fun(ny) facts I learned today while hiking

Today I learned a few new things about hiking.  I've been hiking many times before, but today was quite the experience.

• If you think you can't walk a hill because your knees are giving out, do it anyway. Chances are, your parents will forget to hand you their keys and you'll be forced to RUN up that hill a few moments later (panicking because you don't know what they'll do at the other end when you don't show up with their car to pick them up) to try and catch up with them.

• Don't try and run up a hill trying to catch your parents unless you want to not be able to walk, burst in to tears, and almost pass out on the trail because you're hyperventilating so hard.

• Prayers do work.  As you're praying to God that your parents heard your frantic bird-call (as a last ditch resort because they didn't hear their names being called) and they'll find you before you literally pass out, remember that He will hear.  And so will your parents.  

• When your dad finds you, he'll then force you to drink tons of Gatorade in between your sobs of relief.

• Those sounds you hear traveling from one side of the hill to the other? That's not a flock of geese, they fly.  Those were coyote pups coming closer...probably due to your hyperventilating and distressed yelling from trying to find your parents. (This is not one of my favorite moments of the day).

• If you look at a hill as you're going down and think to yourself "I should just sit down and go down" you probably should because you'll just end up on your butt anyway only you'll get hurt as you start that descent because you fell.

• Make sure your phone isn't locked in the car before you separate from your group because chances are, you just turned it off and stuck it in your backpack. (This would have made life a lot easier- I could have prevented all of the above).

• If your dad says that the point to pick them up at is programmed in to the GPS, just get the directions because it's probably not in the GPS.

• The pancakes at the Maple Tree Inn in Angelica were totally worth all of that pain.

None of these were funny as they were happening, but now that I'm safely at home, full of pancakes and other yummy goodness, I can finally write all of this and laugh.