Growing up in Lockwood, the lessons you learn are different than those who grew up in the city. During the warmer months we were always taught to look out for two things, black widows and rattle snakes. We we taught what a black widow web looked and felt like and the most likely places they would be hiding. During the day if we spotted a new web we would take note of it and come back after dark when the widow was home so we could kill it. The same was true for rattle snakes. We learned what they looked and felt like and what they sounded like. Every kid I knew had at least one rattle that was cut off a snake sitting on their dresser or a shelf. They were just like toys. I won’t even get into the old turkey foot I use to play with. Needless to say, we all knew what a rattle snake sounded like. We also new the types of places they liked to hide and for the most part we were pretty good at avoiding them. When we did come upon one, we knew how to take care of it.

The country also give kids a wonderful sense of adventure. During the summer, all the canyon kids would get together after the sun went down and just go exploring. There is no telling were we would end up. Of course we had to wait until the evening because our days were filled with swimming in the pond and riding our 4wheelers. Nothing was really off limits. No one ever minded if we hoped a fences or three and we would come home whenever we got tired. TV and video games were almost unheard of and this was before home computers and internet.

Since my kids are growing up in the city, I try and give them a little bit of what I learned as a kid. The most important thing I want them to learn is that it’s ok to learn new things and explore new places.

On Saturday, we took the kiddos out on a little adventure. We headed over to the Old Sweetwater Bridge in Rancho San Diego. Being me, I had to bring my camera and get a few updated photos of them before we did anything else. The mornings have been nice and overcast so we had perfect lighting. After we did some photos, we took the kiddos out on a little hike. This is a new area for us to hike in, so we weren’t really familiar with the trails. The plan was to let the kids walk for as long as they could, and then throwing in the off road stroller and let them ride the rest of the way. Well, one of the first things I noticed about the trail was that it was lined with poison oak. Not exactly kid friendly. The kids got a nice stroller ride the rest of the way. It was actually a really nice trail. Very well maintained. We saw a lot of different people too. There were other hikers, some bikers, and there was evidence of horses.

On the way back we heard some sirens that sounded like they were at the parking area. When we got up there we saw one of the bikers sitting on a gurney. Another guy on the trail that we were talking too wondered if the guy fell off his bike or was bit by a rattle snake. Well, turns out it was both. He fell on a rattler and was bit. It made me realize there was a ton of things I learned growing up that others didn’t. Now I get to teach my own kids about all the fun country stuff. I will definitely be keeping my eyes and ears open from now on when we are out on our hikes.

Since You can’t have a post without photos, here are some of the new photos of the kids that I took right before the hike.