Back in California
Happy Memorial Day and greetings from Lake Arrowhead, CA! As I mentioned in my last post, Ginny and I have been staying at my aunt and uncle's house for the past month helping them fix up a property that they recently purchased. So what does that look like? Well, it all depends upon the day! We've dug trenches for new gas lines, done lots of yard work, painted like we're Pablo Picasso and right now we're getting ready for a big yard sale this weekend. It's all good fun and nice to have some work to do for a change! See photos below of beautiful wildflowers blooming up here in the mountains and me in my best Ghostbusters outfit!
It's been great staying in a real house and having a break from life in the van. We do love our van but it is a small space and can get a little old after living in it full time month after month. Plus it's been awesome watching all of the Celtics playoff games with my aunt and uncle the past month - go C's! And we've had some amazing meals (see photo below) and got to see my cousin and our Salt Lake City friends' son play each other in a professional ultimate frisbee game in San Diego (see photo below).
As we've been here on the mountain, there hasn't been a ton of adventure or travel to report upon during the past month. Ginny had a quick trip to LA and I went backpacking for four days with my friend Dan from San Diego a couple weeks ago. When Dan's kids bailed on him, he invited me to join him fairly last minute on his trip to Yosemite and being retired with a lot of flexibility, I told him that I was all in! We had an absolute blast exploring some amazing spots in the Yosemite back country. The rivers and waterfalls were really gushing from all the snow melt and May is a great time to be in Yosemite as the summer crowds have not yet arrived. We spent one night at the Merced Lake High Sierra Camp before it had opened for the season and I did a 15 mile solo trail run up to Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. Vogelsang is above 10,000 feet and the snowline was at 8,500 feet so I was in a winter wonderland for a good part of my run. See photos below from our Yosemite trip.
We have been missing Mexico and are already planning future trips. In case you missed them, I have written a couple blog posts this month summarizing our Mexican trip and listing our top 10 favorite places from our travels south of the border.
So what's next for us? I've been training the past few months for the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon on June 5 so we're planning to head to our old hometown for that next weekend. Unfortunately I had a bad fall last weekend when I was trail running and have either bruised, fractured or broken one of my ribs. So I'm not sure if I'll make it to the start line but am hoping that some rest and a few ibuprofen will get me there. Then we're planning to head to Colorado in a couple weeks where we'll be spending the summer exploring the state in our van. So we're looking forward to a Rocky Mountain High summer!
Sam not traveling for a month = more adventure travel than I have done in 41 years. 🤣 sounds amazing. Say hi to Steve and Nancy!
ReplyDeleteHee, hee, hee...that's funny, Bridget. Will do and I hope all's well with you and the family.
DeleteWe are good! Miss you both. Will you make it back east at all this summer?
DeleteWe won't make it back this summer but are planning a visit in October. We look forward to seeing you then!
Delete