Summer Hiking: It was Sweaty

We managed, but I'm just saying it's more enjoyable when you're not in an eternal sauna.

There's so much good hiking here, and even though it was so hot, I just couldn't bear to not go at all during the summer. So we worked ourselves up to it and braved the heat one day to visit the closest national park to this area. I really did not know very much about it at all before going, but we picked an area that looked fun and it turned out to be a volcano!

There were some really pretty spots right in that area around the volcano (dormant, by the way, don't freak out), including a "milk lake" that was white from all the sulfur. It stunk too! But the hiking didn't seem that nice around there, so after we took a few obligatory pictures and had explored the area, we decided to drive to a nearby trailhead that led to a waterfall. It's just hard to hike without a purpose, you know?

The day got a lot better after that. The hike was all in the forest, so we had good shade and it was a really short distance to the waterfall, which turned out to be much bigger than I expected. I had been worried about pushing the kids too hard without H there, but it was really very manageable. And it was so beautiful! I don't know what it is about falling water that is just so mesmerizing and peaceful. We sat there for a long while and had snacks together before heading back to the car. On the way home I stopped and got some sports drinks for everyone, which was a big hit! Unfortunately, when we were about one mile from home I bumped into the back of another car at a red light (the light had turned green but then the cars stopped again after starting and I didn't realize until too late). It was all pretty painless, and it was even close enough that H could walk over before everything was finished with the police and all, and the other guy wasn't even too mad once he realized that I really did have insurance, but let's just say that I'll be happy if I don't do that again!