Ranch hike

Yesterday the kids and I decided to go on a hike to the hill straight across from us to take some pictures in what I thought was a bunch of poppies. I strapped on Leila, bribed Jameson and the boys jumped on their bikes. We headed down the hill, across bear creek, across the still dry river bed and over to the other side. The boys spotted a game trail that went up the side of the hill so we took it. Once we made it up that we had to tromp thru some tall weeds & pokey wild flowers. We climbed another steep hill, went under an oak and I broke thru some stick brush to get to the orange cluster we stare at from our driveway. I was all excited to put the kids in the poppies, but when I got close, it was not what I expected. No pretty California Poppies at all! It was an invasive ground cover weed called Dodder. Super bright orange, it totally had me fooled! Bummer.
We found an easier way down, more gradual hill leading back down to the ranch road and started back to where the boys left their bikes. I got a few pictures of the boys with the lupine bouquets they picked up on the hill side. At least there was purple lupines since we didn't get poppies. We are trying to soak up the greenery and flowers before it gets so hot that the sun browns everything again. Hopefully the rain isn't done in our area yet... we keep praying for more.