Growing kindness and mental toughness while on vacation?

This last week was a little different for us...no training sessions on the bike or in the pool, no organized volunteer activities...just a wonderful vacation to Leavenworth, Washington and Mount Rainier (where Jeff proposed 15 years ago).

I was thinking the week would also be a vacation from Project Becoming Our Best...we had almost no cell phone service and were, well, on vacation.

However, opportunities to talk about topics relevant to Project Becoming Our Best came up in surprising places and at unexpected times.  There's something about being in the backcountry, having to pump all of your water through a filter and having to carry all of the food that you plan to eat that leads to natural conversations about conservation and caring for our planet.  Similarly, there's something about feeling the burn in your 7 year old and 10 year old legs that comes with hiking uphill with a pack for the first time that easily flows into conversations about the mental toughness that is so necessary in endurance sports.

Opportunities to teach kindness and learn the skills necessary for endurance sports seem to be everywhere, if only I can stay in the moment and keep my eyes and ears open.


In case you're interested, below are some highlights from our trip.  For even more pictures (the views were amazing!!  We saw the summit more times in our 3 days than we did in our 2 weeks there 15 years ago), click here.


Trip Highlights:

"Mini-golf" that was part of the Enzian Inn where we stayed in Leavenworth:

Icicle Brewery 

Renting one HUGE paddleboard and one small one and taking a trip down the river

Awesome "free" breakfasts with made-to-order omelettes and a spectacular view at the Enzian Inn

Backpacking to Glacier Basin and spending a night in the backcountry

Camping and hikes at Sunrise and Paradise that truly had me in heaven