:: once upon a time ::

...there was a girl who had a blog. She ignored her blog, but it was so faithful-- waiting for her to return day after day. 



Hey, that girl sounds like me. Here I am. Returning after being lost, er maybe not lost exactly but ....full of reasons not to blog. Today I attempt to recount some of those reasons! 

 Over Spring Break we found ourselves camping hiking and enjoying the great outdoors at Pinnacles National Park. Now, many people look at me puzzled when I tell them we went there and wonder just where it is. In fact, when we got off the freeway on our way there, Audra sort of freaked out asking, "WHY ARE WE OFF THE FREEWAY?! But this doesn't look right? We need to be on the freeway!" (Um, side note, she didn't even really know how to get there so how would she know what it should look like?!) 

 A few pictures from our trip:

Viewing the Condor Crags from afar

Most of the trails were pretty well shaded, nice!

No worries, he held it up while we hiked past! 

There are caves in Pinnacles that were formed by these giant rocks falling together. See how small we are? 

Audra was bending down right here, near the water and someone came by and alerted her to the snake in the water RIGHT near her-- yikes!! 

Our site: there was a creek right behind us....as evidenced by all the mosquitoes!

Our dessert: pies-- yum! 

Morning shadows! 

A California Condor! They said the wingspan can be up to 10 feet across. That is a Big Bird! 

Now Entering the Balconies Caves

Just follow the arrows...

I did wonder if it was a good idea. Exciting. It was definitely exciting. 

Our final hike had a good view of the Pinnacles (behind us). In front of us were condors, soaring overhead. 

On the way down the kids got a little bit ahead of us, older and slower people. Can you spot them?

Overall it was a great trip. Maybe not one of the National Parks I would say you definitely should visit, but rather plan a visit if you are heading in that direction already. The weather was super while we were there. Most of the trails were 5+ miles long. We did the 3 that were 5 miles or less: Moses Spring Trail to the Reservoir and Caves, Old Pinnacles Trail, and the Condor Gulch Overlook.