We interrupt our regular programming...

to say THANK YOU to all those firefighters, on the ground and in the air, who have been busting their butts to save ours!!!!!!!!!!!!  San Diego has, once again, been plagued by bad "wildfires" (wild or arsonist, jury's still out...) these past few days.  The weather's been horrible - near, at, or over 100 degrees, single-digit humidity, and the worst - those Santa Ana winds.  Happily, it looks like things are winding down now.  The winds are almost non-existent (still hot and dry though).  And while many had scares and had to evacuate (including my mom and several friends) and some poor folks lost their homes and one apparently their life, the damages could have been so much worse.

Living in our RV still, we are just one mile away from the R. airport and the local Cal Fire air attack base.  We have been watching and listening to (I love the sound of those big ol' engines!  Nothing piddly there - they sound serious, and certainly they and their pilots mean business!!) these guys coming and going all day.  It's a reassuring thing.  The aerial firefighting is probably our best weapon against these fires, and when they're hitting it hard and heavy - and esp. early-on - you feel you're in good hands.  We've had teams from everywhere, including the military, join ranks for this one.  Our drought and Santa Anas are tough to do battle with, and we often have big losses, but we also have some very talented and dedicated fighters, who do amazing work in some of the worst conditions.

 Surprisingly, almost all the fires have been to the west of us.  This is fairly unusual.  I know all of Ramona must have been bracing for their turn, for that time when they looked to the east and saw smoke headed their way, for the news that they had better evacuate - but it never came!  And because those Santa Ana winds (out of the east) were so unwavering in their direction, we didn't even catch any drifting smoke until yesterday, when things began to shift, the on-shore breezes starting to win out again.  So I have no nasty smoky photos to share (yay!) - only reverent and grateful aircraft shots...

OK, so I played around with some of them too...

I don't know any of these folks, but I loved having them fly right over us!  They and their flying machines feel like friends!  And definitely the kind of friends you want to have around!!

A quickie...

And another couple of days later...  Just another up and back on the service road.

 The view from up around the towers, looking sort of north/northwest.  That little puddle-like dot near the center is the R. Reservoir.

And this, my friends, is absolutely, paws-down, the world's BEST dog - cutest, smartest, sweetest,...  Wait, you've heard it before?  From me?  Nah.  Well, OK, but IT'S ALL TRUE!!!!

(and she wears the Other Best Dog's bandana well, don't you think?  I'm sure he doesn't mind)

Getting kinda loopy...

Next time up Mt. W (just a couple days later), Zou and I went up on the road and down on the little side trail that we love (very pretty, lesser known, hardly used - yay!!!!).  Makes for a 5 or 6 mile affair.  And, as is sometimes the case, we started out in early morning fog and ended up in sunshine.  Best of both worlds, I guess...!

 Pretty tree, rock, and...poison oak!

 My Ave of Rocks looking stunning as usual...

 Zou trotting down said avenue.

 Fog photo.

Fog Dog photo.

 Pretty dirt.  (??)

 My little mountain goat...

 A spot where the road sort of winds back on itself (you can see that little bit of it down below, to the right). 

 So many giant boulders, the size of small houses.  Like this one, split in two.  The big half kinda looks like a face, don't you think?

Yeah?

 Fog is lifting, but still some hanging around.  Look at that gorgeous yucca!

 Some more favorite rocks...

 The pine tree guardians, stand watch over the top of the road.  Looking back down at them here.

 Zou and I check out the view (to the west) from one of our main hang-out rocks.

We've gone over the top, past the communication towers, and are now headed down the main trail.  Zou spies someone coming up from the other side.

 That path splits after a mile or so, the main trail continuing down to Lake P.  Zou and I happily detour onto our quieter one, which winds its way back close to our starting point...

 Part way down you can look up and see the towers - the peak we just came down from.

 In parts, the trail is lined by these pretty yerba santa plants, which have been busy blooming lately.

 I love ferns!

 You may remember this section from the earlier post?

 A type of rock rose.  I love how crinkly their petals are, like crumpled paper.

 A little view opening to the north.  On this side of Mt. W, a pretty nice housing/golf development wraps around its base.  For a short section, the trail goes right by some of their backyards.  Kind of interesting to looky-loo the landscaping, pink paint choice (OK, some of them aren't as nice...but most are), etc., but not so keen on some of the extra-nasty dogs that take their protective jobs just a wee bit too seriously!!!

 Fire poppies.

 A Phacelia type.

 And meet Mr. Whiptail!

And we're back!  Just skirted to the left of those houses and past a little bit of golf course, and we're down and done.

Chips Ahoy!

Yes, we survived!  And on this day (which was mid-April), we were once again Roadies - up and back all on the service road...

 My little Zouey being such a good, obliging poser.  Isn't she a sweet pea, framed in the pretty yerba santa flowers?

 Up, up, up...!

 A bit hazy in the mountains to the southeast of us.

 Just cool rocks!

 More cool rocks!  And the view from the "top" looking north (you can see the hazy marine layer that is still covering the coast.  On some May Gray and June Gloom days, that layer actually makes it far enough east to cover R. too!  I like when that happens because it makes for great hiking conditions - although I may be the only one who prefers it that way!).

 And now...for some acrobatic feats...or death-defying, as Zouey refers to it!!!  She's turned into such a rock-climbing mountain goat, I didn't think she'd balk at this one.  But she did!  I tried two different routes and only got part-way on each (Zou saying "no thanks!" both times).  But then I went back to the first way, and with a little help from a generous stranger (who perched on top and helped Zouey up the last bit), she made it!  If I'd known she'd be so worried about this particular rock, I wouldn't have tried it at all (I'm actually glad she showed concern and that she probably has better judgement than her mom!).  And perhaps I should have given up once I knew that this one looked too daunting to her, but I guess I was afflicted with that same disease that everyone in San Diego County apparently is - the PC Disease...  That's what this rock is called (and no, the acronym is not "Politically Correct."  Rather this rock formation is named after a snack food...), and tons of people come up here - esp. on the weekends - to have their photos taken on top.  They haul props up on top - like their bikes, barbells, and apparently even a table and chairs.  They leap in the air, dangle off the edge, upside-down, they see if that leftover scrap of rock will support a group of twenty,...  Some not only take their dogs up, but then hold them up in the air!  I don't know if that's so the dog can see better (hah!) - or if dog pee is running down their arms because their poor pooch is probably scared to death that Dad has finally decided he has one too many dogs and is about to give the old heave-ho!  Actually, I'm sure the owners just think it'll make for a funny photo - I suspect the dogs think otherwise!!!!  If you don't believe me on this stuff, google the rock name and check out the photos for yourself!  There's all sorts of stuff, like the few I borrowed below:

Here is an example of one of the more clever (I think) images made of the rock (obviously adapted from Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends," a book I always loved!).

And another one (Charlie's Angels, right?  Shot at night, with the lights of the city below).

And the crazy table people!  They had to carry that stuff all the way up with them!

 And then there's this rather boring one...although Zou no doubt wished it could be even more boring, with us just looking up at the rock from terra firma!!!  Poor Zou.  What Mommy made her do...!!  But not as bad as this fool, thank goodness:

Poor doggy.  I apologize to Zou yet again - this stuff makes me realize how clueless some pet owners (and people parents!) can be!!!  I doubt this poor little canine soul thought he or she was ready to go to heaven yet!!  Is this reminiscent of the Michael Jackson baby-dangling image or what?!

 And then, back down through the Ave of Rocks...

 stopping to smell the flowers...

and then one last look back at the mount.  Will be back another day!