Day 2 - Hiking

Since yesterday when Collin found out that the white stuff towards the top of the mountain was snow, he has wanted to hike up to the snow spot and see it.  So....if you can imagine, he did NOT want to go get groceries or breakfast when he woke up.  He wanted to hike.  We needed to get groceries so we loaded up in the car and found a great little place called Cliff's Cafe.  Collin ate a huge plate of pancakes and 3 sausages.  Guess he did need to eat breakfast after all. 

We left and walked to get groceries because they were in the same shopping center as the breakfast place.  After that, we headed back to the house in the mountains.  I barely unloaded one back and Collin asked when we could go hiking.  I let him know that I needed to unload the groceries, especially the cold ones, first.  He seemed to be OK with that response and went to watch a movie. 

After we all rested, we packed up in the car to go hiking.   We did not know how long Collin would last hiking so we found a trailhead that looked like it would lead us to the patch of snow that was closest to the bottom.  I thought he might last at least an hour based on the hiking he did on our trip to South Dakota.  I was right....he wanted to lead the way and not stop too much to rest.  Hiking up to the snow spot was a little tricky because of the rocks and high plants, but we all made it.  Collin walked to the edge of the snow and was very cautious when he started to walk on it.  He did not know what to do so Daddy talked him through it and eventually walked over to help. 

Collin leading the way

Finally....snow!!!

View looking out from the snow patch.  We are staying in the house on the end of the cluster of houses to the right.

 After playing in the icy snow a little, we hiked down and across to find the waterfall we could see from the road.  It was a lot higher up than we thought and a steep climb, so we walked down a little and at least to the stream towards the bottom.  Collin put his hand in the water and said, "It's FREEZING".  We explained that it was cold because it was melted snow coming from the top of the mountain. 

After hiking for over an hour, we got back in the car and went to the house. Collin and I threw the football and then went inside so he could rest.  He watched a little of a movie and then we started putting a puzzle together.  We did not finish because this was Collin after 5 minutes......

He slept for over two hours and was hungry when he got up.  After dinner and a shower, we all relaxed while watching a movie (I read and watched a movie).

Tomorrow, we plan to do some of the activities at the bottom of the mountain and ride the tram to the top.  Should be fun.