Hiking Fail

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Geo: 45.5424, -118.463

Galen and I left David alone for five minutes, and the bacon was way overcooked. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We were so sad! But Galen came up with an ingenious way to make coffee. We snuck over to a campsite with power hook ups, plugged in a coffee pot and BAM!- coffee just like at home!

That day we were supposed to go hiking in the mountains. Galen and I were driving in my car and we see mountains with snow. I turn to Galen, "...We're not headed for THOSE mountains... are we?" Galen shrugs. We did head for them. We drove to the SUMMIT of them. Hikin in the snow... didn't everyone see little Jade put on shorts today? We get out of the car. "David.... did you check weather before you picked this place for hiking?" "It was the only place to hike at! It said OPEN YEAR ROUND!" he answered ...Oh dear. "Kid- just because it's open doesn't mean you don't need snowshoes."

So we hiked along the snow covered road for a bit. The car wasn't going to make it over the snow without chains. Then we veered off into the woods and hiked there, too.

BY FAR, the most adorable thing I have seen this kid do since he decided to color his entire body green with purple and orange spots in Kindergarten using washable markers (he was a nice shade of green for a week.. as washable markers aren't as washable as you'd suspect). He was worried about Delilah (his green van) rough riding back over the snow, so he says out loud, "I've got an idea- wait!," hops out of the car.... aannnnd.... he starts stomping and kicking snow. At first we were just puzzled. Then we busted up laughing because he wasn't effectively making any headway on decreasing the amount of snow. The ideas that pop in this kid's head.

On our drive back (it ended up being a three hour round trip drive just to walk in snow for a half hour), we stopped at a random scenic viewpoint. It actually had gorgeous views of a valley so we wandered around the area for awhile.

I think one of the most interesting things this trip was that I went with a group of girls I didn't know- they were David's friends. But it was neat to see David through their eyes. David is the spontaneous, non-planner in my family. But to his nursing student friends, he was incredibly organized, top notched, OCD. Galen and I were both stunned. It's amazing how much people grow when they're away from their families. And different. He's still the spontaneous non-planner with us- perhaps because he knows he can get away with it, lol.

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