A “zero” in thru hiking language is a day when you do not hike.

A “nero” is a near zero – usually consisting of 10 miles or less and typically arriving into a town.

Yesterday was a nero day into Idyllwild.

Today we enjoyed a zero day in Idyllwild with Andy’s parents.

We went to bed last night with a plan of hiking out this afternoon after Andy’s patents left. Well, that didn’t happen.

We woke up and decided to rest a full day. Going slowly in the beginning of a thru hike includes rest days also, not only low mile days on the trail.

We blogged, caught up with emails, made phone calls and finished almost everything on our ‘Idyllwild to do list’ by 8:30am. It’s amazing what one can accomplish simply by waking up early!

Andy’s parents arrived at 10:30am and the feast began. Armenians know how to party, and they also know how to eat!

The picnic table was full (I mean FULL) of food. There was enough food to feed 10 thru hikers.

Since we are only a few weeks into our hike, we haven’t developed hiker hunger yet. We can’t eat monumental portions this early on – especially since we have been eating so well on the trail.

Side note – we realize we have mentioned how well we eat a few times now but don’t provide much detail. Hopefully when we zero in L.A. we will wrote a post about our food.

We ate out first lunch, played ping pong with Andy’s mom, and walked around a little.

Then we ate some more. And after that we stuffed ziplocks full of leftovers to have on the trail tomorrow. The feast continues! Lastly, we had birthday cake (it was Laurie’s birthday yesterday.) So good.

Andy’s parents left around 4:30pm. We tried to play some more ping pong but Laurie could barely move she was so full. All she wanted to do was lie down.

Tonight we are going to drink lots of water, maybe watch a movie and get our packs ready for tomorrow. The man who runs the Woodland Park Manor will drive us to the trail tomorrow morning. Thanks Laurie for asking him to do so!

We continue to challenge ourselves to ask for what we want or need. It’s something we want to be more comfortable with, both as individuals and as a couple. Practice makes better!

Tonight we are grateful for home cooked meals and cozy cabins.