Rubicon 2014

For a really long time now my dad has been asking us to take him on the Rubicon. It was something he needed to cross off his bucket list. Call it a mid-life crisis along with the corvette and guns he just bought... 

We took him and my mom memorial weekend. The toyota truck Hubby has turned into a rock crawler is not very big. It has 4 seats but the back seat is more for like one person and a dog. Even that gets cramped. My dad decided he was going to take his 4-wheeler through the Rubicon. We were all a little worried but he actually made it through quite well! He was definitely hurting the next day though. 

Our trip started out a little rough. I don't know if we have ever made it to the trailhead without having some kind of mechanical issues. Good thing I'm married to the master macgyver!  We blew a turbo hose (I think). Hubby made his way down to home depot and bought as many hose clamps as he could find, put them all on the hose and it worked! 

While we were waiting for hubby my mom decided to take Ruby for a wild turkey hunt.... 

When we finally got close to the trail head it was pretty late so we searched for a good campsite. As we were getting ready to go to bed someone shined the flashlight down and saw this. Probably the biggest spider I have ever seen (minus tarantulas in cages). I hate hate hate spiders. I'm okay with little baby ones or daddy long legs. I think I dreamed all night about that thing coming in our tents. 

Here is what we looked like all loaded up ready to head in. 

The one and only Rod Lucas... #nosleevesallowed

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking 

Sometimes someone on the trail up ahead will break down and then this happens... Lots of waiting until they either fix it or drag it off the trail. 

 On our second day we headed towards Rubicon Springs for a day trip. The trail was a lot harder than normal. We ended up puncturing a tire. Jacking up a truck in a pile of rocks isn't always the easiest. Good thing we had a spare! 

Rubicon Springs was really cool. It's almost like a mini town. They hold a lot of four-wheeling event there. 

My dad had some difficulty getting in... 

Ruby loved hanging out in the back with Grandma

My two favorite guys :)

 

 On the last morning Ruby did not want to get out of bed. She was ready to go home! 

We had the best weather I have ever had up there. It was super warm, almost too warm. There were also a million mosquitos and only one bottle of bug spray for 6 people... 

We all made it home with no major mechanical issues. Great success! I don't think my dad will be making a trip in there again anytime soon. He was sore for a week after. Glad he got to cross it off his bucket list though! 

Ducks Unlimited 2012

Last weekend we went to Oregon for the annual Ducks Unlimited. 

Just because its called ducks though doesn't mean I shot any ducks. 

I wish. 

Out of state hunting licenses are just too expensive. 

My sister shot a rabbit though!

 And we shot lots of trap! Enough to make our shoulders sore and bruised! 

My handsome hubby manning the trap thrower. 

We decided to take our daughter/puppy Ruby so she could go on an adventure too. She had so much fun she wore her little paws out (her paws are actually HUGE). Literally. 

After the first day she would mostly try and stay on grass because her paws were pretty much raw. 

Luckily, many people took pity on her and she always had a lap to sit on. 

I think Ruby will be getting doggy shoes for Christmas. 

It was so nice to see all my family again. It's not to often that we are all together in one place, with me living in California, my sister in Washington, and my parents in Oregon. 

The dads. 

Father and daughter wandering the desert with dinner in hand.... (Just Joking! We didn't eat the rabbit. I'm sure a coyote did though.)

Married 2 months now! 

A beautiful sunrise!

This place is one of my most favorite places in the world. Can't wait to go back! 

Sunday Snapshot "Deer Hunting"

This weekend we headed to the mountains to go deer hunting. 

It was the opening weekend and a lot of other people had the same idea as us which made the hunting conditions difficult. 

We woke up early early early, 4am early, Saturday morning, to get in place before the deer started wandering. We pretty much hiked straight up a mountain, at 10,000 ft elevation. My lungs were burning! I haven't had that kind of a workout in a long time. The hunting was great up on that mountain but the views sure were! We hiked about 8 miles Saturday. My legs are so sore!

We hiked up and down some steep terrain. 

Gotta wear hunter orange to stay safe! 

 Due to the hot summer we have had, no fires were allowed. 

When the sun went down, we went to bed, which means we went to bed at 7:30! 

Friday night, Trevor woke up in the middle of the night and didn't know what time it was but he was wide awake so he assumed it was time to get up. He got up, got dressed, and headed out into the dark (keep in mind we were planning on getting up at 4:00 am to go hunting). He got in the truck to check the time, and realized it was only 11:30pm. We all laughed about it the next morning :)

We found the perfect little campsite right next to the river. 

We threw a couple watermelons into the river to keep them ice cold. 

Trevor didn't get a deer this weekend, but we still had a great time. We will probably end up going back in a few weeks to try our luck again!