After the beach we headed north. We spent a couple of nights in the MD/DC area at Kim's and in DC for July 4th and then went to Aunt Margie's for the rest of the week. It was a great trip.
On July 4th we got up at the crack of dawn and headed for Great Falls. We hit the Billy Goat Trail which is supposed to be one of the most strenuous hikes on the East Coast...at least according to the sign. It was pretty tough but we took it one step at a time and had a great hike. We just ignored all those people passing us by...
And we're off!!
The gang
plus Josh
Up, up, up...scrambling with your hands
please don't fall!! Josh said later that it was so steep he was worried that he was in back because he was the smallest one if they fell he would not be able to stop them and they'd all go tumbling down!
Josh being goofy...views from the hike
the day was cloudy and slightly overcast and we were somewhat worried about being caught out there in a storm. That never happened, which was good...doing that hike in the rain would have meant slippery rocks and slippery rocks would have meant people (as in us) on our butts an awful lot. There was a LOT of rock climbing involved. We were happy that it was not hot though...July 4th in DC can be brutal and the clouds and a slight breeze were very welcome. We made it out of the hike with only the slightest of rain drops. Those few were a precourser for later of course when it rained buckets and cats and dogs and whatever other clever description you want to give it. But the morning was perfect for that hike, not sure you could ask for a better July 4th morning to do that kind of hike than we got. 
Josh needed a little alone time...as the youngest of the bunch he sometimes got the raw end of things...we needed to keep a closer eye on him than the others and he found that irritating...can't really blame him, but that's just life sometimes. Here he found a quiet spot to just chill 
