We went to one of the highest mountains in the region the week we studied mountains. Grandpa lives right next door to the lookout tower, so he asked his buddy if we could come up for a visit, and really see out from the tower … it was pretty spectacular.
And very high up. The top of the van and the dogs looked completely dwarfed by our height.
At lunchtime, Grandpa had a request that J and L help him locate a marker that was somewhere on the ground which marked the highest point exactly on the mountain. J’s great uncle Jack McPhereson had put the marker there, changing the name of Mt. Bielawski to Mt. McPherson.
We had almost given up when J hollered out he’d found it! A very proud boy had a good story for his Papa that night. (This was Karl’s grandmother’s brother).
No trip to Grandpa’s house is complete without a visit to the adjacent property that had once belonged to Karl’s grandmother and her brother. One house still stands, the other, burned to the ground. The only remains are the stonework including the fireplace.
While talking with a friend about Disneyland, she was feeling like she didn’t want her son to get too old before they went and miss out on that special magic. I felt the same way. So with a quick computer search, I found out we could get free tickets to Disneyland by volunteering with Give a Day, Get a Day. We went to Quail Hollow Ranch and pulled up lots of Scotch Broom, with several others. It was easy for the boys to identify, they pull it up whenever they see it. Papa had trained them well as it used to grow prolifically at his Dad’s place.
Afterwards, we stopped by Roaring Camp Railroad and checked out some of the trains and equipment. Definitely boy stuff.
Jack finished knitting his lamb. Finally.
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