Pinnacles National Park

During spring break, we were able to check another national park off of our to-see list: Pinnacles. This is the newest park to achieve national park status. There are two entrances, and there is no road connecting the two. We used the west entrance, accessible from Soledad off the 101 highway. The road is one lane for the majority of the time, but luckily, it was not too busy.

We stopped by the visitor center and watched the short movie. This was the smallest "theater" we have seen in a national park.

We ate lunch near the trailhead and saw a snake at one of the other picnic benches. (No picture).

Next, we embarked on the Balconies Cliffs Cave Loop, which is 2.4 miles round trip. When I asked the park ranger whether it was suitable for kids, he assured me that "kids love it".

Dry river bed--how sad.

This is where things started to get hairy.
Although we had flashlights and head lamps, as modeled by D, the cave was quite dark, narrow and steep. I do not even have pictures of the scariest parts because I had to put away my camera for safety. D had to carry n for some parts because the rocks were too large to scale. It was also difficult to see how much further we had to go, so I asked D if he thought we should turn back. Usually when I do this, D insists we forge on, but this time he agreed with me! So, we did not do the loop, but traced our way back to the beginning. I'm not sure why the ranger would recommend this trail for kids our age. I also would not recommend it for older people who are unsteady on their feet or larger people (as there are some places where you really have to squeeze to get through).
The rest of the trail was quite pretty, so I did not mind hiking it twice. This may upset some people, but I am not quite sure that Pinnacles "deserves" to be a national park. To me, national parks need to be spectacular, and this one did not quite meet the mark (although we did not see all of it, of course, so maybe I should reserve my judgment).

San Diego Safari Park, Part Deux

During Spring Break, the park opened up at 8 a.m.! We arrived just a little after it opened. The weather was a little chilly, and it was not very crowded--perfect!


D has decided his favorite animal is the Cheetah, since it is the fastest land animal.
Our tram tour guide was funnier this time, so it was still interesting.


We were also able to see the bird show for the first time, which we all enjoyed.

Butterfly Exhibit @ San Diego Safari Park

We had a fun Spring Break, but are sad that it is already over! We kicked it off by going to the San Diego Safari Park with our passes. One of the highlights was walking through the temporary butterfly pavilion. They are such beautiful, fascinating creatures. If you want them to land on you, I would advise wearing bright colors!

The employees are very careful to make sure that no one leaves the pavilion with a hitchhiking butterfly. They make you spin around and shake your bags. n ended up being quite anxious to leave. I think the butterflies were starting to creep him out, even though he would not admit it.

Wedding Fun

Last month we attended the wedding of one of my college roommates. It has been a while since we have been to a wedding. Since the kids were not with us, it was like a date!

The centerpieces were surrounded by old pictures of the bride/groom with the guests that were seated at the table.

During the lunch reception, we had steak and salmon!

So happy for this lovely couple!

There were homemade desserts and lawn games after the lunch!

Hip Hop Violin

A couple of weeks ago we were able to see a hip hop violinist named Josh Vietti. He is an Orange County native, and he was giving back to our school district by performing a benefit concert. It was a very interactive performance (I would have preferred not to be asked to stand up so much!), and his talent is amazing. You should check him out on YouTube!

We hope that everyone had a lovely Easter! This year we took some Easter pictures at a local park with a lemon grove. n was going for the Pharrell Williams look of a dress shirt and tie with shorts. He also rocked the black knee high socks with a sports stripe up the back. I had k wear the same Easter dress she has worn since kindergarten. Hey, if it still fits, why not, right? :)