Hocking Hills, Ohio Feb 14,2009

Days were passing by really slow and nothing special was happening!! Life was getting real bored as all I could see from my room window was the snow, snow and only snow, as a result of which we went out no where. Well, finally there comes Feb 14, our first Valentines day! I had not planned to buy anything for Kichu, as I seriously did not know what to buy. I basically found everything really expensive. I had the basic natural human tendency to convert USD to either INR or AED and start comparing- and the basic expression was 'OH MY GOD. I should pay 60Rs for a small can of Pepsi? Are you kidding me?'. But then there was no other go either. As I had not bought any gift for Kichu, for which I really felt guilty, I was not expecting a gift from him either. We had decided to get my Learners permit first and then start off our maiden driving trip to Hocking Hills in South eastern Ohio. It was almost 2 hours drive from Cincinnati. I was tensed about taking my learners test and I had been preparing for it for the last 24 hours :). I remember the last day I drove was in Cochin, for my driving test. Well, he wanted me to take my learners or temps ( as it is called here), that too on that same day. I went in, gave my test and passed by a margin of 1 mark! Gosh Phew! What a relief was that! :) We waited in the queue to get my temps card printed, they took my picture then and there. I was finally happy to get my temporary license card with my beautiful wide clownish grinning photo on it! What a beautiful national ID card I had :)

I was anticipating a beautiful day ahead. Little did I know, Kichu would make me drive our black sexy BMW 528i, that too on the expressway where the minimum speed is 65 mph ( 104 kmph). He made me drive for about 20 minutes, change lanes ( without looking at the mirrors), and finally felt a great sigh of happiness when he asked me to take the car to a rest area to switch seats! :) It was a nightmare , I almost broke down into tears. I was so scared. But he was really patient. He had not lost his temper on me at all, not even once when he taught me driving, though I had several break downs which included a sudden stop in the middle of road when I had not decelerated to make a turn and the lady on the opposite side stared at me, pulled the car on to the curb and got angry at him for none of his mistakes on the road.:) This is one of the best things he has done to me. Thanks Buddy!

Finally we arrived at Hocking Hills. We had booked Bed and Breakfast log cabin there, which was in the middle of a forest! Sounds scary right? It was scary too! :) Just at nights though. But then that was the best part of the trip-the stay. Our B-n-B hosts were Micah and Susan of Thunder Ridge cabins. Micah was called Muffin Man by the kids around there, as he made really tasty muffins. We were really lucky to have stayed there, as we got to meet two really good people. They were really reserved people who were so concerned about their daughter who is in her teens, seems guys have started asking her out. Slowly, the notions I had about the Westerners were changing. There are people who feel insecure about their children going on dates and so on. All these were happening when we were having Micah's banana muffins, blueberry muffins and English Continental breakfast of eggs, bagels, cereals, breads and juices. The best thing of Continental breakfast was potatoes-anytime, any day, any form potatoes are just yummy! :) After the wonderful breakfast, we left for trekking in Hocking Hills, Trust me it was really really freezing.

Despite wearing a sweater, jacket, cap and gloves, it was really cold. The waterfalls were all frozen in the flowing poses :). Turned out to be one of the wonderful pictures of the trip. The falls looked like as if somebody had cut them off on their midway. The trees, grass and the walkway/rocks were all icy and slippery. We had to be really careful on each of our step. We did not enjoy much, as the weather was too cold to even smile and pose for a picture. But one thing that both of us were enjoying, was each others company. We were really getting to know each other. The day 1 seemed to end real quick. I assumed it was because I was loving the place. It was later when I realised that it was just because of the fact it was winter, sun sets at 4 pm in winter. Days are short and nights are long too damn long! Damn. It gets so boring in the evenings and nights. We tried exploring the places around the hills in the night. But here also conditions were pretty much like in India, shops and stores close very early at around 6pm especially as it was winter! Moreover it was a forest area which just had trekking and hiking as its primary attraction. We just loved being with each other, as it was our first trip.

Two days went quick and it was time for us to start back to Cincinnati. The final day welcomed us with beautiful sunshine, reaching our cabin through the slender tall trees in the forest. Picture perfect. Nature at its best. No words to describe it! We both were enjoying it so much to the extent that we forgot to click a picture of it. Outside the cabin, Micah was lighting the woods for fire and heat. Plenty of pine cones were lying on the ground. Beautiful for decoration. We could not set away our eyes! We collected many of them! :) After bidding farewell to Micah, Susan and their fat lazy old cat, we started off to Cincinnati. On the way, Kich just spotted an attractive piece of wood, lying on the side of the road. Even before I realised what was going on, he had already jumped out of the car, picked it up and dropped it in the trunk of our car. Beautiful rings did it have. It was really a nice piece of wood. Lucky, that he spotted it. Hats off to his eagle vision!

As we started, we did a quick follow up about our house. And the status update we had was that, our house was not repaired yet. Sigh! Bye to 2 weeks at Country Inns and a welcome at Holiday Inn.