leaf racing as the newest fad

hahaha so, I went hiking today with Jenn & Nick. we had a "lovely" iHOP breakfast (can anyone explain WHY a meal with something else, say French Toast, that includes 2 eggs, 2 bacon/sausage & hash browns actually costs LESS than the 2 eggs, 2 bacon/sausage & hash browns?!?!). somehow they didn't have anything that we wanted to order. it was pitiful, but whatever. we survived. I got a year "Adventurer Pass" for 1/2 the regular price. I'm feeling special. haha so now I don't have to worry about buying those stupid day passes next time I decided to go hiking. anyhowwwwwwwwwwww we got up the hill & there was no parking. so basically we had to hike to get to the hike. lame! but whatever, no big deal. so we start our descent and people walking up are saying "I'm never doing this again!" and I'm laughing at them cuz it's obviously their first time taking the trail... we get to the first nice stop in the trail and we totally take a detour and just start chilling. sitting on big rocks acting like we're in the middle of the mountains or something. haha really, we were in no rush and we knew there were tons of people at the waterall (considering all the cars) so we just took our time. eventually we left that lovely spot and headed for another... at the second stop we accidently started racing leaves. yes, it was seriously accidental. and then we got WAY too into it and started building a course because the natural stream course wasn't efficient enough. the leaves kept getting stuck so it was dumb. haha we spent at least a good 20 min's racing leaves. yes, leaves. it was amazing! finally we made it down to the waterfall and there were just too many people there. we didn't really stick around at all... we just started heading back. on the way back, my comment to Jenn as we were starting the trail was proven. "I ALWAYS see someone from church when I'm on this trail." yeah, we saw Coco. it was kinda way random but at the same time I expect to see someone there that I know. that's just the way my life is. hahahaha so we're walking back and decide to take yet another break. somehow this one ends up being considerably longer and we were diverting tributaries and creating pools of water, etc, etc, etc. needless to say, it was amazing. haha we did pretty well getting back to the car considering the steep uphill slope (on asphalt) and the heat and my knee being mean to me. we only stopped twice. once at the start of the incline and once when we were nearly to the top but we were all dying of sweat and for some reason my left calf was killing me but my right one was perfectly fine. yeah, go fig. we eventually got back to the car and headed off for Chinese food. it took us the whole trip out of the hill, plus some, to decide which Chinese place to eat at. then we ordered too much food. now my tummy hurts, but it was yummy. I came back to church to check the internet and to pick up some stuff. I'm going home soon (after I finish up some random work that I was e-mailed about today and is apparently needed tonight. BLECH!) and probably gonna watch Goonies or something equally random. after I clean up, though. I wore my Crocs (yeah, which ones... I know. I have plenty of them. NOT the flip flops. the cute ones.) and so I decided I didn't need to bother avoiding water. that was nice while hiking but now my feet have a nasty layer of dirt. YUCK! oh well. it won't take long to clean up and then get all nice and cozy and have a night in and go to sleep early. man, that sounds amazing! I should do that more often. haha