One for the books...

This is a picture of beautiful Malibu Creek State Park. It did NOT look like this yesterday. Read on to find out why!

Have you ever been to Malibu Creek State Park? I've been wanting to go for some time now, and when my friend, Megan invited us to go on a day hike and picnic lunch, I jumped at the chance!

A little history about the park: It once was divided into three parcels belonging to Bob Hope, Ronald Reagen, and 20th Century Fox before the State of California acquired it in 1974. It is over 7000 acres of hiking and biking trails, streams, trees, and wildlife. The former filming site of M.A.S.H. is there, too.

It was forecasted to rain yesterday, but I had no idea what was in store for us. I figured a little sprinkle, a little drizzle....no big deal. After all, being a mom of three boys has taught me a bit about being adventurous. I mean, come on, it's just water. We hiked a beautiful oak lined trail that looked like it came straight from a movie scene (it probably did). We saw deer, lots of ducks, and a family of parrots along the way. Megan was quite familiar with the park, so she knew all the places to go. We hiked to a large swimming hole (of course, we weren't planning on swimming at this time of year), and it was just breathtaking. The kids had so much fun playing on the rocks nearby, and getting a little wet. There were even some crazy (OK, NUTS) people that were in their shorts jumping off the rocks into the water below. Yes, in this weather. They must be from Minnesota or something. We enjoyed our lunch by the lake, then decided to hike to another destination. We really wanted to see the former M.A.S.H. site, so we followed a trail uphill for a while. Megan commented that the trail seemed unfamiliar, but we kept going anyways. As we were hiking uphill, our feet began to accumulate mud. The rain began to increase in intensity, and before we knew it, we were in the back roads of Malibu Creek State Park, probably 2 miles from the car, in a torrential downpour. With no jackets. Or a change of clothes for that matter. At that point, we thought it would be a good idea to turn around and head back. Do ya think???? As we were walking, our shoes were all collecting layers of mud underneath, so much that it pushed out the sides and seemed as if we were all walking with skis attached to our shoes. It was hilarious. As time went by, we all got progressively wetter, until we were all literally soaking wet, as if we had just taken a shower in all our clothes. For some reason, all I could do was laugh uncontrollably. And shiver. It really was so much fun. Until we had to get into Megan's car all soaking wet and muddy. She cranked the heat and the bunwarmers (that's my word for heated seats), and we were all "comfortable", or as comfortable as one can be soaking wet in a pair of jeans. But it made it one of those experiences you will always remember. The kids had so much fun, nonetheless, and we all decided we would love to go back again someday. In the sunshine. Footnote: You will never know how good it feels to change into warm dry clothes if you didn't first soak yours to the bone. So there you go.