St. Francis Dam

Over spring break, Curt and I have had a little extra time to do some exploring around our neck of the woods, (or Joshua trees I should say). We've discovered this spring, that if we drive just 35-40 min. away, we can be in semi-green rolling hills, splashed with gorgeous red rocks. (Better late than never I guess!) So Curt heard from a good friend of his that there was a cool hike up to some old ruins of a dam that gave way in the 1920s. Turns out, the breaking of St. Francis Dam is the second biggest disaster and resulting loss of life in California State history! And who knew we lived just 45 min away? Anyway, we ventured out and hiked (actually walked up on an old highway that was washed out about 5 years ago) to what was left...

On our way up the road to the dam

Walking along the washed-out old highway

Water break. Even Ella enjoys a cool sip from a Nalgene bottle.

Ella may have been carried a tad bit... (the leash thing is still a work in progress). The reservoir that built up in back of the dam would have been behind me.

Part of the dam - you can still see all the re-bar sticking out of it. We saw huge pieces of concrete all the way along our  trek up to the site. One of the biggest pieces was carried more than a mile down stream when the dam broke. I guess a 130 ft. wall of water will do that. Yikes!

More pieces/remains of the old dam. There was a small stream running beneath these slabs you can't see in the picture.

The color of this small pond right below the site of the dam was beautiful. Don't think I'd swim in it, but it was pretty to look at none-the-less. 

Pretty much the largest chunk of the dam left - worn down and crumbled after almost 90 years to be sure, but still impressive.

This little memorial was down at the ranger's station where we started our hike up. The dam was 185 feet high - and collapsed just before midnight in March of 1928, sending a wall of water 130 feet high down river running at about 18 miles an hour. You know, just slightly terrifying.

The dam before it collapsed...

The dam and area after...

The dam had been leaking earlier that day, but experts that checked it out said the leaking was normal (which it can be). Unfortunately, not so in this instance. The guy who helped engineer it took full responsibility, but as you can imagine, it ruined his career. In the 1990s, experts revisited the site and determined that there would have been no way of knowing in the 1920s that the site chosen for the dam had also been the site of an ancient landslide - so the ground was unstable.
So glad we checked it and became aware of some more California history - especially being so close to us!

"The Great Race of Agoura Hills"

I am a fair-weather, when the mood suits me, I'm feeling lazy - kind of runner. Make that a slow jogger to be exact. That said, I thought long and hard about signing up for "The Great Race of Agoura Hills"... (Come to think of it, it may have been 5 min.) I opted out. I haven't done much running since finishing a half marathon in the fall. It was AWESOME, but I got super sick afterwards... which I've now used as an excuse not to run for the past 5 months. (It's terrible I know! Running 2-3 miles doesn't exactly equal 13.1 miles without properly hydrating before and after). Curt, on the other hand, is a runner. The kind that sets goals, trains hard, and is out there when he doesn't feel like it. (I really need those running traits to rub off on me). He signed up for the race. It was in Agoura Hills - a beautiful part of SoCal - this past Saturday morning. Ella and I tagged along, despite the early morning departure of 5:15 am- and enjoyed the ride over to one of the best ranked road races by Runner's World Magazine. 

Feeling encouraged by Ella's incredible walking the past few days in the Springs, we set out, only for her to sit down and say "Looks like you're carrying me for the day." Good thing she's so cute. So as Curt set off for the starting line, Ella and I found a perch to snap a few pics after the runner's first mile:

Ella helping me watch for Curt (Sorry for sideways pic!)

Curt rounding the first mile

Finish line just around this corner!

Curt ran a 36:01 10K (6.2 miles)... Incredible (and impossible) in my estimation! He was hoping to break 35:55, but with all the hills, it made that hard. Still, considering I couldn't run 6 miles that fast even if I had a gun pointed at me, I thought he did awesome. :)

Post-race; finish line in back

We hung out a little, waiting for the race results... that never came. (Computer glitch). No matter! Super fun day and Ella and I had great time being cheerleaders and conducting met and greets with lots of other dogs.

Self -group- portrait, but notice our eyes drifting... This didn't so much work out for us.

Me and Chop (aka Ella)

We also did a hike on Friday along the Pacific Crest Trail. It was beautiful! And Ella walked beautifully with us then... so who knows what gives with that dog and her leash!

Curt and Chop along the trail

Palm Springs

         Curt and I just got back from a mini vacation yesterday. We headed over to the Palm Springs area on Tuesday - we actually stayed in Indio at the Worldmark condos there (thanks mom & dad Stephan!)- and enjoyed some 85 degree weather and pool time. (Did I mention we became teachers for a reason?) The cities in this area are gorgeous! Move to Indian Wells or Rancho Mirage? Yes please! Of course if I think it's hot here in the summer....
                                          Here are some pics of the condo:

                                          Sunset on our walk one night:

     Dinner (thanks to Curt) - salmon rice bowls with cucumber and avocado

                                       And about Ella walking on a leash......

She actually did great! (the picture may have been a bit misleading I admit)... She walked twice a day and did great every time. We have no idea what happened to our "I'm going to sit down with this thing strapped to me and I'm not moving. Ever." dog. 
                               Modeling (a bit hap-hazardly) by a pretty pink bush:

         Chilling in the condo. I think this picture screams "It wasn't me!" - like if the camera panned back there'd be a pile of ripped up garbage all over the floor. Thankfully, she didn't get into any garbage... or chew off a couch leg...

All in all we had a wonderfully relaxing time. (As a side note, I may have also read the Hunger Games while pool side and actually sympathized with the people we saw camped outside of the movie theater on our way home yesterday waiting for the midnight showing. Should I have just admitted that?)

Ella

       Well, it's been almost two years since I last updated our blog... yikes! Time apparently FLYS by... And instead of deleting it, I decided to start it up again! There's too much to catch up on since my last post, but one big change for us has been adding a new furry member to our family - our little yorkie, Ella! She has been a ton of fun, and quite a bit of work ;) - but totally worth it. We got her this past November - and are still in the process of training her in several areas. Potty training (knock on wood) has been going fairly well, but our next big hurdle is getting her to walk on a leash. She HATES the leash... weird right? Wish us luck, that's one of our missions for this spring break!
                                          Here's Ella soon after we got her:

                                         Bath time! (Is it terrible that I LOVE this picture?)

                                          Little Ella these days:

Spring Time! :)

Spring this year has been full of fun... My mom and sister came down unexpectedly to see us in January (okay, so not really spring yet), my parents visited us in February (super fun and mom was sooo wonderful helping me out in my classroom!!), and Kelli, Ethan, Alyssa, Lucy, and Maddie came down for a visit in March! Sad to say that I am not great about remembering to take pictures... so the photos start with Kelli and Ethan's visit over spring break.... Thanks to everyone for making our last few months so much fun!
Here's Lucy and Kelli eating out back at our place:
Here's Lu and Maddie posing for a picture (taken by Curt as you can see) :)

Cute little Madeline!

We also went down to San Diego with Kelli and Ethan while they were all here and checked out the beach, spent time with Uncle Todd, Aunt Jean, and cousins Kyle and Jackson (super fun!), and just soaked up the glorious weather... Lucy didn't so much like the beach however, no sand-n-surf between her toes thank you very much! :) (We think she might have liked it more but was a little tired... as you can see Lucy was quite content just to chill in mom's arms. It looks comfy to me!) -->

Madeline on the other hand LOVED the beach and all the sand! She even let Uncle Curt dig a big hole and stick her in it, so just her arms poked out -- as long as she could still use her shovel and dig away, she was happy! This is my FAVORITE picture by far!!! (please, can it get any cuter?)

Me hanging with Maddie digging away....

More sandy fun....

Curt and I:

We also hit up the zoo for a full day of fun in the sun -- my favorite was the big cats! Check out the teeth on this thing!! (reminds me of our cat when she eyes me hungrily... and if she was this big, she would eat me without question, trust me)

Cougars were cool too... but imagine coming across one of these in the wild. YIPE!

Family pose by the flamingos -- their beautiful salmon and pink colors always make for a hit!

Me and LuLu :) Love you sister!!!

This weekend (April 25th) Curt and I hit up the AV Poppy Reserve... and it was out of this world breathtaking!!! Sorry to say that this was the first time we had even checked this place out since we've lived here (4 years) -- and with all the rain we've had this spring, we've never seen anything quite like it! It was like God had reached down and painted the fields this vibrant orange in sweeping stripes and patches....

me and curt chilling in the poppies :)

This gives you a sampling of the color splashes -- but the pictures hardly do the views justice!!! We actually do live in an area with a great deal of beauty... we sometimes forget this when the desert is so hot in the summer months. This was a good reminder :)

Hi! :)

Mountain views and bands of orange... love it!

There were all these gorgeous purple and yellow flowers too:

Loved this picture... the path of yellow through the purple leading to the orange....

Curt decided to take one little purple fellow home. That's legal, right?

Here's the victim... now planted in our backyard :)

Fresh cut roses from our bushes sure give our dining table a splash of color!! :)

Some fresh lilacs we bought from a local farmer out of the bed of her truck out at the poppy fields... our whole house smells AMAZING! :)

A shot of part of our backyard...

We did hanging baskets yesterday -- I planted this one :)

Curt's gardens... here are chives, chard, and lettuce:

Potatoes, lettuce, and corn:

Hope everyone else is having a beautiful and relaxing spring! Can't wait to see everyone this summer!!! :)