Out 'splorin (part CAVE)

Fletcher broke his hand 3 or 4 weeks prior.

Normally, not relevant to the story at hand (sorry).

Fletcher, hand in-tact,  with Boundary Peak in the background.

Except that Fletcher fell upon an abundance of time, which he utilized mostly on Google Earth, I imagine. Doing what? Looking for caves that another friend of ours told him about, while omitting all locale information save these caves being in Mono County. In case you like numbers: Mono County is 3,131.80 square miles. Much of it Forest Service land. Saying these caves are a needle in a haystack would be an understatement.

So we went looking, anyway.

Needles to say (they do speak), we found no caves. We did enjoy a few hours of 'splorin a new area that I knew nothing of, and the dogs had a splendid time.

Normally I'd wax poetic regarding the benefits of fresh air and exercise. But listen to the photos, instead.

Much of the photo credit goes to Fletch, who owns the superior smartphone. Thank you, sir.

If New York Fashion Week got a hold of these fossils, shit'd go viral.

Hard, crusty flowers, that are also the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? Thank you, Juniper. And Mo'Nature.

My Mommasita used to get this same stare when she was tired. Familial trait.

After wandering through a canyon, we retreated to the car with high hopes of making our normal happy hour at the Double Eagle. Fortunately for our pocketbooks, Fletcher's car is front wheel drive. With a combination snow-mud-boulder-fun, it took 45 minutes+pushing+tire chains to achieve hill-top status. It's just that kind of year. And another day for the books. And life. 

Yeah, life.