My friend who works too much had Friday off and so we packed a cooler and grabbed her puppy.  We hopped the highway and laid yoga mats out on the rocky beach while her puppy sniffed everything in sight and growled at birds.

We wanted her to love the water so we taught her to swim.  Me standing on the logs speaking sweetly, Melissa splashing around and laughing, and Pumiah nervously pacing.

It worked lovely until an overly excited semi driver honked his overly loud horn and I almost fell in.

Sometimes life startles me.  Usually when I'm perfectly balanced.

This morning my dad and uncle decided they wanted to hike a mountain.  We were supposed to be taking it easy because they arrived late last night and because Saturdays are easy days.

There was nothing easy about it.

We fly by the seat of our pants, so we weren't really prepared.

Which means I was wearing a dress and my cute summer shoes that are for looking only, not touching.

It also means that I forgot to put on deoderant which wasn't a big deal at all.

Until we set out to conquer a trail that only went up.

The first clue should have been the fact that I was already sweating in my air conditioned car.

The second clue should have been the bear sign that advised me on what to do when I ran into the furry darlings.

The sign said to make loud noises so that the bears know where you are.  I type bears but in my head I'm saying barrrs because this place has gotten to me.

I figured my breathing was loud enough to scare anything away, but I did manage to ask strategic questions along the way.  Questions that demanded lengthy answers.

By the time we made it to the top my dress was tragic and my shoes were no longer cute.  I'm not going to tell you how I smelled.

I thought the madness was over until my dad developed a case of twinkle toes and ran the whole way down.

It was then that I decided. If I am blessed enough to see a bear, I will walk straight up to it.  Look it in the eye and calmly stick my head in its mouth.

I promise I taste better than I smell.  Please.

After today, I decided that we needed to make some plans.

So tonight we talked about what we should do with our time and I am so excited.

On Monday we are packing up my cute little bug and taking her into another country for a few days.

I told them that Banff is God's playground and that I need to remember how big He is.  Wild places remind me best.

It's good to be startled.