The Boisjoli Family in Spain: Our first mountain expedition

One of the reasons we chose the area we are living, is the proximity to the Sierra Nevada mountains. As much as we love the ocean, we also love spending time in the mountains. We finally felt settled in enough here to go camping for the weekend. We were told that the mountains get very cold, so I packed all of our warm clothes. It turns out that cold for Canadians is a completely different concept...we did need sweaters and pants, but not the four layers each that I packed. Shane and I played a masterful game of Tetris packing the car with camping gear, climbing gear, clothes and food, then picked up the kids from school, told them that their school bags had to go on their laps, and headed for Granada, where we needed to make a stop to buy a guide book for the climbing areas, and return an item at a store. Since everything is closed from 2-5:30 PM, we spent a leisurely afternoon having a picnic lunch at a park, wandering the streets of Granada, and stopping for cafe and treats. While buying the guidebook, the salesman in the store recommended a climbing area in Alfacar, which is actually in the Sierra Huetor mountains. We also found out that there is only backcountry camping in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and requires a permit. We were not quite that prepared, so we found a campsite in a small town near the climbing area and decided it would be the perfect place to start. It wasn't the beautiful campsite tucked away in nature that we were hoping for,but the sound of the air conditioner from the restaurant drowned out the noise of the barking dogs We spent Saturday at a great little crag climbing, and enjoying the views. The kids did great, and Shane and I managed a few fun leads each which was exciting, because it has been a while since we have been climbing outside. Once tired, we drove the mountain road and found the perfect campsite....(for next time). We also found a trailhead for a hike up to a cave which we decided would be a fun Sunday activity. We started the hike early, before the heat of the day. The trail came and went, but for the most part was marked with cairns when not clear. Once we were above the treeline, we could see a huge cave in the mountain. Since the trail wasn't well defined, the kids decided to head straight up a scree section directly to the cave. It got quite steep, and a little technical, but finally we made it within 50 meters of the opening.Between us and the cave reminded me of the castle in Sleeping Beauty, overgrown with thistle bushes. Very carefully, we picked our way through the thorns and suffered a few war wounds in the process, but we didn't come all this way to not get to go into the cave. It was quite an impressive cave, with an amazing view...but it definitely did not have a trail to it, so we began to wonder if we had indeed found the cave on the map. We scrambled down, found the faint path again, and decided to follow it a little further. Sure enough, about 500 meters down the trail, was the actual cave, which was not half as impressive as the one we discovered, so it was all worth the adventure in the end.

We are all very excited to have our first guests at Casa YOLO. My mom and Earl arrived 2 days ago, and Tyler and family are arriving tomorrow. It is going to be a crazy fun and busy 2 weeks! We are looking forward to lots of visiting, playing, and checking out some tourist destinations we have been wanting to see.

Kris