Summit Summer

The view from a local butte

This winter, February 1st I think it was, I finally hit the 'this is ridiculous' mindset and decided I needed to be serious about exercising.  El Professor and I have been serious walkers on and off, enjoying those times where the kids can stay in the house and we can walk around the block over and over and actually talk...uninterrupted!  This winter, however, I became serious about making some changes in my life.  Afterall, now that dear little Ten is a decade old I think it's about time to take off that baby weight.  I have been walking in earnest, even trying to keep up the motion through the Crazy Days of May--even throwing in some jogs/hills/biking.  

Late in the spring El Professor and I began to ponder our MUCH needed summer off.  He will be taking some classes, working on expanding his teacher certification, and adding an endorsement but we are NOT GOING ANYWHERE until the end of July.  After two family-reunion-travel-crazy summers in a row and major home improvement projects we are looking forward to actually watering the garden and feeding the cat ourselves.   We are looking forward to dipping our toes in local lakes, picking local berries, cleaning out the garage, and taking a break from managing all of the logistics that come with a travel-packed summer.   We also want to work on our fitness.  With that in mind, I proposed 'Summit Summer'.  

Summit Summer started out with the idea of  a vigorous walking regimen and enjoying family hikes up local buttes to marvel at the beautiful views of our part of Oregon.   Once we exhausted the supply of local buttes we would consult our William Sullivan hike books for other regional summits with the ultimate late summer goal of making it to the summit of Black Butte in central Oregon.

Summit Summer is underway, but has morphed into a new kind of challenge.  After sharing the idea of Summit Summer with my hilarious twin (who, by the way, is very fit and thin) the ultimate summit for the summer has moved beyond Black Butte to the South Sister.  My hilarious twin scrambled up this mountain last summer and proposed the challenge to me.  I hear that the last 3,ooo feet involves a lot of scree scrambling and that preparation involves vigorous walking, hill climbing, biking and other cross training methods.   We have been experiencing some continued 'end of the school year schedule craziness', but the kids and I have managed a 9.8 mile bike ride and I have hiked one of the local buttes with Thirteen.  

Summit Summer here we come!

(I have no idea who these people are, but they are on top of the South Sister!)