When It Rains, It Pours. (Literally.)

Podcast Tuesday! Today is the last day of school for our city, but Ryan and I are apparently just getting started on the learning. ;) And now you can learn from mistakes, mishaps, and misadventures! (And you can laugh at us too!)

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I had a couple more stories from our trip a few days ago; hope that is okay! :)

I told you that the Sunday we were gone, we hiked Clifty Falls State Park, and it was so beautiful. We got back to the hotel mid-afternoon and were pretty hungry (because nine miles will do that to you) so we found a little local café and had some lunch! It was delicious. Tenderloin for Ryan and giant salad for me.

And because it was so hot we topped it off with a little frozen yogurt:

We sat by the river for a while:

And then we decided to go back to our room, watch some TV, and rest.

I really, really, really wanted to walk across the bridge to Kentucky (even though bridges and heights scare me) so I could say I did it. And since it seemed to be the day of conquering fears - and since we were leaving town the next morning - it seemed like the best time to go ahead and do that. We decided to wait until it cooled down just a bit, though.

So we rested, we watched TV, and then we strapped on our walking shoes and set out to conquer the bridge. I looked it up, and it said the bridge is a half mile long. It has a separate sidewalk for walkers and bikers. Tons of metal separates this sidewalk from the busy car lanes, so even if there's a crash, you should be safe.

I had to do some deep breathing, but we got up there and started walking! And as I glanced out over the river, I saw what looked like rain in the distance, even though the radar was 100% clear.

Do you see it there in the middle? Just to the left of the smoke stacks? I said something to Ryan about it and he said not to worry - it was just cloud/sun shadows. No rain on the radar, after all. So we began walking.

We paused for selfies:

And I said I really really thought that was a rain storm coming, and the noise we heard was in fact NOT the rumble of a barge, but the rumble of thunder.

The bridge felt a lot longer walking it than it looked staring at it, so by the time we hit the Kentucky side, I was ready to hurry - HURRY!!! - back. If there was one place I did NOT want to be in a storm, it was out in the open on top of a metal bridge.

So we picked up the pace on the way back. (I also had my good camera with me and didn't want it to get wet and ruined.

Yeah, that's definitely rain.

We were almost back to land when the first big drops began to fall. So we ran and made it UNDER the bridge just before it let loose.

Here's the funny (not funny) part. Our hotel was RIGHT THERE across the street, but it was up a big hill, and we didn't have any way to get there without the camera getting wet. So we stayed put. But the rain fell harder and harder, and we realized we might be there for the long haul. Also across the street was a park with a shelter house, so we decided to make a run for it and get into the shelter house.

Good thing we did. About five minutes later, the rain fell so hard that the spot where we stood in the photo above was completely rain-soaked.

Ryan made friends with another couple taking refuge there, and I rocked on a picnic bench. LOL. Oh how I hate storms.

I had to laugh a bit later when this guy pulled up and just sat. I wondered if he was hunting business from people who had gotten caught out in the rain?

The rain eventually let up, and we were able to walk back to our hotel and resume our evening resting.

Never a dull moment in a Shafferland adventure, is there?