Our vacation...

For our mini-vacation (4 days) we went to the Pinnacles National Monument, stopping by the Mission San Juan Bautista along the way... We had loads of fun camping, despite the yellow jackets and flies, and the heat. We saw tarantulas, condors, blue jays, squirrels, coyote scat, pigs' digging areas, cool volcanic rock formations, caves (we climbed all over the place in those) and more! The kids both earned Junior Ranger badges by completing workbooks back at camp. Because they completed all the activities, learning about local plants, Native Americans, geology, and wildlife, the ranger bumped both up a level, making them Condors instead of Coyotes!








Outside the old Mission church













Inside













Peering into the Mission kitchen














Back inside the church















On the trail













The rocks at Pinnacles














Inside the caves













Condors resting on the rocks (you can just barely see them on the middle rock)














A narrow passage along the trail



















Inside another cave












Finding our way through the depths














The resevoir














A furry friend (?)