King of the Mountain

So I woke up Saturday morning itching for a change of scenery. Paul was at drill in Utah and the kids and I just needed something to do to pass the time and I wanted it to be free. I had found a couple of hikes but everything I saw seemed more rugged than what I was thinking of. I finally found a great place called South Mountain Park and Reserve. I packed the kids up, sprayed some sunscreen at them and off we went.

When we got there however, I could see that our flip flops were not going to be adequate for the trails. I was disappointed but I thought we should just check things out for next time. As we drove around, following maps and looking at signs to get our bearings, we found that we could drive to the peak of South Mountain. We got out up there and hiked around for a little while. I loved it. Betsy was happy too.

We found a trail so we can hike to that same spot and we are planning to do that next week.

Jared sent me this site. (Thanks J.R.) That site turned me on to even more sites and I have been excitedly researching the summits in the area that are kid friendly. I've found six so far. Phoenix was built in a valley so there are hills and mountains completely surrounding us so we have lots of choices.

I've missed having hills and mountains to hike.

The best part of the day? I texted Becky and Ronnie and asked them if we could come over and say hi. They said yes. We just stayed for an hour or so but the kids had so much fun we were already making plans for our next get-togethers. Dan ended up staying for the day and his dad picked him up when he got home from Utah that night.

It was a good day.