Baseball & Camping - Not so different from the Midwest!

Our friends, the STL Cardinals, visited us in LA the other weekend!!



Alex still refuses to support the Red however we made progress by him not wearing any opposing team to the Cardinals! :) We had such a great time! This was the view from our seats!

 Not bad at all!! The Electricians from our jobsite had a team building outing. Alex and I are both in roles on the jobsite that support all the disciplines onsite....the advantage to that....you get invited to all team building activities some how!!! THANKS PHIL for our awesome Cardinals vs. Dodgers seats!! (I thought this picture was extra funny because Phil doesn't usually drink beer...and the cardinals fan in the background that was SOOO excited just to have some team support there)

A charter bus picked us up at work on Friday, drove us to get road beers, dropped us off at the game, we got a full buffet with our tickets, 4th ROW, AND bus drove us back home after. I mean, ....what is not to LOVE!? Cardinals fans or not!

Nick didn't want to be "THAT GUY" by supporting his team that wasn't playing....but he still secretly supported the BREW CREW

And Paul was not too happy about some rough walks toward the end of the game

Sleepy Scott might have had too many Dodger beers

As the sun dropped, the Cardinals threw away the game in a game ending walked run....Painful. But when they told us that we got to go onto the field after the game, our spirits were lifted! I don't care if you are a Dodgers fan or not....standing in a Pro Baseball Field and watching Fireworks??....That's awesome!

They lit fireworks, played fun music and we all goofed around on the field.

What a great night! But we had to call it an early one...The next morning...

We had camping reservations! Now I've said it before, and I'll say it again....Alex is an outdoor kinda man, and his girl friend thinks that is really cool and trys rEEEEally hard to be cool.

So when Alex said camping....I said what day and time! But hiking and camping in Malibu? That sounds like luxury camping!? So Saturday morning, we picked up our friends Nick & Katie and packed up everything we thought was essential...

....and we hit the road!

First up, setting up camp! We raced Nick and Katie, who could get up their tents first.

We killed them...but our tent was a bit smaller...haha

Then it was off to hike Malibu State Park!

with cocktails in hand...I told you!...BABY STEPS on the outdoors gig!

It was so pretty! The whole hike, we all kept saying how it did not feel like we were in LA anymore. We all thought it looked like Africa! It really did!!!

until we all realized that NONE of us have ever been to Africa. All we know of Africa is what we see in movies...and most of those movies were shot in California...hahaha! Malibu State Park was featured in Planet of the Apes, Blood Diamond, and lots others. So basically, YES. We all hiked in Africa. COUNT IT! :)

I cracked up when I saw this picture below..very much a kodak moment...this is the PERFECT image of when Alex and I do outdoor activities together. He is POSED and READY for action and I'm....having a good time...and not really caring whats next...Just enjoying.....HAHAHA oh dear....

But for whatever I wasn't prepared for, Nick was ready to take on. Our buddy decided that one of HIS 'must bring' items was a Machete! It made its way into most/all pictures with Nick in it.

Yep! How could you NOT have fun with a group like this?? AWESOME

We found some landmarks along the way....We found an impressive sized tree and I became a tree hugger!

...California would be proud...

Katie and I actually climbed this tree. The branch was 3 feet off the ground and that is as far as we went. But we counted it!

Tree climbed....CHECK!

As we were walking, we came up on this nice path that was called 'Grasslands Pathway' or something. Alex sees the deathly steep mountain next to it and says, lets do THAT! I don't know what it was called, but for the purposes of this blog, its named, 'My Near Death Experience'. Alex was first to the top, so he caught his breath, laughed at us, and took pictures of the beautiful view Nick had on his way to the top! haha

I PROMISE you...it was way steeper than it looks in this picture! ....Just trust me...

After our 10 mile hike...yep, I don't want you to miss that....10 MILE HIKE!!! It was back to camp for grub and playing with fire! :)

We kept seeing these signs all day letting us know that it was illegal to 'collect' fire wood. Nevertheless, as the night got colder, it was time for the boys to enter the dark woods, on a covert operation, and get some fuel for our little campfire.

They did a great job! That fire was nice and toasty! They cooked our mallows perfectly! :)

It was an awesome day in the pretend wilderness... :)

HOLD UP: It must be documented that, in the middle of the night, I got up to use the campsite ladies room. (yes, we were really roughing it!)

But!, I think I saw a chupacabra/wolf/fox...it was dark...we did a quick stare down...I didn't back down or scream...and IT RAN OFF! Wilderness Woman here me ROAR!

The next morning, we packed up camp and headed to Malibu beach to spy on rich people and their houses. :)

Gorgeous!

What a great weekend! And Alex and Nick took away a not-so-fun souvenir. For future reference, this is Poison Oak and you can get it during covert fire-wood operations in the dark. ....EEK...Thanks again boys for keeping us warm!

From our personal observation, this rash can last up to 18 days....Again, sorry guys!



A trip none of us will EVER forget!