Saturday [Husband] and I met up with his parents and drove out to Shenandoah National Park to Hike. The Park was pretty busy (good to see people out enjoying the outdoors!), but we only encountered two other people on the trail we picked.
We hiked the Snead Farm loop. The trail was about 3 miles and took us about 2.5 hours. It's amazing how much slower you go on rough terrain and with so many up and downhills.
Amazingly enough, about five minutes before I took the picture below there was one of those incredible summer downpours where it's as if a cloud has burst above you. We were able to stay dry by standing under a tree. You can see in the picture how quickly it cleared and what a beautiful afternoon it became.
Above: Sad [Husband] because I'm making him hike.
Below: Happy [Husband] because he's spending time outside with meeeeee. :)
[Husband] claims he suffered from over-exposure to the outdoors as a child. His family took lots of camping/road-tripping type vacations as a kid, so he's claims that he now "hates" hiking and camping. However, I would like to present some evidence to the contrary. 1) The man loves to ski. I think we can all agree that no matter how many pints and plates of nachos are involved, skiing still make the top 10 list for brutal outdoor sports. Skiing down a 80 degree angle in zero degrees with 3 feet of visibility>a walk (hike) in the (Shenandoah National) park. Camping consists of drinking, cooking/playing with fire, and sleeping in a tent. [Husband] is an enthusiast of two of those three activities, therefore he can't possibly hate camping. I have to call him on his nonsense sometimes.
I, on the other hand, grew up in a decidedly un-outdoorsy family that mostly took beach vacations. My dad and I spent a couple weeks two summers in a row driving around the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. camping where ever. Our favorite places were the Hoh Rain Forest, one of the few temperate rain forests in the Americas, and Sequim Campgrounds near the John Wayne Marina. True Story: John Wayne hated horses, but loved boating. I also went to Girl Scout Camp for many summers. I did the same program three years in row (Paddle, Pole, and Roll!! What!!) because it was the only two-week program they offered and I wanted to be at camp as long as possible. Still I would say that it's only in the last few years that I've become more interested in hiking and such activities. I imagine [Husband] often thinks, "who are you and what did you do with non-outdoorsy person I started dating five years ago?"
Let me recall for you the first time I went to snow-shoeing with [Husband's] family back in 2007. Snow-showing, for those unfamiliar with this delightful pursuit, is essentially trudging through the snow for the sake of trudging through the snow. Yes, you can places and see some cool stuff, but when you get right down to it, that's what it is. We were all snow-shoeing down the road in Glacier National Park and I turned to Todd after about 15 minutes, and said:
"Um how long are we going to do this?"
"Oh a couple of hours."
"Are you kidding me?" (except I probably said the R-rated version of "are you kidding me")
Oh yeah. No, but, once we turned off the road (boring) and got into the woods, it was really fun. Even if it was just walking around in the snow for the sake of walking around in the snow.
I always liked camping, but activities like hiking and snow-shoeing seemed totally pointless. I think getting more into long distance running (let's face it, running marathons is basically running for the sake of running), has led me to see and appreciate the appeal of walking around on a mountainside just for the hell of it.
You do however get to see things like this if you go walking around on mountainsides:
The Green Tunnel.
Almost back to the visitor center.
Out of the woods and back to the car.
I got my first pack for overnight hiking and camping this weekend too. [Husband] is in serious trouble now. Mwhahaha!
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