Adventures before April: Part 1

Recently, Mr. C and I found out that he will be going on his first deployment this April, as in, less-than-three-months-away, April. And with that countdown quickly approaching, we've tried to make every single moment together count. So for every weekend, we plan some sort of adventure to go on. Lucky for us, California has pretty much every variety of outdoor climate you could ask for: the beach, the mountains, and even deserts, making awesome adventures, super easy to plan and readily available.

This past weekend, Mr. C and I were dog-sitting for one of his marine buddies, so any adventure we'd go on would have to include Roland and his new BFF, Lucy (below).

Side-note: Lucy, supposedly a mastiff pitbull mix, is an adorable and very calm pup who gets along great with our little Roland. However, she is NOT house trained. A little bit of info I would have appreciated to know prior to her visit...but that is a completely different story which I'll get to another time.

On Saturday, we took the pups to the Del Mar dog beach. We'd never been to this dog beach, but we knew how much Roland loved the Ocean Beach one so we had pretty high hopes. Let's just say it did not disappoint! All the dogs are so playful and happy, and their owners are pretty nice, too. And BONUS: The entire area is surrounded by scenic cliffs. Perfect photo-op's everywhere which I had to take advantage of, obviously. (See even more pictures on my Photo page)

Dogs everywhere

Roland and Lucy

My little baby

Cliffs behind them

With all the excitement of sniffing and attacking everything/everyone, the little nuggets had completely worn themselves out. They were both fighting to stay awake on the drive home but completely passed out within minutes.

Sleepy Pups

PERFECT! Peace and quiet at last.....

Fast-forward to Sunday. After church, we decided to take a hike on the Mount Woodson trail where we could also do some rock climbing. First of all, let me clarify this sentence before anyone gets the wrong impression. Although, my dear husband would like to think I'm as much of a badass as him, I am not. In fact, I'm actually scared shitless of heights. With that being said, I've learned to "get over it" somewhat and have been on plenty of rock climbing adventures with him before. More frequently though, we get our climbing practice on at a nearby indoor gym. With each climb, my fear subsides a bit and, to my surprise, I'm actually pretty good at it. I'm quite flexible from many years of dance and because of that I can usually maneuver myself up a climb with natural momentum. There's definitely a thrill with each climb to the top and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and pride. However, very often my husband, ever my biggest supporter god bless him, seems to have more faith in me than I do; this being one of those instances. I knew that with the cold and the lack of recent practice I was a no-go for this climb, instead opting to stay at the bottom to belay for Mr. C while trying to keep warm.

Unfortunately, since I knew this would be a more intense hike and I didn't want to chance ruining my new camera, it was up to to iPhone to capture these magical moments. They're definitely not as crisp as my beloved Sony SLR, but they'll have to do!

On the way up!

Setting up to climb that sucker

Just like a spider-monkey

Keeping warm!!

Thats's it for now! More adventure posts to come!

For Beaches and Climbing,