Last Friday, I received a couple disjointed text messages from Ava. She wanted to leave a day earlier for our Hocking Hills, Ohio trip. By the time I figured out what she was trying to say, she decided just to keep things as planned.

Sam and I went out to dinner Saturday. "Ava seemed a bit passive-aggressive in her text, but it is too much work to figure out what's up with her," I said. "I learn more by being with her face-to-face for five minutes, so I am just waiting for tomorrow."

Ava showed up on Sunday, ready and eager to leave. Her issues stemmed from a panic attack she had on Friday at her conference and had nothing to do with our trip.

We left Detroit and headed off to Ohio. I planned the route so we could stop off in Worthington, a suburb outside of Columbus. We shopped for supplies at Whole Foods and ate lunch at a great place in an Outdoor Mall. The weather Sunday was overcast and cool, but we did not run into any rain.

The outdoor mall was a great destination to kill time. We did window shopping, and I picked up some Legos at the Lego store before continuing down to Hocking Hills.

Ohio is misleading. You think of it as a flat state, but the southern portion has hills and rocks. Luckily, I rented a small secluded cabin within a mile of most attractions. Each morning we would see deer outside around the cabin and fearlessly close to the roads.

On the first day, we hiked nine miles through the trees to a waterfall and back. Ava was in heaven. She loves the outdoors. Ava is the perfect travel companion for me. She never complains, offers suggestions, and goes with the flow. We ate dinner in the cabin. I jokingly suggested that we could skinny dip in the Hot Tube on the back deck. That night I got the hot tube going, and Ava came out naked, to my surprise, and joined me.