Where's my panic button?

Last weekend I downloaded a KY State Parks app on my phone and made a list of all of the places I wanted my family to explore this summer. First up on the list was Natural Bridge. It's only an hour or so away from home and I'd always heard great things about going. 

I was so excited, folks! Chad & I woke up early Saturday morning, had a lovely homegrown & organic breakfast then headed toward Slade, KY to set out on the dusty trail to Natural Bridge.

I'd researched. I'd looked at trail maps. I Googled. I felt prepared.

I've made progress but let me be the first to say I'm far from being in shape... therefore I KNEW I wanted to take the sky lift UP the mountain and hike back down. Simple enough, right? Eh, no.

 On the way up the mountain, on the sky lift. Peachy!

One of the many beautiful views we seen Saturday - at the top of the sky lift.

Chad looking towards the bridge - which was nearly covered in greenery.

Since this blog is all about my weight loss journey, I guess I have to tell you that once I seen what's in the above picture - named "Fat Man's Squeeze" - I turned around and said I would rather take any other route back down the mountain. I KNEW I couldn't fit through this.. and I did not want to embarrass myself by trying to do so in front of a group of people. Wellllll.... turns out this was my only option. It was a moment of panic. I didn't get stuck - I actually had plenty of room but halfway through this, I looked at Chad waiting for me on the other side and almost had a panic attack. If I had given it much thought, I would've probably started crying at that point... but I kept moving.

The view from underneath the bridge was so beautiful.

Can I just say I've never been so HAPPY to see stairs in my life?!

Now that I'm home, I can look back and say that I really enjoyed the hike. It was sooo hard. My legs have felt like they're cramping every time I walk since Saturday. BUT I'm so proud that I did it. Coming down that mountain was hard. I couldn't imagine hiking up... but eventually I want to try it. 

One thing that I constantly kept thinking during the trip was how my weight has never been as big of a burden on me than it was that day. I felt handicapped by it. I never want to feel like that again - let alone a life of it.