one foot in front of the other

Being not so outdoorsy, the Chunglunds opt for the day hike over backpacking or tenting it. Based on a recommendation from my friend, Wendy, we packed up the waterpack (because after working for five years at a large company, you earn the opportunity to choose from one of approximately 15 mediocre gifts priced at roughly $35-$40) and the kidpack and headed to Lake Clementine in Auburn.

Our goal was a little over 4 miles round trip to see the waterfall at the lake. Approximately 3/4 of a mile in there was a swimming hole where we let the kids splash around. This was the highlight. 

In response to the repeated sentence, "I want to walk around," Gus obliged and let J2 out of the backpack. This lasted maybe 8 minutes at the most until we all realized that we were never going to get to the waterfall at the rate of two year old legs with shiny ball syndrome.

The last half mile to the waterfall is all downhill. About halfway down, Gus makes some grumblings to the effect that we should turn back because he was thinking of the walk back up with a 35 lb nugget on his back. We, however, persevered, and were rewarded with this! 

Although, Little Miss J was pretty horrified that (and very vocal about said horror) we had walked all that way to look at the waterfall for less than five minutes. To be honest, this is total payback, and I have empathy. I recall trips to Canada where I was unimpressed with the journey and even less impressed by the destination. I was more interested in where the next waterslide or mini golf course was. My poor parents. 

On the way back to the car, there was some of this ...

And a lot of this ...

And "this" was only resolved by an oral storytelling by Gus of every single Star Wars movie made as we made our way back to the car. 

Despite all of "this" we made it by putting one foot after the other. We just kept going. I'd definitely do it again. Probably not in Tevas though because I got blisters. We may have a harder time convincing Little Miss J. If questioned, she will disclose that her only highlights were the swimming and seeing the deer on the path - both of which perked her up tremendously so we got some decent mileage out of her with minimal complaining.