A Traipse Through the Seasons

When the Navy summoned my husband to San Diego for a week (closing out a particularly busy season for him that we're all happy to say goodbye to!), I decided to take the littles on an impromptu road trip. After all, we'd traveled all the way from the Atlantic Ocean; why not finish off our cross-country travels by seeing the Pacific?

We set out the day after an unexpected (albeit brief) snow flurry, and after a tiring drive we arrived in Coronado. I've only been once before, almost ten years ago! That was shortly before our wedding, and it was strange to think of the contrast: then single, now married with four children by my side and two in God's care. But while much has changed for me, Coronado was just as beautiful as I remembered it. Balmy temperatures, sunny skies, and lush greenery -- it's easy to see why so many people consider this to be "paradise."

Pablo wasn't flying this bird, but it flew right overhead as the littles and I lingered on the sparkly sand:

Scout thoroughly enjoyed his time on the beach, and found a tangled piece of seaweed that he toted around for most of our jaunt. It took a little sleight of hand to finally part him from it when we were ready to leave!

We had to stop by the Hotel del Coronado, so I could show the kids (and Pablo, for that matter). Rosa was quite taken with the beautiful lobby, and the ice cream shop met with hearty approval!

The littles and I also explored Old Town San Diego, which was colorful and delicious and educational all at once.

Of course, I was most interested in the fibers in one of the museums:

The interiors were dark and cool, and so very peaceful.

We couldn't visit San Diego without going to the zoo! It was as busy as a Spring break Saturday could be, but it was our only opportunity and I'm glad we took it. There are many animals there that the littles have never seen -- so many, in fact, that we didn't even come close to seeing them all. I was delighted that the littles were able to see many of the animals we've studied in zoology this year. We also saw one of the giant pandas (Xiao Liwu), not even realizing that they were being shipped back to China at the end of the month.

Pablo snapped this shot of two "affectionate" Gerenuks, which I just love!

Little Man wanted to see gorillas (which we did), and Rosa wanted to see koalas. I was so excited to get a shot of one awake -- you can tell it's awake, because... well, no. It still looks like it's asleep. *wink*

With accommodations for two adults and four children both scarce and expensive, I looked further afield for our last night in San Diego and ended up booking a room in the very same Navy Inn in Point Loma that I stayed at with my family a decade ago. I wish we could have stayed more than one night -- the view incredible, and this was what we saw looking down from our balcony:

Not a bad setting for morning devotions! 

After church on Sunday, we had lunch at Cafe Madeleine (their North Park location) -- absolutely delightful, both in ambiance and flavor! There were even two musicians in the corner to serenade us during our meal. I had a beef Crepe Salees, and would gladly eat another. I wish we had a place like this just around the corner! 

We couldn't leave San Diego without stopping by La Jolla:

I'm not sure how I managed to exclude most of the sunbathing seals from this photo of the children's pool (which should really be renamed "Seal Pool," because there were no children and dozens of seals!), but you can spot of few of them on the right:

We did venture down to the water (though hampered by our "Sunday best"), and the children had so much fun exploring the rocks and tide pools that I wish we'd had more time there. 

 But it was time to be off, because our adventures were far from over -- having sampled a tantalizing taste of summer, it was time to visit a different season.

The foothills just west of Sequoia National Park are absolutely lovely! Spring has kissed the landscape here, and we passed dozens of citrus groves laden with fruit.

But as we wound our way up through the park, the temperature steadily dropped.

Snow was forecast for the next day, but there was already plenty of it on the ground high up in the Sierra Nevadas. It was quite the winter wonderland at 7,000 feet! We donned our winter gear and trekked (and by trekked I mean "slipped" -- it was quite icy) our way through magnificent groves of trees. The General Sherman tree was our ultimate destination; it's the largest tree (by mass) on the planet, and weighs over 4 millions pounds.

Such a majestic forest monarch! What a testament to the beauty and splendor of our Creator God.

Can you spot the cascade on the left in this photo? I'd brought along our Geography from A to Z book, which I purchased a few months ago but haven't really included in our school yet. Little Man found it in the book bag, and helpfully supplied is with the names for some of the water features we saw.

We drove through El Dorado National Forest on our way home, and feasted our eyes on even more mountain grandeur -- we only managed a few snapshots from a moving car as we wound our way through vista after vista, but we are determined to return one day and explore this corner of God's handiwork.

 And then, home again, where the weather can't decide between Spring and Summer, and chilly mornings give way to blazing afternoons. Our high desert landscape has grown suddenly green in the past few weeks, and we're enjoying chilly mornings before the summer heat finally sets in.

A week of leave for my husband has put our house (more) to rights, and now it's time to settle back into familiar routines and rhythms -- with a few more memories tucked away, and anticipation of more to come.