"All morning I could tell that Dad was getting ready to go somewhere and it included either Amelie or myself, as there was only one warm snowsuit and one car seat sitting out. He was talking about hiking up Green Mountain, but I had no idea what that meant, but it sure sounded like more fun than sitting around the house trying to nap. It soon became clear that he was leaning toward taking my big sister, Amelie, but I was on my best behaviour and made my strongest effort to drink as much of my milk as I could in hopes of getting picked. Alas, I was able to score a few more points than Amelie and we were soon speeding (it felt fast, but dad obeyed all traffic laws) toward Boulder in the cush Odyssey. I was able to fall asleep with no fussing whatsoever and the trip went by in a flash. At the Gregory Trailhead (like my uncle Gregory) for Green Mountain, I could tell that it was cold and windy as soon as Dad opened the door. Fortunately, he decided that this might be too much for my first mountain and we drove for 10 or so minutes to the Sanitas Trailhead a few miles to the North.
Once at Sanitas, the sun was shining and it was reasonably warm, but still a little breezy. At first, I did not know what to make of sitting in the Baby Bjorn front carrier, zipped under Dad's jacket and let out a loud and shrill scream that had Dad concerned. He quickly put me at ease and along with Sierra in tow, we began our hike.
Up the trail we went, through the mud, across the snow, ice and rocks. Boy is this trail steep! Sierra made it look so easy as she ran all over the place, sniff sniff sniff..... Dad was going quick, but also very careful and stopped a few times to peek at me and make sure I was OK. We got to the top in 27 minutes and spent just a moment checking out the views, but it was windy and chilly and I let Dad know that I was ready to keep moving. Maybe on a better day we will spend more time here.
On the way down, he went super easy and was very careful not to slip on various patches of ice and snow along the trail. His studded shoes helped quite a bit. We stopped half way down so two nice ladies, who happened to be Moms and photographers, used Dad's camera to take a few pictures of us. Later, we saw another baby named Lily on her way up with her Mom and Dad, so we stopped to chat for a bit. Hopefully I will see her next time.
Once we made it back down (32 minutes), I begged Dad to head over to the hospital to visit Mom at work to tell her all about my day and what a good girl I was. I slept for most of the ride there and back and was awake for most of the hike. As a bonus, I got to visit with some of the nurses that were so good to me, Mom and Amelie during our long stay when we were born. They are the best!
I hear some talk around the house tonight about Dad taking Amelie for her turn tomorrow if the weather is good, which is fine, because I am tuckered out and have a lot of napping to catch up on. Below are a few pictures from the day, enjoy! Love Isabelle."
Ready to hike, mittens and all (ok, they are socks really, but they worked great)
The trail goes way up there, but that is just the start!
Dad and I on the summit looking down on Boulder
If it were clear and there were no trees, you could see the Indian Peaks. Dad says we will go up there someday!
"Time to go Dad, it is cold and windy up here!"
What a great day!
You can see Green Mountain in the background, maybe next time.
Some snow and ice on the trail
My doggy Sierra waiting patiently for us. She was very concerned with how I was doing on this hike and very well behaved.
