My last day this year at Santa Lucia...Bixbys school

I really enjoy my time at Bixby's school. Its a special place and I have been helping to develop their outdoor classroom....but they have a creek... and how can one do better than that for outdoor time. We spent the afternoon down at the creek on Wednesday.

The girls find a  dead fish 

 "Lets dig a hole to bury it"

We study the body closer 

 They bury it and decorate the grave

 They write on a rock for a marker

 The children are encouraged to build "rock shops"

for the special rocks they find. This is a tradition 

that has gone on since Bixby's teacher made

 rock shops when she was a student at the same school.

There are fantastic rocks and sometimes arrowheads.

Even at the creek there are opportunities for writing 

A rock sandwich !!! 

 Trying to catch little fish

and enjoying mud

 Back up the hill to the school

Insight launch

At 1 am Saturday morning Mike, Randy and I headed to Vandenberg Air force base to see the launching of the Insight missile launch to Mars. It launched as planned just after 4 am but the view was covered by an unexpected layer of fog. Funny, because I am always talking about the unpredictability of Mother Nature..Ha Ha...it got me. But we had a good time anyway...looking at the displays, getting some giveaway mementos, and catching the excitement of the thousands of people gathered.  I was glad we went even though no photos. I took a very long movie of the liftoff where you can see the heat and hear the crowds excitement at the roar but Im sire its too big to put on the blog. Just a few stills taken before...but I think I am hooked for other launches...its only 90 minutes away.

 

Mike and Randy waiting on the bleachers

We went closer later...to see...not much 

 But the crowd and the roar we worth it to me.

The displays were good. As the rocket launched

we heard the ground crew say" Goodbye Insight"

So much time and imagination spent on the project.

It will land on Mars on November 26th of this year.

It travels at 13,000 miles per hour..it will land at 5 mph.

It will probe the depths of Mars to gather information

about its formation. 

I cannot tell a lie..

this one is from the live feed on a cell phone

of the woman standing next to me.

A yearly campout at Pinnacles

Every year a group of us go to Pinnacles National Park.

We hiked through the Bear Gulch Talus caves

formed by rocks falling.

Some of the caves are low and we crawl through them.

 There was water seeping through and collecting in pools

 After the caves we climb these stairs

to get to the Reservoir.

We were in luck to see a couple of condors fly over. 

Randy studies the body of a poor animal

most likely a young coyote 

 A nice picnic spot

Judy and Randy study the map as we decide

to go further to explore the Chalome Peak trail 

We stop to listen to a tree with a stethoscope.

 Janet could really hear "something"...

the tree sucking up water. !!! 

The Pinnacles in the distance.

Sometimes we climb them.

We return to camp and  the group gathers for happy hour

Janet and Joel 

Randy and Mike goof around while cooking the tri tips

"Want to lick my fingers !!!" 

 Some more serious talk between Jon and Mike

and then more goofing with Mary et al.

 Pat and Judy enjoy the pot luck feast

 Lou and Randy take a turn at listening to the trees.

We are never too old to have fun, enjoy the outside
with friends and learn something new.

Besides the wonderful birds we had lots of 

Raccoons and wild turkeys in our campsite,

On the way home Mike and I saw a herd of wild boar.