The Pines

Our family has land in the San Bernardino mountains just south of Big Bear. We always just call it 'The Pines'.

It's in the Santa Ana River Valley, and takes about 2.5-3 hours to drive north from San Diego. It sure makes for a nice day, especially with a picnic lunch in tow. Early April, while Amanda was down from Seattle, seemed like a great time to go.

Kevin and his tribe (Ryan post-run-in with the stream...how old are they when you can stop bringing an extra outfit for them??)

Colton with his pirate sword. Ya know, you never want to be in the mountains without your plastic sword! (We had gone to Disneyland/Pirates of the Carribean the day before).



Goin' for a walk.

The quickly moving stream is to the left and down the hill.

(Mom or Dad was carrying Ryan's soaking wet jeans and shirt!)


After finding the metate stone, I was curious about the Indians who used to live in these mountains, so I looked them up on the internet. The different peoples who lived in the San Bernardino highlands, passes, valleys and mountains were collectively called by the Spaniards, the Serrano...a term meaning highlander.

Their creation story is interesting...it tells of the first people who tended to their creator Krukat as he laid ill and dying high in the mountains.
When the creator died, the people began to mourn and in their grief, turned into pine trees. The nuts and acorns these trees scattered became food for the Serrano clans who would follow these first people.



Have you ever seen a metate stone? It's fun when you come across one. It's a stone block with a shallow concave surface used with a mano (a hand-held stone) for grinding corn or other grains. Here, it was probably used for acorns. They're usually smaller, but this one is about 4 ft. across! The holes are deeper than they appear in this picture. Everytime we go, we try and remember where it is and show the kids.




Grandma Shirlee, Heather, Amanda, Colton,

Kate, Ryan and Brendan (Bryson unfortunately had to work and couldn't come with us.)
Kate and Grandpa Doug waiting for the picnic lunch to be broken out :)




Brendan hugging on his little sister.
Kevin and Amanda
























It's a very peaceful day being at the Pines. You should hear the wind in the trees. It's so beautiful, it almost sounds like water. The only building anywhere nearby is the Ranger's station. No cars or noise. Just nature. It's good for the soul. I always feel like I'm at peace with the world when we're camping or at the Pines. I hope the kids grow up with the same love of being in nature. Not that I don't love my creature comforts, believe me, I do. But you can feel your self de-compress when you come to a place like this. It was a good day.