Life is Good

The first day of a month long vacation does not need to be spent cleaning or doing laundry or going to the store or trying to get caught up on things that you have neglected during the work week. No way. Today, I spent the morning relaxing with Jimmy, having coffee and fixing breakfast. Oh! And of course I had to watch the beginning of the Indy 500. It came on T.V. at 10 am. We watched Jim Nabors sing "Back Home Again in Indiana" and listened to them say "Gentlemen Start Your Engines!!!" All the while telling Jimmy that we must go to that one year just to feel what it's like to be at the greatest spectacle in racing. I'm not sure if it was because Jimmy made the coffee really strong or just because I had started my summer vacation, but I was itching to do something....just get out of town for a few hours and see something different. I would have LOVED for Jimmy and I to be able to take a trip to the beach, but since he had to work that was out of the question. So, shortly after Jimmy left for work at 10:30, I loaded up Tux and the camera and made an hour long trek to Idyllwild. It's a quaint little mountain town about an hour away with tons of parks and hiking trails.

Don't worry, I totally had my eyes on the road and one hand on the steering wheel....I just held the camera up and randomly clicked just to see what kind of pictures I would get. I didn't think about it until being half way up the mountain...but thankfully Tux doesn't get car sick, even on the extremely windy roads.

The road that leads to Idyllwild is called Palms to Pines Highway - as you can see from the pictures it is properly named. You start out in the heat of the Desert and drive and hour up the mountain until you reach Pine trees and 70 degree temps. I passed sooooo many horse farms, but it amazed me that there was still no pasture. The horses are just turned out on dirt lots.

Being that it was a holiday weekend, the town was busy with people wanting to get out and visit all the shops, restaurants and festivities that the town was offering. It would have been so fun to walk around the town and visit some of the little stores, but being that I had Tux with me instead of Jimmy, I just drove through town and headed for some hiking trails.

By the way, I had a rock take this picture of me. Aka - I set the camera on a rock and used the timer. Not too bad for a rock.
Tux and I went on a fairly easy hike, nothing too strenuous except when I went off the beaten path to get down to the little waterfall and stream that was running through the forest. I just had to get down there, don't ask me why, but when I hear water gushing, I want to see what's going on. We made it there and back without a hitch. Tux was a trooper.

We left after a while and it's amazing how much faster the trip is when you're heading down a mountain instead of up. I definitely had to use the break more than the gas. I stopped at a place called Vista Point as I was winding my way back into the desert and snapped some good shots of the Desert from above..and had some random guy take my picture...

As was the start to my month long summer break, no cleaning, no laundry, no work...just a little get-away to the mountains. As for the rest of the week, I think it's going to fly by. I'm actually going in for a couple lessons tomorrow...it's the last day that I can teach before I'm officially not an employee of the club. Also, I'm going to get some practice in because I'm playing in a tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday. Jimmy's last day of work is on Friday, so we'll have the weekend together I'm flying out for Indy a week from tomorrow!! I'll be sure to post as the week goes on!