back to our roots: Between houses

I won't lie. I went crazy about a week ago, thanks to this renovation. We are between houses and staying wherever our heads may lead us. One night with my parents. Another night with my in-laws. The only one in this family who isn't affected by all this is our daughter. Miss Priss will be 18 months old in a week and she LOVES staying with her grandparents.

At any rate, it's not all bad. My in-laws live on a former working farm, which means there is a lot of land to explore. Because the property backs up to a national forest, there are several fire access roads that the government maintains. Many of these roads cross through their property. This makes for some mean four-wheeler trails. My husband, Shannon, decided he was taking me to the top of the mountain in front of their house. I am not a country girl, despite living in a small town. I was terrified, but I wouldn't be outdone.

Here we go!

We strapped ourselves into the mule and up the hill we went. It wasn't so bad at first, then after a sharp turn, we headed straight up, and I mean straight up the hillside. My pictures are a little blurry, but you can kind of/sort of get the idea.

On our way up the hill.

I'm fairly certain I held my breath the entire time. Just to the left is a sheer drop. Seriously. Terrified. Me.

Once we made it to the top, it was beautiful! If only it didn't take a heart attack to get there... There were also other access roads, but we didn't tackle them just yet. They connect to what locals call the fire trail. The fire trail is a place where several fire access roads intersect so that firefighters have direct access in case of a forest fire. Most people like to hike through the trails, ride four-wheelers, and shoot. There may have even been the occasional party, but I wouldn't know anything about that. LOL

At the top

Going down was worse than the ride up the hill. I couldn't get a picture to do it justice. It felt (and looked) like that moment just before the big drop on a roller coaster.