The Beauty of Home

As a teenager, I wanted to see the world.  I couldn't wait to go to college and move away from my little corner of Northern California.  Now that I've lived in the desert for almost 8 years, I see the ordinary beauty of my hometown with new eyes every time I go home to visit.  This park was always the source of negative memories as a teenager... I worked a summer job here that I hated, and my track coach liked to make us run up the hills here for training.  Needless to say, I didn't have fond memories of Pena Adobe.  

Cousins

My brother-in-law is now raising his family in my home town, so while we were visiting, they suggested hiking together in Pena Adobe.  Not only was it fun, but gorgeous too.  Early winter rains had turned the hills green and it was beautiful. 

There's many fire roads and trails that lead to the tops of surrounding hills, so we tackled one my nieces   and nephews are particulary fond of.  There's a super big oak tree with lots of low branches for swinging, climbing and playing.

          

             

 

               

   

Almost done with our hike, we made the kids pose on these rocks for a photo.  

 We had so much fun, I'll think we'll make hiking Pena Adobe a regular addition to our "must do" list while we are home visiting.  Maybe next time it will even be a bit warmer.  ;-)

Skyline Park

We were so thankful we stayed two weeks in California, because the first week was wet and rainy.  Week two was much nicer!  We were looking for a place to go for a day trip with the family... something family friendly, cheap and fun for all ages.  We were originally thinking about Muir Woods, but then my brother-in-law suggested Skyline Park in Napa.  Seriously brilliant.  Cheap, no crowds and only 30 minutes away for all of us!

Ethan, Brayden, Matt, Kate and Dallyn finding swords  sticks while we ate lunch.

Lots of beautiful picnic areas everywhere!

I could have admired this view ALL day.... sigh....

How nice of the park to provide a port potty.  It looked attractive, but the smell was horrific.
Given it's location along the trail, it probably doesn't get a lot of maintenance. 

Megan and Kate

At first the road was surrounded by oaks and scrub brush, but the deeper we walked into the canyon, the prettier it got.

Ferns, rocks and a waterfall... what more could you ask for?  Is this really just a few miles from downtown Napa?

Moss and lichen were growing on EVERYTHING!

Nine cousins made this hike.  Lyndi was missed, but stayed home sick with a 24 hour flu bug.  

This lake was our final destination for the day.  It was absolutely gorgeous!

Proof I was there.... I often have to ask people to take my picture or I won't end up being in any at all.  I'm so glad all my kids have a love for the outdoors.  I love spending time with our family!

Cross this off my Bucket List

Since January, I’ve been planning the 4th year hike for Girls Camp.  Since I haven’t been on the 4th year hike in 21 years, it was quite an ordeal to prepare for.  Having said that, this is something that I have wanted to do since my last stint at Girl’s Camp twenty years ago.   But all the stress, meetings and blind prep-work were worth it.  We had the greatest group of girls you could ever ask for.   Here we all are just before the hike began. 

My AMAZING YCL’s (Youth Camp Leaders).  All four of these girls volunteered to go on this hike.   They were beyond incredible.  I couldn’t have picked them better myself. 

The easy part of the trail.  The first day we hiked in about 4.5 miles.  We had a few sore hips and shoulders and had to do some pack adjustments along the way. 

When we got to the river where we were going to spend the night, there was only one problem.  NO WATER.  Yep, the river that was probably 4 feet deep just one month earlier was completely dried up.  The men were able to find water for us about a 1/4 mile downstream but it was quite the ordeal to get it for us.   And they found some very large animal footprints near the only water source in the area, which we tried hard NOT to think about.

The adults camped apart from the rest of the girls.  For one reason, we wanted to be on flat ground, and for another reason, we wanted to get a good night’s sleep.   But we didn’t’ have to worry about the girls giggling all night long.  After a very long day, they were exhausted and most of them were asleep when I made the rounds to their tents to say good-night. 

The next morning, we did certification, had a really great girls-only talk and played some Mafia.  After lunch, we got ready to hike. 

The first day was mostly flat and downhill. The second day would be uphill and grueling. The first mile was straight uphill. After that it leveled out some. After 3 miles, we got to our cars for our second night.   Here are all 15 of them…. tired, but very happy that the worst part of the hike was over!

For the first night of our camp, we had to employ the wander-deep-into-the-woods-and-dig-a-hole technique for bathroom jobs.  The second night we camped along a well traveled road, so there weren’t really any woods to wander into and get privacy.  This is our home-made latrine.  Eric and the YCL’s dug the hole and built it.  The potty itself is a 55 gallon water drum chopped in half with a toilet seat attached to the top.  It’s primitive, but it felt like heaven after squatting in the woods. 

One great thing about having cars nearby, was we could cook really good food. Our camp cooks, Danielle and Jared, were amazing! We had shish kabobs and rice for dinner.  And when we gave the girls a cold soda with their dinner, they thought they’d died and gone to heaven.  I just wish I had acquired a couple more cans of Dr. Pepper. 

We had one girl get sick that night, which meant we had to call her mom, who decided to drive up and get her.  It would take her at least 3 hours to make the trip up, so we had a late night waiting for her.  The entire area was under a N0-BURN mandate, so we had to get creative keeping our hands warm.  Luckily we had a full size BBQ and a large tank of propane.  Can you say desperate?  What can I say?  We were freezing!

                                          

On day three, we got up bright and early to head for the Blue Ridge Reservoir.   It was just a few miles down the road from where we camped.  I must interrupt this narrative to say how responsible our girls were.  Not one of the 15 girls asked us to pack their backpacks or put up/take down their tent.  I was amazed!

I’ve never been to the Blue Ridge Reservoir before, but it was gorgeous!  The water was cold (60 degrees, I think,) but the sun felt very warm even at 9 a.m.  It didn’t take long to get hot and sweaty and to think that maybe a quick dip in the water would feel good. 

Good thing one of the YCL’s decided to jump in off a rock.  Her reaction when she came up from the water convinced me NOT to try it myself.  I was also very thankful that none of our girls tipped their canoes.  None of the leaders wanted to deal with that problem in the freezing cold water.  and we’re pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to right it on their own without help.  When we went to the reservoir, I was expecting something big and wide.  I didn’t expect it to be a long and narrow snake-like river.  I liked it because it was easy to keep track of the girls.  Eric and I were in the front canoe and Jared and Danielle were in the back canoe.  The girls could do whatever they wanted as long as they didn’t go ahead or get behind.  Of course, Eric and I had to work hard to keep up with the girls who were determined to get to the end of the river before it was time to turn around.  Apparently we aren’t very efficient canoers.  Girls kept surging way out in front of us and we were working harder than they were!  No fair!

 

   

   

This was by far the coolest picture I got while in the canoes.  Check out that water fight Eric is having with the girls. 

After we’d paddled for 2 hours, we turned around and paddled back to the boat launch.  We changed clothes and ate lunch and got ready for our grand re-entrance into camp.

This is where my photo journal ends.  We drove back to Long Valley and sang our way back into camp.  It seems silly, but it was a super emotional experience for me.  (Thank goodness I was wearing sunglasses, so no one would notice me crying!)   I was so proud of each one of these girls and their accomplishment.  How many 15 year olds do you know that will give up their make-up and carry a 30 pound pack on their back for 2 days in the middle of nowhere?  Not many, I think.

The rest of camp was a blur for me.  I didn’t take any more pictures with my camera and I spent most of the time walking around in a stupor.  I was so strung up over the hike, that when it was over and we were all back safely at camp, I crashed.  Not that I slept well, mind you… (I had the curse of the crappy air mattress), but I wasn’t really coherent enough to do anything without being told.  Luckily, I had a schedule clipped to my pants so I wouldn’t forget what I was supposed to be doing for the rest of the week.

It was a fantastic experience for Eric and I to be leaders on this hike and we can’t wait to do it again next year!  And next year, we’ll have Megan in our group, which will make it extra special!

Rock Monsters and the Polar Bear Swim Club

We have lived in the morning shadow of these mountains for 5 years now. I have never once come out here to explore them until last week. I will not lie, I was lured out here by the promise of stunning wildflowers. My parents are always up for a good hike, so we all took off into the Superstition Mountains for an afternoon hike. (In 2 months time, this will be utterly impossible and completely suicidal... hiking in Phoenix in the afternoon... crazy!)

I must have taken 30 shots of my four kids together at various points along the trail This was the best one. And it's not very good. Well, it's good of Taylor. And Megan, if you discount the fact that she's looking away.

Standing on a boulder looking back the way we had come...

Aren't these rock formations cool?

This is the longest real hike Brayden has ever been on. We forgot the GPS, but based on information given to us by another hiker, we went about 3 miles round trip. And Brayden walked the whole thing. At one point, we thought it was time to turn around (because of Brayden), but then he had some Oreos for a snack and decided to press on... "because Oreos have sugar and sugar gives me energy!" (direct quote from the man himself!)

We didn't make it as far on the trail as I had hoped, and there weren't really any wildflowers yet, but it was a great way to spend a gorgeous spring afternoon. I might try to go back when the wildflowers are blooming a bit more... two more weeks maybe?

Along the trail, Grandma and Taylor were betting and daring each other to jump in the pool when we got home. Grandpa, Megan and I were smart enough not to get sucked into such crazy talk, even though they tried to trick us into joining them. But they stayed true to their word and here is the proof. This picture of Grandma coming up out of the 64 degree water is going to become a family classic.

Ian wanted to jump in, but lacked the courage to do it himself, so he gave Taylor permission to throw him in. Taylor jumped in three different times and Grandma jumped in twice. Ian got pushed in once, and Brayden chicken out once he got down the first step and felt how cold the water really was.

The end.