Well we've been back for oh...11 days now and I'm just getting around to blogging. To spare you all of the details, I'll try to sum it up quickly.
July 8th. Left HB. Arrived in Goleta. Saw the Aids Life Cycle riders. Hiked (walked really) to Nojoqui Falls. Played at Refugio State Beach. Watched the aftermath of a tree falling on a tent. Packed up. Stopped in San Simeon to see the Elephant Seals. Arrived in Big Sur. Ranger led hike around on the Big Sur River. Met some cool people from OC. Enjoyed a day at Pfeiffer Beach. Hiked to Pfeiffer Falls. Drove to Point Lobos State Reserve. Hike the Sea Lion Point Trail. Packed up and said goodbye to Ticia and family. Drove to San Jose. Invaded Maribel's showers with three funky children. Lots of wine. Met some MD friends at the park. Build a Bear, Mexican food and cake for Avery's birthday. More wine. Made homemade tortillas. Packed up. Drove the 5 fwy home. Almost died from boredom. Met James at IHOP near LAX for dinner. Arrived home safely. Spent a whole day uploading and labeling pictures on flickr.
There you have it...the 10 day trip in a nutshell. After 11 days home, I've got nothing else. Moral of the story. Blog when it's fresh in your mind. I need a laptop!
For your viewing pleasure, I present...
El Capitan State Beach
Elephant Seals in San Simeon
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
and last but not least...
The invasion on Maribel's house
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Thursday, June 08, 2006
On the Road...Really
Tent...check
Mummy bags...check
Food...check
Flat Iron...check
Yes...I'm bringing my flat iron camping with me. We're not really roughing it, I have three kids with me and half of the belongings that we own are packed in the truck, so I figure, why not? The bathroom at the campground has an outlet and my hair might as well look nice while I'm sitting around the campfire, right? I'll be back in a little over a week, ready to bore you to tears with the 487 pictures that I have taken.
Mummy bags...check
Food...check
Flat Iron...check
Yes...I'm bringing my flat iron camping with me. We're not really roughing it, I have three kids with me and half of the belongings that we own are packed in the truck, so I figure, why not? The bathroom at the campground has an outlet and my hair might as well look nice while I'm sitting around the campfire, right? I'll be back in a little over a week, ready to bore you to tears with the 487 pictures that I have taken.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Let the procrastination begin...
Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I'm a procrastinator. I'll try to play it off by telling you that I work better under pressure, but that's bullshit. I'm a procrastinator plain and simple and at no time does the procrastinator in me rear it's ugly head more fiercly than when I have a camping trip coming up. You would think that packing for camping trips would be a fairly simple task for someone who took six trips last season, but it's the same feeling of panic over what clothes to pack, what food to bring, shopping, cooking the food, etc. that sends me into a mode of bitchiness, irritability and ultimately procrastination in the days leading up to a trip. We leave Thursday and if I was smart, I would spend the day today getting some stuff done. This blog however, serves as evidence that I'll find anything...and I mean anything to do besides pack when I'm supposed to. Off to brush my dog's teeth.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Overheard...
Marcellus: gimme summa that candy Aveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Avery: no
Marcellus: gimme some!
Avery: No!
Marcellus: she won't gimme any of that candy
Me: maybe you could ask in a nicer voice
Marcellus: GIMME SUMMA THAT CANDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Avery: no
Marcellus: YOU ARE GREEDY AND YOU ARE A FOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
Can you feel it? Sibling love at it's finest.
Avery: no
Marcellus: gimme some!
Avery: No!
Marcellus: she won't gimme any of that candy
Me: maybe you could ask in a nicer voice
Marcellus: GIMME SUMMA THAT CANDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Avery: no
Marcellus: YOU ARE GREEDY AND YOU ARE A FOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
Can you feel it? Sibling love at it's finest.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
The 2.9 Mile Ride
Today was the day. I set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. to get in my very first early morning ride. After one push of the snooze button, I dragged myself out of bed, put on my long sleeve jersey and knickers and wandered downstairs to eat half of a bagel. By the time I was ready to roll the sun was up, so I took off from home instead of driving down to the beach path. My goal was to ride the same route that I did yesterday...Magnolia to the end of the Newport beach path, turn around and ride north to the end of Bolsa Chica State Beach, then back to Magnolia. With six extra miles added in going to and from the beach from home, I was looking at getting a 32 mile ride before the crowds hit the paths.
Of course, the best laid plans...blah, blah, blah. You get the picture. Shit happens and my shit just happened to go down right in front of Huntington Beach Fire Station Number Four. I'm riding down Magnolia feeling great and enjoying the cool morning air when my smooth ride starts to feel not so smooth anymore. Damn...I've flatted in the front. So I hop off of my bike, fairly confident...okay, truth be told, I wasn't confident at all because I'd only changed one flat and it was in my living room and it took me an hour. I figure that I don't have any choice but to change the thing, so I flip the bike over and get to work. Just as I'm getting started, the fire engine pulls into the station. One of the guys pops his head out and asks if I'm okay. I tell him that I think that I can handle it and he says "Okay, well if you need anything we're all awake and there are four of us that can come over, stand around and watch you." After struggling for several minutes I finally get the tire off of the rim and start checking for a leak. I found the hole in the tube pretty easily, but can't find anything in the tire that might have caused it, despite checking for a good five minutes. I put in the one spare tube that I had and put the tire back on the bike, wave goodbye to the fireman and I'm on my way. For a minute. Something isn't feeling or sounding right and let's face it...I'm a total newbie and I was just pretending that I knew what I was doing back there. I turn into the park behind the fire station and after riding there for a couple of minutes, the little voice inside of me tells me to call it a day and bag the ride. I decide to swallow my pride and go make friends with the firemen.
I explain the situation to the fireman who had been checking up on me while I was changing my tire and he asks me if I'd like a ride home. I accept and ask if one of them has a truck. He tells me that they can't break the crew up and that I'd have to ride home on the fire truck. Now who would turn down a ride like that? They load my bike into the hose bed on top of the truck, open the door and ask me to take a seat. We chatted about kids, their schedules, my husband's job and the fact that if this had happened yesterday instead of today, that one of their firemen is a roadie and would have been able to fix it in five minutes flat. Before I knew it we were pulling up in front of my house. As they're unloading my bike I hear them shouting across the road to the firemen at Fire Station Number Three which is about 300 feet from my front door. Good natured ribbing at 6:40 a.m. which I'm sure that my neighbors appreciated. What do I care though? I got to ride home in a firetruck. Yeehaw!
Of course, the best laid plans...blah, blah, blah. You get the picture. Shit happens and my shit just happened to go down right in front of Huntington Beach Fire Station Number Four. I'm riding down Magnolia feeling great and enjoying the cool morning air when my smooth ride starts to feel not so smooth anymore. Damn...I've flatted in the front. So I hop off of my bike, fairly confident...okay, truth be told, I wasn't confident at all because I'd only changed one flat and it was in my living room and it took me an hour. I figure that I don't have any choice but to change the thing, so I flip the bike over and get to work. Just as I'm getting started, the fire engine pulls into the station. One of the guys pops his head out and asks if I'm okay. I tell him that I think that I can handle it and he says "Okay, well if you need anything we're all awake and there are four of us that can come over, stand around and watch you." After struggling for several minutes I finally get the tire off of the rim and start checking for a leak. I found the hole in the tube pretty easily, but can't find anything in the tire that might have caused it, despite checking for a good five minutes. I put in the one spare tube that I had and put the tire back on the bike, wave goodbye to the fireman and I'm on my way. For a minute. Something isn't feeling or sounding right and let's face it...I'm a total newbie and I was just pretending that I knew what I was doing back there. I turn into the park behind the fire station and after riding there for a couple of minutes, the little voice inside of me tells me to call it a day and bag the ride. I decide to swallow my pride and go make friends with the firemen.
I explain the situation to the fireman who had been checking up on me while I was changing my tire and he asks me if I'd like a ride home. I accept and ask if one of them has a truck. He tells me that they can't break the crew up and that I'd have to ride home on the fire truck. Now who would turn down a ride like that? They load my bike into the hose bed on top of the truck, open the door and ask me to take a seat. We chatted about kids, their schedules, my husband's job and the fact that if this had happened yesterday instead of today, that one of their firemen is a roadie and would have been able to fix it in five minutes flat. Before I knew it we were pulling up in front of my house. As they're unloading my bike I hear them shouting across the road to the firemen at Fire Station Number Three which is about 300 feet from my front door. Good natured ribbing at 6:40 a.m. which I'm sure that my neighbors appreciated. What do I care though? I got to ride home in a firetruck. Yeehaw!
Friday, June 02, 2006
Sprummer...
doesn't feel like spring, but technically it's not summer...yet. The weather has been amazing this week and the countdown is on. This morning while riding, it dawned on me that in approximately three weeks, every public school in the Huntington Beach area will be on summer break. You do know what that means, don't you? It means that the number of days that I can ride on the beach bike path are limited. Gone will be the days that I ignore the sign telling me that the speed limit is 10 m.p.h., speeding down the path encountering pedestrians every half mile or so. In their place will be the masses. The masses that flock to our local beaches to enjoy the sand, surf and sun. The masses that walk out onto the bike path without looking first. The masses that send their tiny tots walking out into the bike path alone. The masses that decide that they forgot something in the car and leave their coolers and beach chair sitting in the middle of the path while they go and retrieve it. The masses that let their dogs wrestle with one another on a long leash smack dab in the middle of the path. The masses that are just that...massive numbers of people in one spot. Sprummer is leading the way to summer and the masses are slowly starting to make their appearance. So here you go masses...I'm gifting the beach path to you. I'll probably be safer riding on the streets this summer.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Tiff's maiden voyage
So my good friend Tiff IM's me first thing this morning and tells me that she'll be kid-free for a couple of hours and that she is going to take her new road bike out for a spin in the park. Not wanting to miss her first ride, I immediately called Grandma and begged her to watch the boys for a couple of hours so I could join her. As I pulled up to her house she was standing outside eating breakfast and she actually jumped up and down with excitement, it was so adorable. Ready to go, we headed for the park by her house and she soon realized that she was not going to be satisfied riding in circles for an hour. We left the park and headed down to the beach where we rode down to the end of Bolsa Chica. Periodically during the ride she would get an ear to ear grin on her face and shout out "this is so much fun!" It's exciting to see my good friend with the same enthusiasm that I have for cycling. Today our total mileage was 17.3 miles and that was only because I was pressed for time and needed to get back to pick up the boys and fetch Avery from school. I know that she could have kept going and going. We're going to have many, many wonderful rides ahead of us. Now I just have to convince her that she should take the plunge and sign up for the Cool Breeze Century. I know that she's stronger and more ready than she thinks she is.
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