Reunited with my backpack

I found it this morning- deep down at the bottom of my closet. Crumpled. Forgotten. The orange and grey hikers backpack I had scavenged for and finally purchased from an outdoor thrift shop in Boulder! 

This backpack had been my constant companion for that summer in Colorado.

Tomorrow morning we take our teens to the Adirondacks for a trip of a lifetime and I am remembering the last time I wore that favorite bargain backpack. It's hard to believe that it's been two years since I was in so much fresh air.

When I took that road trip out to Colorado my mom was convinced I would become some headline on the 11 o'clock news- especially she learned that I was hiking a lot of places by myself. Public, marked hiking trails mom...at full daylight with a safety whistle. Gosh, two years later I still have to clarify that on my blog.

Anyway, as I pack for this trip and fill up the orange REI I am getting wistful. I am also getting butterflies. Can you believe it? So many things fall out of practice when you get settled into a different track in life...but those butterflies are really about excitement.
I'm excited to get back to fresh air and put miles between myself and the familiar...even if just for two days. I'm even more excited for all of this to happen to our teens- the wonder, the fear, the release of that fear, the enjoyment, the exhilaration and then...even the sadness at going home - all of it. 

Tomorrow, we do this! We begin TLC's greatest adventure headed up by adventure expert Rick French. A Peak Experience, if you will. We load 'em up, we head 'em out...and live our best lives...now.