Day 4

Oh, I am in heaven! I finally made it to the mountains today. YEA!!!! I have been trying to do this for 8 months now and FINALLY I made it. It was gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful, and it was so nice up there. The air was cool and everything was so green. The views were amazing with rock formations and beautiful trees and just wonderful mountain landscapes. I am so happy I went. It was just so great. I went to a camp sight that I used to visit every year when I was a kid. There were so many things that were the same but so many things that changed. The best thing -- this old fallen tree that used to serve as a fort for pine cone wars was still there. It was more decayed and falling apart, but it was still there. It was great to relive the memories, to see the old campsite and landmarks that were so familiar to me as a kid. We also visited an old prison camp site that I didn't even know existed on the mountain. The sight was for all sorts of prisoners but the most interesting, and the ones for which it is now a memorial, were the Japanese-American prisoners that were victims of the relocation during World War II. I had no idea there was anything like that near where I live. There were so many things to see and do on the mountain and I loved every minute of it. The walks, the pictures, the sights, everything was great. The quirkiest part of the whole trip was my brother in the backseat on the way up. He talked about everything from bear attacks and ostriches that disembowel you with their feet to songs and music from the 50's through the 80's. He was great fun to listen to, although his violent tendencies were a bit much for me. And I agreed to watch Apocalypto with him tonight. Yikes! What have I gotten myself into? Oh well. Hopefully I can stand it.