Adventure Time

"Stuff your eyes with wonder. Live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories."
~Ray Bradbury

We decided to get out of the house and out of the 100 degrees today and head up to the top of the mountains. Patrice grabbed his wallet, I grabbed water and the camera, and we were on our way. We were just chatting away (30 miles from the nearest gas station) when the gas light came on. Patrice said, "I grabbed my wallet so I could get gas on the way..." We just got to talking and forgot. There is a tiny little village at the top of the mountain, so we hoped that there would also be one gas station. I asked the guy at the general store and unfortunately, no, there is no gas. He did tell us that in an emergency (if the gas light is already on) the firemen half a mile a way will "give" away 2 gallons of gas (they aren't technically allowed to sell it) for a $20 donation. So, we gave to the firemen and continued our adventure.

When we got out of the car, there was a raspberry bush with just a couple little berries on it. Nicco and I each had one and he said, "That's way better than the store!" He rediscovered the world as we hiked and climbed around, exclaiming "pine cone!" or "cave!" or "squirrel!"  He collected micah "jewels" and a few special rocks.
Some pictures of our hike:

Nicco at the pulpit

Our little Atlas

"Do I look like a tree?" he asked, poking his head out from the roots of this fallen tree.

Practicing his balance

Another bridge ("Which is a tree!")

columbines

Pansies

Mmmm...ice cream.

It was invigorating to be out in the forest, breathing in the fresh air. When we fin ished our ice cream and headed back down the mountain, it started to rain. We stopped at the side of the road for a few minutes to watch the lightning, listen to the thunder, and smell the rain. It was a pretty heavy downpour and at several places along the road, water was rushing down the sides of the canyon walls.

Kind of awesome, in a small way.

It was like 70 degrees and Nicco was freezing. At the coldest point, it got down to 59 degrees. Nicco gave me back my sweater and put on his warm shirt.

I think he looks like he belongs on the beach!

The temperature rose rapidly as we descended the mountain road, reaching 100 again when we got home. Going up the mountain is like going into a whole different world...it doesn't seem like you can possibly be just 15 miles from a cactus forest. We should do that more often!