Fall Bliss!!

Just two posts ago I was talking about the lack of fall here in El Centro, and so I feel that I should write now and tell you about the Fall fun I had this weekend!! Mark took me to Julian for the day yesterday and I had the most wonderful time! We drove to Lake Cuyamaca ( if you want to see what it looked like, I found this link http://www.pbase.com/gcropser/image/48952234 )I hope to actually post some pictures of our fun here soon! So we left the house at about 10:00 and headed up to Julian. While Mark drove, I read the book Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter, to him and we had a great time thinking about things to be "glad" about! When we got to the Lake, we went to buy a loaf of bread to feed to the ducks. The nice man at the cash register surprised is by giving us a bucket of old bread from the restaurant next door..and it was free!! (awesome, I know!) We had great fun feeding the ducks and shared the bread with a nice couple and their little boy. Mark had me laughing because he kept petting the ducks! We named one duck Marley, because he was our favorite, and we hope to go and visit him again soon. When all the bread was gone, we sat down on a large rock and snacked on dried pineapple slices and pistachios that we had bought from a roadside stand. That is when I spotted an enormous pine cone. So, while Mark ate all the pistachios, I was busy hunting for pine cones! Mark joined in, and was brave enough to take one off a tree...I never realized how prickery those things are...ouch! After I was satisfied with my pine cone harvest, we started off on our hike around the lake. I had to stop and hug a Maple tree I found (something rare around here). And picked a red leaf or two to press and keep forever! Off we went on our hike. The weather was crisp and cool and the wind blew through the tan prairie grass making a lovely rustling sound. It was a gorgeous day, and it was wonderful to enjoy the fall colors! We ended up taking a detour and going up the hill to see the old Stonewall Jackson mine. On the way, we ran into a couple of flocks of Turkey that Mark ran after and took pictures of... what a perfectly lovely time we had! We got to the mine around 4 and decided we had better head back before it got dark. We found our way back to the lake and walked and walked...and kept walking till the trail lead us back to our car. Along the way we saw a grey squirrel, a bright green Parakeet that was happily living with the rest of the birds...and a deer. We drove home, and ate BBQ chicken that tasted amazing after a day of fun! It was a wonderful day that I will remember for years to come! Ahhhh.....!