Rockin'!

Today we went to this cool place called Calico Basin with the Life Learners. Well, it was cooler before they renovated it, but we made do and had a good time anyway!

There is a spring that comes out of a cave at the base of the mountain, with a meadow that grows because of all the water there. The kids could walk around this boardwalk type path and sort of explore. Before you had free reign of the meadow and the cave with the spring and all, but now they have it "protected", so the only exploring is from afar and by reading the signs. So much like school. Learn what we put in front of you, don't stray off the path, we don't trust you to know what you need, blah, blah, blah.

Needless to say the whole group of us strayed off that path and went to check out that cave, darn it! Granted one of the kids went right up to a Prickly Pear cactus that had been planted and plucked one of the flowers. It would have withered and fallen off anyway, but we had her put it back for the wildlife to have it. Not till I got a picture, of course.

Near the end of the day, when the sun had gone behind the ridge, those of us left headed out for a hike to climb the rocks. We went beyond the fenced in area, where we could explore freely. The kids had a blast scrambling up the rocks and checking out the wild formations Mother Nature made out of those rocks. They found a cool little pocket in the rock, where a couple kids could fit inside. It was hard to keep them from running way ahead of us, they were so excited! One of the girls ran across a scorpion. He looks big in that picture, but he was really quite small. Good thing she did not put her hand on it! I showed the picture of him to the little ones who did not want to go up and see him in person. The wonder of digital photography!

On the way back down to the cars, we saw this beautiful clump of blooming cactus, so I got the group of kids to gather round for a photo. They obliged. The setting sun was lighting up the hills beyond and it was just so peaceful. What a wonderful day with our friends!