John took us to an old railroad tunnel we could walk through.
On the drive there, I casually mentioned how many rattlesnakes Pete said he and the boys had encountered in their local hikes thus far.
That was my error.
The count inflamed Zeke's snake phobia to the point where he literally was frozen to the spot. I had to CARRY my seven year old son through parts of the tunnel, as he was nearly at the point of hyperventilating. Here he is paralyzed on a rock, ready to shove his arms inside of his shirt (because that's the safest defense against rattlesnakes).
I'm happy to report we've been working on the phobia, and he doesn't run away from all the garter snakes in our yard now. Improvement! :)
Cool girls.
John left all the people wearing sneakers behind, and we went on a modest (HOT) hike to walk behind a waterfall.
There's part of the waterfall!
And there's the trail to walk behind the waterfall, now closed off. I did not let us go down for fear of getting scolded by a park ranger. (I do not like scoldings.)
It was still worth the climb, though.
Never mind about that "progress." He still runs away screaming bloody murder when he sees a snake in the yard. Oh, well.
ReplyDeletePoor guy!
ReplyDeleteWe've had a really high-snake summer here. We even got to watch a healthy garter snake swallow a toad whole.
And just this morning I chased away two pencil-sized babies in the grass.
(Don't tell Zeke.)
That cave, and the library - all amazing.
ReplyDeleteHA! That's crazy. Maybe the snakes are all moving to your neighborhood because you treat them better. :)
Zeke was fascinated by the whole thing-- a slightly horrified fascination, though.