memorial day weekend staycation part I smith rock

Over the long weekend my family decided to come in to town last minute, so me and Pat shifted our day trip plans from the Painted Hills to the much closer Smith Rock since none of my fam had ever been there. On Saturday we set out for the park and while my parents and littlest sister explored the River Trail, us older sibs went for Misery Ridge. From past experience Misery Ridge can be a huge pain in the ass, but this time I was actually able to totally keep up with my super in shape little sisters and surprised myself with my best time ever. I guess those Blogilates regiments are actually working...

The weather was beautiful the day we went and we had a super clear view of the mountains and valley below, which certainly made the trek up rewarding. As usual, we posed for a ton of pictures at the top, on the way down and around the rock.

Although I did much better than usual, there is just no getting around how much having to climb up the extremely steep grade to get back to the parking lot sucks once you are ready to go. That part still pretty much kicked my ass, though I was able to run up a small portion of it (which I am sure looked absolutely ridiculous since I had no power in my legs left).

Here are the pics I snapped on my phone along the way (no real camera this time).

[[ before poses. the view from the top. my pineapple hair situation. victory poses. group shot! hanging out on the edge. cracks in the pavement. kissing monkey face. the river and cliffs at the bottom. yo. ]]