kids running: What-muncher?

A few months ago I was having the usual one sided conversation with my dentist as he was working on my teeth. He told me about this old rail road track that goes straight up the side of a mountain, and how he had just run it the other day. With spit running down the side of my numb face and his entire hand in my mouth, I accepted the challenge. The trail is called "The Incline", and it used to be some kind of a tourist attraction; the train would take you up the mountain to Pikes Peak. I guess it wasn't a very profitable venture because all that is left is the wooden ties and a very steep trail. Phil and I were going to try it for our Anniversary, but couldn't get (afford) a babysitter, so we decided to make it a family adventure. We decided that I would stay with Soni and Bingham and just turn around if they got tired and he would go ahead with Austin and Eve to the top.

Austin took off pretty quick, and before too long was quite a bit ahead of us. Bingham and Soni were still having fun climbing up the steps so Phil went ahead to catch him. It was at this point a man passed by me and asked if I'd ever done this before, and that I probably didn't want to do it with the little kids. Thanks mister....we kept going. After about a quarter mile Bingham wanted to be carried. Soni was on a roll so I told her too keep hiking and I would catch up when I got Bingham in the backpack. She got about 15 yards ahead of me and I could see this guy was kind of hiking by her. We had already talked to him when he first passed us and gotten to know his dog. He moved on as I caught up and I asked Soni about it and she said, "Yeah, we just had a chat about his dog. I know what a chat is, it's when you just kind of talk back and forth." Now, I have to agree with her because the girl can chat. Just about everyone that passed by got a good "Soni chat", about her dog, or how she could wear a skirt on a hike like this because it has shorts underneath, or that her skirt was backwards because she dressed herself , or that she is only 5 and hiking this huge mountain, or how we're going to hike Mount Everest next, or well, you get the idea. I kept waiting for her to get tired, but she would just take a break and keep going. The hike up is only a mile, but it was seriously steep.....and no the pictures don't quite capture it. Maybe it was because whenever I turned around to take a picture, I would get dizzy so I'd hurry and snap the picture before I tumbled down the hill. It was HARD, but it was so much fun hiking with this little girly.

Eve hiked most of it on her own, not wanting to keep up with Austin and a little more aggressive than Soni. I could always see her, she'd pull over for a break and I would think she might wait for us, but then she'd be moving on again. Did I mention it was hot? It was hot! About half way up we got a cool breeze and a few clouds which made a huge difference. I didn't see much of Austin, but I heard about him from people who were coming back down...he was quite a legend.....and now he has a slightly large head.

In this cute picture of Eve, you can see the Garden of the Gods in the upper left corner.

Once you get to this point, you have the option of going back down the one mile track or taking the windy and still pretty steep 4 mile trail down the side. We had all seen enough of the track, so we took the leisurely trail back down.

Have I ever mentioned how pretty it is here? I'm constantly amazed by the beauty. I have this continuous, incredulous conversation in my head with Heavenly Father .....something like this: "Really? For me?" Like thousands of years of geological change and positioning were orchestrated just for this moments view. Maybe that sounds kind of selfish, but I know if you came to visit He'd let you take a peek too :)

There was one moment of stress on the way back down. Again, Austin got too far ahead and we couldn't see or hear him, so Phil went ahead to try and catch him. Before I realized, Soni had taken off after her Dad and I was left dragging Bingham and feeling a little nervous that Soni might turn into a cougar snack before I could catch her. But, we got it all straightened out and assigned Austin to be Bingham's hiking buddy and we all stayed together for the rest of the way down.

With about two miles left, Bingham was pretty tired and got back in the backpack for a nap. We had finished off all our water by the time we got to the top (nice planning, huh) so by the time we got to the car we were all pretty thirsty. Phil grabbed a warmer than warm water jug and started guzzling. Apparently the jug wasn't cleaned out very well because he just about spewed the moldy water all over us. We did have some clean water and everyone agreed that warm water is still wet water......but, we did feel it was necessary to swing by Wendys and get a little more refreshed. Frostys never tasted so good. Bingham stayed in that position....not even coming up for air, until his was gone, which was about the same time we got home.