Friday, June 20, 2008

Bike ride for dinner



Jason and I went on this awesome bike ride yesterday. We rode from our house on a series of trails, including riding past the airport, to eat some dinner at the shopping center by Target in San Jose. And then we rode back home. The scenery was great with gravel trails, paved trails, airplanes landing overhead, rose gardens, park benches and the river right beside us. It was probably about 4 or 5 (I'm guessing) miles each way. It made us feel like we really earned our dinner this time :) The sunset was really awesome too. I'm grateful for really great summer nights where you can be outside til sunset and feel exhausted (in a good way) at the end of the day.
Here's where we went:
http://www.sjparks.org/Trails/GRiver/GRiverMapLowerS.asp
http://www.sjparks.org/Trails/GRiver/GRiverMapN.asp

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Biking MonterrRrey!

Biking to Canery Row.

If this photo had sound, you would hear a bunch of sea lions making "Arrrgh, Arrrgh!" noise, and the chatter and clicking of cameras of the group of tourists next to us.

Look way back in the waaay back background... that's where we started. (it actually was only a few miles away.... not too bad.)




Cool Jellyfish at Monterey Bay AquariuM, Ah-QUair-EEEE-uuuuuM!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

SC Beach Boardwalk

Santa Cruz Boardwalk. You can see the Giant Dipper (the white rollercoaster). It is one of the oldest rollercoasters in the US. Here we are before our bumpy ride on the Giant Dipper.
You see those sunglasses on Jason's shirt, well he almost lost them during the ride. Somehow they flew into the air and then ended up in my hand :) Lucky!!
Barrett and Mindy getting ready to enjoy the rollercoaster.
I saw my first otters out on that pier (as far as I can remember). They are so cute! I love how they float on their backs, relax and crack open their lunch.


Sunday, June 1, 2008

Camp Ouch-jato!

So this past weekend we went up to Camp Oljato in the Sierras. The purpose of our trip was to help get the camp ready for the Young Men in our church. They are going to do a high-adventure experience called Zion's Camp, but the real adventure was in setting the camp up! Now we have a better understanding of what the term "slave labor" means! :)

We worked really hard: carrying lumber, hauling boats to the shore, fixing meals, working in the kitchen, and setting up tents in the various campsites. But it wasn't without reward... the views were amazing, and the drive up there and back was really scenic. We want to go back to this area again this summer, to do more playing and less work. :)

The first thing we had to do was find our tent! Doesn't sound hard.... but we didn't get up there until 11pm, and after a short (but cold) boat ride across the lake, the only instruction we were given was, "Find a tent, and breakfast is at 8AM!" After opening a couple of already occupied tents, we finally found an empty one, and called it home for the night. (Our first time camping out together!)

It was a ton of fun, and now we think we know what Oljato must mean -- it must be some Native American term that means, "I bet I'm going to be sore for about a week because I'm not used to doing so much manual labor, but it was worth it because its amazingly gorgeous out here! Ouch, my back hurts."