proving myself (to myself)

It was such a beautiful day today that even after a couple hours outside for a fabulous (slightly belated) May Day celebration - we danced around a real Maypole! I love hippies! - and despite the wealth of friends and food available at the May Day potluck brunch, I just had to come back to Brattleboro and do something outdoors.

There are so many hiking opportunities around here that it's pretty intimidating to a total newbie hiker like myself, particularly when I'm going alone (dog notwithstanding). Which, in fact, I hadn't done until today. I looked at a few maps and websites and finally decided to see if it was really true that, as The Geologist told me, I could get on a good trail in New Hampshire right across the river from downtown Brattleboro (aka the WalMart Parking Lot Trail. Which is totally not its real name). So I put the leash on the dog and set out.

And three hours later we got back home, having walked - walked! - to a whole other state and climbed up a mountain (actually another side of the same one I hiked a couple weeks ago) and down again.

Now I feel like an achy old lady who needed to go to bed at 9pm. Oh wait, I felt that way before. At least now I have my first solo hike (and a huge dog who dragged me back to the bottom over a somewhat rocky, uneven trail) to blame for it. That's waaaay better than simple hypochondria.