Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread - Proverbs 30:8

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Sunflowers and Mountains


taking a moment to find joy in the little things

{pretty}
A friend of mine has the most gorgeous garden and I go periodically to take pics. Right now the sunflowers are blooming and it's just lovely. I have serious garden envy when I go, but thankfully she lets me come and enjoy it whenever I want, and I don't have to do all the work.










{funny}
Before they bloom sunflowers can look a little strange...this one more than others.


Her passion flower vine is growing out of control!


{happy}
And now moving on to the mountain...our girls are away at church camp this week, so my husband and I decided to celebrate our anniversary a bit early (19 years next week!) We headed to central Oregon for a few days, and tackled an epic hike. South Sister (also known as Charity), is Oregon's third tallest mountain and stands 10, 358 feet. 




This is the beautiful Moraine Lake - just getting here is a good hike. We've done this before with the girls.




Looking up at the summit from the saddle between the two glaciers (Lewis and Clark).




We finally made it to the summit!



The wildflowers were beautiful about half way up the mountain.



{real}
This is a long, hard hike. 12 1/2 miles round trip, but what this sign doesn't tell you is that you make a 5000ft gain in elevation. The higher you get, the harder it is to breathe - less oxygen and altitude sickness can and did make us dizzy at the top. 




Plus...do you see those clouds? They roll in quickly and there were times near the top when I could see a foot in front of me and a foot behind me, but nothing else. In fact, when you get to the top you aren't actually at the summit. You have to walk around a glacier to get to the actual summit, but the clouds had rolled in and I couldn't see where to go. It was a little freaky. 



Standing on the summit - normally there would be a killer view, but it was so cloudy. And we got very cold very quickly. And did I mention the dizziness? Let's just say that the initial descent down was not very pleasant.



One of my instagram friends lives in central Oregon. As I was scrolling through my IG feed Monday morning, I noticed that she was watching her grandkids that day so her daughter and husband could climb South Sister. I commented that I, too, was climbing South Sister that day. We exchanged some info and sure enough, right at the top of the mountain I found her daughter!

Also real....muscle soreness!!!! I would consider myself in pretty good shape but a hike like this is killer. It's now Thursday and I can finally move without wincing in pain.


6 comments:

  1. Those are stunning sunflowers! What a great hike you had, congrats on 19 years!

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  2. Exceptional photos. wow! Heartiest congratulations on your anniversary!! Ours will be 47 years on the 19th. Wishing you well!

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  3. Stunning photos! I love sunflowers. And loved hearing about your mountain hike and meeting someone on the top like that! That mountain scenery is awe-inspiring. Happy Anniversary.

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  4. A wonderful series of photos!
    Thank you for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2015/07/get-peek-at-those-cute-little-feet.html

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  5. Gorgeous! The funny one reminds me of the Little Shop Of Horrors plant! LOL. I planted my seeds on the late side, so hopefully I will have my sunflowers in September.

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