More vacation thoughts

We made it home from vacation. All things work out in the end.

We took a wrong turn. I closed my eyes for two minutes, from 4:47-4:49, Hubby dazed and missed the turn. This happened 13 years ago too on our honeymoon. This time we did not fight - guess that says we have both matured :) Instead we had a mis-adventure. We had several of those on our vacation this time and we are learning to go with the flow. Why get upset? We saw some beautiful sights in the mountains and only took an hour more to arrive home.

We nearly slid off the mountain. A few days ago I wrote about picking up a hitchhiker and not hiking the Chimneys. The day after the hitchhiker we went to the Chimneys. There were no places to park so we parked in the grass like so many others.

On the positive side, we met a great man on the hike who showed us the easy way to climb to the top. The kids were unable to climb the face - there was a 7 foot climb at one point, but were able to climb up the back way. Of course my heart was in my throat the entire time because the kids are fearless and climbed everywhere. One wrong step and they could've fallen - off the mountain, at least 100 feet if they stopped and didn't keep falling. Anyway, after the hike we got in the car and put it in gear - and slid sideways. Put it on reverse - slid some more. Got the kids out - hubby slid again. By this time the Suburban had slid all the way to the tree line. Past the trees was the drop to the swollen river.

The nice man we met on the hike gave us a ride down the mountain to get a cell signal. My cell was dead so we used his. Took almost an hour til we had the wrecker coming. He called his friend who took me and the kids to the motel while he took my husband back up the mountain. Everything was fine and we made a new friend who made us promise to call him when we are in the area next time. He works with the Park Service and will take us to work with the elk and cave exploring.

If we would have not picked up that hitchhiker, we would not have met Buddy. All things work as they should, it just takes patience to see the positive.