This weekend, I went on my first
official hike of the spring
with my husband and two other
hiking buddies, Debbie & Krista.
We’d taken a break during winter’s cold & ice.
On Sunday, all that nasty stuff was long gone. The weather was perfect, sunny and 70’s. The bright green leaves on the trees were fresh sprung. The brilliant purple, white, peach, and yellow wildflowers dotted the hillsides. Violets, Buttercups, Columbines, Clover, Spring Beauties, May Apples, Trilliums, and many I don’t know the names of.

Wildflowers amaze me–so precious, so vibrant. Like jewels tossed down from heaven. Who would expect such a bounty of colors and shapes and sizes and textures–such a hodgepodge. And all so eager to show off their beauty in the most unexpected spots. They snuggled up to rocks, tumbled over ledges, and peeked through the remains of last fall’s leafy decay.

So I thought… if wildflowers can thrive after the winter’s cold & ice and parade themselves in such glorious displays, then surely I can spur on my slightly out-of-shape winter legs to complete the 5.3 mile hike without collapsing more than once. And I am happy to report that I made it!

Really!!

The picture at the top is an after shot–thank goodness I had my poles to help hold me up. 🙂

We also encountered a fawn out for a mid-day walk as well. She decided to take another route than we did. Deer–with their state-of-the-art foot gear–are much better equipped to take alternate forest paths than we can.

And special congrats to Andy and Tina who were married on Saturday!!! May their lives together be very DEAR. 🙂