From Hidden Willa to Hidden Villa

The rains of winter have been keeping us inside a bit more than usual. But today Nye and I decided we'd had enough and headed off to Hidden Villa for a bit of exploration time. (I chose the center because it is just a short drive away, 15-20 max, so if the weather turned we could come home quickly.) We had fun visiting the farm animals. Nye has been reading Charlotte's Web at school. There were lambs, piglets, lambs and a calf. Seems like everyone has been quite busy on the farm! We had a good time visiting with all the different farm yard animals and talking about the different characters in the book.

Once we'd spent time visiting the animals we headed off for a hike on the Little Bunny Trail. "What a cute name," your probably thinking. Well apparently the trail is named after some, as yet unknown, euphemism where "bunny" actually means "mountain goat"; and little doesn't mean "short" but rather means "very narrow." Nye and I had a blast hiking up twisty mountain goat paths which were about 10" wide. Most of the trails were overlooked beautiful streams and waterfalls. All of these would have been more scenic for me had Nye not been skipping along ahead of me on a slick leafy track. (Argh!) Our climb to the top was well rewarded. We had a great view of the San Francisco Bay and into parts of San Jose from the mountain top. There among the golden madrones and with Stellar's Jay's squalking we had a pleasant snack break.

Nye proposed that the education center should install a zip line from the mountain top to our home. "Yeah," he said, "then we could go from Hidden Villa to Hidden Willa!"

On our walk back we saw a wonderful example of a Banana Slug being protected by a fellow hiker till it could finish crossing the path. (Very sweet that he would stay to ensure that the critter crossed safely!) There were plenty of fun places to play around the main building including a great swing, logs, ponds, and puddles. What more could a boy ask?

We're looking forward to joining up with Archil at the San Francisco airport on Friday. We're on our way for a brief visit to Texas. It's a first for the guys. We'll spend a day or so with my Dad and Yoli in San Antonio and then some transition time in Austin. It should be an interesting change of pace from Callie!

Wishing all the best,

Sara