Hiking....

Hiking is working out and meditating at the same time.  We've set a goal to hike more as a family.  Zoo boy has been hiking like a crazy man, getting ready for his 50 miler.  He did 20 miles the other day.  I anxiously awaited his arrival home.  After nearly 12 hours, he bounded in the house and said..."that was fun!".  20 miles, up and down a large hill, fun?  Yes...I was thrilled.  All those years of hiking him around Madeira apparently have paid off.  The boy practically grew up on various trails, sidewalks, and hills either in a backpack, a stroller, or hand in hand with a parent.  I'm thrilled he loves to hike, and why?  I love to hike too!  It is bliss for me and I'm really excited about our family goal of going hiking once a week.  We started off yesterday on a beautiful hike called Tibble Fork loop.  A bit muddy because of all the spring rain, but so green, lush and as zoo boy observed..."it just smells different up here".  He later asked me for a year pass to the National Parks for his birthday.  Mtn goat, as we like to call her, has it in her, she just doesn't know it yet! ;)

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson