from snow to sand

hubby got some time off so we decided to do some day trips close to home. one really neat thing about living in california is there is so much diversity of terrain. we happen to be very fortunate in that we live close to so many awesome and beautiful places. -after a very cold spring, summer is finally here and we spend most of our time outdoors which is why my posting is so lacking these days.

we began with a hike up the loch leven trail- a steep trail that always kicks my butt-we were sure shocked there was still so much snow.

the trail was hard to find at times, lots of falling down but we trudged on. a late lunch break in the snow gave us the much needed energy we needed to get to the top. i think i was verging on tears at this point- but we were so close i wasn't gonna give up!

we followed the footprints of Sasquatch when we couldn't find the trail.


when we finally reached the lake-it was still iced over! what a great color the lake was-a true ice blue.

can you see the snag(above) liam and i are standing by? check this out- i love snags!

wildflowers galore at the start of the hike. this was my favorite. pussy paws i believe.

we made it down before dark-soaked soggy feet, tired and haggard. took us 3 hours to hike up and 2 hours to come down-that was with lots of shoe skiing:)

WE MADE IT! my favorite tree on the hike- too awesome.


well, we didn't get enough snow hiking cause we just had to do another. after a day's rest we headed up 49 to the gold lakes region. our first trail attempt to round lake was just too snowy. so we tried the bear loop trail and it was perfect. breathtakingly beautiful.




where i'm standing below there were mountain lion tracks in the snow the size of my whole hand. tried to photograph them but they just wouldn't show.

it was a fabulous hike. and to think we live so close to all this.

we were on a roll-but we decided to leave the snow and hit the sand.

pescadero beach!!! we headed down to san jose to the national insulator show and decided to take the scenic route. this beach was full of drift wood shelters.


liam made one of his own.

doing some pondering.

the ocean soothes my soul and calms me deeply.

we spent the night in san jose and got to the insulator show at the perfect time. our boy collects insulators-since the National was so close this year we just had to attend. it wasn't as big as i thought it would be-but there were some awesome things to see. all kinds- we even saw a miller twin pin insulator that cost $32,000. yes, you read that right-it's not a typo- 32,000 freaking thousand dollars. my favorite booth was the $1 a spin wheel. you got to spin the wheel and what ever number you got coincided with an insulator. i was lucky-scoring this amethyst insulator.

after returning home from the insulator show- we got ready to go to the downieville classic- the most awesome mountain bike race ever!-right up the road from us. the finish line is right in town.

i was so inspired by the race i got the crazy assed idea that maybe i could do the race by the time i turn 50. if i really work hard. hmmm......since there is no local roller derby team to join-i thought maybe this would be a fun idea. maybe i'm nuts.

okay-okay enough of boring you with our vacation. i promise exciting fiber posts soon.