Hiking in Bear Valley

I'm just realizing how un-cohesive this blog is compared to what I had originally intended, but OH WELL I did name it "totally eileen" (because "everything eileen" was already taken) so that I could just include whatever it was I wanted to ramble about.  Currently, there is actually a lot that I want to ramble about, but I don't think it would be best to do it on such a public space, so I will stick to slightly less private matters.  (sorry, stalkers, you'll have to find some other means of satisfying your curiosity--but please rest assured that I am doing well and am in good health =)

A couple weekends ago, we went hiking in Bear Valley.  Unfortunately, I couldn't hike as far as I thought I could before my knee started to really hurt, so I turned back down the trail on my own.  This gave me time to take some really soak in nature and I couldn't resist taking some high-quality pictures with my iPhone.  (saving for a new camera is actually a very long process!!)  When I was walking back down the trail, I felt a little bummed that my knee is still holding me back after all this time from doing things that I want to do.  I had a stick that Al had picked up for me to use as a walking staff, but I still found myself stopping to rest more frequently than I care to admit.  By the time I made it back to the beginning of the trail, I had stopped so often that the natural beauty around me had soothed my irritation, and I found that I felt really peaceful in the presence of funny looking trees and bright flowers.  And these are their pictures:

Not bad for our first California hike =)