July 4th Fun

I celebrated this Independence Day by taking a looong hike in nature with some great folks. I took a lot of great pictures and decided I'd share some with you all. This was my first time heading out to the Punchbowls in Ojai, we had to park across from Thomas Aquinas College to get to the trail, and we ran across Hwy 150 like a pack of ducklings after their mother. Not sure who the Mama Duck in the group was, but I tried my best to keep everyone covered in sunblock at least.

I think it took about 2 hours of scrambling over rocks and trying to find the trail where it had been washed out til we finally got there, but it was soooo worth it when we did. Once we cleared the corner and the actual 'punchbowl' came into view my breath was taken away. Despite the recent graffiti, it was still a gorgeous sight.


The bowl was about 16 feet deep, and there was a high ledge all the brave guys would climb up the rope to and dive in, I'm not nearly so brave, so I just slid off my rock and went for a well deserved dip. The water was FREEZING I found out, but after a 2 hour hike in the heat it wasn't so bad.

Here I am on one of our breaks before reaching the punchbowl. I owe my not sunburnt shoulders to that gigantic hat I borrowed from Sue!