One More For Now

We went to Mass this morning at the chapel on base...there was a mother of man children at the breakfast served afterwards who has been waiting to meet us.  Michael has told her "ALL" about us...when I told her we love national parks and we were glad to have them on the trip, she asked which ONE we had visited.  I laughed...and told her we had been to eight parks in the last week.  She grabbed hold of Michael's arm and gasped!  I wish I had taken a picture of her face!

I think she would be even more surprised to know that we went to another one today.  Especially since we were trying to get to a home improvement store and decided it was not too far out of the way.  We left at noon and did not arrive at the store until after 5 pm.

I am thankful we decided to return to the house to change before we left.  We also made a quick dinner.  The chapel has free bread after the Mass for anyone interested.  A unique way to get members to come together which seems quite fitting to the breaking of bread.  Zaira insisted that we needed a large loaf of French style bread.   So, when we arrived home we made an original pizza before heading out the door.

The drive to the park was nice.  I was glad to be able to do this as our pass was going to expire at the end of the month and Michael had to be present to pick up our veterans pass for the upcoming year.  SO...it was worth the drive to get us set for the new year.  We really did not plan on staying at the Pinnacles National Park as long as we did; however, when we arrived the parking lot was full and there was a wait to get into the main road of the park.  We chose to pull into the side and go to the visitor center.  Of course, we had to complete a Junior Ranger workbook.  The ranger was pretty uptight (highly unusual for a ranger) so I prayed she would not be there when we returned.  I chalked up to having a bad day...we are all entitled to a few now and then...we went on our way.

After working on a trail close to the visitor center for a few minutes, we decided to wait in line to go on the road with everyone else.  After a few minutes of waiting, we drove through the park and saw quail and A LOT of birds.  One of the most amazing things about this park are the many types of rock formations in one area and the rehabilitation work for the California Condor.  The rangers are trying to renew the population of this bird.  We had hoped to see one but we did not get far enough into the mountains to have a chance.

The most amazing part for me was seeing the various plants in the area.  Chapperel are the various shrubs that grow in the area.  There are so many different types that it is hard to believe they all grow together in the same place.  There are shrubs with spiny leaves.  Others with waxy leaves.  There was a shrub that was covered in orange vines that felt like plastic...I am not sure if these were considered leaves but they were very waxy, thin and flexible.  There were also thistles with red flowers.

When we returned to the visitor center, the same ranger was there to help us review our books to earn badges.  She was very impressed that the children completed so many activities (They only needed to complete 6 but they did the entire booklet!).  I told her that they love the programs at the parks and how many we had gone to recently.  She was very happy to help us and completely changed her attitude.  She even pulled out her Ranger poster for the children to pose with the condor.  I am so glad she knew how much we appreciate the ranger's work to make our parks special.

We did finally make it to the store and got things to help us make our house a home.  On the way we saw the clouds rolling over the top of the mountains.  It looked like a huge wave coming over the mountains.  We started out the morning with a fog rolling into the bay.  Then we had a beautiful sunny day at the park.  We ended with a cloudy evening back on the bay.  This was all within 50 miles...truly amazing!

Tomorrow I hope to put up some pictures and arrange some more items before we pack up to head to Washington to be with Christina.

I can hardly believe we will be with her to help with the new baby.  The time has gone by so quickly.  Another adventure as we travel 900 miles to be with her and then the real adventure begins!  I cannot wait to meet little Madison Rose!  I am truly blessed to be allowed to be a part of this experience.  I look forward to sharing with all of you as well.