An adventure.

On Friday, the park we usually walk in was overrun by kids. Since I'd forgotten Gus' leash, I decided to head to a state forest that's not too far away.

Gus was anxious to get going.

I strapped a sleeping Charlotte into her wrap and we set forth. The section I walked through is so different from my usual surroundings that I felt like I was in a book. With elves.

Doesn't  that seem elven? Makes me think of ROUS. Quick, what does that stand for?*

The woods changed quickly, though, back to the typical hardwood forest, and pretty soon I was on a trail that had obviously not seen much use. It was at this point that I started to consider simply retracing my steps, as I had completely lost track of which direction I was headed in. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that walking out, the sun had been on my right, so in theory to get back to the car, the sun should be on my left. Thank you various hunting magazines that taught me the basics of navigation.

Charlotte, meanwhile, slept on, oblivious to my mounting concern that we would be eaten by a cougar.

Eventually, I happened upon this:

And I was joyful. I knew our sojourn was nearly over. All I had to do was walk to the top of that hill and hang a right, and then go up another hill.

Next time, I'm taking a map.


*rodents of unusual size, from The Princess Bride.