Summer Fun

Dear July 2010,
How did you arrive so quickly? I am enjoying the adventures you bring and hope that you never end.

July 3 - Beach Day in Point Reyes National Seashore
The stairs down to the light house were a bit tedious, but worth the walk. Did you know the light house was first lit on my birthday 107 year before I was born? It's such an amazing and dynamic coast to explore. After wandering the windy light house point, we spent the afternoon on Drake's Beach. We found a spot a bit sheltered from the wind, ate our delicious picnic, took a nap, and then dove into the sand. A dug a hole almost to China, but ran into some water. He built a sand wall, I built sand turtles. I named them Tommy and Teddy Turtle. When we left, we encouraged some kids to use our hole play with the turtles.

July 4 - Mom and the USA's Birthday
A great family day of lunch, birthday cake, monopoly, and fire works. The birthday cake (made by my Sis) was super creative. It had cupcakes on top of the cake! The garden themed cake was decorated with vegetables and flowers. It was almost too pretty to eat. Almost. Of course, we all ate and enjoyed it.

July 7 - Yankees vs Oakland A's
I have become quite a baseball fan this season. I will always love the Red Sox, although they are harder to follow from the west coast. Thus, I've been attending Giants and A's games this season. The Giants have been of great interest to me this summer but you can't go wrong with $2 Wednesday's at the Oakland A's stadium. My sister and I cheered for opposing teams during this Yankees vs A's game. She has a thing for the Yankees...and they are quite good. Coco Crisp and Ryan Sweeney (my favorite A's players) just weren't having the best luck that night. I just love being at a ball park and watching the kettle corn guy dance.

July 9 - Tuolomne Meadows Lodge
We arrived at the tent cabins in Tuolomne Meadows, Yosemite, reconnected with some of A's high school pals and made some new friends with happy hour (snacks!) in the high sierras.

July 10 - Hike to Clouds Rest
Fueled with oatmeal and bananas, A and I hiked 7 miles from Tenaya Lake to Clouds Rest.

Starting elevation: 8,000 feet.
Elevation of Clouds Rest: 9,600 feet.
Number of mosquitos: relentless

Yosemite is hands down, my favorite place in the world. To experience this hike, and the view from Clouds Rest for the first time was incredible. I have hiked to the top of Half Dome four times and thought that was a treat. The view from Clouds Rest looks down on Half Dome and provides a 360 degree view of the Sierras including Yosemite Valley. It showed me there is soooo much more to the Sierras than my beloved Yosemite Valley. I'm eager to explore it all.

July 11 - Introduction to Rock Climbing
Our Yosemite pals, have recently picked up the hobby of rock climbing. We went to the base of Daft Dome (in Tuolomne Meadows) and watched as they morphed into spider people scrambling up the face of the rock. It was a great introduction to the basics of rock climbing (what gear you need, how to move on a rock, how tiny a "juicy" grab really is, etc). Our wobbly legs were not up for an attempt that day, but appreciate knowing a little more about it.

Thanks again, July, for all of the fun. I look forward to the adventures yet to come.

Sincerely,
C-Bart