To see what they could see...

Friday, while Sam and I were at school, my folks had coffee and read the paper in the coffee shop at the foot of our hill. Then, they went into Mill Valley, to investigate our neighboring town.

We all met back at the apartment later and discussed options for our first adventure. My mom had been saying that they were getting older and weren't as good at climbing hills as they used to be.

As a result, I'd been driving them up and down hills. I'd thought we'd go to the top of Mt. Tam since it is the biggest mountain in the area and since we drive most of the way to the East Peak, there wouldn't be too much walking.

But Sam had a different idea. He wanted to climb Ring Mountain. They agreed to give it a try. I assured them that we could take our time.

We drove to the trailhead and within minutes of starting up the mountain, Sam asked permission to run ahead. My mom had been looking forward to climbing with him but we let him go.

A few minutes later, we rounded a bend in the trail and noticed him perched on top of this giant boulder.



On Sam's first trip to Ring Mountain, Cam had done the same thing and we'd walked right past without noticing him. Then they climbed it together.





This time,
my mom
and I
climbed
up with him.
















My dad, continued on. When we were done playing and started looking for him, we noticed he was nearly to the top of the mountain already.
Sam ran ahead again,
in an attempt to catch up.

He made it.













They had time to sit and talk while Mom and I climbed.







I made it and enjoyed the views with them.






Mom was close behind.









When everyone arrived at the top, we walked around, looking at the area from different vantage points. Here mom, dad and Sam are perched on top of Turtle Rock.




And fearlessly climbing down.





Every other time Sam and I had climbed Ring Mountain, we've needed to climb back down the way we climbed up. Cam found a route up the mountain from the side closest to our home within walking distance.

This time, we'd driven around the mountain and climbed up the other side. Since my folks had a rental car making two cars available to us, we decided that instead of climbing back down the way we'd climbed up, we'd walk along the top of the mountain and down the other side towards home. We planned to bring a driver back in our car later to retrieve my folk's vehicle.



I've wanted to climb all the way over the mountain before but it hadn't been a viable option before. This time we did it. And they said they weren't good at climbing hills...