a hike to remember

josh (my oldest son) and i took a day off and went to the mountains.
we both needed a break, and decided to grab some time.

normally, we 'fit in' our time we get in the mountains.
but not this weekend.
this time it was completely JUST about hangin' out among the leaves -
and we were taking it - not fitting it in!

i was kinda craving a waterfall.
so i asked if he'd be okay with us hiking to one.
he was terrific about it.

just stopping at the visitor's center talking to the park ranger
about the path to the waterfall was fun! we laughed and carried on.
the moods were good all around. the energy just flowin'.

it wasn't until we were walking back to the car that i realized how far
a drive it was just to get to the place to hike to the falls!

are you kidding me????

josh was all in, tellin' me it wasn't that far.
i laughed. knew darn well it was.
especially this time of year up there.
you get behind a slow movin' tree peeper and it's over.

yeah.
i obviously needed to unwind!

and i realized that we had nothing else we had to do.
our sole goal was to hike to a waterfall.
there was no one we had to see.
no where else we had to go.

this was our chance.

let's do it.

so we drove.
and yeah, we got behind more than one slow movin' tree peeper.
but we were busy peepin' too.

the woods were incredibly beautiful.

finally, finally we had hit the perfect day in the mountains.
and it was all ours!

the hike around the waterfall and streams was honestly the most
beautiful hike i've ever taken. the day was perfect, the colors of the
rocks and water was stunning, the leaves took your breath away.
it was beyond gorgeous.

we oohhed and ahhhed thru the whole walk.
pointing things out to each other to see.

at one point we just started laughing as we pointed things out
at the same time - 'look over here!' we exclaimed to each other
pointing out completely different things. we stopped to look at both.

josh laughed and said 'it's like hoops and yo yo go to the mountains!'

(if you don't know hoops and yo yo you may have to google them!)

it was truly one of the best days of the year for me.
and what i think the best gift josh gave was his complete and total
enjoyment of everything we saw.

neither of us ever tired of ooohhing and aahhhhing over the beauty.
and we would join in enthusiastically when the other started after we
had stopped.

i think that was really the coolest part of the trip for me.

both of us are very enthusiastic. and many many times we just tone it
down. which is something you kinda get used to, i guess.
but here, it was just too gorgeous, and there was no reason to.

i realized it later.
and understood what a gift that really is -
to have someone enjoy something so much with you that they never tire of exclaiming about it.
and being able to exclaim together over and over.

and when it's your son doin' that with you? well.....that's a pretty darn cool gift.

we passed hikers carrying their kid in a backpack on the dad's shoulders.
i pointed at josh and said 'we used to carry him that way!'
and josh joked and cautioned them as look what happened to him.

and as we walked away the dad said 'i don't know, i think i'd like it if she
grew up and took hikes with me.'

i smiled and nodded and turned back to the trail with josh.

i couldn't agree more.

it was a hike to remember!~