Hiking in the Hills PhotoJournal

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Since we had a day off yesterday, we made plans to go on an explore with our son and his family. We decided to go for a hike at Hocking Hills State Park. The weather was perfect―warm, sunny and clear, but not muggy or too hot. We got started a little later than originally planned, but arrived at Hocking Hills around 11a.m. We chose to stick around the Old Man's Cave trail and save the longer Whispering Cave trail for another time. 

Come along and see some of the sights!

By the way, that was just some random guy
standing on the 'floating' bridge - not anybody
we know!

Can you see the face in this rock?
There are at least two different faces,
depending on how you look at it.

There were many ledges and overhangs like this one. Just wait for the next one!

As you can see, the sign didn't stop anyone!

I didn't go wading though Harrison and Veronica did.

We were very puzzled by this . . . rectangle? It looked very deep, but the water was really only an inch or two. We joked that this was actually the Devil's Bathtub, which is a feature near the falls that we could not see. I'm not entirely sure, but I think maybe the Bathtub is in the ledge just above the waterfall.

But just past those falls, we started the climb to the bottom of this overhanging ledge. 

From the views above, it looks like a cliff, but when you can see the waterfall over the edge, you realize that the cliff is actually a huge overhang.

We should have counted the steps. There were a LOT, and the stone ones were not all even in height.

This photo is skewed - those are stairs, but they don't go stright up like it appears!

Finally, we reached the Old Man's Cave, so named because an old homesteader lived there in the late 1800s. 

It is huge. And beautiful. We agreed it would be an amazing place to shelter and watch the snowfall or a rainstorm. If I was a homesteader, I would definitely take that spot if I could.

It was time to get something to eat, so we drove into town to find a restaurant. We considered going back to Hocking Hills and taking the shorter Ash Cave trails, but at my husband's suggestion, we went instead to Rockbridge State Nature Preserve. The website promised a natural bridge and indicated a relatively easy hike. 

The trailhead is very unassuming. A gravel walkway leading to boardwalks along a meadow. But once we reached the trees, the terrain changed. The trail was rough in places and very hilly!

The trail wasn't very well marked―it was clear where there was a trail and the trees were blazed, but we didn't have a map, and we only came across one sign directing us towards the natural bridge. We definitely had to work for it, but once we caught sight of it, it was quite impressive!

One understands why there are warnings to stay ON the trail at all times!

Poppy and Veronica making Nonny and Mommy a bit nervous!

We were able to climb down to see underneath the bridge as well. Cliff swallows sighted!

Another group selfie on the trail back.

Last look at the meadow meant we'd almost made it back to the car! Another family group had just arrived at the trailhead, so we answered some of their questions and told them the best trail to reach the bridge, hopefully making their hike a little easier than ours!

Have you visited either of these state parks or any like them? Leave a comment and let me know!

This post will be linked at Pictorial Tuesday, hosted by Peabea Scribbles.

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A Museum of Art PhotoJournal

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Last weekend we visited the Columbus Museum of Art. It is free on Sundays, so it was fairly busy, and we didn't see everything, but here's a sampling of what we viewed.

I feel like the above is what you're supposed to see first, but we came from the other direction, and noticed this first:

I still haven't looked at a map layout of the whole museum, so I'm not sure what we missed! We didn't see the Maurice Sendak exhibit, because that is an additional admission price. We headed up the stairs and down the first hallway we came to, which has several rooms or galleries leading from it, as well as artwork displayed in the hallway. Obviously I didn't take pictures of nearly everything, or even a representation, although photos are allowed and encouraged in most areas of the museum.

It wasn't long before we spotted something familiar―a Chihuly glass piece:

I think Chihuly's work is amazing and I love it, but I've heard quite a few people talk about it being weird and not liking it. Differences of opinion on art make for interesting discussion, right?

Generally speaking, I guess I prefer more traditional art. The kind where I can appreciate the visual image whether or not I know the specific message being conveyed, and often even if I don't necessarily agree with the message. For instance, this 17th century painting, "A Wooded Landscape with Travelers". It's an interesting and peaceful scene, but according to the placard, it's also an example of a moral or theological message in art, even though the Dutch Calvinism of this artist's time did not allow depictions of Christ or of Bible stories in the churches. This landscape intended to show the small size and limitations of humans in comparison with God's power, and to remind worshipers to remain humble and pious.

Moving towards galleries with more recent art, we found this brightly colored painting and thought it would make a fun background for a family photo. Do you see the woman in the landscape?

Some of the galleries had a hands-on area to interact with art in some way. Our granddaughter made this beautiful still life of fruit!

Cosmos, Marsden Hartley

The Two Graces, Odilon Redon

I found this one thought-provoking as I read the background. There are three graces in Greek and Roman mythology, representing beauty, joy, and abundance. This artist has included only two in his painting. Which two are they? Wonder what he was saying? What do you think?

Weeping Willow, Claude Monet

I loved all the Monet paintings in the collection, but this one was particularly interesting. Monet painted a series of willow trees during the Great War, characterizing his grief and sorrow at the war. Monet refused to leave his home and garden even though artillery fire could be heard nearby.

Crucifixion, Elijah Pierce

Take a look at the characters in this interesting carved piece from the 1930s. 

This huge painting in one of the modern or contemporary galleries made an impression too.

Portrait of Andries Stilte II, Kehinde Wiley

At first, I just liked it because it was eye-catching and witty. And huge! It's eight feet tall! Then I read the placard and was really intrigued by the idea for this. 

For this work, Kehinde Wiley invited a young man he encountered on the streets of Columbus to pose in the matter of the 1639-40 painting . . . With the painting's towering size, extravagant frame, and lush background, Wiley taps into traditional portraiture's display of affluence, power, and esteem. The surrounding pattern also contains the fleur-de-lis . . . associated with French royalty. Substituting the fashions and swagger of a young African American man for Verspronck's well-to-do Dutchman, Wiley engages both historical and contemporary representations of race, class, and masculinity.

That painting and a few other pieces of contemporary art were among those that I thought were actually artistic! Ha! Honestly, at least half of the so-called art pieces in the modern-day collection were weird, disturbing, bizarre, or (in my opinion, anyway) just plain ugly and inappropriate.

This huge sculpture is just fun:

And how about this one? It's butter. A sculpture of butter. A very large sculpture of butter, probably three feet long. Sorry I don't know the artist, and I have no idea if he or she was trying to convey any message or had just taken on the challenge of making a giant reproduction of a stick of butter. If the reminder to not touch hadn't been there, I guarantee we would have touched it just out of curiosity. 

By this time, our granddaughter was losing interest, and it must have been a little frustrating to not be able to touch the 'butter' or so many other things! 

We did take a quick look at some modern art made from glass before heading out. This one is fascinating. It's three and a half feet wide, and is made from optic crystal which is cut, ground, polished, and engraved. And there's oil paint and gold in it. Very impressive.

Sunflower, Christopher Ries

Well, we thought we were finished for the day, but realized that this children's interactive room was on the main floor, so we went in there for a bit to play.

There's more to see, so I'm sure we'll be heading back on another Sunday afternoon in the future to explore some more!

This post will be linked at Pictorial Tuesday, hosted by Peabea Scribbles.

Pictorial Tuesday

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to HS Coffee Break by email 

 ©2006-2023 HS Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.