Once again I think we might be the only guests at this giant hotel. Instead of having the full breakfast buffet set up this morning, they just had a table with offerings for us. I know we are in the shoulder season but I really wonder about the economics of the hotel business. There are probably 40 people working here at any given time.

Anyway! After breakfast we lounged a little bit. Nick had to do some computer-y things like applying for an international driving permit, which we will need for East Asia. Millie and I drew funny pictures and practiced writing.

Then at about 11 we packed up and drove 40 minutes to Ala Archa National Park. We paid our nominal entrance fee (~$4 total) and took the free bus up the mountain.

It dropped us off at the trail head and we were off. The scenery was so stunning that I would have been satisfied spending the whole time there and heading back. We were surrounded by groups of young people “doing” social media. I both get it and think it’s so dystopian.

Our goal of the day was to get a good hike in, but with a young kid we try to temper our expectations. We do a sort of unspoken “let’s see how far we can get” and both work together to keep her going as far as possible. The tools at our disposal are entertainment (joke telling, challenges, question asking), doling out snacks, and occasional piggyback rides. In the first 20 minutes today Nick found a small bag of 6 pieces of well-wrapped candy that we decided was safe and could be used as a new tool to get Millie up the mountain. I lovingly referred to it as “floor candy” for the whole day.

And oh boy did it work! We walked almost the entire trail, straight up the mountain. The only complaints were candy related, so we changed our tactics as we went. The first piece of candy was the taster. Then I set a timer for 20 minutes assuming we could space out the remaining 5 pieces for the trail. This backfired because we spent 19 minutes answering the question “how much longer?” Then we tried matching them to destinations, like “at the waterfall you get the next piece” but were met with similar fate. Then we decided to just hand over the candy, and say “you’re in charge but you should make it last as long as possible so you don’t run out” and this was perfect. She quietly licked a tiny piece every 10 steps and it lasted the whole way.

We had a great time and it was just beautiful. I’ll let the photos do the talking.

(Note the floor candy in the above photos)

This felt like Millie’s first real hike. We’ve done lots of walks and short hikes, but even we were exhausted by the end of this one. When we got down to the bottom of the mountain I checked my phone’s step counter. 20k steps, a new trip record!

We ordered dinner at the nice trailhead restaurant. While waiting for our food Nick and I continued our everlasting conversation of where we might move if we were to leave Texas. Poor Millie overhead this, said “we’re moving?!” And then cried about how much she would miss her best friend. We tried comforting her and explaining that it was a “what if” conversation, not that we have definite plans to move. She continued to cry, which started to get too loud for a busy restaurant. So then we had to take her outside which turned into a full blown meltdown because she wanted to be inside. It was a difficult end to an otherwise perfect day.

We took the bus back down and drove back in the dark. We all took much needed showers and went to bed a little too late.

Tomorrow we are sleeping in a yurt in the middle of nowhere so there might not be a post!