June 21st, 2008, Journal Entry

This morning I woke up in an instant (very unusual) because I knew today we were gonna hike with Dave, Isabella and Eddie around Carson National Forest.

At about 8:30 I woke up and we had cereal and cleaned up poppi for D, I, and E. After a quick breakfast of frosted flakes we went down to the office and payed for our time at the KOA Campground. Just then Dave arrived with Eddie sleeping in the back seat! We then went over some maps in poppi and then went to Subway to get some sandwiches for our hike (I got an Italian BLT, dad got same, mom shared turkey one with sis and Eddie and Isabella shared foot-long tuna).

We listened to the cat tape on our way and the seating arrangements were Dave, Eddie and dad in Dave's car and mom, Teslin, Isabella, and me went in "Big White". On the way to Carson we stopped by a lookout that overlooked the valley we had drove through and some surrounding mountains! I picked up a hiking stick there too.

We got to where we wanted to hike at about 1:30 and we got on the trail (well, actually there wasn't a trail, just bushwhacking) shortly afterward. I carried the pink backpack for about 5 minutes and then I gave it to da because it was way too heavy.

We hiked all the way to the bottom of a snow field and then I gave out. The whole way I was feeling kinda queasy and had a little hard time breathing and finally I just collapsed and couldn't go any farther (at least up). So mom and I went back to the car while the rest of them went up.
On the way down I got even more queasy and then I had to move my bowls. It got worse and worse until finally I squatted down in front of a pinyon and the rest is none of your business. Actually I guess I'll tell you. Right before I "squatted in the bushes" mom and I saw 2 male hummingbirds perched on 2 different trees. At first I thought that they were just Black-chinned but then, holy-moly, they had pink bibs!! And the only hummer in the US that has a pinkish bib (other then Ruby-throated) is the Broad-tailed Hummingbird! Sooo, I figured out that I just saw my first two Broad-tailed Hummers!!!

Since right where I pooped was right above the car, we quickly went down to the Seqouia and crashed (well, at least I did). Actually we just relaxed and wrote in our journals.
After a while the rest of the Ruges and Benavidas's came back and we hopped in our cars (I was with Dave with Teslin and Isabella in the back and mom and da were with Eddie) and headed for a restaurant in Penasco (a little town near Las Vegas). Once we got to Penasco, we found the Sugar Nymph (the name of the restaurant we were going to) and had din-din. We ordered a pepperoni pizza with two goat cheese salads. After dinner we payed the bill and hopped in our cars (this time I went with mom, dad Isa, and sis) and drove to the KOA (Dave decided to stay the night).

Once we got to the campground we set up Dave's tent and built a fire. Dave played his guitar and we had s'mores and we (Dave, da, and I) stayed up till 11:30. Finally , after we had all talked enough and had enough s'mores, we hit the sack (I was with Dave in his tent).