Lost our Way

Well, I suppose I have to write here and confess my latest blunder. But, I'll get to that in a bit. My Aunt Trish visited this weekend. She came in on a Thursday night, and a busy Thursday night it was. I rushed home from work to pick up Tanya and Alice (my two friends from Russia that I mentioned before). I had weasled my way onto their "schedule", and was able to have them over for supper on Thursday evening. In addition, their friends Laina and Dima (I think I spelled that all wrong), came over for dinner. I cooked stroganoff, and we chatted while it bubbled on the stove. Finally it was done, and we ate (what I thought was) a rather fantastic supper. Salad and stroganoff! Then for dessert, we whipped up some cream, I added sugar, then dipped strawberries and blueberries in with fondue forks! We almost ate all of the fruit, and the cream, and there was a lot of it!!!

Trish's flight was delayed, so I left to take Tanya and Alice to their host family's house at the same time when Nate picked her up front the airport. We slept.

On Friday, Trishie and I ate a lazy breakfast, then headed out to the Outlet malls for some hardcore discount shopping. We both spent under $200 and got a lot of stuff. I got to wear one of my new outfits to work today, which always gives me great pleasure : ) For the evening, we headed over to Jeff and Abby's to watch a movie. We watched the new version of the Pink Panther with Steve Martin. I laughed hysterically. Apparently it was a flop at the box office, as everyone was comparing it to the original... but not having seen the original I thought it was really funny : )

Finally, to my original topic.... Saturday's events.... we got a later start than expected, and ended up eating "brunch" out at the Apple House, which is about 15 minutes from the Shenandoah Mountains. They make these apple cinnamon donuts that are AMAZING!!!! We then drove down to the "Jeremy's Run" hike area. Now, earlier in the year, Nate and I purchased a Shenandoah Mountain guide book that talks about the Top 100 hikes in the mountains. Usually it is fantastic, we've not been lost yet. However, today, with my Aunt in town and not a big hiker, things went a bit awry. We decided to do the 5.2 mile hike, supposed to be a mountain climb with a good overlook, not too long, not too short. So we set out. We came to a fork in the trail. I started reading the guide book... at this certain part it started going off in parenthesis about a potential hike you could take. I, unfortunately, did a quick scan, and thought that it was merely describing the hike we were supposed to take. So we headed off on the left hand path. About 4.5 miles later we stopped, a bit on the confused side. The end seemed no where in sight. So we consulted our map, and the trail book again, and realized that we were on the 14 mile hike instead of the 5.2 mile hike. ARGH!!!!!! Oh, the agony of it all!! We decided to press on, as at that time we thought that the hike was only 12 miles long. About a mile up the next mountain, we were certainly questioning our judgment. It was scorching hot, and the mountain was, well... really tall!!!! And then, near the top, the rain started. Torrential rain, mind you. A real downpour!!!!!! The trees were whipping like it was hurricane season!!! And it carried on for 30-45 minutes. I couldn't see a thing through my foggy glasses. Nate and Trish were yelling out instructions so that I wouldn't trip. We summitted the mountain and couldn't even celebrate it, as we couldn't stop to sit. But, somewhere in the rain, we decided to be happy about it, so we started singing at the top of our lungs! Songs like "Amazing Grace", "Count Your Blessings", "What a Friend". Finally, the rain let up, and we decided that God must have wanted to hear us sing better, so he toned down the rain! Then we laughed, because when we stopped singing the rain started up again. So we sang some more.

We were waterlogged, and really sore, but we made it. In fact, I am still really sore, and it's now Monday. My calves feel like little knives are being shoved into them every time I take a step! It's quite fantastic!!! I told Nate that 10 miles was my new cap. No more than 10!!!!

Anyhow, the rest of the weekend was more on the uneventful side... more relaxing and enjoying each others' company. I don't think I'll ever forget that Saturday. Me, my dear husband, and my 40 year old Aunt trekking 14 miles, 2 in the rain, 2 straight up a mountain, crossing a creek about 15 times, seeing some cute deer, eating cherries on a rock in the sun, and singing when things couldn't have been more gloomy. If only you could have been with us : )