Water Lantern Festival and Heart Rock

This weekend we did some solo adventures for once!

We started together, we were looking at buying me a second hand bike so that I can come cycling, and found one in Target for 50% off! So I now have a shiny new bike and helmet, ready for adventures. 

Later that afternoon, Susan picked me up (Mitchell stayed home and went to improv) and we went for a trip to the mountains. We started with a short hike to heart rock. I'd wanted to visit this last year, but as you may remember, our camping trip to Lake Arrowhead was cancelled because of the fire risk, and we couldn't go. So this time I got to do the one mile trek through the trees to find the little waterfall where the water had carved a heart shape hole into the rock below. It was a nice hike and we got some fun group pictures.

This is called the owl pose


Can you see the heart?

After this, we went to the lake nearby (not Lake Arrowhead, another one) for the lantern festival. It was very misty up in the mountains that evening and you could see it rolling in over the trees. 

Mist rolling in!

We each picked up a lantern to decorate, and then as the sun set, we lit the led candles and set them adrift in the water. It was very pretty to watch and very busy with lots of lights and people around the shoreline. 



On Sunday we were pretty sleepy after our late nights, but we had to get up as we were meeting Quynh for brunch in San Diego. She'd picked an area neither of us had heard of called Liberty Station. Apparently it used to be military barracks before it was bought and shops and cafes moved in. 


We ate breakfast and then went to explore the market which had more food stands and some quirky shops. She took us to a big store which had some vintage clothes and other interesting bits and then left us to it. 
This was a corner of the store

As was this

We walked around for a bit, but we were ready for the next part of the day, going back to the zoo! I wanted to go to the zoo again, as we're not sure how much we'll want to go once summer hits and it gets much hotter. Because we've already been and seen everything, we just chose what we wanted to see and only spent a few hours there. I decided I wanted to see all of the bears. We saw the polar bears, grizzly bears, sloth bears, spectacle bears and some almost bears like koala bears and red panda bears. 


This week we also had our friends round for a board game night which was really fun and on Friday I visited a new library out in the desert. La Quinta Library is right next to a park which was so pretty and the whole area is so nice. The city began as a resort, and it hasn't changed much since then. 
Ducklings in the park

The park right outside the library

The library car park

We also went to a Pow Wow on Friday! It was hosted by the Native American Student Society on campus and was open to everyone. There were lots of stalls selling really pretty traditional jewellery, and so many people were walking around in traditional costume. We got some chocolate frybread from the foodstall, and then sat to watch the opening ceremony (the event continued until Sunday evening). They all came out dancing and waving the flags and their eagle staff and then they recited a blessing in a native tongue (I'm not sure from which specific language) and then in English. They then started the evening dances, but we had to get home and pack.


That's it for this week, but this next weekend is memorial day and we both have the day of work on Monday, so we're going somewhere special!

Lots of love to you all
Emily and Mitchell
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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