Two things come to mind when I think of picnics. Yogi Bear and cooler temperatures. (Here she goes again, complaining about the summer heat) Or that scene from Disney’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow where Katrina runs around trying to find the perfect place for her blanket and picnic baskets. Apparently, a picnic wasn’t a one basket occasion it took several baskets, a couple of pies, pillows, an umbrella and about two dozen ardent admirers.

It is usually way too hot to picnic in any sort of traditional sense around here in the summer. Sure, we eat outside but it’s under patio misters, fans, and outdoor evap coolers. And when we do picnic I rarely bring blankets and pillows, unless we’re traveling up into the snow and then I don’t bring them to spread out on the ground, that’s for sure!

In the fall we love going up to the mountains and hiking sometimes we pack a big lunch, but not in a picnic basket, it’s more like a picnic backpack or picnic backpacks when you are packing a lunch for five or more people.

Sometimes it’s just several grocery bags filled with lunch meat, bread, chips, and all the other things you need to make sandwiches. And dessert! Can’t have a picnic without dessert… at least cookies or something. We’ll find a spot with a great view to park and we’ll just eat off the tailgate. I think it’s funny that at home sandwiches are just sandwiches but they always seem to taste so much better out in the fresh mountain air.

In the winter when it snows we like to take the kids sledding. We pack snacks but usually stop off at our favorite pizza spot up in the mountains for a big dinner on our way home.

Some of my favorite memories are of our trips up into the mountains to hike or play in the snow. I’ve taken more pictures up there than I can count and many of them are framed all over my house. We might have to work around summer temps a bit but it’s nice to be located where we are an hour from the mountains and a little over and hour and a half from the beach. It makes living in California’s armpit worth it. Mostly.