2014 – Page 8 – Pandaberry Trail

Knapp’s Castle Part 2

We loved Knapps Castle so much, we had to bring our friend Allie back to check it out!

Knapp’s Castle is a mansion that burned down due to a forest fire in 1940. The panoramic view of Lake Cachuma and the Santa Ynez Valley is amazing. I am so glad we got to see this Santa Barbara treasure!

Family Reunion!

We had a family reunion with my mom’s side of the family at Tucker’s grove. Many people hadn’t seen each other in years-there were many hugs going around. _MG_6996

Cousin catch up time.

Patrick surprised us all and flew in from Indiana!

Getting the grandkid time in!

Kim loves being a grandmother.

Kaireyah was getting lots of love!
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Our picnic tables were set with plenty of flowers and food. P1020496

Jackson approved!

After lunch, it was time for games!

The bats were a big hit!

Kayson, the little slugger!

Casey was teaching Larry about frisbee golf.

We were right next to the horseshoe pits.What a good looking family! 🙂

Happy Father’s Day!

We love you guys so so so so much! We hope you have a great day!

Lee Vining Trip 2014

Fueling up for a week of fun!

We helped “un-winterize” the house, taking boards off the windows and cleaning up branches.

Penny supervised while we tended to the lawns.

Their woodpile is the perfect lizard hotel. Check out the eggs in the gravid female on the left!

Showing off for me 🙂

Love the wildlife up there!

We walked down to Lee Vining Creek, which took us along a trail to the visitor’s center.

We went several times, and found this treasure!The water was really flowing in the creek!
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We worked up an appetite for Mono Cone.

Meanwhile, Penny was living the mountain dog life.

We took a trip towards Mammoth and visited Devils Post Pile.

It is a columnar hexagonal basalt formation caused by the cooling of lava!

Penny is such an adventure dog.

Here we are on the top, you can see the hexagonal shape of the rock.

On a bridge overlooking Soda Springs Meadow.

Such a pretty place!

We stopped at Starkweather Lake on the way out.

Penny loved splashing around in it. P1020109

A view of the jagged Minarets.

We found this old lime kiln one day when we were out scoofin’.

Doing what we do best-wandering around in nature.

Picnic time!

The Lundy Lake beaver pond.

Too gorgeous.

We went out shooting one day. Penny was the supervisor.

Casey beat us all.

We headed out with Casey’s grandpa one day to go to Saddlebag Lake.

It was a day of 6 miles of hiking at 10,000 feet.

I carried Penny across the shale and snow for the first mile.

Papa brought little Aivary’s book and wore her footprint shirt <3

Papa making an offering at Steelhead lake

Visiting his grandfather’s old cabin. Gus Hess is the “father of Lee Vining” and used to work in the mines back here.

Mt. Dana looking stormy on the drive back.

We headed to Mammoth for a day and loved this sign.

Tufa time!

These formations are found around Mono Lake.

The towers form when underwater, calcium rich springs mix with carbonate rich lake water.

This reaction forms limestone and over time, the buildup forms the towers.

The tufa became exposed when the water level of Mono Lake dropped.

Papa giving us a goodbye blessing.

The whole gang!

Until next time! What a wonderful trip!

“Going to the mountains is going home.” -John Muir

Changes.

Today was Casey’s last day of work at Sansum clinic. We also just found out that we will not be staying in CA for Casey’s medical school, we will be moving to Virginia! Casey received the news yesterday that he got into one of his top choices-Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute in Roanoke, VA. A school where research is a primary focus and all the students graduate with an additional certificate in translational research. Their curricular blend of medicine, research, and technology, as well as the fact that it is situated in a smaller town right near the appalachian mountains, makes it a great fit for Casey.