It's so fun to live in a place that people want to visit. Yosemite, the Sierras, Mammoth, Mono Lake - climbing, hiking, camping, canoeing, biking - it's a place for everyone. This summer, our little house has been bursting with visitors from the beginning of July until now.
This last visit was particularly special. Some great friends that I haven't seen in a long time made the trek from WA/OR to stay for a few days and play with me. Emily and Brett are friends from college that graduated a few years earlier than I did. We saw each other here and there after they finished school, but it's been a couple years now since we've all been in the same place. They came for a couple days of hiking, swimming, climbing, etc. It's always fun to have visitors because I get to show them the places here that are special to me and that make this place somewhere I really love to live. I took Emily and Brett up to Lundy Canyon on the hunt for some fall color and to show off the awesome work of the Lundy beavers. Fall seems to be taking it's time this year, so while some of the trees are beginning to turn a burnished gold sort of color, we don't yet have any of the brilliant oranges or reds. But a hike up Lundy is always enjoyable, and the beavers never fail to impress with their amazing feats of engineering.
That afternoon we went to the rope swing at Gull Lake to take advantage of some of the last warm afternoons of the season. By the time we got there, the sun had already disappeared for the day, but we still took the plunge into the chilly water.
It took a bit of convincing and some serious pep talks, but there's nothing more invigorating than submerging yourself in a cold mountain lake on the last day of September and once we were in, we were glad to have jumped.
Then we drove to Minaret Vista for the sunset which was absolutely spectacular. The San Joaquin River Valley glowed as the sun lit the sky on fire. The Minarets provide a dramatic backdrop with their rugged toothlike shape. The glowing orange you see in the picture is smoke from the Sheep Fire in Sequoia National Park. Generally we haven't had too much smoke this summer (other than when the craters were on fire) but on days when the wind blows a certain direction we pick up a bit from this fire which has been burning for over 2 months now. Makes for a nice sunset at least.
