Sugarloaf Ridge

This weekend we went camping at Sugarloaf Ridge in Sonoma. It's a cute little campground with about 50 sites, all set round a meadow that deer bravely run across every evening around dusk. There were also tons of frogs, crickets, wild turkeys(!?) and birds to be seen as you walked around. We arrived on Saturday around 5, after a few hours of traffic (boo) and a stop at The Girl and the Fig where Levi claime he had the best burger of his life (yay). He was still talking about it on Sunday, so I think he's telling the truth. Thanks for the suggestion, Mom!

On Sunday morning we woke up and started out on the hike up Bald Mountain. I had directions for a nice little loop, just over 5 miles, great for a day hike. We were going to take it slow and just enjoy the wonderful scenery like you see here, of mountians, birds, clouds etc.

Then we saw a tarantula! Can you see him? He's really well camoflauged, but he's a big guy.
We reached the top after about an hour, took a lunch break and checked out the view. You can see to the Sierras from the top of Bald Mountain!

Then we decided to head back to camp. We had some really gorgeous views of mountains, like you see here.

I was also amazed by the HUGE wishies that were growing around the top of the mountain.

After a while we ran into a dead end. Whoops! Turns out we took the wrong trail and had gone a mile and a half in the wrong direction. So then we had to hike all the way back UP to get to the top, where we had just been, then go back down the correct way. So we added an extra 3 miles to our day, and as Levi said, "We made it to the top, going uphill both ways!" We look happy here, but this was before the wrong turn...

We made it back and were totally famished! Levi cooked spaghetti while I got this shot of the sunset. It was really beautiful, and a bit of calm at the end of our long day.

Overall it was a really fun weekend, and only an hour and a half away (without traffic) but a real getaway compared to the usual weeks in the city. Fun!

Laundry Day

This week has been overwhelming for a number of reasons, so this weekend was the perfect antedote. We stayed in all day Saturday, relaxing, watching movies and sleeping way, way in. We headed to Zo's birthday party in San Bruno which was really fun, then spent today watching the runners finish the Bay to Breakers race, eating lunch and staying horizontal as much and as often as possible. Now we just cracked open a bottle of wine, Levi's working on a pizza with whatever's in the fridge and cupboards, the foors need vacuuming, the bathroom needs scrubbing, but for the first time in months I am not doing anything but sitting around and trying not to do anything. I thought it would be stressful, but it's actually great. Perfect weekend.

It's My Birthday!

Here I am jumping into my last year as a twentysomething! On the beach at Costa Noa.
Token kissy-face shot!
Levi checking out the rocks.
We took a long hike down the coastline. It was chilly and windy, but really beautiful!
Look at me, I'm on the beach!
Inlet
Cool rock
Levi's rock pile.
Another cool rock, smoothed by the waves.
It was an awesome birthday. We stayed at the lodge in Costa Noa, went in the hot tub and passed out in front of the fire, then today took a hike, got massages and came back to our special bottle of wine which, as I sit here sipping it, can tell you it was worth every penny!
As for being 29, so far so good!