Idyllwild weekend

Well, we spent the weekend up in Idyllwild with our son Hal, Claudia, and little Ben, who is now 4.  It was delightful to get out of the desert heat (it was over 100 degrees there) and have a fire in the stove every night.  We spent two nights there.  Ben got to explore a little log cabin for kids (although he did see a black widow and THAT was THAT~) and he got to go for a hike, feed the blue jays, see gray squirrels, and play in the Idyllwild park.  In fact, Saturday afternoon he was so worn out that he took a 2 hour nap!  We saw quite a few hikers doing the Pacific Crest Trail (the "early" ones) and we met one of them because he was staying at the same place we were.  He'd just hiked from Warner Springs to where the PCT nears Idyllwild and got a ride to town for a shower, a comfy bed, and several hot meals.  Here's a link to his website:
http://crestblessings.com/  His mother just died from diabetes and he is doing his walk to raise money for diabetes research.  Considering that I have relatives on BOTH sides of my family who died of diabetes, I'll be donating some money for his effort.  Anyway, here are some pics from our weekend.

Wagon wheel and front fence~Friday's Fences~042613

I often drive by this little cottage which is up in Garner Valley, CA.  I love its old-fashioned look and its wagon wheel.  I also love the brick work.  Their dog, however, doesn't like me and barks whenever I drive by!  Oh, well!  I'm going to keep driving by, buddy, so get used to me!  Friday's Fences for April 26, 2013. To visit Friday's Fences, please go to:   http://lifeaccordingtojanandjer.blogspot.com/

Spring view

I love Spring up at the ranch.  The trees are leafing out, the roses are blooming, and the chinaberry trees are getting new buds.  The sycamores are budding out, too, and there are a few (a very few) wildflowers this year.  It was perfect up there last weekend.  Now we have a storm front moving down from Northern California and temps are dropping (of course...after I groomed all the horses!)

To the mountains we go

We're heading up to Idyllwild for the weekend and I can't WAIT!  Our son and his family are joining us. It will be nice to get out of the desert heat (it's supposed to be about 93 in the desert this weekend).  Ben (our grandson) and I will feed the blue jays!

Daffodils

I took a ride up to Idyllwild on Saturday.  I wanted to go check out a cabin which we are renting in the future.  It was a beautiful day~clear, not to hot, and not too crowded.  Weekends up there can be crowded, but not this one.  I guess everybody was at the concert at Coachella this weekend?  Anyway, I was driving around and I spotted some daffodils.  Most of them are already gone (dried out), but these were still blooming.

Springtime at the ranch

I took this photo yesterday up at the ranch where I board my horses.  The owners were gone, so I didn't take any horses out.  Instead, I cleaned water troughs and swept off rubber mats.  Oh, and talked and talked and talked to the horses.  Quad didn't have anything to say, but Sunni and Gigondas sure did..."WHERE'S OUR FOOD?" was what they were saying!  It was a gorgeous day up there with a slight breeze.  Hubby is borrowing my camera today to take some photos at his work, so I may just take my old Nikon and go down to the park and take some photos of the roses there...

Another mountain fence~Friday's Fences~-41913

Here's another beautiful area of Garner Valley, which is near where I board my horses.  Mine aren't up in these pine trees and this is about 1,000 feet higher than the ranch where I board them.  This area gets much more snow, too.  But, I love to drive around here on the weekends and see the wildflowers and listen to the red-tailed hawks that fly above the meadows.  Friday's Fences for April 19, 2013.  To visit Friday's Fences, please go to:   http://lifeaccordingtojanandjer.blogspot.com/   HOORAY!  It's FRIDAY!   :-)