Our Adventure

I decided we needed an adventure on Wednesday. We used to always take long drives and just go places. But a car that is a little too small, lots of kids and no money for gas have edged into our car drives. But I decided it was time. Cameron had Veteren's Day off and so did the kids. We loaded some snacks, the backpack carrier, the dog and the kids into the car.

The first stop was a park in Big Bear. We let the kids run and play on the equipment. Ashling accomplished the monkey bars (her first time doing this was on Monday.) and they played on the slides. I raced Ashling to the car and I won! (I was too worried that Ali would win to race her.)

Then we drove over the summit and down towards San Grogonio. It is still a beautiful mountian and I feel accomplished to even see it. I was impressed with Sugarloaf Mountain and think it would be a good place for a ski resort. I also decided I want to try skiing at Snow Summit this winter.

We stopped at Fish Creek trailhead. The kids had a snack and we played around looking for rocks and things people had forgotten. Then we loaded on the backpacks and started hiking.

We had been wanting to go to Aspen Grove to see the fall colors but Soccer games and painting houses got in our way and we didn't make it. The fall colors were over but the grove was still beautiful! There are not many places in our mountains where Aspen trees grow and I love them! Someday our yard will be another place where aspen trees grow!

We enjoyed a beautiful end of fall day. The forest was quiet. Most of the animals seemed to be asleep. Even the birds were not around. The forest was waiting for snow to blanket the ground and cover everything. It seemed as if winter had come but it was missing snow. I could feel the anticipation in the air for a storm we hoped would come.
The trail goes right under this tree. It has been burned. It is leaning way over. But it is still alive and it thrives. It is the tree for my motto... don't let anything that happens in life destroy you!

We hiked up the mostly flat canyon for a little ways. It was a nice trail and one I highly recommend. It did slope uphill but in an easy way that anyone could handle. We decided that we are going to bring the kids here for a backpacking trip sometime. Most of the way the trail meanders very closely to the creek. It was nice to be hiking by water for once. The kids grew tired and we stopped in a clearing by the water to play.

Ali found some rocks and decided that she would carry them home. Her arms were tired and she asked if I would hold them but she managed to carry them the whole way!

After the hike we drove down the dirt road for awhile and then headed back to Big Bear and civilization again. Once again we saw an injured motorcycle rider who had got in an accident that was not their fault. (It is not a matter of it but when for motorcycle riders. Our advice is just don't ride them.) We made it home a little renewed by our adventure and the kids had fun.