Friday, June 18, 2010

A Different Angle

Since Gabs demonstrated that she was a very capable hiker on our trip to Picacho Peak a while back, I decided to take her to 'M' Mountain in Malad, Idaho—the small town where I used to go to school.

Since I was going to be gone for a week as a grader for Spanish AP exams, we decided that we would go to Idaho so Debs and the kids could enjoy the time with relatives in my absence. A few days before flying out to Cincinnati, Gabs and I started our trip up the relatively small mountain, enjoying what to us seemed like a hike through some hills in Ireland. After four years in Arizona . . . well you can imagine how green it must have seemed to us.

Gabs and I stopped at the top to look over the valley.

We gathered numerous wildflowers for Debs and Grandma during our hike. Perhaps the most interesting flower was one that looked identical to the red Indian Paintbrush flowers, except it was yellow. Unfortunately, I didn't get it in this picture, it's on the other side of the vase. Has anyone heard of yellow Indian Paintbrush?

This is Malad High School viewed from the 'M'.

As we came down the face of the mountain, we took these pictures.

And finally, as we were walking on the frontage road at the base of the mountain, we saw a couple deer.

Although I had a number of grueling training runs through the surrounding mountains for cross-country when I was in high school, I never made the trip up this particular peak. I enjoyed spending the time with my daughter, and it's always nice looking at things from a different angle and doing worthwhile things that you've never done before. Are there things that you would like to do or places you would like to visit that are close to your home? Are you—like me—the kind of person that hasn't visited many of the wonderful places in your neck of the woods? If so, what are you going to do to start changing that . . . if anything!?

3 comments:

cking said...

YES...I still think there are a bunch of places I haven't been yet, like the Timp Caves, which are extremely close. I always do the same few hikes. I've never been to the Grand Canyon or Lake Powell yet either. I guess those are kindof in 'my neck of the woods'. What am I going to do about it??? Good question!

rantipoler said...

That's exactly why I love having guests - it makes us get out and see all the cool stuff in the city we live in. Because of guests, we've been to Andrew Jackson's home, the Cheekwood gardens and museum, the TN aquarium, the Chattanooga Choo-choo hotel & shops, the Loveless Cafe, etc. We never do any of that stuff when it's just us!

Richins Family said...

Thanks for your post. I loved that you took Gabby on the hike to the "M". It will definately be a good memory for her some day and it ties into your history.

As for your question about places to visit in our area, we are pretty adventurous. I had never been to Timp Caves until last year, but any other cool place we have heard of, we have usually visited. I am going to have to look around to see if there are any that I have missed that are worth it. If not, we might just have to move to find new adventures. I think there are a lot of cool looking areas down near St. George and Zions to go and visit more, but unlike cking, it doesn't feel so much in the same neck of the woods. We have our lists though. As for immediately where we live, the only place we haven't visited is the skate park. I think I will pass on that one.

Thanks for sharing.