Stewart Falls

A week or so ago, I was listening to a radio program on NPR. I was only able to listen to a few minutes so I'm not sure what the topic was, but a woman was being interviewed who apparently was an expert on families. She said that when people are interviewed about their memories from childhood, typically most people's responses focus on three things: 1) family dinners, 2) outdoors, and 3) family vacations. For some reason this really hit me. I think I tend to drag my feet when it comes to organizing family outings. A lot of the time, I think I'd rather just stay at home. In part because of what I heard on the radio, we decided to hike to Stewart Falls above Sundance last Saturday.

Initially, we had a bit of a problem finding the trailhead, but we got there eventually. Thanks to my sister Lisa we have a back pack that I can carry Benjamin in. Going to the falls was pretty enjoyable. Benjamin has been a little obsessed with picnics lately. He frequently pretends to have picnics with his stuffed animals, so we packed a picnic lunch. Unfortunately we ate at the top of he falls where there only rocks and not much shade. After eating, we hiked a short distance to the base of the waterfalls. It would have been a much better place to have lunch. You could feel the cool breeze coming through the falls and there was lots of grass to sit on.

Hiking back about killed me. I think it was harder for Rebecca also. For the first half mile I had to stop and catch my breath a lot. Benjamin fell asleep and as the trail flattened out I looked ahead and thought I saw someone familiar. Amazingly, it was Rebecca's brother Andrew and girlfriend Kelly. What a coincidence! I can count on one hand the number of hikes that we have done in our marriage. We talked for a few minutes and then hiked the rest of the way back to the car. We had a great time! I was only sore for the three days after too. Here are some pictures.