Adventures in CA

Well. A lot has been happening lately. I made it down to CA w/o any serious problems... though one problem was not having A/C in the car. It was supposed to get fixed, but the needed parts were scattered across the country when I left Portland. I guess direct shipping didn't happen. Oh well, old school A/C = roll down those winders. It was wasn't hot on the way down, so I managed just fine. The first stop was when I got to the coast on Hwy 1 in CA. I pulled over and slept in the car for the night. It worked out very well, except that I did not wake up as early as I should have. (I gotta stop turning off the alarm). I drove down the 1 the rest of the way to San Fran and tried to enjoy the drive. I like the southern OR coast a lot better... it's more scenic and beautiful. The 1 is fun to drive b/c it's so twisty, but I was stuck behind many slow drivers out to see the sights.
I made the San Jose airport by 4:35, a bit after I was supposed to get there to pick up Sayenko. He was pretty cool about it all.
That night we shot pics @ Jimmers' (Greg Jimmerson) wedding rehersal... I think it went well). We got to see a bunch of Altitude Camp people that have been scattered the last year. It was really great to see Katie and Avery Blackwell. They flew in from Germany that night. The wedding was the next day.
We stayed 2 nights w/ Mike and Jen, friends of Jimmers and got to run around the Bay Area. We took a trip up to San Fran and got some great pics of the bridge and bought some chocolate. After a bread bowl of chowder, we headed back to Menlo Park and stayed w/ Mike's friends' parents.

They were very kind, offering a bed and some peach cobbler before we got to bed. The next morning we decided to go to the Moneray Bay Aquarium. Man, that was a good idea!
The aquarium is huge. We though we had seen all of it, but we missed about a 1/5th... oh well... more to go back and see next time. Mike and I had our cameras out the whole time and I took about 250 good pictures. I'll try to post some somewhere...

We spent the night in the car at the hilltop park. This time it didn't feel so good since the car was more full and the seats didn't go down as far. The next morning we set off for Truckee, CA.

It's a little town in the mountains of CA NW of Lake Tahoe. It's a great place to spend some time. There's a big lake (of course we had to run around it), mountains and trails all around (good for hiking, biking, and running...), and Tahoe is quite close. I plan on riding around the lake in the next couple of days. Mike and I are staying with Katie Murphy, this very enthusiastic teacher that we know from Mammoth's Altitude camp. Me , Katie, and 2 other local teachers went hiking this morning. It was a great hike to the top of a couple of peaks here in the area. I think I will go running later on today, tough very easily as my left leg is in pain.
I am trying to fix the problem, but it is not going away quickly. I have a race up in Canada at the end of the month that I am worried will make the leg worse, so I need to be sure to train smart right now. Pray for me if you get a chance.... I need to be patient and to be wise in how I train (I like to go crazy in trails and hills and there are a lot of them here).

Well, that's it for now. I hope you are living life to fullest wherever you are. I think life it more simple than we often make it... so take a second be thankful for all you have, don't be afraid to laugh at yourself, and love on those around you... that's pretty simple.