We took a drive Monday evening to see what was going on with the fires and ended up at a trail head parking lot with a sleeping toddler. Brett agreed to sit in the car with Ruby and some NPR while Sebastian and I went exploring. Oh, and I was wearing a dress and mocs. If ever you want some surprised looks from the men gathered on the top of a bunch of rocks in their Chocos and Vibram five finger shoes show up in a dress.
Sebastian and I saw the highest point to our trail that we could reach within a reasonable time and went the long, easy way up on the trail. It was so quiet with the smoke settled in between rock formations that I was extra cautious should we stumble upon some creature that might be just as surprised to see us. Especially since I was wearing a dress.
Sebastian asked me all kinds of questions like what could eat a wolf, what could eat a bear, what could eat a rock, if rocks could break, etc. His scientific stage of development has been upon us since the end of spring and it's been fun talking about what I know and telling him we could look online for the things I don't know (or remember from 8th grade science).
Each turn of the trail was a new level for him and he told me he was beating everyone else in the competition to get to the top. He told that to the guys at the top, too, much to their amusement. We looked around awhile and then decided we'd better get back so Brett wouldn't worry about us but took the more exciting way back down over the boulders.
In. A. Dress.
We should've stayed up there ten more minutes because as soon as we were pulling out of the trail head the sun peeked out through the haze as it was setting between the mountain peaks and the sky was suddenly on fire in the West. The lovely kind of fire.
We should take more hikes. And probably in shorts next time.
-Rachel
