Our trip to Arnold

We recently took a vacation up to Arnold, which is located in a beautiful, scenic area of Calaveras County. We stayed in a cozy little cabin and relaxed to the sweet sounds of nature for almost a whole week. Aaaahhhh.....

Let's see, there were lot's of things that we enjoyed during our stay. We loved the cabin and had lots of fun sitting by the fire in the evening and making smores. Avery and Callum loved making smores! I think that was one of their favorite things to do.

                                                   Here is the cabin we stayed in

                                           Daddy and kiddos eating their yummy smores

One of the first days we were there, we hiked the trails of Calaveras Big Trees. Wow, there were some amazing trees to see....very big and thousands of years old. Pretty neat!

                                               Callum made a little friend during our hike

We did some shopping, mostly in the nearby communities of Murphy and Columbia, since Arnold doesn't have much shopping, or any for that matter. :) Apparently Murphy is known for the frog contests they have at Angels Camp, so you will see large statues of big, colorful frogs all over the town!

                                                     Here is Avery trying to kiss a frog

                                                Callum was intriqued by this one!

During our stay, we also decided to head up to Alpine Lake and do some fishing. Little did we know that we would end up catching 4 fish that day. We let one go, but had the other 3 for dinner. Deeelicious! Avery and Callum helped daddy reel in the fish that they caught. This was their first time fishing and they did awesome.

                                               I decided to get in there and do a little fishing myself

                                                       Daddy proud of his catch

                                            A picture of the fish later that night. It made for a delicious dinner!


We also enjoyed our trip to Mercer Caverns, where we got to see a cave that was three million years old. It had a guided tour through the cave where you could see all the crystal rock formations along the walls. I believe they were called "stalagtites" and "stalagmites". Avery and Callum were a little hesitant about this one at first, but once we got down in the cave, they seemed to really like it. I wouldn't reccomend this adventure to anyone who is even slightly clausterphobic though. I had gotten quite a work out carrying Callum up and down the narrow staircases inside the caves. Luckily we made it out without a scratch.

What fun we had on our trip to Arnold. A great bonding experience for us all, away from the hectic city life. We look forward to future vacations up in a cabin somewhere. Definately a little closer to home next time, possibly Big Bear or maybe Arrowhead!