This afternoon, we pile into our pickup with George, Jodi and Oscar for a hike up Wheeler Mountain. Along the way, we talk more about their bike trip and our bike trip, sharing memories and chatting about what it was like to navigate the choppy waters of homecoming. Each story told fuels my desire to get out, to pack up, to leave with Tyler and pedal or hike away for a long, long adventure, and see where our feet take us.

We do not do this. Instead, we set our feet in motion to climb Wheeler mountain. At first, we scale exposed rock faces that ascend steeply. I'm glad it hasn't rained—otherwise the slopes would be extremely slick. Eventually, the trail flattens out a bit, and the openness disappears into the evergreen forest, lovely and moss-matted.

Soon, we emerge face to face with a view. Hello, mountains of Vermont. How I love you.

Further up, we're treated to more beautiful views, these of Lake Willoughby and Crystal Lake (I believe?).

We make it to the top at Eagle Point...

...And rest ourselves for awhile, still chatting about adventure, and about the books that fuel our wanderlust.

Finally, we make our way back down the mountain again, and load into the truck for the ride back to camp.

With our hike over, the day's small adventure is at an end. Someday we'll embark on another big, long adventure and keep going, going, going into the wild blue yonder. But today is not that day. Instead, we stop at local ice cream joint for a post-hike snack, and then head back to camp to wash in the stream and change clothes. Time to head to Glover for our first taste of a Bread and Puppet show!