Closing Weekend

It's no secret my where favorite place in the whole world is. I talk about going there all the time and my family and I go there as often as possible. (Disneyland is favorite place #2!)

Unfortunately, this year we didn't go there as often as we would like to. With Max travelling as often as he does, and spending hours and hours in his car each week, it's hard to get back in the car and spend another 12. Many of our summer activities were curtailed this summer as we adjusted to his travel/work schedule. (Since many of our summer activities involve spending time in the mountains, Buttercup's feelings weren't hurt that we were staying at home! My daughter hates nature.)

Due to the lack of time spent in this most beautiful spot in the world, hopefully you'll understand why, when the opportunity presented itself, we decided to skip our weekly church meetings and worship in the Church of the Pines. Also, this was the last weekend it was open to car traffic. Today the Park was closed to prepare for winter. So, it was the absolute last weekend we had to get a trip in this year. We had to go!

We went with Shack, Stinky and Miss Doolittle -- of course. Do we ever go to the Most Beautiful Place on Earth without them? Here is what we saw:

There was a LOT of scat on this trail!

The coup of the day was catching a glimpse of a pack of wolves! Since they were reintroduced to this area fourteen years ago, we have been anxious to get a sighting of these controversial, shy animals... without success. You can imagine how excited we were when Shack spotted them against the mountain side!! Shack and Stinky were able to count 7 wolves in all, but I only saw 4. (Please excuse the graininess of these photos. I have a GREAT zoom on my camera, but I had to use the digital zoom to get the close shot.)


Until I can visit you again next year, Favorite Place.
Rest well.