Day 13

We had some goals for the day and hopefully it wouldn't include all that much driving. Everyone slept in pretty late after our late night. We shared some oatmeal and headed out for the morning. Our first stop was the Ya'i Heki' Regional Indian Museum. On our drive up from San Diego I noticed a bunch of small pockets of reservations - super tiny towns with signs about a mile apart noting which tribe called them home. This was much different from the huge reservations we'd driven through in Oklahoma, Arizona, and Montana.

This museum was a fantastic learning experience about the Indigenous peoples of inland southern California. The three main tribes we learned about were the Cahuilla, Cupeno, and Luiseno.  They didn't have and written language so the customs, morals, and history were passed down orally through generations. We played some of the games the kids played to sharpen their hand eye coordination and learned about several more. The kids were practicing for hunting at a very young age.

One of the docents took us under her wing and basically led us around a good portion of the museum and shared so much of her knowledge. We learned so much!   The kids recognized some plants from their horticulture studies that they use for all kinds of different natural remedies or food. 

We learned once Europeans moved in the tribes lost their ways to provide for their families so the men became ranch hands for these new people and many of the women began to weave intricate baskets to sell. These baskets were highly sought for their designs and craftsmanship. We also learned this art has almost disappeared from their cultures because the resulting hourly wage from creating a basket for what they can sell them for currently is not near enough to support a family. 

They also had a fabulous display on loan from Washington D.C. about the service of Native Americans in the military through all the wars. We decided we might need to go back to D.C. to visit the museum as it was just being built when we were there.

Ira Hayes was one of the men raising the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima.  One in four Native Americans volunteered to serve in Vietnam while only one in twelve of the general population did so. Many grappled with the hypocrisy of killing and taking someone else's land when just that same thing had been done to their people.

 We learned about many of the tools they used in their daily lives - many we had never seen before. Even in our world full of technological advances we were impressed by the ingenuity of their tools to solve the problems they were facing.

The docent also happened to have a rattle snake skin so we learned a little bit about those guys too. We haven't seen one on this trip yet and were fine if we didn't!  We were also hoping not to see a mountain lion in the wild either. This stuffed guy was enough for us!


The view on the porch facing the lake was beautiful too so we took a few minutes to enjoy it too.

Next up was laundry. It definitely is lowest on our list of chores but we were about 2 days from running out of clothes so we carved out an hour to get it done. I love the laundromats that have the capability to wash our 4 loads all at one time in 20 minutes!


Once we got back to the campground we had lunch in the tiny bit of shade we had then headed straight for the beach. Tempers were flaring between all three kids so water was often my solution. It was hot again today and everyone else there thought so too. The beach was the most crowded we'd seen it but we found a little spot that we could call our own for a little while. People were bring these giant 20-ft floats that were crowding everyone and then they weren't even using them! After about an hour or so we headed back to the campsite to get ready for what I'd been looking forward to - a twilight hike!

When we arrived to the parking area there were at least 100 people there. We aren't used to these crowds! Thankfully the interpreters were expecting it as they had three different options for us to choose from. We chose the 2 mile hike up to a 360 degree viewpoint including education on history of the Native Americans in the area. It must be our theme today!

This hike was level at first but the incline changed dramatically as we kept on. The interpreter had perfectly timed stops to let us recover and learn a little more about the culture.

The view was breathtaking once we reached the top. We saw parts of the lake we'd never seen before! We hung back for a minute as everyone left to enjoy the view and get a unobstructed picture of the view.

It was quiet and dark by the time we got back to our site - perfect for a fire! Brayden started the fire and they all whittled roasting sticks for marshmallows.  We were all too tired to stay up and enjoy the fire too long so we decided to leave some of the wood for the next people and get some sleep. We had big plans the next day!

Day 9

I woke up to a very lovely 55 degree morning! This is my favorite camping weather - warm days and cold nights. I sat down to edit pictures and write but was distracted about every 3 minutes with a bird stopping by. In the span of 30 minutes I saw several humming bird buzz by my head to check out Ryan's red chair, a robin, a bluebird, a bunch of crows, and about 10 Acorn Woodpeckers. Grammie had been introduced to these little guys by some birders back at Davis Mountain. They were everywhere here!

With this cool morning we decided on grits and toast for breakfast. I haven't been able to find any grits out west so I'm having to depend on Grammie for my fix. At least I could contribute some homemade strawberry jelly that Laney and I made this spring!

Our goal today was to get in a hike with Lola. There isn't much available hiking for her with the wildlife that roams California trails, but I happened to notice the fire road trail to Cuyumaca Peak right down from our campsite. It was 2.4 miles to the peak so we prepped our backpacks with lots of water and snacks.

Immediately the road was incredibly steep. It was 10am and since we were hiking on a fire road there was very little shade. This wasn't a nice trail made for hikers with gentle switchbacks through the trees. We climbed the road from shady spot to shady spot. We saw so many hummingbirds buzzing the bushes and flowers! After I told Ryan they'd been buzzing her red chair that morning she decided to show them her backpack to see if they would be interested. No luck.

Eventually we left Grammie and Lola and for a short while even Brayden!  Just as Brayden caught up with us a guy RUNNING pass by. I can't even imagine. While we waited for Grammie and Lola I did some first aid on everyone - Laney for a bee sting, Ryan for a small cut, and Brayden for the beginnings of a blister.

We did all eventually make it to the top.  The kids climbed on the rocks for a little while enjoying the view before we decided to head back down.

The view was spectacular and the wind felt so refreshing after the sizzling climb. Here is the view of the mountain with our campground at it's base.

And here is the view from the top of Cuyamaca Peak! 

The climb back down wasn't near as much a cardio workout as it was a knee and leg workout. I stopped along the way to take pictures of all the flowers we'd admired on the way up. I so love how all these grow in the wild along a trail! Brayden and Ryan even spotted some chairs carved out of a tree!

Traveling from shady spot to shady spot was even more important now as we were all getting sun. Lola was feeling it on her paws too so we stopped frequently for her to rest and recuperate. I'm not sure who was happier to be back to the campground - her or us!

Somehow while the kids were unpacking their backpacks, their shoes and socks flew off. Our campsite was now in full sun so we decided to grab our lunch stuff and cook at Grammie's spot. Our neighbors barely saw us with Grammie down the road! I heated up some jackfruit bbq for lunch from home and we wolfed it down. Brayden must be growing again - he ate 5 sandwiches!

The kids were asking about our plans for the next day so I walked back to grab some games and our list of options. They really wanted to go into San Diego so I had them choose the couple stops they wanted to fill our day. We definitely were going to put our toes in the cold Pacific!

We spent the next hour playing Uno Flip and teaching Grammie how to play Mille Borne. Of course she beat us her first time playing. By the time we finished the sun was going down so Ryan prepped the fire. We sat together until bedtime enjoying the warmth and watching the flames while the kids told all kinds of memories - some I hadn't even heard.





















When we were all yawning and the fire was low we grabbed our pile of stuff and headed back to our site. This was a big night for Lola - her first sleepover! Brayden and Ryan finally coaxed her into leaving Grammie to stay with us. She got right in the tent with us but she sat up watching the tent door at first. I'm not sure if she was waiting for Grammie or on alert in this new weird place but she eventually laid down and snored away.

Day 18

We decided to rotate the tent yesterday in hopes we would all sleep better. I would venture to say it would have been better had it not been raining most of the night. We were all trying to keep away from the sides of the tent so they didn't buldge out and invite rain into the tent. Once it stopped we were all in a clump just trying to eek out a little more sleep before the sun.

Once we were all relatively clean and fed we decided to go to the visitor's center and a short trail nearby. We'd heard there was a movie about the building of the parkway so that was first on our agenda. We've seen tons of movies at visitor's centers so we were thinking it would be like those but it was a full-length documentary of the project. We watched until the big political twist and headed to the tiny gift shop.

After getting some hiking advice for the next day we walked to Wild Cat Rocks Overlook for a peek at the view.  On our way we passed by the lodge and a restaurant that were closed. We'd heard with the troubles passing the budget there were many things that were closed and short-staffed. Apparently there was also a concessionaire that pulled out of the parkway business a few years ago that causes many building to be closed. We are definitely not used to this on our trips to bigger parks!

I forgot my camera in the car so just trust me that it was another beautiful view of those blue mountains!  We spotted the roof of the cabin we were looking for down at the base of the mountain. This cabin is the last remaining building in it's original location after a landslide the demolished the community in the 30s. We continue to learn about how tough the lives were of the people who lived in these mountains 75 years ago.

With a beautiful afternoon ahead of us we decided to venture off the parkway to Stone Mountain State Park. These curvy mountain roads make slow going so I forget it takes quite a while longer to travel 10 or 15 miles than 10 or 15 minutes! The kids spotted a country store with ice cream so of course we had to stop. The selection was better than the last few places we'd been but we still haven't found our amazing spot yet.

Once we were at the park, Evey was excited to walk up to the top and two of mine were excited about going to see the waterfalls. We opted to see the mountain first but found out at the trail head it would be a 8.5 mile strenuous walk. Evey was immediately out! We ended up walking the trail to a spot where we could view the mountain and the homestead of a family that lived there.































Evey is absolutely the expert at finding tiny wildlife. This day she found a salamander on the trail that we hadn't seen yet. He was very jumpy but she managed to hold him for a picture or two. I've never seen salamanders so small!

Once we were back off the trail to the parking lot the kids were wiped out. While Evey made a phone call - on an actual pay phone! - to her dad Ryan found a beautiful, huge painted rock and decided to keep it (for now says me). We grabbed some ice and headed back to the campsite for the night.

It was cool enough for a fire again this night so after dinner Emily and I relaxed by the fire while the kids played and read. Evey broke out the popcorn after awhile and we had fun trying to make it with the kids without burning it. The first batch received some punctures that it couldn't recover from so Emily tossed it in the fire and the adults handled the second one. After what seemed like 95 minutes, we had popcorn and the kids were thrilled.

Once it was dark enough we put out the fire and headed to the meadow for flashlight tag. There weren't more than about 10 places to hide so once those were exhausted a few times we switched to flashlight freeze tag for awhile. There were a few motorcycle guys staying in our loop so after 10 minutes or so of that we retired so we wouldn't bug them too much. Our kids our loud! Hoping the sleeping situation would be better this night, we slipped into our sleeping bags and were all asleep within a couple minutes.

Day 2

We all had a pretty tough night of sleep with all the rain and our lovely neighbors returning with plans to now put a rain fly on their tent. There wasn't much teamwork happening as flashlights were moving around like searchlights through the woods. At one point after angrily asking for help for the 4th time, one of the guys gave up and suggested they just go home. Shortly thereafter 4 doors closed. I assumed they were going to somehow sleep in the car until I was jolted awake about an hour later with tires spinning in the muddy gravel campsite driveway. Gladly, they figured out how to get out so we could have some peace for at least this night!

The rain was pretty constant with rushes from the water held in the trees every once in a while. Around midnight it stopped and we all were still and sound asleep. The rain started again a few hours later but we were all pretty successful with putting sleeping bags over our heads to keep the noise low and the light out. My suction-cup-cuddling child (Ryan) slept more attached to me than next to me all night. She woke up shortly after I did wanting to play games since it was still raining.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle so we took the opportunity to race to the bathrooms and grab a breakfast snack. We brought fruit and bars back to the tent and tried to decide what to do.

Laney and Brayden opted to read while Ryan and I played a few games of teeny tiny Connect Four.

I noticed I had a signal on my phone so I quickly tried to check the weather. In our area it wasn't supposed to rain again until the afternoon so we wiggled out of the tent, hopped in the car, and headed to the small town of Ellijay. We'd been through this town several times and Brayden was happy to finally get the opportunity to stop.

Our first mission was to find some local breakfast and that we did! We stopped at Mr. P's with the promise of the best homemade biscuits. The kids opted instead for giant cinnamon rolls slathered with the richest icing I'd ever tasted. I had to try a famous biscuit though!

Many of the shops weren't quite open so we browsed through the ones that were pointing out all the cute and funny treasures. There was so much stuff crammed in some of these stores I was overwhelmed and couldn't even focus to see it all!  

Next we headed to the library for some wifi and discovery of new graphic novels for everyone. The kids checked their email but with this being only day 2 they didn't have much to check!  The kids were very excited to find new graphic novels and others our library doesn't have so I didn't hear a peep from them for more than an hour. It was drizzling pretty good once we left the library so we decided to take the movie back and figure out something for lunch.

Brayden spotted a pizza buffet and I just couldn't talk them out of it. I'm not necessarily a pizza snob but I am completely grossed out by buffet germs. So I just made sure to get the first pieces of pizza fresh from the oven. I've definitely had better but I've also had worse. The kids were thrilled to try all kinds of different pizza,  especially the dessert pizza!

Waiting for fresh pizza afforded us a little down time so Ryan asked if she could try the Saltine Challenge with crackers from the salad bar. All three joined in and the results were hilarious. They did finish the crackers but it was in a little over 2 minutes. The only saltine sprayer was Laney when Brayden started laughing but luckily she kept it contained to her plate.



I checked the weather during lunch and the forecast didn't look good. It was oddly sunny outside but the prediction was for rain for at least the next 18 hours with possibly a break at 8am the next morning. We decided to head back to the campsite and see how it looked to decide what to do next. We drove by the ice cream place we'd talked about stopping earlier in the day and I laughed as the kids claimed they still had a small amount of room. They even tried to pull the but-we-always-get-ice-cream-on-our-trips trick but there was no way I was going to have sick kids today too.

Once we got back Ryan suggested we try to play campball as it wasn't raining at all. I'd remembered from the forecast the heaviest rain was to be at 5pm and it was 4:45. We decided to go to the field to take a better look and see how slippery a game would be. By the time we got there the rain already started. We raced back to the tent for 3Up 3Down - our latest favorite card game.

After playing a couple rounds of cards, tempers flaring, and rain stopping we decided to get back outside. We took a walk the other direction on the lake loop trail to discover a few more spots for Pooh Sticks. Soon after, Brayden wanted to head back so Laney and I headed to the showers. I knew I was going to get messy and muddy packing the tent up the next day but I've learned over the years to take showers when you can!






Once we got back it was still clear weather so we grabbed the football and soccer balls to play on the beach. Ryan marked off the field and we decided to play football first since there were some kids nearby that probably wouldn't appreciate being hit by a soccer ball. Ryan and I took on Laney and Brayden easily beating them 21-7.



The whole time we were playing the temperature would drop and the wind would pick up. Ryan would notice me look toward our campsite which was a good 10 minute walk back from the beach. She would tell me the all the dark clouds are moving fast and to not worry about it.  She said she would take the blame if we got soaked. There were so many dark clouds and the wind picked up so many times that I finally took a picture for proof.





Next up was soccer. After some hilarious battles in the sand, Ryan and I once again beat them 5-2. Against my advice, we then switched teams for soccer with Laney and me against Brayden and Ryan. I thought we would be destroyed but Laney ended up showing up and muscling her way to the goal a few times for a 5-3 win.

Once we got back to the site the weather still looked okay so I started a quick fire for the kids to roast a few marshmallows. We would be leaving the state the next day so we needed to have a fire now if we were going to use the wood we'd bought. The kindling around us was soaked so the fire didn't last terribly long but it was good enough for a quick dessert!

After a little prepping to leave in the morning we all got tucked in for the last chapter of our book. I was getting pretty sleepy during this everlasting chapter so I convinced the kids that even though it was 8:30 our time when we finished, we all didn't sleep well the night before so it would be smart for us to sleep now. We were all snoring within 2 minutes!