Memorial Day Weekend Fun

I’m a little bit behind on this post but still wanted to tell y’all a little bit about our jam packed memorial day weekend festivities. The weekend was an especially long one for us because Jonathan had both Friday and Monday off of work. It was so nice to have a co-pilot with this stay-at-home parenting business for 4 days straight. 

On Friday we kicked off the weekend with a nearby hike. When I say nearby, I mean, basically an extension of our neighborhood. There is a trail I told y’all about that I frequently run called Hidden Valley Ridge. 

The trails on these hills are pretty extensive but since I try to keep my runs around an hour or so, I never got to explore past a certain point. We decided to drive to the trailhead (about 1 mile from our house) and start the hike just after Forest’s morning nap before it got too hot outside. 

One bummer about hiking in San Ramon is that there is little shade. Most of our walks are kind of exposed to the elements which in the summer means blazing hot sunshine. We made sure to purchase a sunshade for our Deuter KidComfort Carrier to protect Forest’s milky white complexion (sorry Forest, you got your Dad's genes). 

After 2 years in Scotland where the temps hardly ever breached 70 degrees F and there is no such thing as too much sunshine, Jon and I are still struggling to get acclimated to the heat here. 

Anyway….we started the hike around 11 AM and it was still sort of bearable outside. The first round of excitement was our first coyote sighting! 

He's almost in the center of this photo, right in front of that little hill.

Blown up pic of him.

He was running right along the ridge in between the cattle. Jonathan assured me that coyotes don’t eat cattle (or humans) but instead feast on rabbits, squirrels, chickens and smaller wildlife and livestock. We didn’t need to worry about him hunting us at all because he was obviously a bit spooked by or presence and quickly disappeared over the hills. 

The rest of the hike wasn’t as exciting, but sure was pretty. We had great views of Mt. Diablo and the gentle rolling hills that make up the Tri-Valley area. 

At this time of year, everything is a bit dry, dusty and brown, but I’d love to come back and take some pictures in early Spring when things are still green and covered with wildflowers. 

We hiked about 3 miles along the ridge before heading back home. Forest seems to really enjoy hiking and we can tell that he is becoming  much more aware of his surroundings. 

He loves all animals so the cows are always a major hit when we go walking. 

On Saturday we decided to take it easy and just had some friends over for a cook out. I made Tres Leches Cake and Mexican ‘Beer Beans’ while Jonathan whipped up the fixings for fajitas. 

I’ll write a separate post with the recipes. 

On Sunday, it was back to hiking. We decided to wait til after Forest’s afternoon nap so that we could venture a little farther from home. We picked the Diablo Foothills Regional park for our excursion. Unfortunately, because we were hiking around 3 pm, it was over 90 degrees outside. Holy moly, it was blazing! And it didn’t help that the trail was constantly ascending and descending so the entire hike was a non-stop workout. 

It was, of course, full of gorgeous scenery and breathtaking viewpoints and we really enjoyed getting to scope out some of the mansions dotting the base of Mt. Diablo. Would you like to live here? 

However, on this hike we made a decision that it is too stinkin hot to keep doing these valley hikes every weekend. 

scorched thistle plant...you don't see that in Scotland!

We’ve decided that until things cool off we will only be hiking on the coast, in the mountains, or in shady forests. Fortunately, our vacation in 2 weeks is on the coast where temperatures are generally 15-20 degrees colder than inland so we are ready for some relief!   

On Monday we considered going to the Oakland zoo but instead saw that just down the road San Ramon was holding it’s annual Art and Wind festival. We decided to check it out and had a nice relaxing time just winding through the artisan booths. 

And of course, we partook in some festival food. 

I choose an All- American corndog while Jonathan got a Gyro. That boy loves his Greek food. 

Forest seemed to enjoy people-watching and all in all it was a successful first festival outing with the baby. 

So….that was our very eventful Memorial Day Weekend. How did you celebrate?