A day's journey

We've had this overnight trip planned since April. We left church with much anticipation and were on our way. Josh looked out the window and said, "Look! God's beautiful heavens!" That was the start of our family retreat.

Traditionally, we have family time during our annual camping trip, and when visiting relatives. This year, we hoped to have affordable mini-trips to give us more opportunities to reconnect. Here's the view on route to a mountain town:

The boys were excited that our lodge room had bunk beds and jumped in right away to warm up.

We headed out for a hike to explore this 53 acre property. This manzanita tree's red color was striking:

The sunlight spotlighted a mountain in the distance, and caught our eyes:

Stopping to pose amidst the woods, about 30 steps into our hike:

The property has goats, sheep, horse, and a ram. The wild critters we saw were blue jays, turkey vultures, wood peckers and rabbit.

Balancing the fallen wood 'balance beam':

A curious horse:

Our resident rock collector found many lovely artifacts:

So excited, that he could just 'eat it up'

Our wooded path:

Pete turning back and checking on mama:

to find me taking photos as usual. As we got deeper in our walk, we were blessed with more and more fall foliage:

It was about this time frame, that we realized we were not where we thought we were according to the trail map. Can you say 'lost'?:

So, we shuffled along faster, knowing that we had less than an hour til the sun set, hence the blurry photograph:

The Lord gave us an opportunity to trust in and seek His guidance, to equip us along our journey. God is faithful.

When back on track, we were thankful for our exciting journey and for our cozy lodge. We cozied in for some comforts brought from home -- warm soup and then later some hot cocoa.

The excitement continued. When we headed out for dinner, it was pitch black dark outside. The lamps outside our lodge were not on when we left because they had not yet been adjusted to the time change. This gave a sense of adventure to our night time travels. As we drove out the one-lane dirt road to go one mile to town, there was a dense fog, and a rare street lamp.

The restaurant we found, had portions that provided us more than enough for one meal, so we saved the leftovers for our lunch the next day. The bonus about this place, was that the prices were comparable to a walk-up counter diner. When we returned back to the rustic lodge, with no phone or television or WiFi; the kids got back to Simple Yet Fun Entertainment - Shadow Puppet Dancing:

The night ended with a family game, and the next morning began with a chess game. These boys were making "check" and "check mate" within minutes:

Next up was hanging out in the Lodge's main room, starting with sand art:

And an exciting, fast paced, game of "What's Gnu?"

Here comes a literal "Insane Exercise" workout, with our two boys 'hamming' it up:

Time for target practice with rocks aimed at pine trees:

I asked the boys to "wind" up as they aimed:

Our resident rock collector found rocks with gold sparkles, white sparkles, each unique in shape, size and color. Pete suggested narrowing down to a 'favorite' rock, and Josh replied a reason to not one of them go, "It's gorgeous!"

Here, Josh is excited to pose happily, in front of a big rock he found: 

We said our good byes to Julian Meadow View Inn. If you are okay with rustic settings, they have a weekday special for $49.99 per night. We were able to enjoy this time away, packing food and snacks, for easily under one hundred dollars including lodging. Off we went to town for Julian Apple Pie:

Our favorite is a slice of Apple Crumb pie:

A picture with mom at "Mom's Pie Place":

We left feeling re-connected and blessed. The Lord has been growing us this year, and we were encouraged with a change from the regular routine -- and together, at that.

Til next time, See you later Julian!