe it or not, we made it back in time for lunch, The Octonauts, and nap time. Don’t tell my wife lunch was beef sticks, cheese, and orange juice, however. I mean, I know it’s not the healthiest, but you have to bribe those little ones from time to time.
There it is: our recent #engagetheweekend adventure.
Also, here was me later that day after a shower and sucking down a beer before my mom's 70th birthday dinner; Mr. Tomato head with the frazzled hair and worn-out body:
That was a pretty good beer, to be honest.
Thanks as always for reading! I’ll be back next week with another weekend adventure, no doubt. Hoping everyone out there in the engage the weekend group had a wonderful weekend too!
