Hiking in the foothills...

As I awoke this morning I realized with the craziness of this summer we have made very few trips to the foothills. They are only 20 miles away and a place we can get away from it all. Sadie can run free (on most trails), Hannah loves to explore, and I love the peacefulness of it all. It's not hard to imagine you are in the middle of nowhere (as I often did while on adventures as a child), and you don't have to hike too far before you are on your own. As you hike to the peak of any one of the foothills, you are able to see a portion if not all of the beauty of the Treasure Valley. I love it here!

Today we took a new route. I have a general sense of directions while hiking in the valleys of the foothills and if I start to get that "lost" feeling, I am definitely not too proud to turn around! But today brought us to a half peak with a crystal clear view of the Capitol building and some of the other high rises. I began to think of the craziness and hundreds of people working downtown today and was thankful to be in the quiet foothills with Hannah and Sadie.

If you look close there is a beetle on the center flower. It must have stunk because Sadie followed the scent and was determined to eat this bug!

Not a complete trip without the funny face!

We hiked for about an hour and when we rounded back near the car Hannah got to hike and explore for the next 20 or 30 minutes. It's always great to see what Hannah pays attention to. Most of the time it is phenominal discoveries that I never would have found had I kept her in the stroller.

Oh the footprints... Every size, shape, animal, person, all on various modes of transportation... all crossing the same path but in general at very different times. That is a whole other blog in and of itself! I began to wonder... Why did they come here? Were they happy... sad? Running.. walking? From something... to something? So many stories written in that sand... all erased in the sand and replaced with the most recent. I wonder who's at the very bottom?

We have obviously failed in teaching Hannah the art of fishing.... She was determined to catch on with only a stick... Help?

We had an amazing day enjoying the beauty of the foothills!

Life amongst all of the dry grasses.... Absolutely beautiful!