No Stress and No Humidity at 10,000 feet

Oh, this kid. She is never happier than when out exploring. She is in all ways, nature's child.

The week prior to our vacation, dad and Kaelan watched the old and the new versions of "The Karate Kid". She practiced her version of 'the crane' on every rock in the forest.

On nearly every hike or walk we took, Kaelan spent a good deal of her time trying to give me a heart attack. Whether it was climbing rock cliffs or dangling from tall tree branches, she seemed determined to have me popping Xanax.

I can't tell you how many critters were out on the trails, but I can tell you we narrowly avoided several of them simply because the alarm (otherwise known as Kaelan's mouth) was sounding on a constant channel of chatter that caused many to run and hide as we approached. The fresh mud was clean on our way through, and covered in tracks on our way back. Deer, raccoons, elk, and my least favorite encounter of the day, BEAR were all around. We actually avoided a very sticky situation in the berry field. I kept hearing something on the trail above us as we stopped and picked strawberries. Thinking it was just some deer, we decided to cut through the rough and head up to the higher trail. Backtracking an area we had just walked through, I looked down to find some very fresh bear poo (yes, I am a mountain girl and I know my poo!). In just the spot we were going to trek, there were several bear prints and a mudslide of sorts covered in black shed hair. Obviously, several bear had tread here. To add to the thrill of the moment, just above us we heard the ever ominous grunting.

Needless to say, we did no shortcutting and quietly turned a booked it out of there. Kaelan was sad we didn't go on ahead and see the bears. Kaelan also doesn't realize she would make an awesome meal.

Mmmm. Kaelan's first wild strawberry. Her dad nearly killed me for letting her eat this, but I assured him they were safe and that I had eaten millions of them (which is the equivalent to like 6 regular size strawberries) as a child. That made him even more concerned and "explained a lot", he said.

This is Kaelan and Dad quietly exited the woods after our bear encounter. Kaelan picked me lovely bouquet of wildflowers to make me feel better after stepping in elk poo.

Notice those sticks. AND don't forget, she knows "the crane". I felt safe.

We had huge water balloon fights (in the 50 degree weather), hide and seek and numerous other games with cousins. I wish I had tons of pictures to show you, but do you see that little guy on the end flexing his muscles? Yea, that one. I let him "see" my camera for 2 minutes and lost about 50 pictures. But he didn't touch any buttons. Really. Good thing I love him, or I would ring his little neck. I'm not afraid of those "guns".

Look at this poor little grubby mountain child. Dirt on her face, rocks in her pocket, sticks in her hair, and immeasurable happiness in her heart. Sigh.