A Hike with Miss Matteson

Miss Matteson is my teaching partner. We enjoy being together. And we are both getting a little bored with this whole summer thing. (No, we do not want to babysit, we want to have summer fun as grown ups.)

We planned to go for a hike this afternoon. Yes, it was 100 degrees. But, we wanted to hang out, chat, talk about stuff that is on our minds (ok, that last one was mostly me...)

What I've learned during this pandemic, is that I love to talk, and was able to get most of that out at school. My family is great, and they listen to me, but I'm pretty sure they like it when I get to talk to someone else too.

Back to our hike.

We met. Put on our masks, sunscreen and bug spray and headed out. Miss Matteson grabbed her backpack (with water and a first aid kit) and I grabbed my phone. We were set. Or so we thought.

Walking. Talking. Choosing paths, left or right? Every once in a while we'd stop to rest a moment in the shade (and to let me catch my breath--talking too much??)

About 30 minutes in I was wondering "How much longer is this going to be?" I'm thirsty and left my water in my car because this was going to be relatively quick.

I saw that Miss Matteson was leaving marks. Not sure how long she was doing that before I noticed. I thought she was being a "kid," you know, messing with stuff, but she was marking our path. You know, to help us escape the woods/trail, I mean find our way out. That's when I got a little nervous. 

We did not know how to get back. There were no guides or maps or arrows on the trail. We joked. Then she said, pull up Google Maps.

But that didn't work. No signal. (Which meant I couldn't even call my husband to come and get me!)

Next idea was a compass. It told us which way was North, not how to get back!

We kept walking. And I heard a noise. I said it was probably a cougar. Because I always think of big and scary things. Miss Matteson tried to convince me that it was most likely a cow. 

And she started pointing out the animal shelters along the path (like for BIG animals). Even "lost" she was having a great time in nature. At one point I got startled and almost jumped into her arms. She gave me a look, like--where's the distance??? I apologized and mentioned how much we were learning about each other. 

She was very comfortable on the trail. She had confidence that we would get back. I was sure I'd need to be rescued, and I jump at every little sound when I start to get nervous (let's not say scared.)

I tried to lighten my mood with a selfie.

Another 20ish minutes of guessing which way to go, leaving marks, trying to enjoy the trees, water, bridges and we found the driveway. My relief was instant. Please, can we take the driveway to our cars? I need water and I'm done with this trail for today.

Miss Matteson thinks it would be fun to take our classes out there for a hike. What???? Maybe...

It really was a great time and I'm excited about our next trail hike. I will for sure be packing water. ;-)