take a hike

My niece Perri asked me to take her hiking on Thursday, August 20 since it was the last week of summer holiday for her. She woke up 7:00am and her daddy, Brian walked her over to our house. I was half-awake by the time she arrived since the 'un-sunny' days of the week has made it so comforting to sleep in.

We rode out in her grandma's (my mother) car to Stow Lake, a spot in Golden Gate Park that Perri wanted to go. I took Amanda there in June as well. The hike around Stow Lake is easy to moderate, except for the stairs up to the waterfall. Perri actually did that twice with so much energy. I was really in need of rest. ;-)
Perri liked exploring the woody part of the hike, where the trail winds in a circular direction, and there's a view of the Lake from above. And, she seemed to love taking photos a lot! She wanted me to capture her in 'hiking' mode. It was my pleasure. There were a few dogs along the trail which she was a bit afraid of, but she learned to ease her fear as she encountered them more. And, when hiking, it is common courtesy to say hello to fellow trailwalkers passing by so I also encouraged her to do that.

Instead of having my mother drive us back home, Perri preferred walking back home from Stow Lake, which is about 1 mile through Golden Gate Park and out towards the Sunset. I wasn't sure if Perri could do it because I remembered Amanda was complaining how far it was when we were at the finish line for Cindy at the Avon Cancer Walk. Sure enough, during the walk home, Perri was complaining about half-way through that her legs were tired. We have been walking since 9:15am non-stop and by the time we reached home it was 11:30am. I thought it was really commendable that Perri had finished the morning hike and the walk home. We were happy and enjoyed some time with nature. Below are some snapshots of our morning: