So I checked the flights and they looked wide open for the next day. I casually mentioned to Charly that even he could make it on, and wouldn't it be so great to take a trip. Well, he had work, friends from out of town visiting, commitments. "You should go, though," he said as we hiked down the R Mountain. I told him I wouldn't leave him alone and we drove home and that was that basically. Or it wasn't, because the next morning I checked the flights again and they were still wide open. Like, not filling up for anything wide open, more wide open than I've seen them in a long, long, while. So I called my parents to find out if they would be home for that week, and at lunch time I asked Chuck about going and then I drove home and had literally one hour to pack, charge all my gadgets, and get in a car and drive to the airport.
It happened. It actually, truly, happened.
I spent Tuesday through Sunday climbing at my old gym, talking while waist deep in the ocean with friends, visiting family, kayaking with manatees/dolphins, running in the humid air and cooling off by jumping into the perfectly warm pool. Without planning it, I just kind of disconnected. So if you texted, called, emailed, and the message you left didn't say "I need to talk to you now," sorry for the non response. There seemed to always be one more thing to do, and the only phone charger I had was a usb one so my phone was left by the computer most days.
As always, there was a con: some of my family/ a guest who left the morning I came were pretty sick. I haven't reached full out bed ridden yet, but I'm feeling that achy fatigue, stuffy head, and already ick feeling as I type.
When I got back from Florida we packed our bags and went to go camp and bike at Lava. We set up our camp and everything but I just couldn't sleep and felt too terrible to stay, so we left and got home around midnight. The next day I felt better so we tried to go climb at the Palisades and I couldn't make it to the crag. I feel great while I'm not moving, but the second I get up it's like a train ran over me. We made the best of it, though. I did get to see good friends Sunday, and Monday Charly and I drove around to get a better look at the views and laid on a mat in the shady grass while we waited for Jenna and Stephen (who drove up with us) to finish climbing.
I'm happy to be in Idaho, and at the same time I am excited to plan my next summer trip to Florida...only with Charly this time. I missed him like crazy for the first couple of days, and then I just missed him like normal. :)
We put on our swimsuits and applied the sunscreen to go boating only for the boat to not start. This photo was snapped ten seconds before we decided to pull out the kayaks instead.
After our manatee and dolphin encounter we kayaked over to Samson's island and "hiked" Mount Samson. It takes about thirty seconds, but here is a little guy we found on the way up:
And onto the few (four) photos I have of our memorial weekend, none of which we are in. Mace does make an appearance, though.
I got a kick out of the amount of people it took to set up this tent, and Maycee below is laying a foot away from our heads near the base of the Palisades trail. She's getting older, she's slower on the downhill, she actually comes when we calls, and most unexpectedly, she'll actually lay down for a few minutes here and there when we're outdoors. That is something we never thought would happen.
