So I want to start off by saying that Day 2 was mostly awesome.

I know, I was surprised as well.

But hey, a win is a win.

We started the day with an explanation of the available hiking options: a five mile up and down situation that ended in an uphill climb, or a (at this point I had brain fuzz and all I can tell you is the second one was less uphill and about half as long. I chose it immediately.)

The fam went on the long one (god bless ’em) but I’m learning this thing called boundaries and put them into practice. Also, I really didn’t want to do the long one. I prepared for this. I brought supplies with me: headphones, water, snacks, and not one but THREE ankle braces.

And you know what? This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. (Even if I had to ~use the facilities~ in the woods. Yikes.)

I took a ton of photos, I cried a little (the beauty of nature got to me, okay?), gave some poor souls directions, sat when I needed to and ultimately, only had a tiny fall one time. It was witnessed by a random man, but still. A win is a win.

Anyway, this was the day I had to tackle my fears. That’s right: it’s biking time. After trying to get a head start and immediately falling off my bike, I made sure to be last in line for this little excursion. Ryan, god bless him, decided to stay with me the whole time which was sweet and also MORTIFYING. It wasn’t so bad physically, but emotionally I was stressing 24/7. Also my hands kept going numb which concerned me, so after 4 miles I packed it up for the day and got ready to zone out.

We got back to our hotel (which was kinda iconic?) and got ready for dinner, s’mores, and an impromptu karaoke session from my sort-of brother in law and our tour guide. I started to come around to the whole group this day, once I got over my own bs.

I started to think: I got this.

And you know what? I kinda did.

^ our route options. Oof.