covenant sister hike/cache

Sat. Jan 3, 2009. visit to Manteca with becky and laurie. spent friday nite at lauries. looked for 2 geocache's in the eve. realized i needed to keep a flashlight in my car if i am going to do that; and also keep some digging gloves handy. any way, we found one by big dreams ball park in manteca and a cleaver small one in a nearby park. clever because it was hid like a hide a key, with a magnet in a small tic tac container with log only attached under metal pipes. next day we went for a walk and cache in Caswell state park. as far as the hiking goes it is just about flat the whole way -- very nice walk though. we were having so much fun with the geo cache and that is where our energies were (little that we had after barely any sleep). we found 3. a very challenging one at the end of day with all the brush and trees around. again - a fair walk -- no real exercise done though; but fun with friends and geocaching!! and another fun photo op!

i can now geocache!! :-)

dec. 26
the kids got me the hand held gps for christmas! i am so happy because i thought i would have to wait longer for it!! mike and i also got some cool walking sticks! gotta be that serious hiker and treasure hunter now :-)
i picked out 4 geo cache sites to venture to in american canyon area just for the test of it. shauna, jimmy, mike and i went looking. we didn't find anything :-( jimmy and shauna keep teasing me that it is not really a thing and i made it up! one site we couldn't get to. one was at kirkland ranch and we looked at the obvious but couldn't find anything. got to see kirkland ranch up closer though and it is pretty. one site was by the grape crusher statue at the entrance of napa. we also couldn't find that one but that was the first time i went up close to that statue and sitting area. the last was by the napa airport and nothing there as well. that one had garbage around it and it kind of smelled. i think i will go back to both the statue and kirkland at some point to look. that is if the geocache site answers my response to looking and tells me it is still there. there are a lot of sites out there so loads for me to venture and and look! and several in skyline so next time mike and hike there we can put several locations in the gps. maybe today!

another walk in the park

dec. 23 - napa river walk. walked for 1 hour with ella and jimmy and shauna. same ole flat paved walk only this time i had the privilege of being with shauna and jimmy :-) they came up the previous night from Lancaster. we had some great conversation and it was a pleasant walk. ella chased a rather large jack rabbit -- she was so excited! havent' walked for a bit so it was nice to get out!

more of a play date with Ella . . .

saturday - dec. 13 - mike, ella and i set out to do liken the hiken #2 -- going a bit further up through skyline park. as we got there though we noticed the hiking path volunteers at the gate putting up a new sign and we knew they would probably inform us we couldn't take ella in so we opted for going toward the river to do the flat, paved river path. we entered the path by the pond and realized it was a great playing ground for ella with all the ducks!! so we stayed and watched her play around -- how happy and energetic she is when running wild!! she ran those ducks into the air --- she ran them over the rail road tracks -- she ran till she was so tired and till she was very thirsty :-)
and wet and very stinky and oh so very pleased with herself !!!











she still had energy to boot and we walked and hour by the river on the paved flat path -- turns out mike and i didn't really have the energy for the longer more energetic paths in skyline!!! but it was a fun day. and yes, kelly, it was chilly -- mike called it cold -- i called it brisk --with a wind. but still pleasant! and you are more than welcome to come on a walk with me anytime!!

I liken the hiken!

That is mike's idea for a title :-) sunday dec. 7
a little late -- but last sunday we went for a hike on the napa river to ridge. it is the extension of the previous blog on the napa river. instead of going by the river we parked in the college parking lot and crossed soscol -- this takes you to the entrance to Skyline park. it was a gradual up hill hike - a little muddy in one part -- mostly a narrow path through bush and trees and then opens up as you get higher. you can overlook the city of napa. this has felt the most like hiking so far -- so i guess I can truly call this one a hiking blog instead of just walking :-) we did about 2 hour and 45 minutes. we turned back as we got deeper into skyline park -- more out of time than out of energy. i must say 2 things about this day -- one is that we had a work party the previous night and i think i did too many tequila shots :-0 and didn't feel great that whole day but i felt the best while walking (making sure I drank lots of water)! and we did bring Ella inspite of the sign at the entrance that said no dogs. :-0 i guess i was a bad girl that weekend!! this proved to be a good walk/ talk with mike. he has been so busy and 'gone' with his new job -- but we had the chance to discuss 'things' and pray for concerns.
he just informed me this morning that he would like to head back up there today and go longer and deeper into skyline. there are a few different paths you can take to make it worth it.
this is also an extension of the Bay area ridge trail. the one I learned about on our benicia hike. on the internet I learned this about that trail:

Description: The Bay Area Ridge Trail is a planned multi-use 500-mile ridgeline trail that encircles the San Francisco Bay Area through nine counties. When completed, it will link more than 75 public parks and open space preserves along the ridgelines surrounding San Francisco Bay.

i figure this may be a good trail to do in sections through the year. if I plan right and start driving further than my close area of napa and benicia.

well, i better get going if we are to walk longer today!!

a nice brisk napa walk

Dec. 4 (thursday) napa river walk.
today I opted for a brisk 1 hour walk along the napa river trail. i have walked this trail last month and placed pictures and my thoughts on this trail so I won't do that again. suffice it to say it was a nice, flat, and quick paced walked along the path. i didn't go as far as i did with mike when we had that lunch once we hit Napa. I did go with lesley and ella though. nice walk and talk with lesley.
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i call these little outings on paths like these walks because after all there really is no hiking involved but hey, I was out there! still looking forward to the times I get our for some real and longer day hikes!!

Wandering around one of my favorite places!

Fri. Nov. 21 : Santa Barbara - the weather, variety of place to go, the beauty, the peace, the healthy environment; memories of young motherhood and marriage -- such good memories!! I am thankful for a lot of things - yet one in particular is that I had the opportunity to live here at one time, and now to visit occasionally. It gets harder to leave each time!
today mike and I (and ella of course) ventured out to find a good walk/hike. now I have planned for the past few years to do some good hiking here when I have the chance and even have the map of hiking places in SB. yet this visit was a last minute thought and hiking was not the priority so I was not really prepared. didn't have the map. i took a quick look on the Internet, asked a friend where to go and off we went not really knowing the path we would take. we started up painted cave road in the SB hills hoping to find good path (as my friend told me we would see them off the road). after getting to just about the top of the mountain and some good winding and turning; and a quick stop to actually peak inside a rock cave with actually paintings from the Chumash indians from a long time ago , we came to a parking spot and found a trail. the trail was a nice one with some different vegetation than napa. the path came to an unexpected end with a great overlook of the city and the ocean. although this day was a bit overcast so the view was a bit obscured -- still pretty. because the path ended before we were ready to stop walking we needed to find another spot. this trail gave us about 40 minutes with 2 good aerobic hills. after winding off painted cave road we realized we were half way to Cachuma lake and decided to see what good walk that had for us. Cachuma lake is pretty and with very clean water ) i learned it is actually the water SB uses in the city and therefore there is no swimming for people or dogs. they have 4 good hiking trails with different distances. because it was getting late and we already walked we decided to take a smaller trail next to the lake away from campers. (yes, it has a good campsite and I would consider camping there in the future). it turned out this trail was too short but enjoyable! for today as far as hiking goes it felt a bit scattered and too short but the day was excellent with mike -- the driving, the mystery of where we were actually going :-), the calm and peaceful feeling.
Next time in SB I will bring that hiking map and plan a good long day hike - maybe a few :-)!!

Sat. Nov. 22 Coastal hike : before heading back home we wanted to take a good walk with nikelle. so seth, mike, nikelle, and ella parked in Goleta and took the coastal hike. this was a very enjoyable hike. it took us through a neat little forest of trees. not really sure the name of the trees -- yet they were real twisty. and out to the top of a hill above the beach. following this trail along this hill gradually brings you to beach level. after a quick romp on the beach (ahhhh the smell, feel and sound of the ocean :-) we headed back. all together I believe the walking was about 30 minutes each way. and a wet and dirty little time for ella!!









it was a very good thanksgiving weekend!! and 26 year anniversary for mike and I -- 16 years after our renewal celebration!!