Into the Wild.

The Elliotts needed to stretch their legs.  Run free.

We needed to breath.  We needed some fresh air.  We needed to clear our heads so we could fill them back up with more important things than how to make the perfect pie crust.

And this past Sunday was shaping up to be the perfect day to make a break for it.

We loaded up the X-Terra.  The 'X' stands for eXtreme terrain, baby.  We could go anyway.  Do anything.  See the world (as long as we were back by Monday, because girlfriend has to keep her job... plus we would have eventually run out of clean diapers).

We made it six miles.  All the way up a canyon.  Georgia was excited.  She is an adventurer, just like her Mommy.

It was a beautiful chunk of the world to see.  The air was fresh and crisp.  There was the comforting and wild smell of pine in the air.  I inhaled deeply, in and out, in and out, until my nostrils froze to the inside of my nose so I had to start breathing through my mouth (which is not as lady-like).

Behold the great trees of the Pacific Northwest. 

Into the wild we went, attempting to domesticate one their kind.  We had to fight off cougars and coyotes with sticks we had carved into spears.  We crossed raging creeks in our bare feet.  We ate only berries and pine needles. 

After hiking 100 miles and living off the land for fifty days, we found it.

Behold!  The perfect specimen:

The tree of course, not me!  How vain do you think I am?  And after all the time we have spent together...

Enough fresh air.  Enough wild animals.  Enough berries.  Enough trees.  Enough adventure.  Let's get this bad boy home.

I love having men around.  Normally, there is only one man.  But on this particular day, there was two.  They both aren't mine.  Only one is mine (one is my friend Kaci's).  But having two around can sure be helpful because then I don't have to do anything.