Sunday, August 2 {Sunriver, OR - Smith Rock & Alpacas}

The huge muffins at Costco are an easy breakfast item when traveling. The kids enjoyed eating them this morning before leaving for our hike at Smith Rock. When Abigail was here in June they did a short, easy hike there and it looked like something Justin and I definitely wanted to do with the family. There are a lot of different trails in the state park. Justin chose the most difficult one, appropriately called Misery Ridge Trail. 

That’s Misery Ridge Trail zig-zagging up the mountain

Even with the cooler temperatures of hiking in the late morning, it was far too hot for our families liking. The most difficult part of the trail was at the beginning when you climb up a dusty, narrow trail along the side of a mountain without any shelter from the sun. We had to take several breaks and that was not just for the young kids’ sake. It took us nearly 45 minutes to go 3/4 of a mile. 

Thankfully, we had brought with us a large container of blueberries which was the perfect reward for us to enjoy when we finally reached the top of the ridge. 

We made it!

The rest of the 4 mile hike was either mostly downhill or relatively flat along the river. It really was unique and gorgeous surroundings and well worth the strenuous effort. Thankfully we had just enough water for the family. In hindsight we should’ve brought much, much more. 

Monkey Rock

There were parts of the trail down that we pretty slick due to all the loose dust

There were some interesting nests under the ridges of this rock face, wonder what lives inside…

There was a refreshing sprinkler at the bottom of the trailhead that Justin and some of the kids enjoyed cooling off by…

We were all starving by the time we got back to the car so with a quick Trip Adviser search I was able to find a place nearby that was open and had high reviews. Since it was near closing we were easily able to find a table outside large enough for our family and we enjoyed a delicious and very late in the day brunch. 

Katie really wanted to visit the alpaca farm near the hike so we drove back there to let her have that experience. In truth I think Justin was the one who ended up enjoying the alpacas the most. That’s not to say that everyone else didn’t love it, it’s just to emphasize that Justin REALLY did love it that much. In fact he said it was the best five dollars he spent in a very long time. 

It really was fun to watch everyone have a great time feeding the alpacas and trying to catch some fun pictures of them. 

“Rosie”

They really are some bizarre, though strangely adorable, looking creatures. 

“Lun”

Everyone was pretty tired when we got back to the house. Some of us relaxed for a little bit in the hammocks, but we weren’t home too long before we decided to go on a bike ride. 

Back along the river route loop although we biked it in the reverse direction tonight. An enjoyable five miles. We had a late sacrament service today. We didn’t get around to an actual CFM lesson but we did spend a little bit of time talking about gratitude and being specific in our prayers for what we are thankful for. We spent the rest of the evening back at the house with everyone doing a little bit of their own thing – hot tubbing, working on pictures or videos, watching TV, snacking and rotating through showers.