Hiking with Parker and Jammie

On Friday after work, Parker and Jammie decided to go on a hike down Indian Trail...well, we intended to take Coldwater Canyon, but apparently missed the turnoff  as some of the trails in Ogden are marked so well.  Our hike also involved ice cream and dinner at The Oaks.  Below, I will share three vital things I learned Friday evening that I thought I would pass on to you.

1.  Do NOT burp in public...public also includes the outdoors.  

In fact, it's probably safest just not to burp at all.  As Parker and I were skipping up the mountain, I let out a quiet little eek of a burp, which may or may not have caused the leaves to rustle, ground to shake, and Lindsay to yell that she heard a bear.  As soon as I could exclaim "gross!!!!," a cute little husband and wife and their child rounded the corner and stared us in the face.  The dad was hanging on to the child for dear life so that the shaking ground didn't send her down the mountain.  The dad then said, "don't worry, I didn't hear anything."  Parker and I then laughed for the next 10 minutes.

2.  How do you  tell the difference between a bear and a person?  A person leaves tissue.

This would be the invaluable insight shared by Parker.  As we were hiking along the path, we would occasionally come across animal droppings.  In order to provide entertainment for ourselves, we began to try to identify the creature that left the droppings (yes, this does, in fact, provide entertainment).  After naming a new creature, the melk (moose+elk), Parker decided to inform me of the difference between bear and human droppings, which would be that a human leaves tissue.  Five minutes later into the hike, Parker said that in substitution for tissue, you may also find oak leaves.

3. Ice cream is meant for cones or bowls, not hands.

After the hike and dinner, we decided to stop for ice cream.  I was quietly enjoying my chocolate and peanut butter ice cream while Parker was talking to a person that she knew (she knows people everywhere!!!) when all of a sudden, the ice cream jumped out of my hand!!  Now, there are a few items that I would have allowed to fall to the floor; however, ice cream is not one of them.  As such, I scrambled to catch the ice cream, and caught it by the scoop of ice cream as opposed to the cone.  Parker had no idea of these happenings, but the rather large family sitting on my left got to see it all (and then laughed a lot).  I, of course, did what anyone would do and avoided eye contact with the family and licked my hand to rescue any ice cream remnants.  Then, I casually used my shirt to dispose of the remaining ice cream (I have no idea why it never crossed my mind to use a napkin).  When we made it to the car, I shared the valuable lesson that I learned with Parker.