It was so sunny and beautiful when I got off work Monday morning. All last week we had a running date with a family from church that if the weather cleared (the views weren’t as fun in the fog) we would hike up the mountain and it never did clear up. So I messaged Sophie to see if she was up for hiking this morning since it was clear. She responded back that she was watching her three grandkids, but if we could give them 45 minutes they would be there. Two of the kids are Eve’s age and one is Hannah’s age so it ended up being perfect. We met at the gravel pit and so the kids explored while we waited for them. They ran up and down this hill, then pretended they didn’t have any energy when we started hiking up the road.
Sophie taught us the names of the plants we were passing by we saw more chocolate lilies, wild geraniums, and broadleaf plants that I had though we’re also devil’s club but they are not. They called them Pushki. She stated that as a kid they would pick them and peel the skin off and eat the inside. It tastes like celery. The sap (I know there is a better word for this when we are talking general plants not trees) will burn you and it is best to not touch them. The views while walking up the road were amazing. The May bugs that circled around were also amazing. You will see many of them in our hiking pictures.
Eve had her pockets so full of rocks. I’m not sure that that is what slowed her down because she usually holds up the rear for us, but it didn’t help her mountain climbing motivation.
The kids played for quite a while carving sticks while the girls kept brining us rocks with graffiti on them ooohing and aaaweing over how beautiful they were. I love that the graffiti says I love you. I suppose that is the best kind of graffiti to have.
I finally agreed to carry Eve’s rock filled coat if she promised to run to catch up with the others which totally worked. I jogged along behind her as we were quite a ways behind them. I’m sure it was good for both of us. Such a fun and beautiful hike although were we’re glad to get out of the bugs as they were all over us, stuck in our hair, flying into our mouths, and hitting us in the face and even the eyes. Good thing they weren’t blood thirsty biters or we would have been toast.
We went home for a late lunch it was after 2:00pm. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up to a plate next to me on the arm of the couch. Oops. Even though I was completely wilting I hate to waste a day off especially a sunny day off. After lunch we went for a scenic drive out to Larson Bay. I tried really hard to stay awake to see it but I pretty much missed the whole trip. Darn night shift/day off transition.
When we arived back in town we went to Walmart to purchase irrigation boots/rain boots/mud boots/muck boots what ever you want to call them, you know what we are talking about. Caleb picked out a black pair of rubber boots, Hannah picked out a pair of floral boots, and Eve picked out a bright pink pair only because the purple ones only went up to toddler size 10. She was extremely happy with her purchase and had to put them on to wear at the cash register as soon as they were paid for. Hannah is also quite pleased and has been wearing her boots ever since. Chad and I both have birthdays coming up on this assignment (both the girls do too actually) but we decided as a gift to eachother we would do the Alaskan thing and get XtraTuf boots. Why not it is in the top 100 things to do in Kodiak list, and I have been wanting fun rain boots for the last four years or so. We found them on sale for $73 each with was much better than the sticker price of $109. Now we are set for tide pooling tomorrow and on the Oregon coast when we get home.
Owens Endeavors 