Day Hike To King's Canyon

Today we decided to celebrate the last day of the kid's Spring Break with an outing to King's Canyon, which sports a pretty little waterfall, on the outskirts of Carson City.

It's a short hike, only about a half mile each way.  There's a fair bit of rise in elevation to it though, and the trail is steep in spots.

There's some room to park at the trailhead, and judging by the number of cars we weren't the only ones with the idea of a hike today.  But off we went anyway!

There is a nice memorial to three firefighters who died in 1976, people in our area take honoring and caring for the firefighters very seriously as we have serious brush/forest fires around here every year.

A little way up the hill, looking back at the parking area.  I have no doubt that the poor guy who lives in the house on the left is constantly beseiged with people knocking on his door and asking to use the bathroom, the phone, can I get a drink of water, yada yada yada...

Gaining a bit of elevation...

The kid with her trusty walking stick was enjoying herself...

A little further up, looking back again...

The kid channels her inner Muir!

...while her parents cop a squat, rest for a few and enjoy the view.

We get to the top where the cleft and waterfall are and gawk at the pointy, angled rocks on the hill above.

Sadly for me, this is where I am thwarted by the inability to scramble over a small rockfall in order to get to the waterfall.  I have no doubt I would have taken the quick way to the bottom if I'd tried.  Not wanting to end the day at the ER I chose to wait here while J. and the kid explored the waterfall.  It was disappointing, but maybe someday I'll be able to make the climb all the way to the top.

Husband and kid climb the rocks and find the waterfall!  My kid immediately turns into a mountain goat and climbs the rocks.

It's a pretty little thing, from here the water spreads onto the rocky ground to the depth of a few inches, then continues on down the gorge.

The base of the waterfall...

...and where it spreads out before flowing down the gorge, this is looking back at the rockfall I couldn't manage.

People over the years have carved their names into this tree.

The upper part of the waterfall...

We had plenty of company, people taking their kids to enjoy the day.  To everyone's credit, we found absolutely NO trash on our hike.  People are awesome about packing out their trash and the area is pristine.

The kid explores closer...

The moss is inspected...

 ...and pronounced 'slimey and slippery'.

Yup. pretty much.  Anyone who's ever hiked and discovered a waterfall can attest to how treacherous this stuff can be!

After enjoying the waterfall and the view for a while, it was time to head back down.

We'll definitely be back!

Thanks For The New Memories...

Tonight I was watching various holiday movies as I sat wrapping Christmas gifts, surrounded by a confusion of rolls of bright paper and shiny ribbons, and constantly losing the scissors...Holiday Inn, Desk Set, A Christmas Story...

The Christmas tree this year is a good one, and glows warmly in front of the window, smelling great and looking fabulous with all my favorite old-time glass ornaments hanging from it. My six year old daughter was sitting under my table, playing with the scraps of paper and bits of ribbon as they floated down, wrapping her own 'presents'--small plastic animals, dinosaurs, little toys. She does this very carefully and with serious intent, so I help her by showing her how to tear off a strip of tape so it doesn't ball up and letting her choose which gift tags to use. As she works, from under the table I hear her quietly singing "The First Noel"--except she has changed the words, in the way we all do with misheard lyrics. It is now "Oh well, oh well, oh well, oh well..."

Forget loud, fancy parties. These are truly the moments to savor.

Life is good...

Pirates And Indians And Dancing, Oh My!

Fun weekend, this. We actually got out and did things for a change. Saturday was the 6th birthday party for a friend of N.'s, which had a pirate theme and was held in the recreation center of the city historical house/aquatic pavilion/farm/park complex. A very nice place that we could tell was custom-made for expensive weddings. The kid's mom had handed out these cutesy party invitations on the last day of school back in June. Each invitation was printed on aged-looking parchement paper in gothic text with cute pirate-y wording, then rolled up, tied with a gold cord and placed in a small bottle with a few seashells, some blue sand and corked shut. Very fancy for a 6 year old's party, and the kid's mom handed out about 50 of the things. N. was looking forward to this party, so we said we'd go.

Well, the day of the party we went to the place at the stated time (1-5PM was the time frame) and got there about ten minutes after one. We were the first ones to arrive, so we helped set up and chatted with the parents while the kids played. The parents and the kids were dressed in pirate gear, pirate decorations, a pirate ship cake...very well done and fun. About two hours later only one other couple + kid had showed, and we were feeling VERY sorry for the family that had obviously spent a good deal of money and planning on this party. Yet the kids were having a blast, running around having balloon swordfights courtesy of the dad who was making balloon animals and swords, bless his heart. Finally around 3:30 more people showed up until most of the 20 or so tables were taken. They had a quick scavenger hunt, played several games and had each kid make their own bandana using pirate stencils and fabric markers. The only flaw was that whether planned or unplanned, the reservation time on the building ran out before the kid could open his gifts. Parents, take note--ALWAYS leave plenty of time for the poor birthday kid to open his presents, which for the birthday child and the guests is the highlight of the day! At any rate, N. loved it and had a great time.

Today was fun, too--we went to the Southern California Indian Center Pow Wow, which this year was held at the Pomona Fairgrounds in one of the huge, air-conditioned buildings! Yay for a/c! Usually they have the pow wow the last weekend in August, outdoors, with little to no shade. Pow wows include LOTS of lengthy dancing in heavy regalia. Not good in summer. Today we got to sit and watch a fair amount of the dancing, which had N. VERY entralled. Many louds drums, chanting and fancy regalia. All the people there were smiling, laid back and taking the time to enjoy.

She also loved the booths with the natural animal bits and pieces--skins, bones, teeth, etc.--that Indians use in their decorations, drums, flutes, regalia, etc. We pointed out the different animal skulls (possum have REALLY impressive teeth, by the way), bones and hides. We were pleased that N. handled the materials carefully and showed the animals the respect due. We also got to indulge in one of the greatest meals ever, Navajo tacos. That's a nice chunk of Indian fry bread topped with refried beans, ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. Impossible to eat neatly, but then everyone ELSE is covered in it too, so heck, who cares if you've got refried beans decorating your entire left leg. Loads of very cool drums, flutes, dreamcatchers, handbeaded jewelry and too much other cool stuff to list. The dancers outfits, or regalia (it's not Halloween, NEVER call it a 'costume') were incredibley ornate, and I noticed that after all that heavy duty dancing not a feather, bead or bit of anything from the dancer's outfits were on the floor. That's what comes of handsewing everything on your outfit yourself. We got N. a story book on rabbit the trickster since she loves bunnies, plus a desert animal sticker book, a couple of handmade beaded bracelets for her and I and some decorations to hang on our Ren Faire costumes--rolled tin jingles (technically for a Jingle Dress) and some lovely white carved bone feathers. N. kept staring at the people in their regalia and grinning like she was seeing movie stars. As we were leaving, she asked me if she could say hello to one of them, a teenage girl in a beautiful purple Shawl Dancer dress. The girl was very nice and spoke for a minute to N., who for ONCE (Hallelujah!) did NOT have to explain her Cherokee name, spell it, repeat it 5 times or correct people who insist on calling her 'Naomi', which is NOT her name. N. gave her a hug as the puzzled but smiling teenager looked over her shoulder at me. I just smiled back, shrugged, and told her, "She just really enjoyed the day and wanted to thank someone!" All the way out N. kept saying, "I LOVE Indians!" Which gave passersby a grin.

Best Tshirt of the day, among many: Front--"Got land?" Back--"Thank an Indian". Problem is, now N. wants a Jingle Dress and to learn traditional Indian dances. The dress I can manage to make no problem, but finding someone around here to teach the dancing I'm SURE will be a pain. Should be fun, though!