Yule Ramblings #2: The Outdoorsy One

In every touristy "Downtown Strip," there is a Santa's Workshop-esque type store. They are usually called something along the lines of Ye Olde Santa Shoppe, complete with the "Ye" to indicate their timeliness and the extraneous "E's" to illustrate their fanciness.

Well, our family is always drawn to these very establishments. We're downright suckers for them. On each vacation, we try to snag an ornament that speaks to us, and cements a detail from that respective vacation to be relived year after year on our Christmas tree.

The three of us hiked Mt. Jo in the Adirondacks this past fall. It was a challenging trek, to say the least, especially with a five-year-old easily-distracted human and a five-month-old wild Weimy pup in tow.

To commemorate this amazingly altitudinal experience (and the milestone of summiting) we snagged this little keepsake from Lake Placid's local Santa store. Now, I imagine the itty-bitty owner of this particular pack stuffed it to the brim with absolute necessities: a topographic map, a compass, a flashlight, an emergency whistle, matches, an extra wicking layer, and one of those fancy multi-tool devices. The tiny explorer I have envisioned in my mind would have that "Difficulties Be Damned" attitude as he wrestled mountain lions and fashioned shelter from forest floor debris. Oh, but our family's a wee bit different. We are, on the other hand, a little more lax. Our floppy hiking sack is, at most, about 10% filled, and contains our inarguable essentials: Milk Bone dog treats, Paw Patrol Band-Aids, one pulverized roll of toilet paper, and Great Bear Heads (which are actually grape Air Heads, but our little guy said it incorrectly once and now that mistaken name is our preferred label of choice.)

Percy Fawcett would totally approve, right? I'm sure he would've loved a Great Bear Head.