A Saturday Full of Sugar

It was noon on a Saturday, and I wanted an adventure!  With the day half over, where would we go?  We piled the kiddos in the minivan and headed east.  Past the Safeway on Sonoma highway, past some wineries, and then we turned left onto Adobe Canyon Road.  Driving the windy road up the mountain, I hoped my middle child wouldn’t puke.

At one left curve, there was a parking spot by a big rock.  My boys were eager to climb it, so we pulled off the road.  And as we climbed the rock, we got our first breath-taking views of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.  Mountains covered with green trees as far as we could see with a bright blue sky as the backdrop.   My camera couldn’t contain the magnitude of this beautiful creation.  Well, that is until one child yelled at another child.

Running on the Pony Trail

Back in the car and up the road to the entrance.  After potty breaks, a stop at the drinking fountain, a map from the friendly workers at the visitor center, and another potty break, we were off on our adventure.  Walking sticks in hand, we headed up the yellow grass trail of Pony Gate.

We felt like we were in the Fellowship of the Ring, traveling with high expectations.  Yet, when we entered the wooded part of the trail, our boys began to fight over who got to be the leader.  Our fellowship was breaking apart.  One part of our family walked on as the other part had a discussion about our attitude choices.  And when the latter caught up to the first, all were quiet and filled with awe as we watched an alligator lizard crawl around the forest floor.

Trail Shadows

We crossed the road to descend onto Canyon Trail.  A stream filled with rocks of all sizes provided hours of entertainment.  Okay, maybe not hours, but watching my boys throw rock after rock into the water felt like hours.  The waterfall was dried up this time of the year, but this was still the highlight of the adventure for my boys.  Where the waterfall should have been was a cave.

With Daddy’s help, they crossed carefully by stepping on rocks to get to a big flat rock in the middle of the water.  They couldn’t get into the cave, but they were close.  How exciting for my little men to be on a rock in the middle of the water with their Daddy!  And this was my daughter’s worst part of the trip – a three year old has a hard time understanding that they are just not old enough to do certain things.  Before the rest of the hikers could worry about what was wrong with this screaming and crying child, Daddy scooped her up on his shoulders.

Looking to the Sky

As we rode in our minivan back down the mountain on our way home, we had to stop again at the rock which began our Sugarloaf Ridge adventures.  We gazed on the majestic view, basked in the sunlight, and thanked God for a wonderful family fun afternoon.

Tiny Waterfall on Canyon Trail