Staycation part 2...

Here's part two of our vacation (It only took me three weeks to get to the next days worth of pictures. It might take me all year to get through the rest).

We spent Tuesday hiking up to the top of a mountain near our cabin. Supposedly there was a lake at the top, but we had known no one who'd actually been to it and seen it. So we packed up and off we went. It was a beautiful day. The hike was absolutely adorable. There were little streams all along the way that the kids could splash in and drink out of. They thought it was awesome to drink actual "mountain spring water". We hiked and hiked. About and hour and a half up we stopped to have a little lunch. Then we hiked and hiked some more. Chad and I kept saying "how can there possibly be a lake up here? Where would it be? There's no way." We had no idea how long the hike was, or how far to the top. Eventually the trail got pretty steep and rocky. Then suddenly we came to a crest and right before our eyes it opened up to a huge lake, completely still and perfect, and beautiful. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. We were the only human beings on earth looking at that beautiful lake, it was very neat. It was a strange feeling to be in such solitude. Hence the skinny dipping, we just couldn't resist. There was still snow on the mountain around the lake. That's how high up we were. Fortunately and unfortunately my camera ran out of battery right after the first skinny dipping picture. The water was so cold that our little adventure didn't last very long, but it sure was memorable.

Here's the crew at the trail head.

Off we go.
We had to stop at every creek to take a sip.

They approve.

We stopped to climb on this very cool tree.

A little lunch break.

Here's the traditional picture of me that I always have to request to remind us that I was actually there. Isn't the view amazing. The picture doesn't do it justice of course.

It started to get steep and rocky toward the top.

Here's the view as we came up to the top. If you look closely you can see snow on the granite mountain slope all the way on the left side close to the water.

Back at the bottom.