Pinecrest Lake

A week or so ago I took a vacation from my vacation and went "off the grid" (and by that I mean stayed in a lovely cabin with electricity and running water, but high up in the Sierra Nevadas out of cell phone range) with Devin and his family. We stayed at Pinecrest Lake, where we hiked, swam, kayaked, sat around fires, and went stargazing. When I got home, all of my clothes smelled like smoke, and it was great. Here's our hike around the lake, which for me was equal parts beautiful and never-wracking.

Glistening water, pine trees, and a lone canoe. Peaceful, right?

Devin doing what Devin does best: laughing in the face of gravity.

My poshest hiking attire: comfortable pants and t-shirt, sunglasses, a wide-brimmed straw hat, sunglasses, and my most importnat accessory, SPF 80 sunscreen. Also, I guess, an obligatory duckface.

Devin's brother Derrick basking in the glory of California. At the edge of a cliff.

Also, there was a helipad.

The hike isn't physically strenuous (I didn't feel overtired or winded during the journey), but it's mentally stressful for me because the terrain is steep, rocky, and jagged, and I lack the mountain-goat-like balance and agility of Devin and Derrick. I spent a lot of the time looking at my feet rather than at the beautiful surroundings, which is why I prefer paths of pine needles or dirt rather than boulders. Still, I remain alive.

And I got to take my standard stand-backlit-in-a-pool-of-afternoon-sunlight-and-look-off-into-the-distance blog photo...

And there were wildflowers. Above, clusters of lupines. So things balanced out in the end.