A River Runs Through It

Yesterday we were up in the wee hours of the morning.  I packed the coolers -- following a list because at 3:30 am I am not capable of independent, much less reliable, thought.  Brett wedged the last few items in the car and Camille crawled into the small space left for her in the back seat, curled up in a ball with her iPod buds in her ears and her head on a pillow.  We were able to get to the other side of LA before the morning rush hour hit.  After picking up a bagel and coffee in Santa Clarita, we began the climb over the grapevine.  The grapevine is the portion of the 5 freeway that climbs out of the LA basin, over the mountain pass twisting around itself like a grapevine, and then dropping down into the central valley.  The sun was just coming up as we climbed.

The majority of the drive was on the 99 freeway which parallels the 5, but is a bit further east.  The 99 is the original highway through the valley and it is a much prettier drive with fields of corn, almond groves and grapes.  SunMaid raisins have their vineyards here.  We were on the 99 forever -- five hours maybe -- but it was enjoyable.  You can see the valley stretching out below in the next picture, which was taken as we dropped down on the valley side of the grapevine.

When we reached Sacramento, we turned east and headed toward the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Tahoe National Forest.  Then it was off the freeway and onto a two lane highway, then we began winding through the hills on a narrow road dotted with pine and oak trees.  We came across these two characters crossing the road.

Mama was resting in the shade under the porch of that house the fawns are running towards.  Camille and I were hanging out the windows with our cameras while Brett told us to hurry up because we were holding up traffic.  One car.  Traffic, phooey. 

The cabin is wonderful.  It is much nicer than the old, dark and dirty cabin we rented in Shaver Lake for 18 summers.  This cabin is beautiful, clean and bright.  And a stream runs behind it with a rope swing, a swimming hole and a hiking trail.

Personally, I plan to spend a lot of time here:

My parents arrived a few hours after we did and after unloading their car, I opened some nice ripe cheeses and my dad opened an awesome bottle of wine.  Burgers for dinner, then a sound night's sleep with a cool breeze blowing in the window and the sound of frogs in the creek.