For the Love of Our Guy....

Anyone who knows Coron, knows that he lives and breathes for the mountains. A perfect day for him would be to have his wife and daughters in the mountains with him. With school starting next week, and my work schedule getting busier, we knew that this past weekend would be our last chance to go on the backpacking trip that somehow all summer had been put on the back burner.

We planned on leaving Sunday morning, however, the weather forecast in the mountains looked less than perfect...rain, wind, and low temperatures. We decided not to go. After awaking to perfectly blue skies on Sunday morning, Coron quickly decided to change his mind and declared, "It'll be fine. I think the forecast is wrong". So we set off for Lichtenwasser Lake which was near the top of Stevens Pass.

Guess what? The forecast was NOT wrong. By the time we got to the trailhead and parked our car, the rain was starting to come down pretty hard. "It will be fine", Coron declared. So we continued on. The hike to the lake was not very long, but it was the girls' first overnight backpacking trip, so they were carrying their packs. Although they weren't heavy, they were a bit awkward for their tiny little bodies. But we trudged on.

By the time we got to the lake, we were all pretty much soaking wet. The rain was starting to really come down and it was cold. We decided to quickly set up the tent so that the girls could get inside, take off their wet clothes, and crawl in their sleeping bags. That was at 4:45 in the afternoon. With the exception of getting out to go to the bathroom, we stayed in the tent until 7:00 the next morning.

We read an entire chapter book that fortunately I had put in my pack at the last minute...

We ate dinner in the tent...

We took silly pictures....

It was one of the most memorable and wonderful nights that I've spent with my family. We all cuddled up next to each other and Coron said, "I can't think of three better people that I'd rather spend this time with". We all agreed.

And when we woke up the next morning, we finally got to see the beautiful lake...

Yes...that's steam rising off the lake...

It was freezing cold (we're guessing about 30 degrees). That wouldn't have been so bad if we had dry clothes to put on and hadn't been in 90+ degree temperatures the day before. It was cold! At this point, the girls were starting to cry because their hands and feet were getting cold. We ate a quick breakfast, had some hot cocoa, and then Coron told us to go on ahead and he would catch up to us.

By the time he caught up to us, we were starting to warm up and I thought we were good to go. That is until Coron decided to try taking another trail down the mountain in hopes of it being a little less steep. Well...that trail came to a dead end. We could see the road ahead of us, but there was some thick brush and a creek standing in our way. We started bushwacking, but when we got to the creek, we realized that there was absolutely no place to cross. With Celia on his shoulders, and carrying 3 backpacks, Coron started walking down the thigh-high water in hopes of finding a spot to put Celia and the backpacks down and have her wait while he came back for us. About 5 minutes later he came back to Ella and I and then carried Ella back on his shoulders. I started walking through the freezing cold water and that was the first moment over the course of the entire hike that I thought unkind thoughts about my husband. But I still love him.

My three favorites with Sammy, our dog.

After making it home safe and sound later that afternoon, Coron and the girls were straightening up the living room. He found his hand-held GPS lying on the living room floor and asked why it was there. Of course Celia had been messing with it. Ella asked him what it was used for, and after explaining it to her, she said, "Well, maybe you should have had that with you on our hike"!

That's one smart girl.

~J