If I ever get out of here I'm getting my eyes lasered.*

BLOG BUCKS - the points are still out there for the last two posts.

This weekend a group of us went hiking near Lexington, VA.  This means I got to use my new Camelbak!

Some of you may remember the story about how this Camelbak came into my possession - but if not, here's the link to the story. http://sixthdonbro.blogspot.com/2012/11/youre-gonna-scream-your-guts-out-youll.html

Chris, trying to sneak in a sword because you never know what you'll run in to out in the wild.

Chris is a little confused



Ben is kind of over this

 We were going to hike Big House and Little House trails.  We got lost on the way because we had the address for Big House Lodge or something like that, and there were two weddings going on.  We also had to meet up with Zach's friend, Scott.  We were going to meet him at VMI and then caravan to the trail head, but as we were approaching the exit, I slowed down and asked Zach if that was the right one and he said, "Oh, uh, go straight," (at which point I stopped hitting the brakes) and the moment we passed it he said, "I mean, that was the exit, but we'll take the next one."  If you've been to the Lexington area you'll know that the next exit isn't for a while (whereas in Richmond there's one like every quarter mile...at least that's what it feels like).  The GPS kept taking us to the hiking trail, not back to VMI - so Zach called Scott and had him meet us. 

We got lost...which I kind of saw coming. I tell you all of this because we didn't get to the trail head until close to 4.  This hike is not as well known as something like Old Rag, you can tell because they don't even have a parking lot.  There is a road that has signs saying, "No parking", "No parking", "No Parking", "Park between signs".  Luckily we only had two cars cause I think that's all that would fit.  After hiking up an uneven road we got to the point where we had to choose which trail to take.  We started with Little House, which despite it's name is actually the more difficult one.  We figured we'd get the hard one out of the way first.  The first obstacle was a field of tall grass, after we got through that we did a tick check.  I think all the boys got at least one tick and as far as I know the two girls never got any (probably because we were praying out loud to not get any).  The next obstacle - the trail was very steep.

I thought at a few times I would have a brain aneurysm (no joke) and my ankle wasn't thanking me, but other Jessica and I took it slow.  Thank goodness she was there.

BEAUTIFUL day!

Most of hiking is about being properly dressed

There was a very angry buzzard who was not happy that we were there.

Who put these two trees here in the middle of the trail? 

We had to leave him behind...

I think the worst part about the trail, aside from being very steep, the trail was clearly defined but there were trees and bushes in the way.  The way was clear three feet and below - I kept commenting on what a great job the midgets did of maintaining the trail.  Lots of stooping and crawling on this hike.



Zach proposing...as usual.  I think Ben took this picture as I was yelling, "Again!?"



A Baptist may love a Mormon, Senor, but where will they build their nest?*



Reevaluating our relationship after I turn Zach down AGAIN.



My attempt to take a picture through the binoculars.

I kept saying during the hike that I would never go hiking again, I was just getting too old.  The view at the top though was gorgeous and the weather up there was perfect.  I was reading on Sunday morning from Maxwell's All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience and he was talking about how it is easier sometimes to go down the "paved, gently descending, wide way" that Satan provides instead of "climbing up the straight and narrow way" that leads the way home to our Heavenly Father. It made me think of our hiking trip, how the other Jessica and I joked about turning around and going to get something to eat while the boys finished the difficult, narrow and steep hike.  Had we done that, we wouldn't have been challenged, but we also wouldn't have seen the view, or felt the joy of accomplishing something so difficult.  Whereas, with aching knees and backs and dripping in sweat, we looked over the valley, resting on the rocks with the cool breeze blowing and looked over the beauty of the Lord's creation.  And that was certainly my "hand of the Lord" moment for Saturday.

Would I do it again? I say "no" but I said the same thing about the 1/2 marathon - so I suppose only life will tell.