Hike story via photos (and some words)

You know I can't just keep quiet. But, for the hike, these are sixteen of the 200+ photos we took. In order. I'll only comment on the ones that needs some explanation.

Andy thought these flowers looked like something from Dr. Seuss. He's right!

These are bear scratches on this tree. Not fresh, but a good reminder to be careful.

We had to take shelter from the rain. It was cool to be tucked in the trees. Andy just spontaneously started to pray for J while we were there - so romantic and special that he would do that!
On the drive home.

We got home to no power. Candle light dinner is romantic, BUT, for us no power means no well pump, which means no water for showers or for boiling the pasta we had planned. I wasn't sure how I was going to crawl into bed with sunscreen, bug spray and mud all over my body and sleep. But, I prepared to do that. And, literally, as I pulled the covers up LIGHTS! So, out of bed and into the shower for me (also uploaded the photos because that's just my obsession). Made for a late night, but all in all a very good day!

Edited to add: Apparently we missed one heck of a storm while we were up in the mountains. My friend Kristii has a great discription here: http://kristiilockart.blogspot.com/ . And we had no wind, no hail, just a couple of five minute or less down-pours where the trees were sufficient cover. Amazing. And now we understand why the lights were out upon our return!