Another Weekend Away

Last weekend, we zipped up to another little cabin in the woods! This time, we went to Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, just a couple hours north. This cabin was really cute and way more hotel-like than the one we had at Little Basin last month. There was a kitchenette and a full bathroom! Plus, the bed was more comfortable. And, we were there for two nights instead of one!

We slowly made our way up there on Friday. I went down to the barn that morning to ride TC around bareback and just hang out with him without worrying about work. Then we packed the car and headed out.

View from almost the top of the hike we took 

These Manzanita trees were so cool!

I’ve been telling the SO about this one taco place in the east bay since we met. It’s my favorite place in Northern California even though I’ve only been there a few times. FINALLY we got to go for lunch on our way up there and it did not disappoint. The SO hasn’t had enough good tacos to be obsessed with them like I am, but the three he ate got him a bit closer.

We then drove another hour or so and stopped at the grocery store for some food for the weekend. We didn’t know we’d have anything but a tiny fridge and a microwave, so we mostly grabbed prepared food or things we could microwave.

Finally, we made it up to the cabin and settled in. Luckily, we had phone signal, though we spent a good amount of the time keeping our phones on airplane mode so that we could get away from the constant news cycle. We made ourselves at home, relaxed for a bit, then went on a walk around the campground and out to this really odd little cemetery/nature walk.

Full sized bed with a surprisingly comfortable mattress

Kitchenette (there was a sink to the right of this picture

Tiny, but full bathroom with a shower next to the toilet

Saturday, we had the whole day up there. We decided to sleep in a bit, then head out on a hike after finding out that the visitor center would remain closed the whole time (it's been a little bit of a bummer because I collect magnets from wherever I go, but it just means we have to go back!).

First of all, everyone on the hike was once again really respectful and kind about masks and social distancing. Even on trails where you could stay apart, we put on masks as we passed each other.

The hike was super fun, but the view from the peak wasn't anything too exciting. We actually enjoyed the views from a few other places more, but there was a feeling of accomplishment of making it to the top.

Coming down on a different trail, we must have passed a yellow jacket nest or something because poor SO got stung (for the first time ever! wtf how has he escaped being stung by a bee for so long) and then to my horror, the bee kept landing on each of us, so I'd swat it off and then we'd both run away while he was clutching his finger, which then started to swell.

We made it back just fine (we were luckily about a mile out when he got stung) and he felt better, but we still opted to go into town to both explore and see what we could pick up for the sting.

Starting out on a nice wide road/trail

This was the "view" from the top of the peak

On our way up to the park, we passed through a little town called St Helena, which is really rather adorable. So we headed down there and went to a couple of little shops before they closed.

I've been talking about getting hiking shoes for a long time now. I wore tennis shoes for a long time to hike and now that I have no more tennis shoes, have been wearing my metcons out there (since I don't do CrossFit anymore after not being able to find one suitable for me nearby, maybe when we move this fall, I'll find one!). Those kinds of shoes are so slippery and we do a lot of hiking, so I've been interested in finding something that has a bit more grip and is rather lightweight/breathable.

Sure enough, the first shoes I looked at in the little outdoor sports store were PERFECT. They were lightweight, had great tread, had a boa dial rather than laces, were exactly my size, and the best part: they were 50% off (because the original price would have been *way* too much for me to spend on shoes).

We then went across the street to this cute pharmacy and chatted with the pharmacist about the bee sting, she had some good recommendations and we bought a couple of things that made SO's finger feel much better.

St Helena was rather liberal, lots of BLM signs
and these signs too!

RIP

That evening, we went out with the camera and tried to take some pictures of the night sky but kind of failed, it was our first attempt with the camera, so we need to read up a bit more on that. Still, it was fun to wander around at night.

We then went to sleep and got up the next morning to pack up and head out. We stopped in St Helena for breakfast and to wander around a bit, then leisurely made our way back home. We were home in the middle of the day, which was perfect because we were able to get everything unpacked and relax a bit from the drive before having to work on Monday.

It was such a nice trip! I'm so glad that I impulse reserved all these little cabins for the rest of the year. It gave us something to look forward to at the end of June/early July, and these days there's just not a ton to look forward to. We're already talking about coming back up next year and staying in one of the yurts (my only complaint about the cabin was no fire pit, booo, so the yurt is a good compromise on that front), which sell out more aggressively. But overall, such a fun trip!

Pinnacles National Park

It was my dad's 65th birthday on Sunday and he didn't want a party or a big deal made of him, he wanted to see birds. More specifically, he wanted to see the California Condors that reside at Pinnacles National Park. So Sunday morning, my brother, my dad, and I hopped in the car with our hiking and birding equipment and headed south.

High Peaks Trail

My aunts (dad's sister and her wife) met us there and we had such an amazing time! We did the High Peaks trail that looped along to the Condor Gulch trail. There were no caves on this trail, but that was okay because for my dad's birthday, we saw three California Condors! They were huge.

I was super pleased with my cardiovascular fitness and recovery. I never once felt tired or even all that out of breath. The moment I stopped walking, I recovered super quickly.

Here are some (more)  pictures from the day!

The moment we saw the Condors!

Even more birding

Saw them again!

Brother, dad, aunt, aunt (dad's sister), me! 

Love me some national parks

Flora 

There were tons of poppies! 

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Over my birthday weekend (last weekend), I went on a camping trip with my family! This has been something we've been talking about doing for a while, as the last time we went camping as a family was in 2000.

We went to Lassen Volcanic National Park, specifically staying at the Manzanita Lake campground. I love national parks and have been wanting to really push to see as many of them as I can. So I voted Lassen and everyone said that was fine! Yay!

View for the weekend (well, when we went down to the lake,
I forgot to get pictures of our set up at camp)

I decided, kind of stupidly, to drive up late on Thursday night instead of just getting up early on Friday. So I did and arrived at 11, got to bed by midnight, and then felt kind of like crap after getting up at my normal 6am time. Yeah, next time I'm just staying home and getting up at 6, because then I'd be there by about the time where I started feeling normal.

My main goal was to kind of drag my family on some hikes. First, a girl at my CrossFit class had taken a week and a half off and looked TERRIBLE at her first class back, so I was adamant that I exercise as much as possible as to not feel like she looked. Second, I love hiking. I think my family's main goal by the end of the trip was to find a casual way to disown me. They said that our next trip was going to be to the salt flats in Nevada so that I can't find any hikes. Let me tell you though, I'll find some hikes if it's the last thing I do.

My first victim dad and I had plans to go to Devil's Kitchen, but that was on the other side of the park and would require a two hour long drive to get to. Sounded great on paper, but we got up and thought that it would be a bit much. So instead, we decided to go to Butte Lake.

That's the trail

Inside the volcano!

Butte Lake was where we were thinking of staying, before we nabbed two campsites at Manzanita, so my dad wanted to see what we were missing. The draw for me was the Cinder Cone. The hike was only 2 miles out and 2 miles back, seemed mostly shaded, and only gained 800 feet in elevation. The pictures that I'd seen from the top were like none other. It looked like a different planet! So I was game, and my dad, who has been hiking their property (which is 1/4 mile and 400 feet in elevation), was game too.

What we didn't realize was that the footing made this hike TOUGH. It was like walking in deep sand at the beach all the way to the base of the Cinder Cone, which was all flat. Then we gained the 800 feet in elevation all at once, straight up the volcano. And the footing was much worse- it was deeper and because it was so steep, you slipped down as you were climbing up.

I hiked down there!

Me in front of the cinder cone. If I look like I'm almost dead,
it's because I am.

It took us way long to get up to the top, and I quite literally almost cried right before I made it (I thought it was much further lol if that's not a metaphor for so many things in my life...). But once up there, the views were amazing. I can't even describe it.

I walked down inside the volcano, because you have to, and then we were walking back down. It was downright fun to walk down the steep part because you were letting gravity do so much work. Back at the car, we couldn't stop talking about what an intense hike it was. My dad kept saying "I'm 64!" and I was so impressed with him. I don't consider myself *particularly* fit, but I'm certainly the fittest in my family. My dad has had some health issues but this made my concerns over him lessen, he's a rockstar.

More sunset at Manzanita Lake

Saturday my brother and sister-in-law were set to arrive by 10, but I had once again convinced my dad to go on a "short walk to the meadow" so I could "just grab a few pictures" before they got there. He fell for it and half way up the 1.5 mile (each way) trail that gained 700 feet in elevation (also all at once), he was starting to complain a bit. Apparently I'm not to be trusted and am rather annoying.

Luckily for me, the trail to Paradise Meadow is BEAUTIFUL and full of waterfalls, and the meadow itself is amazing. So when we finally got there (and knew we only had downhill to go on our way back), my dad was appreciative that I'd dragged him out. I couldn't quite see where the picture was taken from, but it was so smoky from the Carr fire in Redding that we couldn't really see anything at all. I've got a lot of work in photoshop to do.

On our way to the meadow

The meadow!

We arrived back at camp and my siblings wanted to go to the lake. I convinced them that kayaking would be fun, so my SIL took over entertaining-Megan-duty while my brother and parents hung out at the lake. We kayaked for an hour and I saw that the one photograph I had wanted to take was not going to happen. The smoke from the fire had almost completely obstructed Lassen Peak. It also probably took out my Sunday plans, which had been to hike to the top. Boo.

We played games that night and my mom smoked us at Spinner, a game that we used to play as kids. It was so fun to hang out as a family and relive some of the moments from our childhood.

Sunday it was my birthday! And for it, my family agreed to let me call the shots, which is apparently the last time they're going to do that because I guess I make "fun" a four letter word. We started out with my brother being coerced into SUPing with me. We got out on the lake and we could finally sort of see Mt Lassen a bit. It was beautiful. I challenged my brother to do some exercises on the paddle board and we did burpees, overhead squats with the oars, regular squats, planks, push ups, and sit ups. I was returned to the rest of my family and my brother ditched me for a beer.

Stand Up Paddle Boarding!

From there, we went on TWO HIKES because no one wanted to say "take a chill pill, Megan" on my birthday. The first one was to Cold Boiling Lake, a short hike (1.4 miles total and all flat) to the lake, where gas was bubbling up out of the earth. It was super cool! Though a little unnerving to think about how this is kind of an active volcanic area... uhhh anyway.

As we left there, we drove up to Lassen Peak to see the trail head. I was totally up for it, but the view was going to be completely smokey, so we opted not to do it. I'm for sure going back to hike it though. It's 5 miles round trip and gains like 1100 feet in elevation or something, you start at about 8,000 feet too, so it's kind of rough apparently.

Cold boiling lake, I got a video but not pictures of the boiling
bit of it

We drove back down the mountain to the Upper Meadow, which is actually where the picture I had wanted to take Saturday was. There was no trial to get to it, it was right off the highway. My dad heard me say "THIS IS WHERE THE PICTURE WAS TAKEN" and he was a bit miffed that I'd taken him on an unnecessary hike. Sorry dad!

We ended the adventure hiking Kings Creek Falls, a really incredible waterfall with a kind of insane trail to it. But once again it was so worth it, even if while hiking out, we had to climb up a steep staircase cut into the mountainside.

King's Creek Falls, I have much better pictures
on my camera!

We climbed down from there

My brother and I before climbing back up

On the way back from King's Creek Falls

We returned back to camp but on our way back, noticed that the smoke was clearing. I got back and BOOKED it out to the lake, running along the trail to take the sunset picture. I got it and it was amazing. I can't wait to edit it!

My dad and siblings made their way out there too, with my brother holding a beer and a floaty thing to go sit in the lake for a second. We then walked back the long way to the car and my brother, in flip flops, managed to cross the river while my dad, SIL, and myself had to walk around. We thought he got lost though, so we were positively SCREAMING his name as he was back at the truck rummaging in the cooler. 

It sounded like we'd lost our child or something. But no, it was my 30 year old brother. Par for the course, he got lost a ton as a little kid too, so it was definitely a moment of nostalgia screaming for him and having him chatting with some lady back at the parking lot. 

Yessssss

My brother in the lake that night

On Monday morning, we had breakfast and then began to pack up. My brother and SIL wanted to book it out of there to get home before bay area traffic started to get bad (too late, there's always traffic in the bay). I, however, didn't have to drive through the bay, so I took my dad to the museum that was right at the entrance to Manzanita Lake.

It was a super cute museum and I learned way too much about volcanos. They had a cute little gift shop, where I picked up a journal that had two pages per national park and then I also picked up a stamp and a stamp journal thing where you can buy stamps from each national park and put them in there. I also have a passport but I forgot it :( luckily I live close enough where I'm planning on dragging an unsuspecting victim up there to hike Lassen Peak sometime. I also want to go to Bumpass Hell, which is closed this year.

Overall it was a REALLY great weekend. I'm sad it's over but glad to be back to the internet. Hopefully I'll do a better job preparing blog posts next time I'm gone because this week was so busy I've been having to write them later in the day. Bad blogger. 

Camping at Big Sur

On Sunday morning, Kate and I packed our bags and drove two hours south of the bay to Big Sur to go camping!

I love Big Sur, it's one of my favorite places. A lot of other people feel the same way though, so ever since I started to work a 9-5, I haven't been able to go. My last trip was in 2014 when I was in graduate school and we went from like Tuesday through Thursday or something. Campsites fill up ridiculously fast on the weekends and now that I'm living further away, it's a bit harder to do a day trip. Not impossible, as Yosemite is about the same distance away and I'm considering doing a day trip there soon.

But with my 9/80, I can do a Sunday - Monday camping adventure! I was already going to be in the bay last weekend teaching a day at Kate's summer camp (Saturday, it was amazing but I was so tired) and had planned on staying the rest of the weekend anyway, so I asked Kate if she wanted to come camping with me. She said yes! I didn't really know what would be available, so I looked around and saw that Big Sur had ONE SITE LEFT for that night. So I grabbed it, obviously!

Um so all of these pictures are from my last Big Sur trip because
I haven't had time to do any photo editing since this trip. I'm sure
I'll put them up as a WW one of these days but for now, I'm okay
being kind of confusing. 

The river was flowing much better this year!

We drove down in the morning, getting breakfast and picking up some snacks/meals/drinks for the trip on the way. I didn't have anything on my list that I really wanted to do, other than go on a hike. I've changed up my fitness routine in the last week, so I was kind of really sore, but I also love hiking.

We got down there a little early so our campsite wasn't ready yet, so instead we went to the waterfall I have been wanting to go to for years. McWay falls is a waterfall right on the coastline that falls directly into the pacific ocean. The lighting wasn't perfect but that's what photoshop is for. But again, haven't edited any pictures yet, so here are some more from the trip I took four years ago.

I have this on canvas at my house!

One of my favorites

From there we went to the campground and wandered around the store (also picked up a magnet because I collect them from various places and some fire glowy stuff) before heading to our site and setting up. It looks the exact same from when I was there nearly four years ago, but the river is actually flowing!

We set up our tent and got everything all organized once as we could, including putting up my hammock. Then it was time for sitting still, not talking to each other, and reading books. I'm mostly through Charlotte's book and am... enjoying it in small doses.

After reading, we decided to go wander around. I really wanted a long exposure on the river, so we grabbed that before going on a short hike over to this fire pit area.

Back at the campsite we decided to make a fire. We played a board game, ate dinner, and made s'mores (all while talking about horses a bunch of course) before going to sleep.

Long exposure on the river

Hiking through the burned trees last time (2014), we hiked a
different hike this time so I didn't see these trees to see how
they have changed

In the morning, we packed up and drove to the parking lot near one of the trail heads. I had really wanted to hike Pfeiffer Falls, but that has been unavailable for a few years. Apparently they're doing repairs and it will be okay next year! So we hiked a shorter hike that promised to lead to a place called Valley View. It was a little disappointing to climb all the way up there only to find the valley covered in fog, but that was okay, it was still a great hike.

After that, it was just driving back up to the bay, where I then drove up to the peninsula to teach lessons and then back home.

I told Kate I had already taken this picture when I took it
again during this trip lol

This was my phone background for a long
time, it's weird to see it on the blog lol

Overall it was a great trip, if a little short! But Big Sur fills up so quickly that I think we were pretty lucky to even get the one night. Later this summer my family is camping together for the first time in 18 years, but we're headed north!

Working on Stillness

Saturday morning I got up and decided to drive most of the way down to possible future far away barn and see Rico. I had texted my mom the night before to let her know I was coming and sort of jokingly said "add horses to my list if you want" and I was assigned all three horses.

Such a fun Saturday

Up first as always, was Rico. I love riding Rico. He's just a breath of fresh air sometimes.

Most of my day with Rico was spent brushing the caked mud off of his body. He was super gross. It took so long that I just threw the bareback pad and hackamore on him again. No point in taking the time to put on riding boots and a saddle and a bridle.

It was warm, so the ride was kept short. He let me play with the pirouettes again. I don't know why he's letting me. It's either that he thinks he has no choice, or he realized that they're easier than they were because I'm letting him do them a bit big and crappy. Once again the left was great and the right is blocked by his right hind not liking to take weight- most likely due to his new fun ringbone that I found a few months ago.

So unnecessarily dirty. Also this is Rico with no muscle, still
better than TC with no muscle!

I played with twos, and once again he offered me ones so we did a few couplets. I noticed that since I had been schooling changes on my students' horse, I was not as invisible with my aids/body as I usually am. Rico couldn't give less of a shit about what I do on him, but I like to use him to fix me up a bit. It's nice to be able to work on myself sometimes.

So I did a bunch of transitions just working on my upper body staying perfectly still throughout. It's something Tracey taught me that I assume she learned (or maybe not) from Mary Wanless because Mary does it in this video. I worked really hard at the walk canter and canter walk, only getting slightly in front of him a couple of times in the canter to walk. And not at all behind or ahead in the walk to canter, woohoo. Then we went on to the changes and my body was completely still. Yay!

If TC moves to the barn near Rico, I totally want to ride Rico twice a week (if I'm not totally exhausted from the commute, which I probably will be) so that he can stay in a bit better shape. It's been so fun to work completely on myself and just play with the fun movements. I'd love if he stayed a little fitter so I could really ride him.

So hairy

Riot was also on my list. We had fun working on transitions between what I can only describe as a makeshift collected running walk and extended running walk. I really want to get him covering more ground in the running walk and then being able to slow down without pacing.

After that he was really leaning on my left rein, as he always does, so we did some leg yields and spiraling out, then tested the bend on a figure-8. I had a lot of control over where we were going and in what bend, which is not something I could have said at the beginning of the ride.

We kept it short and sweet, because afterward, I dumped Stretch off my list (Stretch thanked me for that) and stole my mom's dog, Ruby, to go on a run!

The worst running partner

The last time I was on that particular trail was when I had a very sound baby horse over Thanksgiving. Luckily trail running with a dog hell bent on chasing squirrels is quite enough to take my mind completely off of the baby horse.

We did the shortest loop, which is 4 miles. We clocked in at just over an hour, which I thought was good since most of the time I was walking and wheezing and then stopping to take pictures. I did run probably 1.5 of the miles though, mostly on the flat ground or when it sloped slightly downward. Too steep uphill and I couldn't make it more than a few steps but too steep downhill and my joints were hurting.

Come about 3 miles in and Ruby was super done, she laid down in the grass to take a nap. Uh no. She was a sport getting back though. That's totally going to me when I can get back to running. Officially signed up for the 5k yesterday so the money is paid and it's happening.

Check out my rescue baby friend! She's two and has a really
nice shoulder if you ask me... Once as she can be handled, I want
to see how she moves ;)

That night I bribed L with a ride (so my entire weekend of driving wasn't entirely boring) and we headed up north to get delicious Thai food with Nicole, Peony, and Andy!

So much fun, we need to do these things more often.