Picnic at Willow Creek

Today did not happen at all as I had planned. We were supposed to go hiking with Sam and Olivia, Elizabeth and Houston, and my mom in Mt. Tamalpais. But apparently that was not meant to be. First off, Rachel has been sick since Monday, and while I was hoping that she would feel well enough to go with us, it was clear by Wednesday that she would be sitting this one out. Then this morning when I woke up, Rachel let me know that Olivia had emailed last night and Owen was running a fever and that they probably wouldn't be coming (by the way, they planned the trip). And sure enough, when I checked the emails, they had sent another and wouldn't be going. Well, I was already feeling a little sad that Rachel wasn't coming, so at this point I didn't really have a whole lot of motivation to make the 2 and a half hour drive to the coast, but Houston and Elizabeth were in, and by this time my mom would have been on her way over  (I assumed). Then she called and said she wasn't going to be able to make it. If I thought I wasn't motivated before, I was definitely not feeling the hike now, but Houston and Elizabeth were still in, so I was too. I had Rachel call them anyway because maybe hiking with Bill and the kids wouldn't sound quite as exciting as what we had originally planned (again, maybe). Well, I guess they had made other plans, so I decided to concede defeat.

Five minutes later, however, I was strategizing. One of the things I was excited about was using the State Parks pass my parents got us for Christmas. I really wanted to use it at some place I hadn't been to before, but at that point, I just wanted to use it. So I came up with a plan: a picnic (with the food I had planned to use on our hike, the focal point being a summer sausage log Rachel bought me because she knows what brings me pleasure) at Folsom Lake. Plus, we could bring the kids' bikes and Meghan could get some more bike riding time in. Once school's back in session, that time's going to be drastically reduced. Rachel wasn't really feeling up to it, but she also wasn't feeling up to spending another day in the house, so she, and her pie shaped box of tissue, came along.

At this point in the narrative, the faithful reader may be trying to reconcile my stated plan to picnic at Folsom Lake with the title of this post which places the location of said picnic at a place called Willow Creek. I planned to go to Folsom Lake, Beals' Point to be precise, but as we made our way past the Outlets on Folsom Blvd, I saw a California State Parks sign for Willow Creek on the other side of the road. I had noticed that sign on several occasions and had been curious about it. I knew it was on Lake Natoma (which is a little bit nicer since September 25th--see Highlights Since September pt 2), and I knew I've ridden by it on my bike once or twice, but that was it. In a moment of dharmic clarity I realized that I could both satisfy my curiosity and attain my aforementioned goal of using the State Parks Pass at a place I hadn't been before with a simple U-turn at Blue Ravine.

Needless to say, I made the U-turn.

Willow Creek was no Stinson Beach, but it was a nice little place. It crossed a bike trail and turned into a parking area with a car top boat launch. Further down there were two covered (and wheelchair accessible) picnic areas. We parked next to one of the covered picnic tables and saw these native Californians:

To get this shot I had to creep up to an outhouse and peek around it, and I had to do all that in front of an old guy parked in his car next to the outhouse. I was sure he was thinking I was trying to get some shots of his wife on the toilet, but he didn't say anything (nor did he stick around after she got out). I wanted the shot because Abby'sworking on a California scavenger hunt type project and as I alluded to earlier, the California Valley Quail is the state bird of California (I'm working under the assumption that the quail in the photo are California Valley Quail mainly because they were in California, in the Sacramento Valley, and I don't know of any other quail species. I hope her teacher is no amateur ornithologist).

While I was stalking birds, my family was busily devouring the food that I had prepared and in fear of missing out on the sausage log, I left the birds and the outhouse and went back to the table.

Here's the covered picnic area and the family. 

Here's the fare (at least what was left after I got done)

As you can see, to go with the summer sausage I brought a nice mild cheddar cheese, a sliced baguette, some Ritz crackers (for the less refined).

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I also brought some Sour Patch Kids for which I had to sacrifice a christmas box of See's candy (a whole other story that involved Christmas exchange gifts and my nephew Jace) as well as two varieties of M&Ms and an assortment of mini candy canes.

After lunch it was time for the girls to ride their bikes (Lennon chose the DS over actual physical activity). Meghan decided that off road riding is every bit as exciting as any other type of riding. (I may have a mountain biker on my hands!) Here's a pic and a couple of short video clips. When you look at these, keep in mind that she got the bike on Christmas, and I took off the training wheels yesterday. (Yes, I am very proud of my girl.)

Meghan and some off road action

Look at that smile.

 

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I'd say that for the most part, Meghan is telling the bike where to go. And as for Abby, I don't know. Maybe she's been downloading the Bangels to her mp3 player. Maybe she was just helping Meghan practice concentrating, no matter the distraction.

That's the State Parks pass proudly displayed on our windshield.

We also spotted a cool island that was just begging us to take the canoe out and explore. Here it is:

Afterward

By the way, Bear Grylls is no longer my ultimate hero. He has been replaced by Jeremy Wade, the guy from the Animal Planet show "River Monsters." He and the show play the fear card much too strongly, but he catches some awesome fish. And it's the only fishing show that Rachel will watch. I bring this up because over the course of the day today, we watched all 7 episodes of the second season.