MinBug

After waiting for 8 hours for Dawg's dad to finish dealing with grandma's crap for the day, Dawg and her team headed out toward Julian for a hike. $22 was spend at the candy mine then a long ride on a dirt road to the hiking spot. Dawg's dad didn't like the road, or rather he didn't like the cliffs on the side of the road, so we turned back. But first, everyone got out of the car to mark the turnaround spot. As we got back in, Dawg's dad got the phone call that he's been waiting for for almost five years! On the drive up the hill, we saw two different bobcats! (On the way down we saw a giant bird swoop down to pick up a dead squirrel off the road.) We made it back to the main road and wondered where to next? Carmel Mountain! It ended up being a nice cool hike of a few miles round trip. On the way down we saw some young men on bikes doing crazy jumps on the steep trails. It was fun to watch from so close. Dawg was carried up and walked along the top ridge. As usual, she enjoyed sniffing along the way.

Dawg enjoyed walking in the shady parts of the trail. The water near the cache was nice and cool so Dawg and her mom put their feet in to cool down before hiking back up. It was quite warm out so Dawg was carried uphill.

This was Dawg's third attempt at finding this cache. Luckily this is a pretty area and is fun to hike around. The first time we didn't do any research and tried to take trails to the cache from the east. We walked and walked and walked then finally walked back to the car for a total of about 5 miles. The next time we came in from the west and Dawg was moving a bit slow. We thought it was because she was hot so we tried to cool her down with water. We got to within .19 of a mile and Dawg puked after having diarrhea. Suke and Dawg's mom ran as fast as they could to get the car and meet Dawg and her dad at the closest spot on the road. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the vet. Several hundred dollars later, Dawg was fine! Yea! The third attempt we came in from the south. We went around the rose bushes but could not avoid the Bromus (sp. rubens?) seeds. The humans ended up walking back without socks and the dawgz were carried (they were carried up to the cache too!) so they wouldn't get any in their ears etc. On the way back the humans got stung by sting nettles complete with resulting blisters and severe itch and pain. This would have been a fun cache except for all the different kinds of stickers!

Dawg and her team were on their way to Geowoodstock when we received a phone call from our attorney that made us turn around a go back. We were going to visit the Shultz Museum as a consolation prize but it was closed for the 4th of July. This was the vacation from hell!

Dawg and her family have driven along the I-8 through these hills many times on the way to Anza Borrego. Each time, Dawg's dad always said, "We have to ride our bikes up that hill!" Today we did. Dawg rode on her dad's back and Suki rode on her mom's back. We also had Steve with us. It was a toasty day but the dawgz were wet and cool so they didn't mind the ride up. Steve turned back way early, Dawgs' mom had to rest frequently to keep from over heating, and Dawgs' dad was just like the Energizer Bunny....he just kept going!!! He could have anyway, but was kind enough to wait for Dawgs' mom. Eventually all of Dawg's team made it to the top where the paragliders launc. Dawgs' dad found the cache and we all flew down the hill quickly. It was a fun ride and we just might have to do it again when it isn't so hot.