First Camping Trip of the Year

A couple of weeks ago Brian, Kiersta, and I headed over to Henry Coe Park for a one-night camping trip with two other families.  Since I am quite pregnant, we decided to take the old VW Vanagon and sleep in the car instead of a tent.  Another plus, little set up or tear down time was involved.  I also have to point out that it had been 6-months to the day since my Dad passed away and it seemed very appropriate to be camping, something my dad loved nearly more than anything else.  The two other families have girls who used to go to Kiersta's pre-school and were her best friends while they attended the school.   They don't see each other too often these days, so it was really fun to see the three of them having so much fun together for an extended period of time.

Isabella, Amne, and Kiersta on the top bunk of the Vanagon.

After a night of relatively little sleep, those mattresses are hard!, we went out hiking, and letterboxing.  We hiked for about 3 miles total in over 95 degree heat.  We found all three of the boxes we were looking for as well as a rattle snake--the first I've ever seen in the wild! 

Henry Coe is known for its spring wildflowers and we saw many.  Here are a few:

Poppies

Wildflowers that I don't know the name of.

Iris

Towards the end of our first hike of the day, Kiersta and I took a little rest near an old gate as we waited for our friends to catch up with us. After this hike, we had lunch, and then our friends left.  Brian, Kiersta, and I went for one more hike.  There was one more letterbox to find in the park and I wasn't going to let it pass me by. Henry Coe is only a few freeway exits away from where we live, but it takes nearly an hour to drive into the park down a long windy road. We had a lot of fun on this trip, for the most part, and I think it would be well worthwhile to come back and explore this park further when the weather and my body are more cooperative.

Letterboxing in Pacifica

On my final day of freedom; the last where Kiersta was in school and I wasn't, as well as no baby, I joined my mom and her friend Sharon for a day of letterboxing in Pacifica.  I had heard that the weather was supposed to be cool and overcast, so I put on long pants and a long-sleeved shirt and grabbed a jacket to bring along.  However, the day ended up being just lovely with lots of sunshine, so much so that I came home with a sunburn.  Here are some highlight pictures of our day out on the coast of California.

Luckily I knew just where to go if a tsunami were to strike.

Here's my mom waiting patiently while we finish stamping in.  

It wasn't hard to wait though with a view like this though.

One of the many coastal flowers we saw.

We made a stop at the Point Montara Lighthouse, which I had never been to before despite frequenting the local beaches in high school and having one of my best friends live in Montara at one point in her life.  It was a nice area with great views but not quite as spectacular as the lighthouse at Pigeon Point, a bit further south.  As you can see, there is no fog anywhere and I felt overdressed.

Our final stop of the day was at a small scrapbooking store in El Granada that was going out of business.  They also were hosting a letterbox, so that seemed like a great reason to stop in and do some shopping.  Interestingly enough, a letterboxing friend of mine, WyndRyders and her two kids, had been in the very same store just a few hours before us. Great minds think alike apparently! :)

Here I am, quite pregnant, wondering which way to go next.

Home, coffee, and a bathroom were all I really wanted.