So it was miserable hot today. I didn't really want to get up from my chair. The air conditioner was blasting and I had the fan pointed just the right direction. My 3rd book of the weekend was in my hand (I've been rereading Louis L'Amour). My wife wanted all of us to get cleaned up and "go for a drive".

Well I pretended like that sounded like a pretty good idea. The boys got cleaned up and so did I. Off we went for our little drive through the countryside. The kids weren't all that excited about it. Well mostly Cameron, my middle son wasn't all that excited about it. Ethan, who is 8 and still excited by seeing horses and cattle out in the hills, thought that it was pretty cool.

We decided to drive up through a little town not far from here by the name of Raymond. Now there isn't much to speak of in Raymond, except for the mountain of granite that makes Raymond continue to live. We didn't see the Raymond Granite facility, just sorta slipped through town, with a quick stop at The General Store for a soda and snack.

Then the drive continued on up further into the hills. We decided to take the back road to a small town by the name of Coarsegold. It is a slight grade up the hill when you take the back roads, so it was a rather pleasant drive.

From Coarsegold it was a little further on and soon we were in Oakhurst. Now this is the biggest of the three towns we visited and we decided to stop in for a little ice cream treat and a couple minutes to relax in this little rustic town. The kids were lovin' the ice cream and I had to admit that this trip wasn't nearly as terrible as I thought it would be.

Well after about 45 minutes at the ice cream shop we decided to get back on the road. I figured we were going home, but the wife wanted to go to a lake that is only a few miles further up the road. So off we headed towards Bass Lake.

We drove up to Bass Lake taking the high road, which turned out to be a bad idea, since the kids and wife decided they wanted to stop and walk around at the lake. So after turning around, we drove back up the road to find the road leading right down to the water. We took the little drive through the "residential" area of Bass Lake, which is essentially a bunch of lake homes and a few nice large houses, that are called cabins. There was a little outdoor mall working, but as we got there sorta late they were on the tail end and were sorta shutting down. So we got down to the water and taking a few cookies with us, proceeded to give the geese and ducks a few treats.

Well the boys just absolutely loved that, they enjoyed having those big ol' geese come right up to them, brave as can be looking for cookies. My little boy even managed a slight battle wound, when one particularly zealous bird decided to taste the "hand that fed him". My son sorta pulled back his hand like he was shot, but other than a bit of embarrassment he was fine.

Well we hung out there for good little while and the kids threw off their flip flops and walked around in the water just throwing rocks and having a good old time. My wife was dutifully taking pictures and the kids were willing models.

The sun was starting to dip a little, so we decided that it was time to head back. The ride back was the front road not the back way, and it was actually a not so bad ride home. All in all it was a good Sunday for this family, and I have a feeling that this might be a pretty common occurence in the weeks and months to come.

It's funny how many things I manage to accomplish when I don't sit here vegetating in front of my computer or dulling my brain watching too much television. I forgot how nice it was to enjoy a little bit of nature. I am always so busy getting there that sometimes I forget to just enjoy the ride. My wife managed to get me to slow down and look at the little journey today, and not worry so much about the destination.

For that she gets a big THANK YOU.....