While we were back in Oregon last month, my aunt asked me, "You guys go somewhere almost every weekend, right?" I suppose that my blog might portray that we are frequently traveling, but in fact most weekends we are simply exploring parks, hikes, and towns that are all in the greater Monterrey area. The beauty of this area, combined with absolutely no house/garden obligations leaves a lot of time for adventures as a family. Here are some pictures of some of our most recent outings:
Estanzuela
I have to say that this particular hike has been my favorite to date. It's only about 45 minutes from our house, and while there is about a 10 minute stretch of horrible cobblestone road at the end of the drive, the actual walking path is amazing.
We packed a lunch and there are great palapas (covered eating areas) to picnic as a family.
The bonus of this hike is that the path follows a beautiful creek.
The scenery is just amazing
Seth caught a little brown frog
My boys love playing in water and making dams
Me and my boys on the bridge
Sam, Seth, Josh
We reached a second bridge on the pathway and were stopped by a park ranger that told us we couldn't go any further. Apparently you have to be past that particular spot by 2 pm or you can't hike to the waterfall (another hour up the path). It was, of course 2:30 pm. Likewise, true to Mexican style, there are no signs at the beginning of the trail to indicate this important fact. Oh well, we stopped at a beautiful place to play for awhile before turning back.
This was the most peaceful spot
Josh does a great job on our hikes
I was totally obsessed with these leaves on the elephant ear plant (I'm not sure if that's what they are really called, but here is a similar plant in the Portland area called that). They were just enormous.
It is a huge plant!
The big boys cooled off in a very cold, crisp and clear pool
Josh's very "natural" camera smile
All those trees and shade remind me of the Pacific NW
A glimpse of the mountain peaks on the way back.
Ben spotted (or almost ran into) the grossest spider web on the way back. The spider was enormous!
And very oddly colored. Yuck!
I thought these leaves so looked so cool...I'm pretty sure they have some kind of disease, but it makes for a neat picture all the same.
I love this picture. It illustrates everything that I loved about Estanzuela!
Huesteca
Two weekends in a row we explored another part of the Monterrey mountains called the Huesteca. It's actually super close to our house: about 20 minutes.
I just adore this valley: isn't it gorgeous!? Notice the "M" on the left: we view that mountain range from our apartment...just on the other side!
The Huesteca is characterized by these very unique, steep, and layered cliffs
The cliffs are perfect for rock climbing and exploring
They are also apparently a perfect habitat for millipedes. Gross. This is Ben's shoe: these things are HUGE, red-legged, and disgusting!
Just another view of the gorgeous mountains.
The first weekend we just drove around a bit, but the second weekend we returned dressed in jeans and boots and ready for a real hike.
The problem is, as previously mentioned, Mexicans don't exactly do a good job of mapping out paths for their beautiful natural wonders. The roadside visitors kiosk is non-existent, so one must rely upon keen eyesight and luck for pathways (okay, so there's actually an app too, but without cell service in most of the area, this doesn't help much either). We thought that there might be a path at this spot, but unfortunately we walked a couple minutes and had to stop at a private property gate.
So, we drove to a different spot, which incidentally had a beautiful background for some pictures.
It figures: the one time Josh smiled naturally, I told the kids to make funny faces.
Me and my love
There was some awesome foliage on our hike and lots of cacti
We're not sure if we were actually on a path, but Ben bravely led the way for us up the side of a hill. The rocks made for a great climb and all the kids did great.
Once we started looking closely, we noticed that there were millipedes all around us on the rocks. Gross. At this point in time we weren't sure if millipedes were poisonous or not (they are not). Least to say, we really didn't want to sit down and risk having one climb on us and I kept checking to make sure one wasn't crawling down my back. They just give us (especially Seth and I) the oogies!
These things are LONG: like 5-8 inches
Captain Ben scouting the trail
The path where I took the pictures of the boys is down to the left. We're actually up pretty high up on the hillside.
The view from the top.
The careful decent.
Pictures do not do these cliffs justice. They are just amazing. The large, dark hole in middle of the cliff is a cave. We are totally intrigued on how a cave could be created so high up.
Boys getting to explore. We're hoping to soon try to climb to the top of this area (to that middle dip between the mountains).
Boys love dangerous, up-high things that make mom's uneasy
The classic Huesteca cliffs.
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