Bankhead Adventures: Wilderness Marriage Therapy in Yosemite

While the children had a ball at the world's most exclusive summer camp (thanks, Mom!), Amy and Paul ventured into Yosemite's wilderness on a kidless backpacking trip.

Things that made Paul especially excited:

Sleeping in the back of the truck the first night--what are trucks for, after all?
Enjoying a snow-chilled Diet Coke next to an alpine lake on the morning of Day 2. (Not worth having to carry the extra weight in Amy's opinion, but boy was Paul happy about it.)
Identifying dozens of peaks with our map and compass.
Appreciating that frequent yoga breaks made him feel awesome. (This was all Paul. Amy did not enforce this.)
Resting his head on his new inflatable backpacking pillow.

Things that made Amy especially excited:

The fact that we can just drop our kids at the airport curb and they fly away.
Having no access to phone calls, texts, or emails.
Taking the time while hiking to analyze with Paul the most recent insights from his therapist.
Hiking in minimalist sandals to make river crossings extra easy.
Loving the gnarly, gritty trees that cling to rocky slopes.

Ten miles into our hike, on Day 1, we discovered that our water filter was broken. That made the rest of our trip a little more complicated, so instead of taking a leisurely two more days to hike out, we blazed down the mountain at our fastest hiking speed on record. We arrived back in civilization in time to enjoy dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant and to congratulate ourselves on not getting giardia.