Loving our Laccolith

We used the excuse of my birthday and Father's Day to celebrate.  Our plan -  go to Pine Valley and eat an expensive (and very good) dinner at the Brandin' Iron...you can only justify such expense for an occasional celebration.  After that we hiked up Santa Clara Creek to a great little camp spot next to the creek.  We set out our sleeping gear on a tarp and then settled in to watch a movie on the lap top until we were tired (and ran out of battery).  Then it was a great night under the stars with the sound of the nearby stream's waterfalls to lull us to sleep. In the morning we packed it up and went back down to the car where we breakfasted near the creek (food all ready in the ice chest).  Then we traded our big packs for day packs with lunch, snacks and water and headed up Whipple Trail, snacked in Whipple Valley, checked out South Valley, went on to North Valley and then over to Mill Flat for lunch.  We soaked our feet while we ate lunch and then had a little nap.  Then it was down the trail to the other car we had left at the Mill Flat Trail head.  We stopped in for ice cream at the Brandin' Iron ice cream bar to celebrate more and drove over to pick up the other car.  On the way home we stopped in at Veyo Pie for a sour cream lemon pie in lieu of a birthday cake for Sunday dinner.  We did 20 miles which was actually not too bad considering we had left the GPS on the kilometer setting and couldn't figure out why our 20-miler was showing to be a 28-miler.  We were so relieved when we found out the trail hadn't somehow gotten longer, that it felt very nice indeed!  What a great way to celebrate with wildflowers blooming everywhere, streams still running and a nice breeze to keep that last mile from being too hot.  Pine Valley (our laccolith) is the best local getaway there is from the hot, hot summer.  Oh how we love it! 

Camp and breakfast sites

Along the trail

Pretty stuff, lunch & rest spot and bringing the columbine home to transplant...I hope!

More pretty stuff.  We came upon 3 little squirrels who were just hanging out in the middle of the trail. They took to the bushes but were very curious about us. One finally came out to see who it was that was so interested in taking their picture.  (Look for the 3 sets of eyes in the bushes.)

Father's Day 2012

L to R - The wonder weed eater, dessert eaters on the lawn, the brace faces of the clan, blowing up the new pad, Facetime with Supe.

Life is so busy that Father's Day celebrating was quite a bit more low key than what we did for Mother's Day, but it was great just the same. We tried a new recipe for "man tacos" that probably won't make the favorites list.  Grandma came to dinner.  After dinner we got to talk to Supe on Facetime and hear about his work and adventures.  As the rest of the family arrived  for presents and dessert, they got to talk to Supe too.  It's amazing that you can see and visit with someone so far away and it costs nothing!  After that it was on to presents - a new, lightweight camping pad and the weed eater of all weed eaters (we hope) and a gift card to the Shakespeare Festival.  After that we all enjoyed our choice of either cheesecake with berries or ice cream and brownies...or both!  Thanks to everyone for a great time and  great gifts.  Pop also enjoyed hearing from the rest of the kids via phone or e-mail. 

Fun times with the left behinds...

Kennis, Gaige and Koen were left behind and came to stay with us.  They were left behind with good reason since their older siblings and parents (and a friend) went on a backpacking hike that was a little too hefty for them to come along.  To make the best of it, we did lots of stuff fun stuff including a trip to Fiesta Fun, visited a toy store and tried out lots of cool toys, rode the carousel twice, bought treats at Judd's, rested up and ate lunch and then headed to Pine Valley for a picnic and a hike.  After the hike we stopped in at the new ice cream parlor at the Brandin' Iron for treats.  Koen kept reminding us that we were "hiking for ice cream."  After a good foot washing and watching a bedtime story - Goodnight Gorilla - we hit the sack.  In the morning we went to Get Outdoors Expo at Tuacahn where the kids explored a cave, solved a dinosaur mystery, and went to loads of other activities about the outdoors and came home with a bag full of stuff.  Hopefully they didn't feel too bad about being left behind!

Date night up the trail...

Last evening for our date we decided to go up to Oak Grove and hike part way up the trail that goes up to the Summit Trail on Pine Valley.  It's only 3 miles, but we didn't have much time, so we couldn't go all the way.  We had hoped to locate a waterfall that Lance has talked about, but that will have to happen another time too.  It was beautiful and cool up there with amazing views of Zion, Kolob Fingers, Quail and Sand Hollow reservoirs.  It's nearly impossible to take good pictures of these things from there unfortunately...you just have to enjoy them on the spot. Once again, we wished we were camping out instead of just visiting for the evening. We have decided that we really do need to go all the way up that trail and down the other side somewhere.  On the way back down we stopped and walked out to the kiln.  I love that little trail.  The plant identification signs are in pretty bad shape.  Wish I had money to donate for their replacement.   There just aren't enough week ends for all of the places that we need to hike to!

Our evening walk...Pine Valley style

Last night we went up to Pine Valley so Paul could reserve their new amphitheater for a scout court of honor coming up in July (their website was down so shucks, we couldn't just do it on-line).  In the process we managed to make it into a great evening.  We checked out some of the new, more secluded campsites at Crackfoot campground.  We also walked the new walk path that goes all through the campground and down by the lake.  It's very nice.  The highlight was hiking up the trail that takes off Whipple trail and follows the creek up the canyon.  It is beautiful this time of year with waterfall after waterfall and at this time of year it is awash in wild flowers, especially blue and white columbines.  Ahhh...the clean, cool air and the smell of campfire smoke and the beautiful sound of falling water.  So refreshing!!! We stayed as long as we could...until it got dark and wished we were camping out.  What a great place to take the evening walk.  Oh, we also got the amphitheater reserved!

Little Jamaica...found at last!

Saturday afternoon Paul, Bean and I made the drive down to find and explore Little Jamaica.  After looking in all the wrong places we finally got some good directions!   What a cool little gem in the middle of the hot desert.  Can’t wait to take some grand kids down to play in it. 

Sunday we had another family “feast of the fast over” dinner.  It was fun to eat and visit…good food and good company. (Got too busy eating and visiting to take many pics.)

Glorious California Scenery

Paul and I have talked and talked about wanting to do a vacation driving the coast highway in California.  When the kids were at home, we knew it would just drive all of us crazy.  This year we decided to do what we could on a $500 budget in 5 days.  We didn't drive the whole coast, but we got from Crescent City (very close to the Oregon border) down to Fort Bragg.  We'll just have to get the rest later.  We were perfectly satisfied with what we did get to see.  We left the day after school got out, May 23rd and got home on the 28th.  All told we did 2,709 miles and loved every minute of it!

• Wednesday - St. George to Enterprise, Panaca, Ely Eureka, Sparks, Portola, Quincy, Paxton, wrong turn to Belden and down that road a little more.  Then we figured out we goofed and headed back up.   When it got pretty late, we found a great, illegal camp spot in a park.  It was dark and when one car drove by, we quickly shut off our lantern.  It was a great spot and they had just serviced the port-a-potty that day so that was nice.  Had a great night and quickly put the tent away before breakfast!  Sorry, we were just too tired to keep on going.  We saw some cool stuff that day and listened to a great cd - John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley - In Search of America.  We decided that the wrong turn actually was great.  It went down a beautiful canyon alongside a gorgeous river.  We were not sorry and we were glad to drive back up it the next day to see the part that we had missed in the dark!  Nevada can be a little tiresome, but there are a few pretty things to see on that route.  We did see Wheeler Peak.  It just kind of pales next to the awesome California scenery. 

That's our camp spot at top right - doesn't it look like a good place to camp?

•  Thursday - After getting back up the canyon we decided to try and hit Lassen Volcanic National Park - oops again - got to the turn off and found the road closed due to snow. No problem.  Went around it via Westwood and on up 89 to McCloud, Mt. Shasta, Weed, Yreka to Hornbrook, across to Happy Camp where we hoped to take the road across to Obrien.  We had been told that it was open...not!  So we re-routed down to McKinleyville and went up the coast instead of down as we had planned.  Still not a problem.  So much beautiful stuff to see we didn't even care.  We got to Trinidad and finally the ocean.  We walked on the beach a couple of places there where we saw a sick seal (someone came from the Marine Center to check on it thank goodness) and a memorial lighthouse and then found a sweet, legal camp spot at Emerald Forest.  It was in the middle of a redwood and fern forest and even had private shower facilities.  We got dinner ready and ate it in the tent due to rain which continued in the night, but we slept great!

En route to Trinidad - L to R - Sasquach, Paul Bunyan and Babe, lunch spot by a lake, Mt. Shasta, Paul under the rainbow, Bonnie, sick seal and Paul.

Beach scenery at Trinidad

 Trindad's public library, our camp spot at Emerald Forest, cute store and so pretty flower trees.  Trinidad is a really cute little town.

• Friday - We packed up camp and breakfasted in the car (light rain) above the beach and did some hiking to see another beach.  After that we headed up the coast and did a cool hike to a place called Fern Canyon - amazing place.  We saw an elk along the way.  Usually there are lots of them there and along the nearby beach, but they were off calving, so we were glad to see the one bull.  Then we headed on up the coast visiting Redwood groves all along the way and made it to Crescent City where we hiked out to see a light house.  We also went to see another one, St. George lighthouse, but it was way out on an island and we could just barely see it.  Then it was back to Emerald Forest for another night of camping.

These trees are really hard to take a pictures of - they are so gigantic!  We visited Big Tree and then saw one even bigger just down the road - its the one Paul is standing by.

Sites around Crescent City - Look behind the mermaid and you can see the lighthouse.  There is another lighthouse (depicted below in mosaic) about 6 miles out - St. George Lighthouse.  It was just barely visible in the mist, but couldn't get a real picture of it.  The harbor in Crecent City was really wiped out just a little over a year ago in a Tsunami.  It's in good shape again.  I liked the driftwood sea serpent and driftwood gate.

• Saturday - We drove on down the coast through some fun little towns - Loleta and Ferndale.  Loleta wasn't much to look at, but they did have a cheese factory  - we enjoyed their samples.  Ferndale is the cutest town - all Victorian themed.  We loved the houses and the old time mercantile and blacksmith shop.  The graveyard is amazing too.  We spent the morning here, ate lunch and then drove on down the coast along the Lost Coast highway stopping at beaches, driving through redwood groves, visiting Shelter Cove and finally arriving very late at Westport where we opted to stay in a motel so we could clean up for Sunday church.

Loved the road signs - so realistic!  This area is very dairy.  Also loved the handmade sign of the mad butcher in the Loleta meat market window.  Also pictured - the cemetery and the old time mercantile. 

We had this narrow winding road along the Lost Coast almost all to ourselves.  We stopped and beach combed and found a plaque about a lighthouse.  We couldn't figure out where the lighthouse was.  Then later at Shelter Cove we found it - they had moved it via helicopter to save it from toppling into the sea when it was no longer in use (see pictures below).  One picture shows Paul standing by a Maypole that had been intricately woven with ribbons - strange but pretty. 

The lighthouse found & black pebble beach.

 Drove through this tree and went inside the House Tree on the way to Westport.

• Sunday we made it to church in the little Westport Ward.  It was a small, but very nice ward.  I think there were more visitors than regulars there that day.  Lots of people were in town for Memorial Day.  After church we went to MacKerricher State Park, changed clothes in a bathroom and walked out to see the seals. They had it roped off since they were having their babies so we couldn't get too close.  Then we had our lunch at a pullout overlooking the beach and reluctantly headed inland to start the trip home.  We saw more amazing scenery and stopped for camp earlier than usual - dinner before dark for a change.  This time we camped under Sequoia trees.  There were some other pine trees there that had huge pine cones.  Need to find out what kind.  It was a very nice camp except for a group of kids that thought they were some kind of a choir complete with a bongo drum player (lots of beer involved).  But they quieted down at 10.  They probably didn't appreciate us getting up at 5 am California time and packing up! 

 Glass Beach - a former (1950-67) city dump, was bought by the state as an addition to MacKerricher State Park in 2003.   They hauled away large metal objects and other trash, but bottle glass was left behind.  Rounded by the surf (some ground as fine as sand) the glass pieces paint the beach in strange colors.  We saw some old car parts - spark plugs, electrical motor winding wire, cables - which were embedded in the rocks.  It was very interesting. 

•  Monday morning, after a little walk and breakfast, we headed home via Truckee, Donner Pass, Lake Tahoe and finally Las Vegas.  It was a great trip.  Yes, we took some detours, but we had decided to stay on the back roads and along the coast road as much as possible so we didn't want the GPS telling us the fastest route.  We really didn't encounter much traffic or many people except on Sunday.  We did long days - up at 6 and in bed around 11 to try to get all we could our of the time we had.  We didn't eat out once - just out of the ice chest getting dry ice along the way and picking up a few groceries as we needed them.  Only regret - we had hoped to camp one night on the beach, but the night we could have it was so windy that we didn't think our tent would stay up, so we did the sheltered camp among the trees instead.  Can't wait to continue down the coast! 

Last campsite, Donner Pass drive by shot, Emerald Bay Lake Tahoe, last of the mountains, back to the desert.