We had an eventful weekend recently filled with unrelated points of interest: chocolate, magic, and mountains.

On Friday, we went to Taste with Jason’s parents as a birthday treat. As its name suggests, Taste is a place for tasting fine foods with pinky fingers up. Evaluating different types of high-end chocolate was a treat!

On Saturday, we participated in the Muggles Battle Cancer 5K. We created quick, and reasonably-breathable, costumes for this event using what we had on hand. Jason’s Death Eater tattoo was impressive for a two-minute Sharpie job. It was over 90 degrees when we started this race, so it might have more appropriately been named Muggles Battle Heatstroke. Perspiro Maxima!

On Sunday, we hiked to Sunset Peak with some of my family members via Lake Mary, Lake Martha, and Lake Catherine. Getting to Lake Catherine takes a 2.2-mile trek. From there, it’s a little over a mile to the top of Sunset Peak. If you are a math whiz, you can add that up to be about 3.3 miles each way or 6.6 miles total. You whiz! Somehow, our distance summed to 7.6 miles, presumably from sidetracks to Dog Lake and around shorelines. I’m going to blame that extra mile for the extra hour it took us to complete this hike. Five hours was the estimate, but we required six.

The air was murky during our climb because of particulates blown in from the California and Oregon wildfires. Sunset Peak still provided inspiring views from its 10,648 feet, but some of the surrounding beauty was concealed in a veil of haze.

It was a varied weekend with a little something for the mouth, the eyes, and the heart.