A Little Getaway

I decided that we needed to get out of here even if we could only go for a day.  So Ben took Monday off, and we headed up to McCall on Sunday after church.

It is such a pretty drive, and I could literally feel the stress melt away.  There is something about being up in the mountains that just makes me relax.  There is nothing that HAS to be done, and I can just sit back and enjoy my family and my surroundings.  I'm not very good at that when we're at home and there is always SOMETHING on my to do list.  We decided not to camp this time since we were only able to stay one night, and I really didn't want to do all that work for just one night.  This made the girls super excited because they love staying in a hotel.

So our plans included swimming in the hotel pool, walking around McCall, and playing in Ponderosa State Park.  But we didn't set any schedule and just did what we wanted when we wanted.  And it was marvelous.

You'd think that with swim team practice every day and going to Roaring Springs at least once a week these girls would not get excited over more pool time.  But I guess it is always exciting to check out a new pool.

Then they ate popcorn in bed while watching some HGTV. I think we have some new converts.  :)

On Monday morning, we walked around downtown McCall, drank some coffee, and checked out a few cute little shops.

Then we had a picnic in Ponderosa Park by the lake.

We drove up to see a beautiful view of the lake.  So pretty, and the pictures just don't do it justice.

We walked a little trail by the lake while the girls asked every 2 minutes if they could go play in the water.  But first I needed to teach them how about smelling pine trees.  Amanda, Trudy, and I used to do this all the time.  And when you find that right tree, it smells so good.  The smell of the trees just makes me happy.

They finally got the okay from us, and we ended our little trip with a few hours of play by the lake.

Such a fun little trip.  I didn't want to go home.  But Ben had to work, and the girls needed to go to swim team practice.  I'm so glad that there are places like this close enough for when you just need to get away from it all for a bit.  Next time we're gonna stay a bit longer and camp.