Zero for Two

Joey was so excited when Rob said maybe we could hike up to the living room on Saturday that he had his jobs done in record time. I was looking forward to it too, since hiking up to the living room was the first date Rob planned for us that didn't also include Troy and the ski centurion (NOT that I minded those dates). We had planned on hiking after we both got off work, but when I went to leave, my car wouldn't start, so I called Rob and our hiking date turned into a run to Ralph & Judy's to borrow jumper cables, and then back to Crossroads Plaza parking for my Acura. Judy wasn't home, but it was the first time I met Ralph. Although Rob and I saw each other pretty much every day after that, we never rescheduled our hike to the living room. That was almost thirteen years ago. We knew our second attempt wouldn't be the romantic, watch-the-sunset and make-out kind of hike—we were just hoping to get all four kids up with a minimum amount of whining. It was a perfect day, blue skies but not too hot. And amazingly, we didn't hear much whining (just Ellie, when she saw a bug on her hat or one of the many dogs we met on the trail). However, we did not make it to the living room. We forked left when we should have gone right. We did make it up on a nice ridge overlooking the valley though, and we had a good time. We're thinking about trying geocaching next. We may even try to get to the living room before another thirteen years flies by.