Squirrels, Caves, and Snakes! Oh my!

On a rare weekend that we had nothing planned, guess what we did?  We packed up the kids and drove to Pinnacles National Monument, which is a part of the National Parks.  Granted, we thought this park was a little closer AND not as busy!  Apparently, everyone in California was on Spring Break, had nothing to do on this gorgeous day, AND decided to go to Pinnacles!  We managed and managed with joy!

 We did quite a bit of hiking and our little explorers were up for the challenge! Check out the GIANT pine cones!  And this one is half gone!

 Naomi liked hiking on Mom's back.

 Caleb enjoyed hiking on Dad's front!

 Seriously, this boy is so good natured. (And incredibly cute!!)

Here's a picture of our fearless leader!  Check out the narrow trails.  Kind of made my heart skip a beat, but we all managed.

 We saw squirrels, lizards, bees, and even.....

 SNAKES!!  I heard there were snakes there, but I wasn't too worried.  Until.....Matt stopped to read a sign and I looked back and there was a snake on the rock right above/behind him!!!  Matt experienced my fear with my bumbling responses. 
Julie: "Matt.....step for-for-forward. Just st--st--step forward." 
Matt:  "What are you talking about?"
JP: "AHHH, SNAKE!!!!!"

Check out the rock formations!

 

 There were some rock tunnels that we went through.

 Narrow walk-ways.

 And now the caves!! We brought flashlights and the kids had a great time with it.  It was completely dark at times.

 My pictures in the cave were a bit blurry, but you can kind of see the steps we climbed up and through the cave.

 Naomi liked it, but she was really happy to be back out in the fresh air!

A few more of the sights that we saw:

 

 

 And finally ended with a little snack of raisins and we split 3 granola bars. Caleb finally crashed out right at the end! (We seriously didn't think this would take this long, but with the waiting because of all the visitors, it was 1:30 before we finished our hike!  We didn't bring a lunch.  So we stopped for pizza on the way home.  Good reward for our little exhibition team.)