Panda at Pinnacles National Park (Only Version)

Panda was thrilled to be celebrating my 60th birthday with me. It was an especially meaningful day because Panda hadn't yet come into my life on my previous birthday. This would be our first birthday adventure together.

The trip itself was wonderfully spontaneous. I hadn't planned anything special until a friend needed a ride to the San Jose Airport. Since it was already a two-hour drive, I thought, "I may as well keep driving and spend a couple of days celebrating." So Panda and I packed our bags and headed south.

Our first stop was Pinnacles National Park. I'd hiked the trail before and knew it was mostly easy and flat. Along the way, we reached a junction where another trail descended toward the lower parking lot. I had explored part of it before and remembered that while going down was easy, climbing back up was much harder.

Curious, we started down the trail for about ten minutes. Then Panda spoke up.

"Stop."

Panda reminded me not to wander farther than I could comfortably climb back. It was good advice, so we turned around, took another photo, and even snapped a birthday selfie together before continuing on our way.

Later that day, we drove to our Airbnb—a camping tent on a ranch in San Miguel—where the birthday adventure continued.

Several photos were shared from the day, beginning with this one. The response included hearts, and later an audio message saying, "It is so cute that you are going around with that beautiful panda. It is very lovely."

Hearing those words made Panda's first birthday adventure even more special.