Since We Can't Go To The Beach...

I thought it would be fun to take the girls and their friends hiking at Santa Rosa Plateau. It was the perfect weather day to do the 1.7 mile hike out to the Adobe Houses. Lunches and waters were packed in the backpack and we took off on the trail. The girls spotted huge ant holes, a few lizards and plenty of animal scat.

Lorien was the trail guide with Allison following closely behind. The big girls, on the other hand, were scaredy cats from the beginning... "What do we do if we see a snake?", "What was that noise?", "The weeds keep hitting my legs and I think it is a snake." and "I don't want to do this anymore." I kept telling them to stop being paranoid and keep walking. Snakes are more scared of us than we are of them, although they assured me that wasn't possible as their hearts raced. And then I heard the screams...

Taylor spotted this large snake peering its head out of the weeds and onto the trail. Lorien, Allison and Maylie had all past it by, but Taylor's eagle eyes did not. My heart was racing too, but I remained calm on the outside and quieted down the screaming so I could snap a picture. I knew it was not a rattlesnake, but it was pretty big...at least a few feet long and quite thick. That was the end of the hiking for this crew. There was a bench just a few yards up the trail so we could stop, calm down, get a drink and snack and contemplate our next move. The little girls and I were ready to continue, but Taylor and May had had enough. They wanted piggy back rides to the car!

Unfortunately, we had to pass the same spot to make it back to the car and walk about a mile. Lorien and Allison were hoping to spot the snake on our way back, while May insisted I hold her very "clammy" hand the entire way! As I suspected, the snake was not there when we returned...probably slithering his way across the path once we left.

These are the faces of 4 happy girls who successfully made it back to the car without any snake bites or fainting spells!

They felt their brush with death warranted a trip to 7-11 for a slurpee to make it all better!

Maybe we are better off staying in the safety of our own backyard swimming and playing Littlest Pet Shop...