One day before Bob and I were married, he asked me out and told me that we were going to the hills. Now, I knew where the hills were, I had looked up at them all of my life, but to be quite honest, I had never really been very far into the hills. His family homesteaded these hills, there's even a creek here named after one of his relatives. His great uncle had a large ranch in the hills, where Bob actually worked after we were first married for a short time...so we lived...in the hills. His family also had a ranch that they ran their cattle on when he was young. He and his brother, used to stay in the hills for weeks at a time taking care of the cattle. He was 8 and his brother was 10. Can you imagine sending your 8 and 10 year old up to the hills to take care of a herd of cattle?! He loved it, and has some very fond and maybe some not so fond memories of that time in his life.
I know that some people don't like sagebrush, but I happen to love it. I love the contrast of the willows, the sage brush and the pine trees.
This time of year is just gorgeous, the wild flowers are in bloom and the sides of the hills were just covered with wild daisies!
There are always cows in the hills, we would just walk around them and they would just ignore us. But these old gals didn't trust Cole very much...they just didn't realize that, Cole loves cows and would never hurt them!
Cole also loved the creek and jumped right it! He was giving me a look like, "Don't you dare tell me to get out of the water". I think he was wet the entire day.
I love this particular spot! When our children were small, we used to come here and camp in the exact spot that our truck is parked. We usually went with his parents who had a trailer, and eventually we got our own little house on wheels. I can so clearly remember Bob's dad calling and telling us that he wanted us to get ready and go to "the outlet" with them for the week-end. That's the only name we knew this creek by, I honestly could drive there with my eyes closed! We never let the kids get in the water, but one day I caved. After about 10 minutes of splashing around I heard a scream, and my daughter was jumping out as fast as she could because there was a leach on her leg - it was horrifying! They never asked to get in the water again. We used to catch some very nice fish in this creek. Oh my goodness, the memories!
As we were driving home we saw this mama moose and her little baby. She also had her last baby with her, since moose only have a baby every two years, the two year old calf was still tagging along.
Not too far from where we saw her, we also saw this guy. He's not very big...yet.
On our way home we were reminded that we were still in the 21st century. They do a lot of dry farming in the hills, and we were lucky enough to get behind this tractor. They're very polite though, and pulled over as soon as they could to let us by.
It looks a little hazy in the valley, and I'm praying that we don't have a dry hot summer. Bob just told me that there is a fire burning not too far from here...welcome June!
Be Safe . . . XOXOXO
Hugs and Love,
Barb
6 comments:
Oh those pictures are amazing! The Hills look so peaceful and beautiful and the creek looks so inviting, despite the leeches! :)
I love sagebrush too with the exception of one thing......Wood Ticks! Nasty little creatures. We seem to have an over abundance of them this year. Your fifth picture down from the top is absolutely gorgeous with the greens, yellows, pink, and blues. Beautiful contrast of colors.
Love the "Cole" look...how adorable. I love dogs and hopefully someday I will get another one.
Nice Blog, Barb. It was great seeing you post.
Oh my dearest friend, this did bring back some memories to me also. I loved all of your photos and will probably borrow one or two for graphics. You take the best of photos. I loved reading your memories.
Some of the photos looks so much like Grass Valley where my Uncle had a ranch. I used to stay on it during the summers. I loved the cows, horses, the creeks and reservoirs. Fishing was fun, riding horses in the hills and of course just playing around the ranch. The only thing I really hated was the outhouse. Anyway, I loved this one and it does look like the perfect spot to camp.
I am looking forward to a drive up in the hills one of these days.
Sending loving thoughts, and big hugs your way for you two! Hope to see you soon.
Such beauty totally surrounds you. I can truthfully say this, because for one, you are such a beautiful person! Number 2....I see the gorgeous photos of your part of the Country. Things that we don't have here in East Texas. I absolutely love the creek with that beautiful clear water. Our rivers are all very dirty looking because we don't have rock and most of the river beds are all dirt. Thanks for sharing this post of the hills....hugs..
So much gorgeous countryside...this was a mostly idyllic tale except for that leach and no, I cannot imagine tow young boys taking care of cattle. I imagine it was just the way it was and that they were very responsible.
Beautiful photos Barb. I love when you take us on your little journies! I had never seen sage brush. Now I know and like you I think it is beautiful too! I cannot imagine sending 8 year olds to take care of a herd, but then I used to go to the corner store for my mom when I wass 3 with a note when we lived in Germany. That would be unheard of now! I will pray that you have a summer without any dangerous fires. I remember last year there were lots of fires in the North West. Scary! Love you my sweet friend. Hope you are well. Hugs to you. xoxo PS - Loved your camping memories!
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