Danny and Elise took their time ambling to and finding a good spot to set up camp for the night. Mostly their decision was made by their chorus of growling stomachs.
Although they couldn't do much stargazing through all of the conifers, they sat on their sleeping bags outside of the tent after dinner, hand in hand next to each other, just listening to the water of the river rushing by a mere football field away as darkness settled over the woods around them. Elise wanted to stay in the moment forever.294Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwtBG00hzI
She laid her head on Danny's shoulder, closing her eyes, and breathed a deep, highly contented sigh. After a while, she lifted her head and turned to kiss him. Breaking away after a long moment, he looked into Elise's eyes as if he were going to say something, but kissed her again instead. No words were needed anyway and Danny recognized that. He knew what she wanted.
She wanted to thank him for the day and the beautiful sights they had seen so far. She wanted to thank him for bringing her. She wanted to thank him for being him. She wanted to thank him for living her the way he did. There was only one way she wanted to show her gratitude in that moment and he knew it.
Any thoughts of bears, other woodland critters, or random passersby in the dusk flew from her mind as Danny laid her down and made love to her in the quiet chirpings of night and nothing else.
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Elise asked innocently as they looked to each other, ready to head out in the morning.
"I hope you're ready for a big day. That's all you're getting out of me," Danny smiled, a twinkle in his eyes.
"Big day hiking or..." she trailed off.
"You're incredibly persistent when you want to be, aren't you?"
"Hey. A girl can try, right?" she smirked back at him.
"Come on," he reached for her hand. "We've got some miles to cover, first and foremost."
6 warm miles later and they were at the gravelly, coal-strewn beach below Cumberland Falls. It proved to be an even muggier day than the previous, their hike in alongside the river not as shaded. Their two saving graces had been the sun behind the hills to their left for most of the morning and the cool, misty air rising up from the river to their right. Still, they were getting warm. Elise absently wondered and hoped a shower was in today's plans or if she would have to resort to baby wipe baths as she had on some of their past trips.
"What's the matter?" Danny turned around, finally realizing Elise had stopped walking behind him.
"I wanna hang out here for awhile. This was one of my favorite spots here as a kid," she paused. "That's not going to ruin your big plans, is it?" she teased, exaggerating her words.
"No," he drew out, laughing good-naturedly, "But don't you wanna see the falls?"
"Of course. They'll still be there later, though, won't they?" she grinned slyly at him.
"Ok," Danny put his hands up in surrender.
"Come here," Elise motioned with her finger. "I want to show you something," she turned and headed toward the edge of the rocky beach.
"See?" she pointed to the partial view of the falls from their vantage point on the beach. "There they are. Have you never been out here before?"
"I guess not," he shook his head.
"Your loss. I could spend hours out here looking at all of the rocks," Elise set her pack on the ground and squatted down, picking up a flat, reddish one. She held it up for Danny to admire.
"What?" she laughed softly, seeing the strange look he was giving her.
"I didn't know you were so into rocks...I like learning new things about you," a small smile spread over his lips as he squatted next to her after taking his own pack off.
"Did you put sunscreen on this morning?" Danny suddenly asked awhile later. Elise had gotten so into looking at all of the rocks along the shore, she had lost track of time. She wasn't sure if it had been 10 minutes or an hour.
"No, why?" her brows furrowed.
"You might want to put some on," he stifled a laugh.
"Meh," she grumbled at him playfully. "I need some more color. I look like a red-headed ghost, still, for as much as we've been outside lately."
"You're getting some color alright. A nice shade of red," Danny indicated under his own eyes and the top of his nose. Maybe they had been out there longer than she realized. It was rather exposed this time of day. The sun was directly over them.
"Meh," she said again, waving a hand at him dismissively and turning her back to him.
"Suit yourself," he chuckled behind her.
After scouring the beach for an hour or so and soaking their feet in the cool river water, Danny finally convinced Elise to continue on the "day's adventure", whatever that entailed. It was barely past 1 o'clock and both of their stomachs were rumbling again.
They didn't spend too much time at the falls, though Danny did talk her into letting another visitor take a few pictures of them together on his phone. She wasn't crazy about pictures of herself, but would admit that she would like to have more of them together. Elise was normally too busy taking pictures on her phone of all of the beautiful scenery and cool things they came across on their woodland adventures. She felt a little selfish as the kind stranger snapped some shots of them with the falls in the background, Danny with his arm around her shoulders. Wasn't she supposed to be the sentimental one to want pictures of them together?
"What's wrong?" he asked, concern on his face.
"Nothing," she shook her head and forced a smile. "Just lost in thought. Sorry."
"Ok," Danny replied skeptically, taking her hand. "How about we eat a snack real quick before our next destination? I promise I'm going to properly feed you soon."
"Ok," Elise laughed.
They found an empty picnic table in the shade nearby and relaxed.
"Thank God," Danny said out of nowhere.
"What?" Elise felt more alarmed than confused for some reason.
"I was afraid if I didn't get you out of the sun soon you might burst into flames," he laughed a little as he ate his protein bar.
"Is it that bad?" she began feeling self-conscious. Her face was feeling pretty warm, even being in the shade now.
"Your face is pretty red, babe. Did you bring a hat, by chance?"
"Maybe. I don't even remember. I feel like I left it in the truck," Elise grimaced. "I'll put some sunscreen on in a minute. I'm starving," she continued eating her own power bar.
"Don't bother. The damage has already been done," he grimaced. "Besides, we shouldn't be outside much for the rest of the day," Danny smiled mischievously.
"Oh?" Now she was really confused.
"Come on," he reached for Elise's hand across the table. "You got a little more in you for a short walk up the road?"
"Do I have a choice?" she teased.
"No, not really. Just wondering how tired you are, though. Don't want us to be old farts and miss the entire thing we came down here for just because we fell asleep early," Danny laughed.
"No, I'm good," her laughter joined his. "Just really hungry."
"I've got just the thing for that," he held up his finger and trudged on.
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