The day after Christmas, Kiernan and I went for a hike in Topanga Canyon with Grance, Kiernan's Aunt JoAnne, and his Uncle Mitch (JoAnne and Mitch are pictured bottom left). It was a beautiful, mild day that was just a little bit chilly, and therefore perfect for a hike in the mountains.One of our big gifts from Gammy and Grance was the backpack you see pictured. Kiernan has grown too big for his original carrier, the Baby Bjorn that held him to my chest. His Gammy, Susan, was good enough to rent us a backpack carrier when we visited Phoenix in November, and we discovered it worked very well. Kiernan just loves to be outside, so a new backpack immediately went on our Christmas list.
Kiernan's mom, his Gammy, and his Aunt Amy did not go on the hike, as they were at the time enduring a grueling day of spa treatments. Our family gift to Susan and Amy was a day at the spa, and somebody had to go along to make sure they made it through the ordeal unscathed. Lucky for me, Wendy bit the bullet and accompanied them.
Meanwhile, the rest of us had a great hike, led by our intrepid leader Rance (pictured above right), who, without falter or the slightest fret led us on a labyrinthine trek through the wilds of Topanga. I have to tell you, there were times when we feared we might never return to civilization. JoAnne--Rance's daughter--at one point came close to inciting a mutiny. Mitch--her husband--briefly lost his mind, squaring off against a chipmunk and threatening to "Rip that grizzly bear apart with [his] bare hands." I am ashamed to say I broke down and wept openly, crying to the heavens, "Why? Why? Why?" But Rance, he never wavered, never doubted.
And neither, for that matter, did Kiernan. They were our rocks. We shall not soon forget that day.Especially since the hike was followed by a sushi dinner. This dinner was the idea of our indomitable guide, who never for a moment was in the slightest danger of getting us lost. And the sushi dinner was in no way intended to keep us quiet about almost getting us lost, since that never happened. Nope. Nope. Nope.
Man that sushi was good.
4 comments:
My kids were studying Japan in school and tried sushi for the first time. They then asked for us to go out and eat some! Mind you, sushi on the East Coast is "furren" food- not a lot of sushi-eaters around here! Nonetheless, we tracked some down in Newport, the tourist capital around here, and ordered a variety. James, never having eaten sushi gave it a game try. I liked some, hated others (green spicy stuff- BAD!). And the instigators? Wouldn't eat a bite! They don't like fish, avocados, carrots, or anything else in their sushi. Later, I fouhd out that the sushi they had in school was rice and seaweed- that's it. sigh...
Sounds like a great hike- the kind that builds family. Glad you had it...
Yes, they were rocks. (and there were rocks, many of them.) But Kiernan's way of being a rock was the best: sing and point at all the everythings and then nod off until the edamame arrives.
Best of all, unlike the poor spa ladies' ordeal- all the mud was on our shoes, not our cheeks!
What a great day....
Man that chipmunk was good.
Speaking as the intrepid leader of that expedition, I can only say that when others quailed at the prospects before us, only Kiernan kept the faith in me. He no doubt had seen my Ranger Tab, and knew that if I said the path less travelled that I forced their weary feet up would return us unscathed and unbenighted before sundown at the car, it would be right. So even though that hike went on almost as long as the last run-on sentence, their only sentence was "sushi or not sushi". That was no question. Kiernan was the hero and showed his confidence in the situation by falling asleep on the way down. As for the rest, I only wish the skeptical Christien, the scoffing JoAnne and the snapping (with camera) Mitch could have been as quietly confident as Kiernan.
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