Lisa was in the final stretch of completing her master’s degree and needed as much peace and quiet in the house as possible. I knew it would be easier to travel with both girls than to try and keep them quiet in the house.
Laurel not only wanted to join her sister on her adventures, but it had become clear that Laurel also shared the same passion for travel, hiking, camping, and wildlife observations.
As the year started, I was entertaining the idea of hiking a trail in all 50 states with both girls during the 2014 calendar year.
I was in the early planning stages when we went on our semi-traditional hike in the Okefenokee Swamp on New Years Day. It's interesting how the girls can fight in the backseat as we're driving down the road, but as soon as we hit the trail, they are best friends and love each other. Laurel loves to help Kellisa by pushing her and she even has a great ability to get Kellisa more verbal than usual and has a knack for teaching her new words. Kellisa really responds to Laurel in the wilderness and enjoys it when Laurel pushes her. She really cracks up when they hit a rock or root, I think she thinks it's Laurel doing it on purpose and she's probably right, at least some of the time.
