Through the Woods

Today Mimi and Pa took off on a hiking adventure. Now Pa has been walking in the mornings, but to be honest, it is pretty wimpy stuff. But Mimi refuses to walk to our mailbox. She has turned Pa down every time he has asked her to walk with him. Pa tries to not take it personally, but it kinda does get to him a little.

But today was a different day. Today we read about a 6.5 mile round trip hike out to a really cool lighthouse. It was the Haceda Lighthouse built in 1893, it’s just north of Florence Oregon and just a little north of the famous Sea Lion Caves. It sounded like a really cool hike and something Mimi could do…despite her reluctance to walk with Pa.

So off they went down a really cool trail through the Hobbit forest, meandering down the easy trail…Mimi was doing really well.

About a mile and a half into the trail, it crossed over to the west side of the road. What was once a pleasant little stroll with Hobbits, turned really ugly on the west side. The trail was steep and slippery…lots of boggy mud to contend with…lots of steep steps to navigate. But Mimi persisted…Pa was really proud of her. After another mile and a half, we came down a long series of switch backs, and arrived at the lighthouse.

The setting was spectacular, but the weather turned nasty again. Mimi had been doing her normal stripping down to the bare essentials through the forest…she calls them hot flashes…but now, she needed all of her layers engaged. A trip up to the top of the lighthouse was followed up with some power bars and dried mango and a few sips of water.

But there was a little hesitation when it was time to go back up and head back on the trail. Pa offered to hitchhike back to Van and come back and get her…but her pride got to her…she plowed up the trail. Up the countless switch backs, through the murky bogs, up the pulverizing steps…plugging on and on. Mimi kept going. She was the little train that could…she did it. We crossed back to the other side of the road and plowed through the Hobbit land until we reached Van waiting patiently for us. Mission accomplished. A pretty rugged hike for seasoned hikers. It was like an Everest expedition for Mimi though…but she did it.
Pa was really proud of Mimi. She did it all without complaining or whining. She was tough as nails and kept a great attitude during the hike. It’s good to have a Mimi in your life to do tough things with. But Mimi also knows when she needs help too. As soon as we get back she’s fishing through Van’s glove box, looking for something. “What are you after Mimi?” Pa says. “Alleve” she says with a determined look in her eye. “You want some Pa?” she says. Does Pa want some…”well uh” he stammers…”make mine a double.” Pa was tuckered out too. Pa was tanked. Don’t tell Mimi, but sometimes Pa’s have to pretend to be much tougher than they are. Sometimes, they wished Mimi’s were in to hitch hiking.