Camping throughout California and other summer trips

The second half of summer and nearly the entire fall have gone by much too  quickly. We got in a couple of trip together to see family and friends. Pete was in the field for two long stretches of time, which prompted me to take some solo camping trips to tick some places off my "to visit" list. 

Pete was working in the northwest corner of Washington State for a few weeks in July. He got a short break in the middle so we met up in Olympia to spend the weekend with Tish, Morgan, and the kiddos. Pete had not seen the kids since we left for New Zealand, so we were overdue for a visit. We had a lovely weekend catching up, making jam, watching the Lakefair parade, and enjoying summer in the PNW. 

In August we headed to Minnesota for double family time. I went a few days before Pete to see my mom and Cole-dog. We all met back in Minneapolis for a family reunion with Pete's family and a brief visit with the rest of my family. Pete's cousin Jess and her family live in Minneapolis, and it was their turn to host the family reunion. The Neukirch's are spread from California to Massachusetts, so every few years we gather in one of four locations. When we go to Minnesota to visit my family, we spend very little time in Minneapolis, so it was fun to explore on foot and bike with the family. 

We managed to spend three weekends at Pete's family camp in the mountains this summer. We often struggle to get up there once a year, so we were quite pleased to get so much time up there this summer. After a wet winter and late spring, we were treated to an abundance of wildflowers in July that we usually do not see. On our last trip, we convinced Pete's parents and sister to join us. It was the first time in over twenty years that they have all been at camp together. In all cases, the river was its usual bone-chilling cold! 

At the beginning of September, Pete got on a ship for five weeks. Instead of coming home to an empty house every weekend, I went camping. The first trip was to Castle Crags State Park in northern California. The park is just off Interstate 5 and has been on my list of places to visit for years. The crags are 6,000 foot tall granitic spires that formed over 170 million years ago. They crags are a distinctive feature of the surrounding landscape and share the limelight with Mount Shasta near the southern terminus of the Cascade Mountains. The park was relatively quiet in mid-September, so there were plenty of campsites left when I arrived. I hiked over twenty miles in two days and had most of the trails to myself. 

The next weekend I camped at Mount Madonna, a nearby retreat center, for a three-day yoga retreat. Since moving to the East Bay part time, I have really missed my yoga teacher in Santa Cruz. The retreat was a chance for me to get my fill and reconnect with many of the yogis that I've come to know from her classes. The retreat center has miles of trails, lots of wildlife, and is also home to the most-visited Hindu Temple in the Bay Area. The food was delicious and they had many options for me, which is always a bonus. 

In late October, we ventured down to Santa Barbara to visit friends and to see our friend's chocolate shop. Mike started Twenty-Four Blackbirds chocolate about ten years ago in his home kitchen. Pete and I got a taste of his work then and have been fans ever since. Recently, he expanded into a new location, complete with factory, retail space, greenhouse, and experimental lab. He has five varieties of single origin bean-to-bar chocolate and has an assortment of truffles that are divine. He is also making gummies using the juice from the cacao plant. They are really unique and quite good. Look Mike up if you are ever in Santa Barbara; it is totally worth the trip to see a small-scale chocolate factory at work. We brought home the cocoa bean husks to use as mulch and our entire yard now smells like chocolate. Yum. 

blocks of melted but untempered chocolate

Mike explaining his fancy packaging machine

the tell-tale feathers of Twenty-Four Blackbirds chocolate

The final camping trip in this mega-blog was meant to be a joint venture to Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. However, Pete came down with a case of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease (Yes, that is an actual thing. No, it is not common in adults.) that left him incapacitated due to the incredibly painful blisters on his feet. I was bummed to go on my own but could not postpone the trip because sister Stephanie and I were meeting to run a night-time half marathon. I arrived at my campground outside the park just before sunset and settled in for the evening. The next morning I explored around the visitor center while waiting for Steph and David to arrive from LA. We spent most of the rest of the day getting our race gear, finding food that all three of us could eat (no small feat), and prepping for the run. The run was just outside the park on the sandy desert roads. We started running at about 6:15 pm, so the sun was down and the stars were out. There were so many runners on the course that I did not turn on my headlamp the entire run! It was neat to look behind to see a highway of headlamps running through the desert. There were some unhappy dogs along the course that probably thought the end was nigh. It was a lovely run under the stars with my favorite running buddy.

The day after the run, we explored inside the park. It was the first time all three of us had been there. The Joshua Trees are so interesting and must have been the inspiration for Dr. Seuss's book The Lorax. The billowing granite formations add to the other worldly feeling of the place. The sad reality is that Joshua Tree is on a trajectory to be the second national park to lose its namesake. Glacier NP is likely to be first, followed closely behind by Joshua Tree. The warmer temperatures and drier conditions at lower elevations within the park are hindering new Joshua Trees from flourishing. So go visit while you can still see the trees!

the lovely Joshua Tree

the impressive (and pokey) cholla garden