Saturday, Feburary 18 was an unexpectedly fun day. My daughters pleaded with me to take them out, and after a few hours of finishing a project on the computer we all decided to go to the park. My wife was still asleep and even she decided to get up and come with us.
So we are driving to the park. A nice one in Pleasant Hill with lots of fun things to do. This is just a city park, nothing all that special. Then I told my wife of my desire to go back to Crissy Field in San Francisco one morning.
It was way to late to do such a trip then, because I really wanted to be in Crissy Field to see the sun rise. But right then my wife had a wonderful idea. She suggest we go up to the top of Mount Diablo. When you live in Diablo Valley the areas largest mountain can be seen from everywhere. It is surprising it took us so long to even think of it. The real reason for going was the recent snow fall. It never snows in the valley, but when it gets cold enough the 3,849 foot high mountain will get a dusting. It usually happens once a year. This was a perfect time to go.
Personally I hate the snow. Too much sunlight reflection and I’ll start to get migraines. But even I was excited to go.
Our trip up the mountain was uneventful. The road was closed about two thirds up the mountain. We hiked up another 200 feet; seeing lots of snow, but most of it was ice and too far off of the road to experience. But it was very fun to be out as a family. On our way down it started to snow. It was then we all agreed to go back the next day for another trip.
The next day my wife was too sleepy to get up and go with us (we left the house at 7:30 A.M.). So this time it was just me and my daughters. The road was closed at the same place as the previous day, so we parked and started to hike again. Sadly, there was less snow on this day. About an hour after we parked we saw a park ranger leading cars further up the mountain. So we quickly went back to our car and drove further up the mountain.
On our drive up we saw more and more snow. We were all getting very excited. The rangers had blocked the road at the top of the mountain. So we parked again and found a true winter wonderland. Real snow (not ice) and lots of it. People sledding down paths. Everyone having a wonderful time. We stayed another hour. Megan kept trying to put snow down my pants (that sure gets old quick).