Easter Adventure - and then some!

We didn't have any big plans this year for Easter, as we had been asked by our friends Ed and Shirley to help them move. At the last minute, there was a delay with the paperwork, and the move got bumped by a week. With an entire weekend and no plans, we decided to go on a little adventure. Saturday was easy to fill - since there was a Golden meetup planned that I thought previously I wouldn't be able to attend. We wound up going, and the dogs had a BLAST! We were at the Del Mar Dog beach for 2 1/2 hours, and they were in heaven! I'll post more from that soon, but here is the group shot I took...

Yup, there were just a few folks in attendance!

Sunday morning we woke up with the whole day in front of us, and not a place in mind to go. We had a little early morning pow-wow, and decided to get out of town for a bit, and get a change of scenery.

Bear had visited Palm Springs not that long ago with a friend, and had ridden the aerial tram...none of the rest of us had ever been there. It is only about 2 1/2 hours away, not that expensive, and something new to do....so we packed a little lunch, and off we went.

Once we hit the road, we called Ed and Shirley to see how things were going. They still had plenty to do, but they too, needed a change of scenery. Their house happens to be about a mile or so off the freeway - right on the way to Palm Springs, so they decided to join us!

We were getting close....

Here comes the tram that we'd be taking back up the mountain.

The view from about half way up, looking back towards Palm Springs on the right.

At the docking station on top.

There was a 40 degree temperature change from the bottom of the mountain to the top. It was 80F at the bottom, and only 40F on the top. Thank goodness we brought jackets!

Bear and I were ready for lunch! We parked ourselves on this huge fallen tree. A little family photo... Pickle posing...it was so gorgeous up there!

Bear's turn!

And, of course AJ. He brought his Frisbee, bummer that it was white! It kept getting lost in the snow! There was still several feet of snow up there!

3/5ths of the family....Bear and I didn't feel like climbing onto this huge boulder they were on.

Back at the tram station.

A nice little souvenir ....

So...we'd been up on the mountain, having a great time, playing in the snow, taking pictures etc. At about 3:30pm we headed for the next tram going back down. We got on at about 3:35pm, with about 50 other people, and slowly, down it started. I had my camera in hand, and was snapping away when about half way down, my phone started to ring. I quickly answered, and heard my Mom's voice telling me that there had just been a major earthquake in San Diego. Yikes! That was NOT what I wanted to hear as I was with my husband, my children, and two of my dearest friends, dangling precariously on a wire approximately 6,000 feet above a rocky mountain. I quickly asked if they were OK (they were) and promised to call back once we were safely on the ground. I hung up, and tried to quietly tell Hubby what she'd said. At the mere mention of the word "earthquake" I had the entire tram's attention. I'm sure it was not what anyone else wanted to hear either!

Needless to say, we made it the rest of the way down, without incident, and felt happy to have our feet back on the ground.

Thankfully the damage in San Diego was minimal, and other than being worried sick about the dogs at home without us, all was well. When we finally got home - a little after 7pm, the dogs were happy, and seemingly unaffected by the events of the day. Their only concern seemed to be where dinner was!

It was an interesting afternoon, to say the least!