Dog Mountain, View 1

After an absence of what, maybe 6 years?, Ken and I decided it was time to hike Dog Mountain again. We tried to convince our local kids to join us, but the timing wasn't right for them. Happily,  Phil, Geniel, and Ben were eager to join us this year! I've got two sets of photos from this day's activity. Those in this post, which are taken with my cell phone "retro camera app", and another set from the normal camera which will be another post.

It was a great morning for a hike, with patchy clouds, mild temperatures, and very little wind. Considering the cool, blustery "spring" we have been having we were delighted with these weather conditions! The hike up to the top is just as challenging as I remembered. Oh wait, maybe even more so, because there were parts that I forgot about that were pretty tough. Ken was sweet enough to push me along when I wanted to rest, so we all reached the tippy top at about the same time. Geniel, Phil and Ben have been training for a half marathon and they did awesome. They out-hiked me easily! Way to go! I'm not saying they didn't SWEAT with the rest of us, but their conditioning is really paying off. :)

This first picture amuses me and reminds me why I love this guy so much. When I said, "Oh no, I left my cell phone in the car!", Ken ran back down to the parking lot to get it for me....and then CALLED me. When my pocket started into the familiar cell phone ring I realized, embarassingly, that it had been with me all along! Then he trotted back up the hill to join us, smiling just like you see in this photo. What a good sport!

The rest of these photos are fairly self-explanatory, and you can see that we had a good day together. I have another photo of Phil, Geniel and Ben that show all three of their faces, but the one where Ben is hiding his Dad's face makes me smile, so I used it here. :)

You know, I really should wear a hat and maybe sunglasses...then I wouldn't be squinting so badly when photos are being taken. :)