Wednesday, March 25, 2009

It was ALL fun and I wouldn't change a thing

I might not be feeling well, but that doesn't stop me from day dreaming of taking another bike trip.

I've just been laying around not doing much of anything, so I decided to view some of our old vacation pictures since it's raining outside and I can't even sit out in the sun and feel bad there today.

There were too many nice pictures to post so I just chose these. The first one is at Yellowstone Nat'l Park in July. It was a hot July day and then the next morning we woke up to snow. Imagine riding our motorcycles in snow. One little secret I'll let you in on....I've never been to Yellowstone that it hasn't snowed or sleeted while I've been there and I've always been there in July or August.
This next picture is of my youngest grandson Brandon and we're in northern California hiking through giant ferns in a young redwood forest. Everything was so lush and beautiful there that year and the ground so soft that Brandon was walking around without his shoes. Everything was so pristine and it seemed like no one was in that forest but us or had been. I like it when people take nothing but pictures and leave nothing behind but footprints. That way everyone can see the beauty that nature has to offer us, if we're all just willing to take care of it.





This is the Pacific Ocean in Oregon. I think Oregon has one of the most beautiful shorelines of any ocean I've seen. It's very scenic, but it's also windy and this day it was very cold. I'd been here before when it was warm enough to swim and enjoy the water, but not on this day.







This is another beautiful place that always looked like a park to me. It's part of Shady Oaks, our family's own private park. This section is known as "Pony Trail" because it used to be part of the trail that I, myself personally blazed through the forest, with axe & shovel, so that my children could safely ride their pony's without getting hung up on those thorny nasty green vines. I had to get that in because sometimes children forget all the times that I spent doing things just for them and for their pleasure.

At that time I blazed a trail for my children that spanned 20 acres up hills and down hollers. I got very good at uprooting trees, shrubs & vines without much effort. At first I chopped the trees down and dug out the roots...it took a lot of time. Then I quickly learned that if I dug around the roots first I could topple the tree down by just pushing it back & forth, and at the same time uproot the root as the tree fell. Needless to say, I never went to the gym...I didn't have to since I also chopped up the tree for firewood and carried it back to our little cabin for our winter heat. That's just some of what I did for fun and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Now it's left for the next generation to take care of...not just Shady Oaks, but the whole world.

5 comments:

JunieRose2005 said...

Hey Sandy,

I enjoyed your travels today!

I, too, am not feeling so well today but it was fun going all the way to the west coast with you!


Junie

scott said...

i love to travel more than about anything else, especially on m-cycle. it truely is the only way to go.
i'm glad you got to travel to all those different places and know you will get many more w/jimmy. lol

Anonymous said...

thanks mama for cutting those woodsy things down for me to ride my pony, which I absolutely enjoyed doing.

Nice photos.Please make you some more this summer.Get in the wind.

tomlaureld@yahoo.com said...

I loved those photos. I picked Brandon's photo as the best, but I do understand the labor involved in chopping those trails at Shady Oaks.
I was never involved in any of that work but I did get to walk those trails with you. I enjoyed the fact that you did mark and clean your own back yard for your whole family.
Love Ya
Dennis
Q. The lion, the king of the jungle, decided to have a party. He
invited all the animals in the jungle, and they all came except five.
Which ones?
A. The giraffe, because he was still in the fridge and the elephants which are at your home.

Susie said...

Hi Sandy,
Sorry to hear you've been feeling sick. Isn't it great to be able to remember wonderful trips with photos?
What a wonderful park you created right at home. Your hard work was so worth it for all your family.
xo