Devor Birthday Adventure

One of the many things I LOVE about my husband, is his love for nature hikes. If it wasn't for him, I would spend my time baking, hanging at home, going to mall, etc. Generally indoor type of things. However, he is always pulling me outside for a little hike, and I love it that he does.

Friday, 2/12 was Brad's 40th birthday. He didn't want a big party or surprise, he just wanted to take a hike.

Only my husband is able to find places to hike in suburbia Murrieta, California (It's not all beaches and Disneyland, people!!). So, we headed about 15 miles west to Cleveland National Forest. He was on a mission to find the Tenaja Falls he read about on-line and in the Sunset Magazine (must have mag for Westerners-hint, hint, Kami).

To get there you have to take a 7 mile un-paved road past a NO OUTLET sign. This really should have been my first sign to jump out of the car. HA!! :-) We got there and started on our way. We continued down a path to another "path" and discovered it wasn't really a path at all.

This sign should have been another clue we were not on the correct path, nay, any path at all.

After climbing up, down, and through many rock piles and mud, Brad re-discovered the real path.

(Does this look like a path to anyone, yeah, me neither?)

Remember we are on an adventure to find the Tenja Falls. We have seen many
waterfalls (Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, etc.), so we were looking and listening for a tall waterfall cascading down a tall mountain with a clean, shimmering pool at the bottom. We never quite found anything which matched this description and we kept losing sight of any form of a continuous path. We stopped, had lunch, and concluded this must be Tenaja Falls.

Isn't it lovely? If you close your eyes you can hear the roaring flow of water, if you close them a bit tighter you might even see a waterfall cascading down a tall mountain with a clean, shimmering pool at the bottom. When you re-open your eyes, yep, we see the Tenaja Falls.

Although the path was not well marked or paved out, we had an AWESOME time. Here are a few more shots of our fun.

Thank you California for helping us create another GREAT family memory.

Happy BIRTHDAY, Braddy!! I love you!!!!!!!!