For anyone who has been paying attention to the news, you know that most of California has been devastated by wild fires this month. Here in the Bay Area, we have had some of the poorest air quality in the world. It has been at the extremely dangerous levels for about 2 weeks. We even had to cancel school. Needless to say, we have been trapped indoors for way too long and I know I am a complete brat for complaining about being inside our nice comfortable house, while people about 300 miles away have absolutely no home to be trapped in. I cannot imagine what their lives look like right now.
Luckily, this past weekend we finally got rain. The first rain since April. It has helped contain the fires and cleared out the smoke.
Ryan and I took advantage of the blue sky and fresh air as we knocked another National Park off of our list and followed the #optoutside movement to enjoy nature instead of shopping malls over Black Friday weekend.
P
innacles National Park
is about 2 hours southeast of our house and was established as a National Park in 2013. The park is a breeding ground for the endangered
California Condor.
(Not my highlight but a fun fact all the same) The park is also known for its unique rock formations, wildflowers and caves.
We spent the day doing a hike to the Bear Gulch reservoir. The hike took us through caves that were made even more fantastic by the recent rain. The water flowing through the caves and down the sides of the rocks made us feel like we were on an adventure with The Goonies and, at some places, racing from "pretend" danger with Doctor Jones in the Temple of Doom.
It was wonderful day trip to finish out the month of November.
