Summiting Mt. Evans

I can't believe it, I finally achieved my goal! I didn't think I could do it, but I did. Granted, I didn't exactly climb the mountain the way I imagined, but I survived 14,000 feet! We had family visiting, so we decided to take a trip to the mountains. We've only driven to about 9,000 feet on Mt. Evans before. We figured we should just take them to the top. I've gotten bad migraines at 9,000 before, so I figured I'd need to take some precautions.
I had imaged that my husband would summit Mt. Evans by at least doing a five mile hike or a hike from Summit Lake. With visitors and little kids, we thought it would be fun to drive up to the summit. There is a parking lot about a quarter of a mile from the summit, about 150 feet below. As we left the house, I took 800 mg of Advil and took a regular Coke to drink. I driving one of the cars, so I wanted to be prepared.
It was a beautiful drive up. After the tree line, it was amazing. As you rounded the hair pen turns, it looked as if you were going to take off into the sky! It was nothing but blue sky and white fluffy clouds. When we got to the parking lot, I was very excited. I felt a little out of breath, but nothing to be concerned about. The baby and my oldest stayed with Nana while my husband, his brother, my daughter (who is 4) and I hiked to the top. It was a rocky trail. It wasn't what I expected. It was very rocky with lots of boulders. I guess I pictured more of a smooth service, not sure why. I did feel more winded, but not much head pressure as we hiked.
When we got to the top, it was amazing. We took pictures of our feet around the summit marker. It was so cool. I remember feeling exhilarated. I liked the feel of the giant boulders and carefully navigating around them. It was a little scary climbing up on the top one, very open and exposed! I wasn't so much the view, but the connection with the surface of the mountain top that amazed me the most.
After we came down, I did take a Treximex as a precaution. The only thing I regret is not drinking nearly as much water as I should of. I paid for thtat today. I didn't feel sick yesterday or last night, but started to today. Luckily, I took another Treximex before it developed into a full blown migraine.

I don't feel like I've conquered migraine by this climb, but instead I feel empowered and that it is possible to do some challenges. You just have to plan them out well.