Anniversary Weekend

Our 2 year anniversary is coming up, so we decided to celebrate this weekend. Last year, we took a trip and did a lot of hiking in the Smoky Mountains. This year, we headed to Wheeler Geologic Area. It is between South Fork and Creede (about 2 hours from us). We camped on Friday night up the mountain about 9 miles at the campgrounds. There was only one other couple camping, so it was pretty quiet. We lit a small fire to enjoy watching before heading to bed. We woke up on Saturday morning and prepared for the hike to Wheeler Geologic Area - listed in The 100 Best Hikes in Colorado. It is about 8 or so miles to the Geologic site. The site was created by volcanic explosions years ago which created pinnicles and hoodoos (cone shaped rock formations). We left about 8am from the campsite. Here I am to the right, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, loaded down with water and food. The views on the trail were beautiful. There were lots of open meadows, mountains with some snow still on them, and a creek. We got to the "end" of the trail about 12:00. The geologic area was very unique. The hoodoos were probably my favorite part because they aren't something you see in very many other places; the hoodoos are featured in the picture to the right. There was a trail that went around the rim of the area, but we couldn't really find it, and it was another mile and a half. Instead, we ate a peanut butter lunch and relaxed for about 30 minutes before trekking back to our tent. We hiked and hiked and hiked and..... Until finally at 4:30pm we arrived to our campsite and collapsed on our sleeping bags. It was not a strenous hike, just LOOOOOOONG. I thinked we clocked at least 17 miles. Neither of us were very good about moving once we sat down. Jeremy said this was about the equivalent of how he felt when he did his century bike ride. The difference, he noted, is that when you stop biking, you walk and use different motions/muscles. When you stop hiking, you still have to walk. I went to bed by about 9pm Saturday night.

Sunday, we had home church. It was a good experience to worship through song. I also appreciate the discussion time. Jeremy made pizza burgers for his contribution to the potluck. In the afternoon, Kendra, Emmy, and I worked on planning the meals for our trip to the Grand Canyon/Zion Ntl Park/Brice Ntl Park over the Fourth of July. House meeting was the usual. We attempted to finish our game of Trivial Pursuit without success. My team had all our pies, but took an hour to get land on the center space. No team won, yet; we'll pick it up again sometime.