We rolled out of bed late on Saturday, picked up coffee and one massive cinnamon roll, and then…lazed.
Our house sat right on the edge of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and we spent the latter hours of the morning exploring the woods outside our front door.
The trails were marked with colored flags and Juliette made a game of darting from one ribbon to the next.
Check out that autumnal glory!
The trails were dotted with a series of fun landmarks, like this fort…
…and this deer stand, which Shane couldn’t resist scaling a tree for.
We lucked out so hard on the weather and the foliage, as the forecast had predicted rain all day, every day.
Furry mushrooms!
Our host left us a map with a note that said to follow the ridge to the teepee…found it!
We stood here for awhile, taking in the view and catching our breath, and then it was a dash down the hill through fields of red and gold.
Rain, schmain!
We ate lunch at the house and Juliette played outside with the neighbor kid she’d befriended the day before while I did some reading – this is how a mother/daughter introvert/extrovert spend an ideal hour. We hopped in the car mid-afternoon in search of a little adventure and found ourselves at a rocky little pull-out along Icicle Creek.
I was a nervous Nellie with Juliette up on these rocks…”Step away from the edge! Hold her back, Shane! Hold her back!”
This kid’s got girl-power through and through.
I can’t remember what Shane was talking about here, but it looks riveting.
We made our way down to the water and spent almost an hour throwing sticks and watching the current carry them away.
More lessons from Ranger Shane.
We headed up the rocks when we felt the first sprinkles and were in a full-on downpour by the time we made it to the car. That was worth the wet hair, though.
Back at the house we put a pizza in the oven, cracked open a bottle of Veuve (and a bottle of Squirt for the kid), cranked up some music, and cozied in. We took turns doing our best fake-outs of walking down the stairs (on a flat floor) while standing behind kitchen island, heads bobbing down with each step, and then laughed till our sides hurt when we attempted to take the escalator. We snuggled up on the couch to watch the first Harry Potter movie, which just about blew Juliette’s mind, and I dozed with my feet in Shane’s lap and Juliette’s head on my shoulder. It’s been a shit-storm of a year, but in that moment, all was right.
We decided on Sunday that we wouldn’t leave a minute before our 11am check-out and spent the morning wandering the couple of trails we’d missed the day before.
(This was where we veered very much off-trail and landed in someone’s driveway, which was unfortunate as it was a major schlep to get up there.)
Back down we go…
Eventually we got back on course and stuck close to the red flags from thereon out – Juliette made a show of touching each one with her walking stick, “for an extra power boost”.
Find those flags, Jules!
I know it looks like she’s just posing for a photo, but seriously, she held her hand up to her brow like this for a good half-mile.
At some point I found Juliette’s lens-less glasses in my inside coat pocket, which helped her to search all the better.
Once we saw the pink flags we knew we were approaching our house and the proverbial end of the trail. WAHHHH!
Thanks, Shane and Jules, for the perfect birthday weekend. My soul needed it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(Requisite silly face.)
