Girl Power

Look at those smiles on our faces. We were three girls about to head out into the mountains by ourselves and do our first backpacking trip without boys (and for some of us first time backpacking…ever). We were pretty stoked. This all started when Rebecca and I started hiking together. We were having so much fun going on hikes every weekend that I said, why not try backpacking. Of course Rebecca was on board. So we started planning. We thought since this was a first time trip for some and a….its been awhile for others (me) that we should take it easy, short hike, close location and not to desolate. 

Point Reyes was the perfect location for us. After doing some research and being able to book the last spot available it was meant to be. We decided that we would leave Santa Rosa at about 7:00 in the morning, grab some breakfast and get to the visitors center hopefully around 8:30-9:00ish. We figured with about 25lb packs that it would take us a few hours to hike into our site and anyone who was there before us had till noon to be gone.

We arrived at the visitor center….well probably a little later then we had hoped but still, we were there. Our dear friend Stephanie was out late the night before so we let her sleep in the car while Rebecca and I headed in to get our permit. The man who gave us all of our information was an interesting fellow. He was very informative though.  While we were there they mentioned that Arch Rock was closed due to a rock slide. I didn't really think a thing of it until we returned from our trip and found out that people had died from that rock slide. So sad.

We got back to the car, put our packs on and off we went! We had already mapped out which trails we were going to take to get to our campsite. It would be a total of 6 miles. The forecast was calling for possible rain. As we hiked we were thankful for the cool weather because we heated up quickly lugging those big packs around.

The scenery was gorgeous! As we weaved through the trees it almost felt like we were in the jungle. Everything was so green. It reminded us of Jurassic Park. At one point it felt like it might be raining but because we were under the large trees they were only large rain drops that were very sporadic. About halfway into the hike…maybe a little more we finally came out onto the bluffs and could see the ocean. It was so beautiful. It seemed as though we had also found the sun and blue skies as well! 

After hiking up hill it was now back down to the beach to find our campsite. When we finally arrived we were a little surprised. For getting the last camp available we were the ONLY people there. I thought it was a little strange but maybe people were a little worried about the rain in the forecast. We found our site, #12 and it was time to set up our tents. We had a minor issue because Rebecca had a new tent that she had never set up and I was completely forgetting how to set mine up. We worked through it though. Once we figured things out it was time to cook some lunch and on the menu was our freeze dried chicken fajita mix and tortillas! They actually turned out to be quite good.  

When lunch was done we thought we would go explore. We started hiking and then realized that it would probably start to get dark by the time we wanted to head back to camp so we turned around. Our new plan was to take our wine down to the beach and watch the sunset.  Well there wasn't much of a sunset with the fog coming in but we were still able to enjoy our wine and watch the whales! Before we knew it, it was already time to start dinner. We were all hungry so we decided to cook our chicken teriyaki with rice and mac and cheese….cause why not? So we ate, and ate and ate.  Now it was dark and with no camp fires allowed it was time to head to bed.  It was a good thing we did because not long after we got into our tents the rain came!  Throughout the night I would wake up by the sound of rain. It was really coming down. 

The next morning we woke up to no more rain.  We also woke up to the trash from the raccoons breaking into the raccoon bin and stealing everything! All our granola bars, nuts and oatmeal, gone.  Well nothing sounded better then to pack up camp, hike out and get ourselves some FOOD. And thats exactly what we did. 

We pretty much booked it out of there.  It probably only took us about 2 and half hours to hike back out.  And by the end of our hike we were really starting to feel everything, the sorness, the blisters and the tiredness. We made it back to the car for one final after picture and then it was off to get FOOD!

I felt so accomplished and proud that we were able to do this. There is no better feeling. Thanks ladies for making this trip with me! I will never forget all the memories we made. Until next time.

Smith River

Its finally time for me to talk about our Smith River trip. Zac and I decided that we wanted to take a little trip, just the two of us. Originally we thought we would get some good fishing in but because of how clear the water was the fishing just wasn't good. However, that didn't  matter because we still had the most amazing time!

Zac had to work Friday and didn't get off work till Saturday morning so as soon as he got home we started our drive up north. It worked out nicely because I ended up having to leave work early Friday night because I was sick. So even though I would of liked to take off earlier it was nice to have a day (Saturday) to be able to just sit in the truck and not do anything. Luckily by Sunday I was feeling much better.

It took us about five and half hours to get there. I have never been that far north on the 101. It was a very beautiful scenic drive. Its always a little nerve wracking heading to an unknown place….. I don't mean going to the Smith River, I just mean renting a cabin just from the pictures….you just never know!

Luckily when we arrived it was beautiful! Zac, ya done good. As we got settled in it just kept getting better and better. We were staying on a ranch. There was a large main house where Im assuming the owners lived and then throughout the property not only did we have the river coming right through but also three little cabins. We stayed in the Ravens Nest. It had a full kitchen VERY well stocked. A living room, bedroom, two bathrooms, laundry and my favorite part a deck with a hot tub that looked out onto the river. Heaven.


Like I said, by Sunday I was starting to feel MUCH better. Nothing that a little hot tubbin doesn't fix. We arrived to the cabin around 5:00, just in time to start making dinner. So we cooked dinner, went in the hot tub and headed to bed.  The next morning we woke up and were ready to check the place out. We cooked some breakfast and then walked down to the river rods in hand.  We started off right by the cabin and after getting no bites moved from one hole to the next. We found this one spot that was absolutely gorgeous. (See first picture) Its like we had our own private beach, the teal water AND a waterfall. If it wasn't so cold out I would of loved to walk right in and go for a swim. Might have to go back sometime in the summer when its a little warmer out. By then it was already lunch time so we headed back to our cabin to make lunch. We did a little more fishing afterwards and then back to the cabin to settle in for the night.

For day two we headed back to our gorgeous fishing hole just to give it another try. After no bites we decided we would hop in the truck and do a little exploring. We did some research  and decided to try out another fishing hole that was further down the river. We saw a few drift boats going down the river while we were there. I felt kind of bad because the fishing wasn't very good and Im thinking those poor people probably paid $400 to drift down the river and not catch anything….but hopefully they had better luck then we did.

So like I said, even though the fishing was no good the scenery was so beautiful it really didn't matter. We had so much fun just being outside and enjoying each others company.

The water was so turquoise it almost looked like someone put dye in it! So our second day it was a little warmer. We were actually able to take off our coats and enjoy the sun. We tried our fishing a bit more at our new hole and then decided it was time to explore…even more! So back in the truck and off we drove up the coast. Zac was in the mood for a milkshake so we were trying to find that for him. We almost made it to Oregon but then decided we might have better luck if we head towards crescent city.  So we found a place to get some food and then headed over to the beach to check that out.

And that was the final day at the Smith River. Our last night at the cabin was dinner and the hot tub. Perfect end to a perfect getaway.

Hopefully we will be able to plan another trip up there when we can catch some salmon! Until next time.

"I am most

ALIVE

among the 

TALL trees"

Fishing Post

Im going to give you the good news AND the bad news. The good news it that Zac and I had an amazing weekend last weekend up at the Smith River. The bad news is Im not posting about it tonight….and….I lost my wallet.

What I AM going to talk about tonight is a wonderful little fishing day we had a few weekends ago. My best friend Janelle was able to come up and visit me which was SO much fun. Zac had been gone for 16 days so I was trying to keep as busy as possible. Monday (day 17) had come around and Janelle headed back to So Cal and Zac finally came home from So Cal! We decided to spend the day out at sea and tried to do a little sturgeon fishing. As you can see from the picture above, the bay was pretty much a lake. I could not get over how beautiful it was. There is something about being out on the water with it looking like glass. 

I of course assumed it was going to be chilly, because lets face it…it almost always is! Well to both mine and Zacs surprised it really warmed up out there! The sun came out and we had to remove jackets and sweatshirts. I probably could have had a bikini on! The nice thing about sturgeon fishing is you weigh 

 anchor, put the rods out and then just get to sit back an relax until you see that little bump. It a pretty chill type of fishing, especially compared to salmon where you are working down riggers and constantly moving.

I think we were out there for a few hours and didn't have any luck with the sturgeon but we did end up catching a striper bass and what we believe it s haibut…I say believe because we have just never seen one with the strange colors it had. That the thing I like about ocean fishing. I feel like even if you don't catch what you are aiming for, you still catch something!

I am still hoping to catch a sturgeon one of these days. I think it would be a fun fish to reel in. The only thing about catching a sturgeon in the bay is that they don't recommend eating a lot of it because of the mercury content….a little sketchy. I think Zac was telling me they have regulations that men can eat one serving per week and its not recommended for woman in child bearing age. So I don't know if I will be having sturgeon any time soon ( with the whole being in child baring age) BUT I have heard its pretty good eating and I wouldn't mind trying it….maybe just a bite?

 Anyways, my dear sweet husband knows how much I love pictures so he puts up with me through all of this. I always tell him that when we are old we are going to love having these memories to look back on. I feel like only yesterday it was the start to a new year and by the end of this week we will be starting into February. The time goes so quickly and I plan to enjoy every second Im given…(maybe not loosing my wallet).

"Its better to sit in a boat

thinking about God

than to sit

in a church thinking

about fishing"

"Today is the first blank page of a 365 page book, write a good one"

When I first read that quote it just sat well with me. I thought, what a great way to describe the start of a new year. I must say that my 2014 was definitely a good year but I am so excited to start 2015. I already have so many things to look forward to! And Im excited for a fresh start and to make this year an amazing one. 

I have definitely been slacking on the blogging. Life gets busy, what can I say. Sometimes I don't mind the lack of blogging but it sure is nice to be able to look back in time and see what I was up to over the years. An on line scrapbook. Its pretty cool. Who knows maybe 2015 will be a better blogging year for me. Well, lets go ahead and get started.

This year is a big one for my mom. On January 4th she turned the big 60! My sister and I had been planning a surprise party for her probably since August or September. We started early because this was going to be the mother of all surprises! My mom is one of the kindest, selfless, sweetest people. She does things for other people without a hesitation. So my sister and I wanted to plan something extra special for her. We decided that because coming up north is one of her favorite things to do we would fly her up here. Everything else fell into plan throughout the next few months of planning. 

We rented a house in Kenwood, we invited some of my moms closest friends (that to her are family), we planned out how we were going to hide everything from her, we rented a limo, we made reservations for a food and wine pairing at St.Francis, we made reservations for a tour and tasting at Korbel, we made dinner reservations and finally the next day we made lunch reservations. Everything was planned out to the T. We even made an itinerary so that we could keep everything on tract and on schedule.

It was finally here! Friday the 2nd. I had to work half a day and then I headed over to the airport to pick up my mom. Little did she know that my sister along with Tina, Ashley and Tiffany had left for nor cal about 4:00 in the morning and were on their way up to the house that we rented to decorate. I picked up my mom about 12:30 and told her I wanted to have lunch in Healdsburg….I needed to allow time for the girls to get the house decorated for my  mom! We headed over to Healdsburg, ate some lunch at Brava and then walked around a bit. Before I knew it, it was time to head over to the house for the big surprise. I told my mom that I wanted to show her a house that Zac and I had looked at before we purchased ours. I said that our realtor Courtney had just purchased the house and it was empty and we could go walk around. Luckily I know that my mom LOVES looking at houses so the plan worked perfectly. I texted my sister when we were there to let her know and everyone hid so they could jump out and surprise my mom.

When we opened the door my mom was shocked! She could not believe it. The plan had worked perfectly. My sister and I needed a little time to re-coop. After planning and lying and finally having everything work out it overwhelms you! In a good way. We popped a few bottles of champagne and the party started! 

Saturday was our big day out! No one had spilled the beans about our plans, which was nice. Now a days with social media we had to put everyone on a social media shut down so that my mom wouldn't find out a thing! We all got ready that morning and told my mom that she needed to be ready to leave by 10:30. Everyone was ready to go and about 10:30 the limo arrived to pick us all up! Our first ride was not very long, we just headed down the street to St. Francis. Luckily the weather was just beautiful that day! It was cold, but beautiful. Jen and I had planned a food and wine pairing. We thought it would be a fun way to start off our day! I must say that the food and wine pairing at St.Francis was just amazing! Everyone was so impressed with all the food. Large portions and delicious. By the time we finished we were full and it was a like we had eaten lunch, it was perfect!

After finishing our tasting at St.Francis it was off to our next winery, Korbel. I had never been to Korbel before and I actually have a patient who works there. I got to talking with him and told him I would love to take my mom for her birthday and he told me that he would set up something special for us. We arrived at Korbel around 1:30 and started off with a VIP tour of the winery. We were able to see the history and how the champagne is made. When we finished our tour it was time to taste the champs! It was the perfect way to end our day! The tour guide at Korbel pulled me aside and said that my friend hooked us up and that we would all have VIP pricing on anything we wanted to purchase which was 50% off everything. She also said that I could pick out any two bottle on the house! It was awesome. After we tasted I had my mom pick her favorite and I made sure the two free bottles went to her as part of her birthday surprise.

So much fun! What great memories. Once we finished up at Korbel and bought lots and lots of champagne it was back to the limo to head home. When we got home we were able to relax for about an hour and half before we were going to head to dinner. We originally had reservation for Redd Wood in Yountville but I kept checking the map and it showed that there was a road closure and it would take us an hour to get there. I decided that driving over and hour for dinner was just to much and decided to cancel our reservations and eat somewhere a little closer to town. The only thing was on a Saturday night with 8 people you beed a place that can accommodate. We finally decided on La Rosa. And it worked out perfectly. Nothing like some good mexican food to end your day. By dinner we were all pretty whooped from a busy day of wine tasting. We had plans to go into the hot tub when we got home but we were just to tired and it was SO cold outside it felt better to stay inside! 

Needless to say the weekend went perfectly! The newt morning it was already time for the other girls to head back home. We had brunch in Sonoma, stopped at one store and that was the end of the party! 

What a perfect way to start my new book! With an amazing party for my mom. Heres to many more adventure for the year!

Bass Lake Camping

A few weeks ago Zac and I met up with our friends Janelle and Dylan for a nice weekend away. It didn't take us long to find a fun new place to try. We decided on Bass Lake which is about half way between both of us. 

Zac and I couldn't leave till Friday after I got off work but luckily we had a very smooth drive with practically no traffic! I think we ended up getting into camp around 9:45. Janelle and Dylan were already there. So we set up camp and then headed to bed. 

The weather was just beautiful while we were there! Clear and sunny. We decided for our first day that we would spend it at the lake and thats just what we did. We found a spot that was on the opposite side of the lake that was a bit more secluded. Bass lake is a very long lake but it is also very narrow! I was surprised how many pontoons were out cursing! You would think from the name that there would be a lot of bass fishing but I don't think I saw even ONE person fishing on the lake. Everyone was skiing or tubing.

So we spent most of the morning just relaxing out in the water in our tubes. It was the perfect way to spend our day! When we got hungry we headed back to camp to make some lunch. And just rested a bit from the lake bake. Before we knew it it was already into the evening and time to have some moscow mules and get ready for a fire and some dinner!

Our plans for the next day were to go on a hike in the morning and then spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying some more lake time. I had done a little research and found a place for us to hike. There were suppose to be waterfall but with all the lack of water lately there really wasn't much to see. It was still a beautiful hike….well minus the group of hippy naked people basking in the sun, but other then that an all an all good trip!

After finishing up our hike it was starting to get warm and time to get one lake time in. We stopped back by camp to grab some food and then packed up our gear and headed across to the other side of the lake. I really wanted to find a secluded beach so that Hudson could run free and swim. We ended up finding the perfect little spot! We were all to ourselves and had a little mini beach to ourselves. It was heaven. A lot of the time lake water is to cold for me to get in (cause Im a big baby) but this water was perfect! Just enough to cool you down.  On our way back to the campsite we stopped at a little restaurant to grab a drink and some delicious onion rings. We just couldn't wait till dinner! That was pretty much the end of our wonderful camping trip. Monday came so quickly and it was already time for us to head our separate ways. 

Another fun trip in the books for 2014! Until next time!

Weddings

Above is a picture of Brandon and Marcella. They were married yesterday and Zac and I were lucky enough to enjoy their wedding day with them. They are such a cute couple and I am very happy for them.  I have known Brandon for…I believe almost 10 years! Crazy. And I met Marcella a few years back when we went backpacking together. I liked her right away. She is such a sweet person. Anyways, I really enjoy going to weddings. I didn't used to but I have changed my ways. Everyone is so happy and celebrating, how can you not!? I wish that Zac and I could get married again just so we could have another wedding! I know that sounds crazy but…I guess Im crazy. I always wonder how people get so overwhelmed with wedding planning and why they are so happy when its over. I guess I just had so much fun planning my wedding and everything went so smooth that it was just a really good experience!

Although back in my day! (am I allowed to say that?) we didn't HAVE pinterest. Could I have gotten some great ideas off of pinterest. Oh well, I think I did pretty well without the help of the internet.  Zac told me I should just become a wedding planner but the thing is I want to plan for MY own wedding. Don't get me wrong its not that I didn't like my wedding, I loved it. It just loved it so much that I'd want to do it again. Although I would do it completely different! Except for my dress. That dress. Gorgeous. 

The wedding was held at the Wheeler Ranch which is a park setting. It was very simple and very rustic. It looked gorgeous. There were only a few little things that went "wrong" if you will. The wedding didn't start till about 40 minutes after the designated time and the man that was officiating the wedding was Brandons grandpa which Im pretty sure he has dementia. He repeated a few things over and over and did not make sense the whole time but Brandon and Marcella were very patient and in the end they got married, just what they wanted to do! And thats all that matters.

Did I mention that I am officially on vacation!? I have two weeks off. My doc is in Italy so that means I get time off.  Plus I got a summer bonus! So things are going pretty good. The day before we went to the wedding Zac and I decided to take the boat out to try for some Halibut fishing. There were quite a few boats out. The weather was pretty good. It was foggy but it burned off towards the end. We had no luck for halibut but we did catch plenty of rock fish and cabazon.  Of course my darling husband could not resist trolling for some salmon while we were out there, even though we are stuffed full of salmon in our freezer. We ended up catching two. The first one we got to the boat and lost it with the hook bending and the second one snapped off the 20lb leader. Even though it is a lot of fun catching them Im glad that we didn't get to keep them because we don't need anymore.

I think that Zac and I might go out on Wednesday. Although the plan was to go out for halibut but it sounds like the tides are going to be moving a little to fast. So we'll see what happens. Zac and I have the next three days together and then Im off for girls week! I just can't believe that it is already almost August, where did the year go?

Just because

In the picture above you see Ukiah. A few weekends ago Zac and I headed up to Cow Mountain to do a little shooting. You probably didn't know this, because I fell off the blogging cliff but for my birthday my darling husband bought me a gun. I didn't ask for a gun, but he surprised me with one. He does that a lot….surprises that is.  Anyways, he said it was a good deal and I have never owned my own gun so I was excited!

For those bloggers who actually care about what kind of a gun I have its a Browning .22. What I like BEST about it is that Zacs friend who used to own it was a sniper! How bad ass is that?! Although why he owned a .22 I don't know. 

Anyways back to our shooting day. We thought it would be a great idea to head on up to Cow and shoot my new gun and also shoot our bows. Zac didn't end up bringing his bow cause his peep site needs to be fixed. It was already pretty warm when we got up there but it was still a beautiful day. We decided to both bring our .22's because they are fun and cheap to shoot. Cow Mountain is a nice place to go because you don't have anyone really directing you on when to shoot. You can just do your thing and then leave when your done. 

Here is me shooting my new gun. What do you think? Obviously I dressed the part. I got my pink ears, my flag/camo vest and my boots! We had a really fun time. I enjoyed shooting my new gun. Zac also has a scope for it thats pretty sweet but I haven't been able to test it out yet. We will have to go back out so I can site it in.

I got a few good shots in. And of course I used my zombie targets that I got for Christmas. After a few hours of shooting we were ready to head back down the mountain. All in all it was a very fun day!

Me with my bow. Sorry for the photo dump of pictures of just me but Zac is just not as excited about pictures as I am. I like to capture every moment.

Oh yeah, one more little surprise from my darling husband. He came home with this truck. he told me that Im a truck girl and I needed to drive a truck. So I am. And I do.