1. Pinnacles National Park
2. San Juan Bautista Mission
3. Dinner at Dona Esther
Our last full vacation day... Chris wanted to take the family hiking and picked an incredible spot to do so! Pinnacles National Park is near the town of Soledad - about a 30 min drive from our hotel. We checked in at the ranger station and noticed the weather was perfect - warm and sunny but not too hot. Everyone used the super-clean facilities, we loaded up our stroller and back pack with lots of food and started our hike with lots of energy! We made it about 100 yards when David announced he had to go to the bathroom, so I took him back and then we started again (about 10 min later) with gusto!
Awesome!
The kids needed to stop for lunch about 30 minutes into the trail so we found a nice flat rock to have our lunch. David really enjoyed saying "Hello!" to all the hikers passing by. Of course, Emily has been hiking for years... so she enjoyed showing David what it is all about. Here they are holding hands. Cute!
If we were very very brave.... we could have continued on the trail for about a 1/4 mile through a dark and scary cave.... Flashlight required... very dark, very damp... Chris and Emily checked it out while David and Lia played with rocks outside the entrance.
Emily wanted to show me, so Chris watched the kids and she took me as far as she had went with her Daddy. You had to climb up a lot of rocks to get to the cave... Emily is really good at scampering up all those rocks... she must be part mountain goat! When we got to the dark and wet part of the cave, I thought it was pretty creepy... and had no desire to go further. Would you go in there? Maybe when the kids are older we can come back and do that part.
We headed back the way we came... The kids were not quite as energetic on the way back but we all made it out and were happy to see those clean bathrooms and our car! On the way out, Chris saw this cool sign pointing the way to all the wineries in the area.
We headed to San Juan Bautista to see the mission there. We arrived after 4pm so it was closed but the kids had a ball chasing a rooster around the grounds. Roosters are pretty quick. Apparently, they don't want to be caught by little children! David and Emily thought this was one of the most fun activities of the day! We ate dinner at Dona Esther's and ended a fun day with Mexican food and chocolate cake.
We did laundry and packed to go home that night. (Boo...) Our trip home was smooth. Chris was upgraded to business class and gallantly gave his seat to Lia and I to enjoy. First class treatment is divine! Am I lucky or what?
What a fun vacation!
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