"Make sure you bring your camera," Daniel told me as we headed towards the high desert outside of Bend. This was another "never seen anything like it" adventure for me. We left the city headed through flat desert towards a large rock formation. Ridge? Mountain? Hill? Butte? I'm not sure, but it's called Smith Rock.
We climbed the steep 600 feet to the top. Since I'm no professional athlete, Daniel and I did a tortoise and hare kind of thing. He dashed up the trail having to pause and wait for me while I huffed and puffed to the top. The views from the trail were completely different: we saw flat land, more volcano rock formations, river, and those beautiful snow capped mountains. The stops we made on the way to the top gave me a chance to look up and take pictures.
The views were plenty amazing on their own, but we had another treat. We got to the top and there were crazy people swinging from one rock to another. It's called the King Swing from Monkey Face and there are plenty of videos on youtube. Watching it in person gave me a personal dose of adrenaline that lasted a few hours.
The views struck me so much that I got all old-people emotional. On the way down, I told Daniel that I almost felt like crying and I was thinking about the kids. He laughed at me, "you sound like Dad." The beauty was unreal for this southern girl who doesn't get out much.
We made a quiet drive home stopping for a local bottle of wine and dreamed of the Thai food we got to eat later. It was another amazing Oregon adventure.
Funny. I was thinking you sounded like your mom.
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