Sunday, April 8, 2012

Smith Rock

Emma, the eldest cousin on my side - my first niece, is visiting us over Easter break. We couldn't be happier. Noella and Zeb are going to go through withdrawal when she leaves.

We needed to view our home in Bend, and originally she was going to tour Central Oregon Community College (COCC) - so a trip to Smith Rock was a must. We were so stoked about it, we even decided to ditch the college tour and push back our home walk-through appointment.

"I'm a mountain climber, mom" - Noella. 
That was Noella's chant the entire hike up and over Misery Ridge Trail. It's slightly ironic because, while she did climb up quite a bit of the steep hill, she was mostly on my back. As I was sweating and panting, pausing to take in the valley floor view, Noella would exclaim "I did it Mom!". No, Noella, I did it - thank you very much. We tricked Emma into doing this hike on Friday. I guess I should say "I". I tricked all of them. It started out as "let's just walk around a little bit", to "want to get a good view from the top?", to "well, we're already up here, let's just finish the trail". Now, I should also say that I had a humongous monkey on my back almost the entire time, so I did it to myself as well.

But, who are we kidding? I don't think we regretted it too much. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


Future Pacific Northwester -Perhaps?

Noella stops for no one. 

"I'm climbin' that mountain, mom"


People would stop and make charming comments, like "someone's got a free ride". No, man, someone is paying for this for SURE!

Valley view

At the top!

Monkey Face Rock
It snowed later in the afternoon in Bend. Crazy weather! It was a fun trip. More pics and posts to come!

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