Chillin'

July temps are hitting as high as we've ever seen them, so the only thing on this week's summer to-do list was keep cool.  Luckily, we have multiple scenic ways to do this!  And a few even included Ella!

Yuck.

With our church staff starting to take off on their summer vacations, Dave found himself in another busy week, so he stayed cool in his office a/c.  Delia and I started with an outing to Pinecrest, where we enjoyed a 30 degree drop in temp (so in the 80's!), floating with the geese, reading in the hammock, a mini hike around about a quarter of the lake, and the stop for ice cream that a trip to the lake always requires because it just tastes better up here somehow!

Then we made the most of Ella's day off by ticking things off our Santa Cruz bucket list with her.  First was a stop at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.  She hikes through it with campers each Wednesday, but our family has never seen it, so Ella took us on a little hike.  Temps at the coast were still in the 80's, which is warm for this area, but again better than our 113!  And the shade of the trees did a lot.

We did 2 trails at this state park-- the redwood loop and the river path.  The trellis above is the one the Boardwalk train we rode each summer at MH goes across.

After a yummy lunch at a local café, we put on our waterproof hiking shoes and conquered our favorite Creek Hike.  This was more adventurous than I remembered, with multiple fallen trees to traverse.  Glad we had a professional Adventurer along to guide us! ;)

Ella spends every day enjoying the river from her birds eye view up on her course.  Fun to see it from so far below!  She's looking at level one here (the easiest and lowest to the ground).  We're scheduled to take a tour with her in about a week and a half!

Current, slippery rocks, intentional step choices, obstacles to climb over and around-- this hike is moderately challenging!  Happy to report all ankles remained untwisted and, though there were a few close calls, no one went in the water. 

 We ended by the waterfall, which I climbed in for the first time since I was wearing my bathing suit anyway.  It was FREEZING, but felt SO GOOD after the hard, hot hike.

Next, a hop in the Conference Center pool.

Late afternoon we went for a little drive along the super scenic Highway 1 through Santa Cruz to check out this new spot on the coast-- Shark Fin Cove!  A hike along the windy bluffs had us actually putting sweatshirts on and getting goosebumps!

Can you see the shark fin?  This was a super cool stop, for the scenery and the cold winds!

While driving on this side of Santa Cruz we passed the funky, all pink building that is Ferrell's Donuts.  Ella said all her friends love this place, so we had to stop in and try it!  

It took almost twice as long to get home as it normally does as every person with the same info on their home weather app as us bottlenecked the freeways to leave the cool coast, but we'll take traffic over heat!  Thank you, mountain lakes, shady redwood forests, bubbling creeks, icy waterfalls, the refreshing MH pool, and windy coastal bluffs for helping us survive this heat wave!

Hetch Hetchy Hike

This summer's big hike was taken last week at a part of Yosemite we've never explored: Hetch Hetchy.  The story here is interesting.  Just outside the official boundary of this National Park, Yosemite Valley actually has a twin.  This other valley is supposed to be equal, if not greater, in beauty to the iconic Yosemite Valley.  But, after the big earthquake of 1906, it was decided that a dam would be built to turn this valley into a reservoir that could hold billions of gallons of water should the city ever lose access to fresh water again.   There is no boating, swimming, or fishing here and that the water is stored in a gigantic granite basin keeps it pristine and ready to drink without any treatment.  It also provides a pretty amazing backdrop for the off-the-beaten-path hike to Wapama Falls!  Since Hetch Hetchy is technically Yosemite, even though it's just outside the boundary of it, we couldn't get over how uncrowded it was for a day in June!  We passed maybe a dozen other hikers and were warned that wildlife, everything from bears to bobcats to rattlesnakes, were making daily appearances on the trail!  Thank goodness we never encountered anything other than birds, butterflies, lizards, and squirrels.    

The 5 mile hike starts at the dam.  Having just taken Environmental Science, Delia was all about the lesson in hydro-power!

Then you get to hike through a damp cave for a bit.  Super cool!  

There are meadows of wildflowers to cross.

And granite boulders to climb.  There was just enough elevation gain to get our hearts pumping and require a rest that had us feeling like this:

But, it was not long until the waterfall we'd been admiring from a distance became close enough to start misting us!  Delia made this fun video to show the transition.

We tallied it up while we hiked-- Wapama Falls is the 33rd waterfall we've seen together.  And it was spectacular!  A series of 5 bridges takes you right across the base of it.  We were there late enough in the season that our experience was more mist than soak, but in the spring, these bridges can hardly be traversed because the water pounds so strongly!

The sound of the cascading water was just lovely and the light mist on a hot day was so refreshing.

We parked it on a big boulder at the waterfall base and ate the lunch we carried in our backpacks.  Hiking pro tip: let your reluctant hiker pick the chips.  Even if she picks the small bag that's like $5, it's worth it to have a happy hiker! ;) (Why did it take me 17 years to figure this out?!)  I also gave Delia the job of making a video of our day, so she had some fun filming little clips and editing them together.  She made me three to chose from and I love them all!

This was a hike that's long been on my bucket list and ended up being one we'd recommend!  Beautiful scenery the entire time, an epic waterfall as the destination, and just enough challenging terrain to make you feel accomplished!

This Week In Santa Cruz

While I had a quiet week at home and caught up on garden projects, my 2024 "Book a Week" goal, and coffee dates with friends, our girls were living their best lives working and attending the annual HiCamp up in the Santa Cruz mountains.  A happy reunion of the 4 of us was the grand finale to this fun week!

After 10 intense, but necessary, days of training, Ella easily passed all her evaluations and certifications and was ready to welcome Week One guests to her courses!  She gave 11 tours last week.  Most are for the guests at Family Camp, but there are slots where the course is closed to them and open to the public.  One of her groups this week was Japanese tourists!  She'll guide them through a 2 hour tour on the ropes, but actually spend 4 hours working that shift because it takes twice as long to thoroughly inspect all the gear and the course each time out.  After dropping Delia off up the hill at Ponderosa, I was excited to head down to Family Camp and visit Ella in "her office".  I loved watching her high up in the trees doing her thing, catching zipliners, and encouraging guests through tricky spots.

When her tour ended, we grabbed some dinner-- the BBQ picnic on the lawn that each week of Family Camp opens with. (I wasn't a camper, I just bought a meal ticket.)  Fun this time was sitting not on the lawn with all the other campers and kids, but in the staff section, meeting some of Ella new friends!

We were having a nice visit, when Ella jumped up with her summer staff buddies and said, "We gotta go dance now!"  Part of the opening night festivities is always a skit introducing the theme and a whole staff flash mob.

Ella was already cracking us up with her many funny stories-- and just from the first week!  She's not allowed to use "The F Word" (fall), and we were having lots of fun with that!  One time her tour got cancelled, so they sent her up in the trees with a broom to sweep and knock down any spider webs.  So, she had to do all the obstacles 150 feet up one handed!  She was excited that with Family Camp starting, she'd go down to just working 45 hours a week.  The big ropes course is where she spends most of her time, but she surprisingly loved working the archery range too, where she discovered she's a crack shot with a bow and arrow!   This week she's scheduled for something new-- leading the 9 mile hike through the forest from MH to the Boardwalk!

Week One is when all our church and school friends go to Family Camp, so I LOVED having my phone blow up this week with everyone we knew up there sending me pictures of their tours with Ella.  And as they post their fun MH photos and videos, I'm enjoying spotting Ella in the background of all the adventure shots! ;)  

I already mentioned how she's living with her best high school buddy Maya, but another great friend from HS is working in Day Care this summer too-- Marina!  These 3 are all incredibly busy with different schedules, but enjoying sharing this special summer together.

Delia's week at HiCamp was full of all the powerful worship, challenging messages, invitations to get vulnerable and out of comfort zones, and fabulous fun with friends that it always is.  Delia's calling this year her best yet.  SO much laughter and goofiness with this beloved group of girlfriends she shared a cabin with.  Above, Beach Day.  Below, ready to crush it on Waterslide Day.

Posing on the rock wall.

Rides at the Boardwalk.

A little taste of her group's contribution to Lip Sync Battle Night-- they got first place! (Delia choreographed ;)

All her sweet friends on the last night, which is a Formal Picnic.  She had 2 new girls from down south in her cabin and they were fast friends.  A meet up at the beach is already planned!

One more of the E6 eight!  She spent hours telling us all the fun stories and showing us the probably 100 pictures and videos on her phone.  We pray hard for this week to be impactful for all who attend and the Lord has been faithfully answering for years.  

Since we had to pick up Delia on a Saturday morning, we took advantage of Ella's one day off each week and spent all of it with her!  Both girls were exhausted, so nothing big planned except a lazy day at the Santa Cruz Beach to reconnect.

HiCamp wears ya out!  Delia is not usually a napper, but she fell right to sleep in the soft sand.

After some snoozing, the rest of our hours on the beach were spent chatting and reading...

Playing Flickin' Chicken.  Heather introduced us to this wacky game-- like bocce ball, but with bouncy rubber chickens!  I wildly flung one at a random beachgoer by accident.  He thought it was hilarious!

Walking to both ends of the beach.  Sooo glad to have my girl back!

And some silly crab racing.  Barney, the hermit crab I selected, gave us quite the entertaining show!

Dinner was clam chowder, fried calamari, and a (shared) bacon avocado burger with a view!

And of course a stop for some Marianne's ice cream is a Santa Cruz must!

This was a great day!  My heart was so happy to be all together again and hear all the happy reports of an awesome week.