Day 9 - Ernst Trail

Today we went on an easy six-mile bike ride on Ernst Trail.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this trail.  Built in 1996, the trail is actually five miles long and goes from right around Park Avenue Plaza in Meadville and continues to Route 19.  Eventually, the goal is to continue the trail into Conneaut Lake.  A couple times of year, there are 5K races there to raise money for the project.  Much of it parallels French Creek, providing beautiful scenery.  About a quarter mile into the trail, there is a covered bridge.  We stop there every time.  The boys like to play in a little creek that runs under the bridge, and for you geocachers, you can find one there.  Every half mile is marked clearly, so it's easy to keep track of how far you've gone, making it a great trail for running.  It's also very flat.  It would have been pretty easy to complete the whole ten miles, but it may have gotten dark before we finished.  Oh, and the bugs tend to get pretty thick, so sunglasses are a good idea.  Jordan got a bug in his eye and ended up swerving off the path and falling off his bike.  But he's a tough one, so he really didn't complain much.  It was a nice time - we really should go more often.  And Dairy Queen is pretty close, so of course we ended the evening there. 

This is the creek that goes under the bridge.

Too cool for words.

Jim caught this little guy.

And Jordan loved him.  He wanted to "spend as much time with him" as he could.

French Creek is in the background.

He's goin' FAST!