**Flashback to Day 6 – we finally got our digital copies of photos made at the Pro Football Hall of Fame yesterday, and had to add them.

Onto today… What a way to finish this trip – ATVs through Wayne National Forest! But first…

We started today at our homey VRBO in Millersburg. It was so nice to wake up and have a cup of coffee in your PJs.

We packed and hit the road, headed to Athens, Ohio. Along the very curvy roads, Leo commented that this was a different kind of vastness (see the outwest blog for some serious vastness)

As we whipped through towns, we kept seeing these Big Foot Cutouts… we never did find out what they were for…

Did I mention the curvy roads? Add in constant staring at your iPad from our newly minted teenager with a splash of sinus drainage… and you’ve got the perfect Carsick Cocktail.

After a pitstop to clean up and change clothes, and we were back on the road…

Finally, we arrived! Adventure Pro Outdoors… as excited as we were for the day, we were even more excited to be off those roads!

We signed all of our waivers and releases, learned our train signals and headed to meet our guides. We were so ready to hit the trails in Wayne National Forest.

And off we went!

We rode and splashed and rode for 3 hours…We stopped for snacks and switched passengers then went right back at it…

We had the BEST time and had mud and dirt everywhere!

We made it back to the barn to drop off the ATV, and may have brought them back a bit muddier than when we took them.

Look at the mud! There is mud in my teeth!

Best guides ever!

Thankfully we were able to change clothes before heading to the hotel

Thanks Wayne National Forest! I don’t know if we will be back this way, but we’ll never forget today.

We checked into our last Holiday Inn Express in Athens, Ohio, and quickly learned that Athens is home to Ohio University… and after seeing all the parents and families in town, and a little internet sleuthing, we discovered that today was opening day for the OU Baseball team. After getting all the mud off of us, we grabbed dinner at a local spot – Shade on State. (It was like an sports bar and Applebees had a baby) Great atmosphere, good food and the best company.

We decided to go exploring into Athens to see the OU campus. It is a really pretty campus, founded in 1804. It is slightly smaller than some of the big NC schools with about 19,000 students.

The downtown of Athens around the campus is really pretty as well.

downtown pics

We finally made it back to the hotel, and climbed the stairs after coming in the back entrance… some were huffing and puffing by the 3rd level.

stairwell pic

Of course we got in some last minute wrestling.

Now we are all tucked in and snoring, ready to start heading back home. we have no plans other than driving tomorrow. I’m sure Mom’s Cafe will be open, and who knows what else we can find…It has been such a fun week together!