Lasts

Readers note: Blogger Darrell typing away today.

Brain cancer is...

…enjoying our last day at the cabin (for now).

  

Today is our last day at the cabin for a little while.  I picked the walk today:  The pedal path by the lake shore (because there are few people midweek).   Andi even got to put her feet in the water.  

We seemed to have worked our walks and lake views from higher elevations to lower ones. 

We celebrated everything “last” on this great vacation.  Here are a few examples, from the start of the day to later. 

Andi had her last cup of coffee in her cabin bed.

We splurged on our last bird seed party.

You're on your own for a while, flickers, jays, acorn woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches.

We took our photo at the point.

 We had our last cabin lunch, our last cabin workout, our last deck side cocktail hour…for now.  

What a fantastic trip!

(Andi's take:  Note that Darrell mentions that he picked the pedal path for the walk.  Do you see a pedal path, above?  No.  That's because Darrell is a learner.  A little adventure--like the sandy path by the lake--goes a long way for his wife.)

And Speaking of Lasts...

Some people we love also faced some “lasts.”

This was Alex’s last day as a resident!  No more school of any sort for him.  He is finished.  He has a couple of weeks off and then Dr. AWD Guillaume is staff at a Kaiser Hospital's Emergency Department.

(Side notes:  When Tiana sent us these pics today, Andi cried.  Also, Tiana's residency program is four years instead of three.  Dr. TMD Guillaume's last day as a resident is a future last.)

Finally, this is Melanie’s last day as a flight nurse for a fire program that was cancelled.  (Recall that Melanie has given us all thrilling rides, like the recent one over the deserted Las Vegas strip, here).  She loved the work, the organization, and the people.  She has a new, similar job, but it's different.  We celebrate your "last" Melanie, and are hopeful about future "firsts."

Today's Blooms

All lake side.  Will this earth ever stop blooming?

Adventures Are a Girl's Best Friend!

Readers Note:  Andi here today, wanting to share my gratitude.

Brain cancer is...

 ...making a certain spouse very happy. 

Darrell knows the way to my heart.   Not fancy cars.  Not diamonds.*  Adventures!

Today he found his way straight to my heart (yet again) with a Pacific Coast Trail Adventure.

Darrell knows and appreciates the fact that I crave walks and hikes with new sights, and he knows that I (because of Summer and the book Wild), like millions of others, have a keen interest (let's call it) in the Pacific Crest Trail.

My plan for today was to head back up the Cougar Crest Trail and see a little more of the PCT where the trails join at the top of the ridge, about two miles up. We've enjoyed Cougar Crest a few times, as we did in this post last winter. 

But Darrell came up with a better plan that (a) kept us away from the sizable crowds that regularly enjoy Cougar Crest and (b) got us to the PCT faster so that we could spend more time exploring the trail proper.

So...yesterday he turned my iPhone and me loose on the adventure hunt.   I found that there is a PCT trailhead at Onyx Summit (25 miles back toward Redlands on Hwy 38; fun fact:  It's the highest mountain pass in southern California). 

This morning started early with an emergency array change because one array broke down early.  Poor thing.  Then we let the home team know our plans (Thanks Brady!  Thanks Christine!), and out we went.  We hiked four miles out and hit an elevation of 8,700 feet before turning back.  It was perfect!  We saw zero other hikers, and the views were great.  Here are a few:

Mt. San Gorgonio?  Still a little snow.

Facing roughly toward Big Bear.

Snack Time.

Trail Marker

Thank you, Darrell Guillaume, for embracing me and what makes me happy.

I love you.


*I am not saying I don't like fancy cars or diamonds.  If you have extras, send them my way. I will take good care of them.

Celebrating Alex and Tiana

More love is in the air today.  It's the wedding anniversary of Tiana and Alex Guillaume!  Tiana became a daughter of our hearts when she and Alex started dating as undergrads at Cal.  We remember when English major Alex told macrobiology major Tiana that he wanted to become a physician.   We don't think she even blinked.  She just helped him line up his prerequisites.  After they graduated, we had the pleasure of their company in our home while they prepared for medical school.  Off they went to Florida then Pennsylvania before returning to So Cal (thank goodness!). 

We are fortunate parents indeed to have had so many adventures with Alex and Tiana.  In this two-minute slide show, you'll Alex and Tiana and their people in places like Berkeley, Fullerton, Mexico, Hawaii, England, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. 

 YouTube Link

Alex and Tiana, we celebrate you and the way you work hard to make life happen...while enjoying adventures along the way.  We love you.  Happy Anniversary.

Video photo credits:  Several people, including professionals, have photos in this show.

Today's PCT Blooms 

Cabin Quarantine Workout

Readers Note:  Darrell's on duty today.

Brain cancer is...

...keeping up the fitness routine.

Our son, Zachary, created the title for this post.  With the closing of fitness centers, people created home gym--when they could find weights.  Another bit of fallout from COVID is that people started hoarding weights like they do toilet paper.  We have a nice supply of weights at home. (You may recall we wrote about our home gym in March, here. You can see some of our weights in that post pic.)

But we don’t carry our weights up to the cabin. Hence, up here we do body weight strength training (using your own weight to create resistance to build muscle).  Using a door frame to do pull-ups and doing push-ups with a weighted backpack are some examples.  Above you see me doing reverse push-ups under the table.  Hey, it works!

After we worked out, we went for another--but lower--hike.  

Here's today's lower-elevation view of the lake. 

We were trying to estimate how high we went in mountains yesterday.  The lake is at 5,700 ft. and today’s picture was at 7,200 ft. (about 1,500 ft. above the lake).  Comparing the lake pictures from yesterday’s and today’s post, we think that we approached 9,000 ft. yesterday.  Great views in any case!

Happy Sunday, Team D!

Today’s Blooms

From Curt and Barb’s walk, back in Hemet:

From our hike today:

Cactus Connections!

California Wild Rose:  Rosa Californica (Pleased to make your acquaintance!)

Going Left

Brain cancer is...

...finding new views by turning left.

Our choice not to go to the busy trails near the lake today was a wise one.  Neighbor Jeannie said that record numbers of people are coming up here for the escape and upcoming holiday.  So, rather than go to those busy lake trails, we chose a new forest trail.  We went left instead of right at the fork we wrote about here on 5/25.

Left was much better than right!  It surprised us with dense forest (get a taste with the video here) and new views of the lake from above (we went up 36 flights, according to Andi’s phone). 

(Check out Darrell’s video narration here.)

In fact, our crowd avoidance worked so well, we only saw one other person on the trail:  A man running uphill wearing only tennis shoes and bikini briefs (we think?).  He was not even breathing hard. 

We did eventually find the end the trail:  a large dirt parking lot near the dirt road we think might be Polinque Canyon Road.  Andi and I debated if it was better to find the end of trail or have to turn around midtrail and not know what lies ahead.  We have different opinions.  What’s yours?

Like that trail runner, we hope you find today’s tasks easy, Team D! But maybe wear pants.

Today’s Blooms Plus Butterflies