Not a Hiking Lesson; Of Course You Should Remember Shoes!

Almost 2 months ago my husband agreed to go on a hike with me to celebrate his birthday. I knew the real objective was to stop at our favorite brewery for their famous Ditsy Blonde beer, which sounded like the perfect plan to me. What wasn't perfect planning was forgetting my hiking shoes at home.

Mount Baker was coy all day. Never gave us the "full monty" ;)

I knew at some point it was bound to happen. You don't want to wear your hiking shoes, so you throw on some flip flops and put your boots by the door with a stern mental warning not to forget them. (Knowing full well you should just put them straight in the car...dammit!) Of course you don't realize you blew it until you're half way to your destination. Now what?

Ken was driving, so I did a quick assessment of our "daughter's car" (meaning our car, that she drives, and has full of all her crap) to see what options I had. I saw what I thought was a pair of running shoes, so I concluded I could make it work and we should just keep going.

Dock Butte is only a 4 mile round trip hike, so when we parked and I discovered those running shoes were actually spiked golf shoes, I opted for the more comfortable fake crocs instead. Not one of my finer decisions.

Dumb ass ;)

Wow, there still is a lot of snow at 5,000 feet--even at the end of July! And wow, there sure is a lot of people doing this hike! And wow, there is really no way to cross a snow field in $5 "shoes" without slipping all over the place and looking like a complete idiot.

See the crowd ahead of Ken? I swear he has a curse...every time, people everywhere!

Anybody else wearing crocs? Golf shoes? Flip flops? I didn't think so.

But wow...the view at the top was worth it. And thankfully I'm accustomed to looking like an idiot, so it was no big deal. I was even able to make it down without sliding on my butt, so all was good. Although, I still would have stopped for a beer with a wet bottom; because y'know, that's how I roll. (My kids LOVE when I use that expression, ha ha!)  

And a Birdsview beer is always worth it!!!