The first time Ken took me to visit his family ranch in South Dakota, we drove from our home in Colorado Springs. I love a road trip, and am usually quite happy to spend hours in a car. The Parker ranch was just north of Valentine, Nebraska, so the trip took us through miles and miles of sand hills.

I remember saying to Ken, “This is pretty, but enough is enough.” I’m not a prairie girl. I love a long view, but apparently I also prefer something to break it up — like a mountain or tree!

Finally, Ken turned down a dirt road and I got excited. I began to put my coat on in anticipation of seeing the house he grew up in. Ken looked at me, smiled, and shook his head and said, “Not yet.”

I wondered, how far down a dirt road can a family live?

I thought of this yesterday, as MuMu and I were hiking.

Ken dropped us near the trail head, it was a beautiful day, and we were off. It wasn’t long before, we started to climb.

I knew we’d be climbing when we started. My friend and hiking guru, Becky says, you gotta climb to see the views! Besides most of the hikes around Sechelt go, up!

We were still climbing four kilometres in, when we finally took a break.

As MuMu and I sat on the ground, catching our breath, I laughed and thought about that dirt road in South Dakota… and I wondered how far up can a trail really go?