Hiking Baden-Powell

Well, it's Monday of Memorial Day weekend - so I want to start by saying a huge THANK YOU! to all those who have served, are serving, and to those that will serve our armed forces in the future. :) 

Originally, Curt and I were going to go camping up at Mammoth this weekend - one of our most favorite places in all of California. Unfortunately, the rain and chance of snow Friday and Saturday deterred us a bit - as I didn't really feel like tent camping in freezing, wet weather. Been there, done that, and it wasn't pretty. That said, we cancelled our reservations (losing our $30 deposit - rats!!), and made other plans for the weekend - namely, hiking Baden-Powell in the San Gabrielle Mts. We can see Baden-Powell from where we live - it's pretty big standing at around 9,500 feet. We had gorgeous weather, and it was a beautiful 8 mile climb (you'd barely know the high desert was right out the backdoor as soon as you drive up into the San Gabrielle foot hills). Here's some pics from our weekend adventure:

At the trailhead with Ella - praying she walks! (her leash skills are still a major work in progress)

Success! Ella blazing a trail with Curt

A view of the Mojave Desert as we hiked up

Getting closer to the top - thank goodness, as Ella had long since decided being carried beat walking by a mile. I agreed with Ella of course, as did most hikers we encountered on the trail - who wouldn't want to be carried when they got tired for a mile or two?! :)

Another shot of the desert below - you could see for miles 

Curt and Ella by the 1,500 year old tree. It was seriously amazing.

At the top! We had a 360 degree view - from the desert, to the rest of the San Gabrielle's, to Upland.

Ella relaxing on the Boy Scout monument/plaque at the top. Needless to say, she started the descent being carried.

Overall, we rated the day an A, and Ella's hiking skills a B-. :) She walked two up, and two down - and was carried the other 4... not too bad for a 7 pound, 8 month old puppy. She just might turn into a champion hiker/walker yet! (fingers crossed)

Kelli's Visit & OC 1/2 Marathon

Well, it's been a little longer than I wanted to post some pics of Curt's sister Kelli's visit down to So Cal. I can't seem to stay caught up with this blog and our happenings in a timely manner! We had the BEST time when Kelli came down a couple weeks ago to see us and run the OC half marathon with her big brother. :) They ran awesome! (Ella and I served as cheerleaders). We also had a great time just relaxing and spending time together - whether in the car, overlooking the beach, sitting outside at a cafe, doing a little shopping, or eating takeout at home. Curt and I have got to get better at taking pictures - but here are a few to document our fun weekend with Kelli. :)

Curt nearing the finish line!

Curt's time for 13.1 miles... He got his goal- breaking 1:20! (reminder - I ran my half marathon in 2:15 last Oct., and I felt like I was going fast! haha...)

Curt and Kelli showing off their medals after the big race - Kelli did AMAZING too - and ran 13.1 in 1:50!

We ate lunch at this delicious Mediterranean/Italian restaurant in Manhattan Beach - it was glorious just sitting outside soaking up the beautiful weather.

We wandered down to the beach to sit and enjoy some ocean views before having to take Kel back to the airport :( Ella seemed to enjoy the sea breezes - and def the meet and greets with other dogs!

Ella's Big Haircut! Spring marches on...

     Well, not too much craziness to report in the past few weeks - I've come down with a delightful head cold on an up-note... Thank you petri dish! (aka: my job) :) Ahhh, it was bound to catch up with me at some point. Could be worse.
     Ella on the other hand, is as frisky and cute as ever, and received her first big hair cut this weekend! Curt took her in early this past Sat. (graciously letting me sleep in) and picked the 3rd shortest cut from some "hair samples." Didn't want to go too short. Good thing I love closely sheared animals. My love of bald cats comes to mind....

Ella before

Ella after! 

       I do wish Petsmart would've shaved her head and ears too, so it all grows out the same length... Hmmm... So I tried to clip it up a bit myself; quickly realizing why the groomers left her hair long on top. With every snip it was almost a certainty either I or Ella would lose an ear, eye, or finger with all that jerky wiggling. Soooo, small lioness she will remain. We're still quite partial to her.

     A couple weekends ago, we also went for another hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, this time picking it up farther down the highway. We hiked up to Grass Mountain. It was awesome! We had a 360 degree view in every direction, though it was just a tad windy at the top. It was almost 5 miles round trip, and Ella hiked almost all of it - we were excited. She is a champion walker, once she gets going that is. Patience, patience we have to remind ourselves. :) Below are some sights captured from the day:

Ella getting a little help on the trail

Looking up Grass Mt. Almost there!

Self Portrait at the top

One of our views at the top

Spotted a horny toad on the way down!

Curt also got the yard in ship-shape order this past weekend, as Friday's 55 degrees and rain faded into 70 degrees and sun by Sunday. Crazy spring! As always, the hubs does an amazing job getting everything looking spectacular to enjoy some warm spring and summer nights coming up. :) (*Also, on a fun note, notice in the very back of this pic, our porch swing frame is up! My cousin Lance from Minnesota actually drove it out to us last year if you can believe it! We were beyond thrilled. Can't wait for it to be re-finished and put fully up - Summer project!)

View of the back patio and yard

Getting the gardens going!

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