Stairstep Falls
Apr. 26th, 2008 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aubreym
Continuing the trend of lovely weather on the weekends that Tom and I don't have family visiting, today was a gorgeous day. (When Tom's parents visited last weekend it was cold and windy. The weekend before that - sunny and hot. The weekend before that, when my aunt, uncle and cousin visited - cold and rainy. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?) I can't just sit idly by and let the day pass without doing something, even if it does take half of the day to get started.
Tom, Tai and I started our day at one of our current favorite breakfast spots - Denny's. Yes, I'm serious. Kid-friendly, cheap, and plenty of food. What with the nursing I have a tendency to eat like I'm preparing to hibernate for the winter. While we were there, I skimmed through a book of easy hikes in Northern California, looking for a perfect one. We decided we'd head up to the Stairstep Falls in Samuel Taylor State Park in Marin. Close, short hike, with a waterfall at the end. What more could one want? There were other hikes that looked interesting, but this one was supposed to be best from December to April and the other ones were good year round. I figured we'd take advantage of a good weekend before April ended.
We stopped at home so Tom could check in with work, then we headed out. I drove, which meant we missed our exit the first time around. Tom's not the world's best navigator - he was too busy fiddling with his iPhone to watch what I was doing. But we soon got ourselves back on track, and since I went the wrong way, we discovered a vegan restaurant where we could get dinner after our walk. It turned out to be perfect.
The walk was beautiful - wildflowers were in bloom and there were several little fields of forget-me-nots that we passed, as well as some other plants I don't know the names of. It took a while to walk out to the waterfall because I kept stopping to take pictures. Tai rode in the Bjorn (thanks, Em!) on Tom on the way out and on me on the way back. He actually stayed awake the whole time, just looking around and studying the leaves and the trees and the sun. He got to nurse once we reached the falls - being out in the fresh air makes a boy hungry!
Unfortunately the waterfall was more of a trickle (I guess we were too close to the end of April, especially since we didn't get a lot of rain this winter)... but it was still pretty. There were ferns and redwoods and it smelled like things growing. I could happily spend all of my time wandering through the woods.
We met up with a friend of my Mom's for dinner at Cafe Gratitude in San Raphael. She hadn't met Tai before and he was in a good mood through most of the meal, flirting and being adorable as usual.
When we got home and I was nursing Tai, his shirt had ridden up and I noticed a black spot in his belly button. At first I thought it was a poppy seed and wondered how it had gotten there. But it wouldn't come out when I brushed at it. I looked closer and discovered... it was a tick! I was totally grossed out, and a bit freaked as well since ticks in Northern California carry Lyme Disease as well as some other lovely diseases. Tom took the tick off, and now we're watching Tai carefully for any odd rashes or fevers. It hadn't been there too long, so hopefully he'll be okay. I wish I could protect him from anything bad... I'd rather have the tick on myself!
We stopped at home so Tom could check in with work, then we headed out. I drove, which meant we missed our exit the first time around. Tom's not the world's best navigator - he was too busy fiddling with his iPhone to watch what I was doing. But we soon got ourselves back on track, and since I went the wrong way, we discovered a vegan restaurant where we could get dinner after our walk. It turned out to be perfect.
The walk was beautiful - wildflowers were in bloom and there were several little fields of forget-me-nots that we passed, as well as some other plants I don't know the names of. It took a while to walk out to the waterfall because I kept stopping to take pictures. Tai rode in the Bjorn (thanks, Em!) on Tom on the way out and on me on the way back. He actually stayed awake the whole time, just looking around and studying the leaves and the trees and the sun. He got to nurse once we reached the falls - being out in the fresh air makes a boy hungry!
Unfortunately the waterfall was more of a trickle (I guess we were too close to the end of April, especially since we didn't get a lot of rain this winter)... but it was still pretty. There were ferns and redwoods and it smelled like things growing. I could happily spend all of my time wandering through the woods.
We met up with a friend of my Mom's for dinner at Cafe Gratitude in San Raphael. She hadn't met Tai before and he was in a good mood through most of the meal, flirting and being adorable as usual.
When we got home and I was nursing Tai, his shirt had ridden up and I noticed a black spot in his belly button. At first I thought it was a poppy seed and wondered how it had gotten there. But it wouldn't come out when I brushed at it. I looked closer and discovered... it was a tick! I was totally grossed out, and a bit freaked as well since ticks in Northern California carry Lyme Disease as well as some other lovely diseases. Tom took the tick off, and now we're watching Tai carefully for any odd rashes or fevers. It hadn't been there too long, so hopefully he'll be okay. I wish I could protect him from anything bad... I'd rather have the tick on myself!
