Mountain Retreat

For the first time in our 12 years living here, we finally made it to the mountains! (To be fair, we've had to cancel our plans twice before: once due to Covid, and once when MJ's back was too bad to travel.)

It was great! We had a blast even though we didn't end up hiking, and the weather was terrible most of the time. So we mostly stayed at the cabin and just hung out. We never even turned on the TV!

There was torrential rain the entire first day. The second day, we were completely enveloped in a cloud. But the third morning, we woke up and gasped at the view we saw out the window. And thankfully that day was sunny and gorgeous, and we soaked up the sun the entire time (especially Amber!).

MJ built a campfire every afternoon; the kids played endless games of hide-and-seek in the woods; we played board games and worked on a puzzle and read Harry Potter; the kids caught ladybugs -- dead and alive -- and held an elaborate funeral for the dead ones; Amber never once wore her leash; we had all our meals out on the deck and ate ridiculous amounts of s'mores. After the kids went to bed each night, MJ and I sat out on the deck by the fire, enjoyed a few glasses of wine, and listened to music. It was lovely.

Peak foliage was definitely past, but there was still some color to be found. "Next time we go to the mountains, we should go in October so the leaves are even prettier!" said Sweet Pea. I couldn't agree more.

The only other activity we did was go horseback riding. MJ stayed back at the cabin -- he'd had his fill of riding in August at the beach. But the kids and I were excited to go, especially when we arrived and realized we were the only ones on the trail ride.

CC did great and barely hesitated at all when it was time to mount up on Emily, even though Emily was much larger than little Pep Talk, the horse she rode at the beach. Little Man hopped right up on Blaze, another large horse. Then the trail guide brought out Buttercup for Sweet Pea. How adorable! Doesn't she just look like the sweetest little pony ever?

SHE WAS NOT. She hated when other horses got too close to her. I was riding behind her on Starlee, and Buttercup flattened her ears and kicked out at Starlee several times. But then we encountered a fallen tree blocking the path, so we all had to turn around. As the horses made U-turns and squeezed by each other, Buttercup lost her cool -- she pinned her ears back, bared her teeth, started snapping at the other horses, then bucked several times and kicked like crazy. Poor Sweet Pea was hysterical, as the tour guide yelled for her to "Pull back on the reins! Pull back!" Somehow, Sweet Pea managed to stay on Buttercup, which is a minor miracle, and no one was hurt. Sweet Pea could have fallen or been thrown off, under all those stomping hooves. We got the horses disentangled pretty quickly, but it was a terrifying moment.

After Sweet Pea calmed down, we let grumpy Buttercup be the last horse in line. She was perfectly happy in the rear, keeping her distance way behind the rest of us. If she got too far back, she'd start trotting to catch up, and we'd hear Sweet Pea giggling as they came bouncing up the trail.

The rest of us were able to trot quite a bit, too. At first it scared the kids (trotting is very bouncy), but pretty soon they started loving it. My horse, Starlee, wanted nothing more than to run at every opportunity. I held her back the whole time, much to her frustration!

 

But overall, the ride was enjoyable. We had beautiful weather for the first time in days, saw some wonderful views, and (with the exception of Buttercup picking a fight) appreciated having horses that didn't just trudge boringly along the trail. We even got to cross a river on horseback -- twice! It was a nice way to end our mountain trip.