My original plan for my vacation was to go camping at Hat Creek for a few days.  We finally got Alli into a day program, so Ralph only had to get her up, showered and dressed and off to daycare while I was gone.  We also had someone coming in in the afternoon/evening to help him, so it was looking pretty good.  Then Ralph had a serious low-blood sugar episode at night (requiring a rescue injection), and I figured it wasn't safe to leave him at night.  Oh well....maybe next time I can go camping.

Instead, Alex and I just went to Lassen Park, and went exploring.  Here's what Lassen looks like right now....

We found a place that sounded interesting to hike to, and that didn't have snow on the trail - actually it was quite difficult to find a trail not closed by snow!  Most of the park still has large piles/patches of snow.

The little creek we hiked by was pretty.

And we did have to cross some snow on the trail.  Not much, but it's the middle of July!

Another little creek we crossed over.

My hiking buddy,

Coming in to Paradise Meadows.

The flowers and butterflies were abundant on the trail.

And a caterpillar.....

And a woodpecker

Unfortunately, I left my phone in the bathroom (I'm paranoid about pit toilets, what can I say - it's the second time I've left it in the park because I've put it far, far away from me....).  When I remembered that I'd left it, we went back, but someone had already picked it up.  They left me a nice note saying they had taken it to the Visitor's Center.  So....off we went to the Visitor's Center - on the South side of the park, 45 minutes away.  When we stopped by, no one had turned a phone in to them, and they suggested that we check the 'other' center - the Loomis Museum - an hour back the way we came.  

So, we jumped back in the car and drove back to Loomis, but no one had turned in a phone there either.  Bummer.  I figured that the person that picked up the phone was still out enjoying the park, and I would catch up with it eventually, so I left my name and number and went on home.  That night, I got a call from the store at Manzanita Lake - someone had turned my phone in to them.  They were closing before I could get back up that night, so the next morning, I drove back up to Lassen to get my phone.  While I was there, I grabbed a couple of shots of Manzanita Lake....