Put Another Candle on the Birthday Cake

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIX

Today was the birthday of a couple of kids in the neighborhood. I didn't buy them a present so I took them on a hike as my present. After the past couple of days, I didn't have the energy to go exploring today so a hike with the kids was great.

We hiked over on a trail that heads by one of the local golf courses. It's perfect because we can just walk from our street to get to it.

These are remnants of the tiles that were originally made for the La Quinta Hotel. The tiles were hand formed in this area about 80 years ago.

Someone is a really bad golfer and we're counting on more hackers. We didn't come here just to hike.

We're going down the trail near the course and then going to scour the hillside above for a few lost balls. The golfers are gone for the day so I don't think they'll mind. The kids are Birthday girl, Amaya, age 6, Johnnie, age 6, Amaya's twin brother, birthday boy Markus and Jakob, age 11. My kids weren't in the mood today. Their loss.

The kids clamber up the trail after we got the easy findings. The hillside is loose and rocky so we were limited to where we could look. No injuries are allowed on my trips so we keep any risks to an absolute minimum. I leave the scary stuff for when I go alone.

On the way back, the kids want to run. I don't have the energy to keep up with them. "Look out for snakes," I yell. That slows them down.

The kids proudly display our findings. Four golf ball each and one left over for me. I have a great time hiking with the kids and I think they enjoy the experience. Just so long as they don't ask me to teach them how to play golf, we're good.