Yesterday Darren and I had more of a relaxing day despite being in Yosemite. After another delicious breakfast of pancakes and eggs by innkeeper Katherine at the Yosemite Rose B&B, we ventured on to the park for what will probably be our last official hike of the honeymoon. We decided to spend the morning hiking the Merced Grove which is 5 miles passed the west entrance to the park (Big Oak Flat). It is a serene grove, little explored but very peaceful and beautiful. For 3 miles we hiked through the forest before coming upon the large sequoias about 1.5 miles into the grove. All of the trees along the hike are huge, many of them probably 100 years old or older. The sequoias however are unlike any other kind of tree – their height and red bark make them very unique and a marvel to look at. The hike took about 2 hours in total – the first leg is basically all down hill and the walk back is a challenging 1+ miles up hill but a good workout for the legs – and for walking off our morning breakfast!

For the afternoon, we planned to have a late lunch and then an early evening/twilight horseback ride but unfortunately late in the day our instructor became ill and had to cancel. Since our plans went array, we decided to unwind in the game room of the inn and challenged each other to several games of chess and billiards. We spent hours literally playing several games of chess. Darren won most of them. I think I won 2 games in the end but we both said that every couple should play games – probably before they get married because the way a person wins or loses says a lot about the kind of person they are.

Darren and I first started playing games back in St. Maarten last year on our first official vacation. We played boggle and trivia games. I ruled Boggle from the first shake of the letters and Darren wiped the floor with me on trivia (especially since music was a main category and he’s a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the music industry). Both of us took our wins and loses with grace and dignity. Neither of us taunting the other with victory nor being a sore loser when things didn’t go our way. Now that we are married, playing games tested whether or not we showed our true colors last September or were we just on our best behavior because we were only dating a few months? Truth is, we showed our true colors back then and with the same graciousness and respect we showed as winners/losers last September, held true one year later.

The old saying goes….”Its not whether you win or lose but its how you play the game” is very true. Play a game and test your relationship to see the true colors of the person you are friends with, dating or married to. Games are very telling! Happily, we both are very good at winning and losing :)