Take a hike: DT layout for Stuck?! Sketches

Today Stuck?! Sketches launches our second challenge of July! Grab the sketch and play along for prizes from DCWV and Creative Embellishments.

The story

I was home visiting my mom and brother in North Carolina in the summer of 2014. One day we decided we needed to get outside and see something new. So we did a little online research and found what looked like a good fit for our needs: It was a park with multiple hiking trails and a picnic area, and it was within an hour of Mom’s house.

We packed the essentials, donned walking shoes and sun hats, grabbed our cameras, and hopped in the car. Our moods and hopes were high as we sped toward an afternoon of adventure and oneness with nature.

And it wasn’t all bad. I wouldn’t have you picture it that way. But it wasn’t exactly rich with adventure and oneness, either.

As a family unit, we don’t usually get an early start to anything. So, by the time we got to the park it was already pretty late in the afternoon. It seemed nearly deserted, and that was really no surprise considering it was late-August-in-the-south hot and humid. We set up and ate our picnic lunch, and that was nice.

Now full on sandwiches, salad, and ranch-flavored Doritos, it was time for us to take a hike. We loaded up on mosquito spray, grabbed our water bottles, and headed into the woods.

That lasted for all of 10 minutes—and seven of those were excruciating. It was just too much. Mom’s bad knees weren’t faring well on the rocky, root-riddled path. The mosquitoes were epic. And did I mention that it was like visiting Satan’s vacation home in the southern part of hell (Chapel Hill, where my mom lives, has been called the Southern Part of Heaven since a book of that name was published in 1950 by William Meade Prince.)?

Were we wimps? Oh, yes. Did we achieve the health and wellness benefits of a strenuous hike surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation? Not exactly. Did we rescue the disappointing experience with a well-deserved stop for ice cream on the drive home? What do you think? 😉

Product/technique notes

The Echo Park Happy Camper collection was perfect for these photos, so everything but the title came from it. I hand stitched the circle.