Fun Weekend

I actually got out of Davis this weekend! I've been pretty lazy and have been sticking around town on my weekends, which wasn't the plan when I moved here. I just haven't been that adventurous lately. But I now have a friend here who mountain bikes so I finally got out for a ride on Saturday in the Rockville Hills. I was completely out of shape, but the riding was fun and technical so I enjoyed it.

Yesterday I went to Berkley with Beth and James to do some thrift store shopping. We first went to this cool grocery store called the Berkley Bowl which has every kind of fruit and vegetable you could imagine, and some that you couldn't. Then we had with the homeless people in People's Park, which was interesting. From there we hit a couple of thrift stores where I got to splurge. I bought a pair of jeans, three shirts and a bitchin' pair of sneakers, all for $86! I have successfully satiated my shopping appetite for a little while. From there we went to A Donkey and Goat Winery where Beth used to work and got a mini-tour and got to taste some of their problem wines. Then we hung out with her old roommate for a bit and drove back to Davis.

It was really nice to get out of town, and has certainly inspired me to do so more often. I still don't have my camera so there are no pictures. Boo!

Mud Fest 2007

Tim and I headed out to Bragg Creek this afternoon for a "easy to moderate" 14 km mountain bike ride on the Telephone trail. As we were leaving the parking lot Tim read from the book "do only when dry". Seeing as we had some monstrous storms last week I thought we may be in for some trouble. Long story short, the trail was so muddy that we had to pedal even going downhill to get through it, and there were at least 100 downed trees across the trail. The highlight of the day came when I we came to one mud patch and Tim went around it to the left but I said "I'm going straight through" (in a cocky voice), then proceeded to sink my front tire up to the hub in mud and I endo'ed into said mud. I sunk in up to my shoulder! It was by-far the best wipe-out I've ever had! We questioned a number of times if we should turn back but I'm so glad we kept slogging through, it was such a fun ride/walk/wallow.

Dirty Girls

Tamara, Katie and I participated in the Sugoi Dirt Series in Canmore this weekend. It is a 2-day, all-girl mountain biking camp. Mornings consisted of skills training followed by afternoon rides. In the evening we had an opportunity to get our bikes tweaked and then Rebound Cycle, the host shop, gave seminars on bike maintenance. I finally learned how to change a flat!

I learned all kinds of new skills... manual skills, wheelie drop skills, high speed cornering skills... guys like girls with skills! Now I can take my bike off sweet jumps.



Saturday afternoon's ride was the Reclaimer, which drops into the valley off the Spray Lakes Road. It was the same ride I did with Dad and Cory back in June. The last time I rode it, I walked down the first pitch, which isn't very steep, but really loose and gravelly. This time around I had to give it a shot. We all took turns trying it, many many wipe-outs ensued. Mine was the bloodiest though! I took a header over the side, hitting a few boulders along the way. It was the biggest crash I've ever had, which is saying quite a lot.

On Sunday we did Riders of Rohan. It was a bit further up the Spray Lakes Road but it wasn't quite as fun as Saturday's ride. It was really challenging again, with lots of loose gravel, but not a lot of fun stuff you could really ride hard. Our instructor, 2001 Canadian Downhill Champ Cassandra Boon, was an amazing rider. It was inspiring to watch a chick tear up a trail like that, she kicked ass! Our sweep, Leaf, was also amazing. I got some pretty cool shots of him showing off for the ladies.

There are tons of stories I could tell from the weekend, but, of course, I like to keep it brief (ha!).

Katrina, our instructor, showing us how it's done. This is approximately where I fell. Note the boulders and hill on rider's right, upon which I left a great deal of skin.

Tamara giving the top of Reclaimer a shot.

My shredded knee.

Close-up of shredded knee.

My scratched-up belly.

My knee two days later.

My arm two days later.

Me ridin'

Tamara ridin'

Mid-ride

Boys, showing off for the girls. Yes, that's right, Lief is drinking a beer while doing a wheelie.

Lief, our sweep, doing a huge friggin' drop.

Lief kickin' some ass.

We stopped in at the 24-Hours of Adrenaline to pick up Cory's keys, this is what we found in the parking lot.

Ooopsy!

I went out to Canmore yesterday afternoon to meet up with Cory to go for a ride. When I got out there the weather was looking a little sketchy and the trails were going to be pretty muddy so we decided to wait until morning instead. We played a round of Frisbee golf at the Canmore Nordic Centre and then went for sushi and a movie in Banff.

I crashed on a surprisingly comfortable pull-out couch. This morning we had some breakfast and headed back up to the Nordic Center to ride the 24 hours of Adrenaline trail. Cory is racing in it next week so it was a good opportunity for him to check it out. There were some very big hills to conquer straight away, but after that it was lots of up and down with some really fun technical downhills. I rode the technical parts pretty smoothly and even passed some guys (tee-hee). Except for my stamina on prolonged climbs I was doing pretty well. We finished the course and then headed back towards Cory's place on a trail instead of the road.

Part-way down the trail, which was relatively flat and smooth, something fetched up and the next thing I know I'm in the bushes. In the bushes, facing back in the direction from which I just came, with my bike on top of me. I had my usual reaction of bursting out laughing, but it was quickly followed by "owww!" I scraped an inch-long chunk of skin out of my knee and banged it pretty bad. I decided to wait for Cory to take my bike off me and help me up rather than try to do it myself. Here are some pictures of the gore. It's nothing like Elaine's, but there is some blood involved.

The local scenery

Cory and I mid-ride

After the crash

Checking out my wounds

The close-up

Davis Again

We got up really late again Tuesday morning. Pete decided to forego work altogether this day. He made some breakfast for all of us... another uber-delicious meal.

After breakfast we went over to Corey's house and watched Bad News Bears. I hadn't seen it before, and it was actually pretty funny. We harvested some tomatoes and cucumbers from Pete and Corey's garden, got more fantastic groceries from the fantastic grocery store and went back to Pete's house. He made me yet another amazing meal, turkey, green chili, avacado and pepper jack panini, accompanied by Virgil's cherry cream soda. I could get really used to eating in California!

After lunch we had another nap. The heat and all the activity were really draining me. I had also tried to stop taking my pills but every time I do I get dizzy, so I really wasn't feeling quite up to par. After I took a pill and had a nap I was ready to go though.

This time we drove to a park called Rockville. The ride was awesome. The first loop was through this grove of Manzanita trees and rolling grasslands. The sun was setting and the view was incredible. I had never seen a Manzanita before, they are so cool. The bark is rust-red coloured, they really look like they're made of metal. The second loop was this awesome rocky technical single track that wound up and down over more rolling grassland. There were some really fun technical spots and I almost lost it on the last little bit. Pete decided not to warn me because he knew about my adrenaline addiction. I'm glad he didn't, I would have been way too cautious on it otherwise. I managed to clean it, and do it in style too... while scaring the shit out of myself. Just the kind of riding I like! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me on this ride so there are no pictures.

On the way back from the ride we stopped at the In n' Out Burger. My only experience with the In n' Out is from the Big Lebowski (which Pete loves and knows to a degree I didn't think was possible) and I've always wanted to give it a try. To my surprise, the food there is actually really good. Burgers made to order, high grade beef, home cut fries. And it was super cheap. Who knew???

We got back from the ride, showered, and set off for the next adventure. There was a field near Pete's house that has a lone tree standing in the middle of it. His idea was to take a blanket and go lay under the tree and watch the stars. Upon further inspection though, the field was actually a crop of tomatoes, which does not afford very good reclining. We improvised and set up camp in a school yard behind Pete's house. It was a beautiful night and we saw 4 shooting stars! (Well, Pete only saw 3 because he was too busy yapping) What are the chances of that happening. Time flew by yet again, we got home and went to bed at 2:00 am.

Davis

We got up in the morning and Pete went to work at the crack of 10:30 am. I got up and dressed, talked to Pete's roommate Shana for a bit and then we went to meet Pete and his friend Corey for breakfast at a cafe called the Delta of Venus. I had the most amazing potatoes ever! Those of you who have had greasy breakfast with me know that I'm a potato fan. These ones were over-the-top... they were crispy-fried and covered with cheese, sour cream and home made salsa and guacamole! Damn!

Anyway, that was breakfast. We hung out there for a bit. Turns out nobody really works much in Davis. Shana is a student who doesn't really work at all. Corey is working on nuclear bombs (really) but doesn't appear to attend work often. Pete worked for a few hours while I was there, but managed to be invited to a conference call with the governator Ahnold. Friggin' sweet life!

After breakfast Pete showed me around the UCDavis campus a bit. We went to the Arboretum and he showed me his office and stuff. While we were there he got a call from a company he'd applied to in San Francisco and they offered him an interview. Pretty exciting stuff, he was giggling again.

Pete went back to work for a bit, and I went back to his place and did some laundry. I then went to another cafe downtown and did some internetting. Pete arrived home from work around 6:15 pm, we had a quick sandwich and headed out for a bike ride with Corey. The ride was in a town called Auburn and was the complete opposite of what I'm used to. There was an immediate downhill for a long time, followed by climbing all the way back up again. I had my first flat ever on the ride down but Pete saved the day by fixing it for me. The ride back up was absolute hell, definitely the longest climb I've ever done, but I did it.

After the ride we drove back to Davis and met up with Pete's friend Adam. We went to the Nugget, which happens to be the most amazing grocery store ever! The produce was organic and fresh, the deli was spectacular, breads fabulous. I couldn't believe the selection. They had every kind of beer possible, as well as every soda (starting to talk like them Americans) and juice ever made. I just kept saying "wow." I really like a good grocery store, it's hot!

We went back to Pete's house and he cooked us Carne Asada. Turns out the guy is one hell of a good cook on top of everything else. Shana had a couple friends staying at their house that night too and we all sat around watching a couple movies, the one about Wal-Mart and one about an American version of Sue Johansson.

Yet again, we had packed more into a day than I thought possible. I was absolutely exhausted.

Corey, Pete and I post-ride

Revised: Halfmoon Bay to Davis

Note: Pete informed me that I missed a bunch of stuff in the initial writing of this post, so here is the revised version. We did so much that day some of it slipped by. Revisions will be in this crazy colour for anyone who wants to just skip to the new stuff.

We woke up in the morning to someone blowing a whistle. I had a brief moment of fear that it was the cops and we were in shit. Turned out to be a woman walking her dog. I looked around and there were quite a few people on the beach. There were people walking their dogs and a couple of tents down at the other end, nobody even gave us a second glance. I got the impression people sleep on the beach there fairly often.

We hiked back up to the cars, which had not been towed. The path to the beach was a little frightening in daylight. It looked like it had been frequently used as a dump/bathroom. There was jagged metal and broken glass everywhere, and it smelled like pee. I got up to the top and had to wait a few minutes for Pete... he's not as good on the technical terrain as I am (Sorry Pete, you wanted the revisions, this is what you get!) We then went for breakfast at an awesome bakery in downtown Halfmoon Bay. It's a really neat little touristy resort community with a really cute downtown. Breakfast was awesome and we lingered around there for a while taking in the sights.

It was just a short drive to San Francisco from here. We arrived at about noon, parked the cars in the Sunset area of the city, got our bikes out, packed up all the stuff we would need for the day and went exploring. We were parked near Golden Gate State Park so we rode through that for a bit. It's such a beautiful huge park right in the middle of the city. There were huge palm trees, lakes and ponds, a rose garden and a botanical garden... and this is just in the small part that we rode through. And it smelled wonderful! The mix of lush trees, roses and salt air was amazing. It was also the perfect temperature, sunny skies with a mild breeze... lovely.

We stopped and took a walk through the Aids Memorial Garden for a bit. When we got back to the bench where we left our bikes there was an older lady there with a little mostly-Jack Russell dog. The dog had a frisbee that was bigger than it and I laughed immediately upon seeing this little dog walking with the huge frisbee in its mouth. This was only the tip of the iceberg though. Nick (as we would soon discover was his name) dropped the frisbee right-side-up under the bench and then proceeded to dig at it to get it up again. He would dig frantically until he couldn't take anymore, then stop, pant, recover, and continue again. Eventually he managed to get a big enough hole dug in the dirt in front of the frisbee that he could pick it up. He did so, then immediately dropped it again so he could start all over. The Nick's mom informed us that this is what he does for fun. She yelled at him the whole time, seeming quite embarrassed and exasperated. Pete and I were dying laughing, and I took a video. The video doesn't do it justice, but it was pretty funny stuff.

From the park we went downtown, locked up our bikes, got some Thai noodles and ate them while watching some break-dancers do their thing. There were so many interesting characters to watch, some of them sad, but all with their own story. That's one of the things I love about cities, taking a moment to do some people watching and observing all the lives that go on outside of our own little sheltered world.

After lunch we went down to the piers. I couldn't believe how many there were, I think the last one we went by was Pier 39. They are all varied in their uses, some were warehouses, a lot were docks for commercial tour boats, one had been taken over by sea lions (which Pete insisted were dirty, disgusting, stinky and boring). At the end of all the piers was Fishermans' Wharf, which consisted mostly of touristy stuff. From here you could sea Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and a tall ship. I took a panoramic picture, which is on Flickr, not believing that you could get all this in one shot.

We went for a swim at a little beach near the wharf. The water was absolutely freezing so we only stayed in for a few minutes. There were tons of people swimming laps back and forth across the little harbour. They were pretty hard-core, most weren't wearing wet suits, they were swimming some really long distances, and the water was extremely choppy. They effectively made me feel very non-hardcore.

After the swim we went and got some free chocolate at the Ghirardelli chocolate factory. With sweet teeth satisfied we thought we would try to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. It looked pretty close from where we were so we set out towards it. We rode up this hill and stopped dead in our tracks at the top as we looked upon one of the most stunning views ever. To our left was the golden gate bridge, beneath us were beautiful piers and the bay, and to the right was Alcatraz. All of this was framed by big trees above us. It was one of those moments that encompassed all the senses. The view was stunning, I could smell salt water, taste chocolate, hear seagulls and people laughing and talking, and I could feel the gentle breeze on my face, and Pete's arms around me. This is where I took the picture below, but without the other senses it won't be quite the same.

This view also afforded us the opportunity to realize that the bridge was really far away and we did not have time to ride over there. We were on the edge of a little park so we went in and napped on the grass instead. There had been a lot of adventures in the last two days and I was completely spent. Post-nap, we were heading out of the park when Pete said "Is that a Segue convention or something?" I turned around to see about 10 middle-aged geeky people buzz by, single-file, with matching neon green safety vests, on their Segue's. It was awesome! Probably one of the most bizarre and funny things I'd seen in a while. I kept envisioning one of them doing a face-plant.

From there we went to a cafe, had a small supper and headed for an Amos Lee concert. Pete looked at the map and figured out how we had to get there. "It's just a mile or so." Ha! It was only a mile, but it was over one of San Francisco's steepest, longest hills! From the bottom I could only see about three blocks ahead of me, going straight up. I thought, meh, I can do it, it's not that far. As we got riding though, more and more of the hill kept appearing. I'm not sure how many blocks it ended up being, but it was damn friggin' long and hard! (which is good when your talking about a man, but not so good on a bike) People were laughing at us as they drove by. Yet another adventure!

I had never listened to any of Amos Lee stuff before, but had heard good things about him from Tamara and Katie so I was pretty excited. I was not to be disappointed. The music was beautiful, very soulful. His voice was amazing.

Pete had put his Visa down at the bar for our drinks, but there was a $30 minimum. By the time we had drank that much we were pretty tipsy so we had to wait to sober up before we headed for Davis. We had an interesting bike ride back to the cars, hoping we wouldn't get "shanked." I lost a shoe at one point. Ah, the joys of riding drunk... not the first time on the trip. When we got back to the cars we sat on the beach for a bit and then headed out.

By this time it was pretty late and we still had an hour drive ahead of us to get back to Pete's house in Davis. I drove with my windows open and AC cranked to keep myself awake. I really hate driving drowsy, scares the crap out of me.

Me (with a goofy look on my face) at Golden Gate Park

San Francisco cable car

Sea Lions

Piers and Golden Gate Bridge

Yay!

Amos Lee

Santa Cruz to Halfmoon Bay

I had kept in touch with Pete, my KOA neighbour from Eureka, a bit during my trip and figured that since I was coming back through California maybe we could meet up again. He happened to have the weekend free so he came down to meet me in Santa Cruz. I got up and had some breakfast and then went exploring the shore a little bit before Pete arrived. He got to the city around noon we met up and went for a mountain bike ride at Wilder Ranch. It was a pretty fun ride, not very technical, very hilly. Part of it was along the coast, which was absolutely beautiful and it reaffirmed that I made the right decision to come back to California. I had been talking to Anne the other day while debating whether or not to come back to California. She said "Kate, you were born by the ocean, you love the ocean. Go there." Very good advice, I just feel more relaxed and inspired by the water, the desert doesn't do it for me.

After the ride we went back downtown to the beach and went for a swim. The waves were friggin' huge, a little scary actually! I got thrashed around a few times but it was really fun. Nice and refreshing.

There is an amusement park right on the boardwalk in downtown Santa Cruz and they have a really cool wooden roller coaster. You don't have to pay to get into the park, just for the rides, so we bought 6 tickets each and went for a ride on the "Big Dipper." I love wooden roller coasters! I love how you can't help but scream and giggle, there's no controlling the excitement, it just comes out.

After that we went and got some pizza at a brick oven place downtown. The pizza was awesome, and we figured we would work on our Karma and give the leftovers to a homeless guy outside. This Karma would come in handy later.

Pete had heard about a state park between Santa Cruz and San Francisco where you could camp on the beach, so we got in our cars and made our way towards that. We eventually found it, but discovered that it was full. It was already dark by this point and we were starting to worry about what we would do. We were stopped and discussing what the plan would be when this man came over and said that we may want to move, there had been a gang fight on the beach and there were a few police nearby who might think we were suspicious. We explained our predicament to him and he gave us directions to a place where we could illegally park our cars and, further, illegally camp on the beach. This seemed like the best plan so we set off to find this place. After not finding it, we stopped in at this British-themed pub and inn (complete with double-decker buses, old telephone booths and London cabs) to ask for directions or to see if they had any rooms available. They told us there were no rooms anywhere and that the road the guy told us to go down was closed at sunset. While waiting to get info, I tried to get one of those flattened penny souvenir things from a machine at the pub, the machine jammed and I lost my money and received no souvenir. At this point we figured the pizza Karma had completely backfired, it looked hopeless.

We figured the best plan would be to get down the road as far as we could, ditch the cars and walk for the beach, so off we went. Turned out the road wasn't closed at all, there were plenty of places to park, and there was beach access. We were still fairly paranoid that we would get in trouble from the cops if caught so we only took sleeping bags and pillows, tents would be too conspicuous. After climbing down a very sketchy path in the dark we found a lovely spot and had a wonderful sleep. Another adventure in the bag! Probably the most daring adventure of the trip so far. It's not every day one gets a chance to sleep on the beach in California.

Throngs of surfers on Cowell beach in Santa Cruz

Natural Bridges State Beach, near where we went for our ride

Sedona

Oh dear, what a day. Woke up, tried to go for a bike ride early. I headed out to the trail that was recommended to me by the Canadian guy at Mountain Bike Heaven. It was only 8:30 but it was already too hot to be starting. I tried the trail but I didn't really like it. Also, I was hot and cranky, and in a bit of a dangerous position as my pedals had rusted from being on the roof for so long and I was having a hard time getting out of them. I didn't make it very far before deciding to turn back.

Cory had given me a t-shirt from when he was down here (originally given to an ex-girlfriend who gave it back upon break-up) that was from a bike shop called Bike and Bean. Turned out to be right beside where I parked to go for my ride so I stopped in to get a coffee. I ended up talking to the guy who worked there for a while and he generously fixed my pedals for me, told me about another trail, showed me where a good swimming hole was, and loaned me his park pass for the day.

I went and had some brunch and then to check into the Sedona Healing Center. Well, all I have to say is, it wasn't my thing. The guy who answered the door had hair and beard halfway down his chest. His shirt was full of holes, and he had no teeth, I mean none. This was still all fine, but then he took me to show me the "meditation room" which was complete with copper pyramid to sit in, a prayer corner with every god or idol possible to pray to, crystal bowls, different coloured crystals to get in touch with different chakras, etc. I was starting to think I needed to get out of there pretty fast. The way it had been described to me was that there was a yoga class and stuff, things I was into. Not at all! But, I figured, it was only for one night and at least I'd have a bed to sleep in.

From there I went to check out the swimming hole that Tony, the bike shop guy, had told me about. I almost made it there, down this washboardy dirt road when the thing I had most been fearing happened. Slowly, I saw my bike's handle bars appearing beside me out the window. Luckily I had been on a dirt road in the middle of the desert so I was traveling slow enough that it didn't fly off, and nobody else was around to run over it if it had. I did what I normally do in those situations (like when Omar bit it), I laughed my ass off. I took the bike down off the rack, which was now ruined, and locked it up to a tree that was somewhat hidden. I then went back to the Bike and Bean, hoping that they sold roof racks. They didn't, but Tony took me to get my bike and then called the other shop down the street which did have what I needed. I got the new rack, for a decent price. In the meantime, I was relating to Tony the crazy day I'd been having, including my New Age sleeping arrangements I had lined up. He informed me that the bike shop rents out the apartment above the shop and told me I could stay there for $50. I called the toothless one and told him I wouldn't be joining the cult that evening, went back to the bike shop and started drinking (they have keg for personal consumption).

A few other shop regulars showed up and it turned into a bit of a party. Then we went to the house of one of the guys who worked there and had a bbq. Things were going really well until Tony, my ride, disappeared into the bedroom with one of his chick friends. Suddenly I had no idea where I was, or how I was going to get back to where I needed to be, and not sure if Tony was gone for the rest of the evening. Luckily Jimmy, guy who's house we were at, volunteered to walk me the short distance back, all the while spilling his heart about how he was not happy in his relationship and always wanted to marry a Canadian girl. Obviously his live-in girlfriend had picked up on his thing for me and when we arrived at the bike shop she was sitting there in the car to make sure we made it back okay. It was quite funny really. I said goodbye to them, thanked them for having me over, and Jimmy hugged me and got in the car. They drove a few feet and then I hear "hey wait!" Jimmy got back out of the car to hug me again and then they really left. I felt so bad. He was a really nice guy who obviously thought I was the shit (how couldn't he, really). I'd love to know what he said to his girlfriend to get her to stop the car so he could hug me again. I wonder if that was the official end of the relationship.

As if all of this wasn't weird enough, I get to the apartment and the power is out. Apparently the guy who owns the building had not been very diligent with paying the power bill and they shut the place down. This meant that I was walking around with my head lamp on and that there was no air conditioning. I had been really excited about a comfortable sleep, but with no AC and it being 92 degrees, that was not in the cards.

I had just gone to bed when I heard a knock on the door. I looked out the peep hole, and there was Tony (who lived in the apartment downstairs), looking very sheepish. He apologized for leaving me without a ride, but seemed pretty smitten with the chick so all was well. He also apologized for the lack of electricity and told me to stop by the shop in the morning for a refund.

So that was it for me in Sedona. I had some very interesting and weird experiences there and it was very definitely time to go. I decided that I would head to the Grand Canyon and then detour. I will no longer be going to Utah or Colorado. It's just too hot, sane people don't even travel to this area this time of year. I will visit Utah again sometime for sure, probably in the spring when I can explore the Arches in a comfortable temperature, and get some skiing in. I'm heading back to California to relax in the warm sun and cool ocean breeze. It shall be lovely.

Picture of Bell Rock, taken while on my brief ride

Prickly-pear cactus and Courthouse Butte(??)

Chapel of the Red Rocks

Pretty fountain at the chapel

Redwood National Park to Eureka!

What a day. Today was, by-far, the toughest and best day yet. First things first, I like wilderness, I think it's wonderful, but I don't like it when it's on my tent. My very beautiful, very rustic campsite reared it's ugly head as a slept last night and I woke up to not one, not two, but three surprises. Surprise one: some flying creature unloaded it's bowels on my tent. There was a lovely two-tone green and white splash down one side of the fly. This made me a little unhappy as I did not look forward to cleaning it up. Surprise two: I had my first encounter with a banana slug. It was creeping along the inside of the fly at the foot of my tent, in plain view through the screen. It was very interesting to watch, and I decided he was my friend, albeit a disgusting one. Surprise three: A small mammal had unloaded it's bowels on my picnic table. Talking to the rangers later, apparently it was a raccoon, and they do it all the time. Word has it they like to poop on the little white plaque in the middle of the tables. Lovely! I was planning on staying there for two nights, but that plan changed.

As part of the new plan, I packed up and drove the beautiful Howland Hill Road, which cuts through Jedediah Smith State Park. The Redwoods were absolutely amazing. There is no way for me to describe them fully, but here are a few words that come to mind: stunning, majestic, tranquil, daunting, stoic. Cheesy I'm sure, and my words could never do them justice, so I'll stop there. I also had a hard time catching them in photos, but I got a few keepers.

Along the drive, I decided to do an impromptu hike along a trail my book recommended. The trail wound through huge groves of Redwoods, up over hills and down into moist valleys, over moss-covered bridges and eventually to a beautiful waterfall. The hike was longer than I had anticipated and I figured I'd speed up the process and get in a little run, so I decided to run back. Well, that was a bad idea. I made it about a third of the way when I stumbled over a root and fell flat on my stomach. I scraped both knees and elbows, with one elbow taking the worst of it. After that, I thought maybe a slow walk would be a better plan. I looked around at the 1000-year-old trees and wondered what the heck my hurry was.

I got back to the car, had some lunch, and headed off to the next adventure for the day. My neighbour from Lincoln City told me about a trail in the park that you could mountain bike on so I made my way there. I hopped on and made my way along some decent single track through the giant trees. It was definitely the most beautiful place I had ever ridden. It had a pretty sweet downhill on the way in, which I had rightly anticipated would be a real bitch on the way back out. Just before I reached the beach I came across an older couple walking and stopped to talk to them for a bit. They were camping nearby and invited me to stop by for a glass of wine on the way back. I continued on to the beach and watched the waves for a while before making my way back. This time, on the path were two gigantic elk, who did not look overly happy to see me. They were in the way of where I was going, and I was in their way. We kinda felt each other out for a while, but eventually they moved a little further down the clearing and I was able to get by. It was a little scary, but I think I handled myself well.

I'm not one to make friends with strangers very easily but I want to get out of my shell a bit, so I took the couple up on their offer for a glass of wine. I'm so glad I did! They were the most wonderful people! We sat and talked for well over an hour and finished off the bottle of wine. They were so lovely, have been married for 35 years and are so obviously still completely in smitten with each other. They shared insights for life and gave me wonderful advice. I felt a little sad leaving, knowing I would never see them again. But I'm so glad that they happened to be a little blip in my life that I'll never forget.

The ride out was horrible, uphill forever, with two glasses of wine in my belly and head. But I slogged through and made it. The final disaster for the day was when I was attempting to put my bike back on the roof rack. Bikes can be very heavy when you are exhausted, hungry and slightly tipsy. It's really hard to get the bike arranged up there in the first place and it went very wrong this time. My feet slipped (since I'm so short I have to stand on the door frame to do it) and I feel backward, dropping the bike on my legs, twisting my ankle, and falling on my butt. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt that bad... but I think I may have done some damage to my deraileur. I've been too afraid to look.

After that, all I wanted to do was go to bed. I raced for Eureka! (which I will always spell with an "!") and checked into the local KOA. I had a lovely shower, talked to my neighbour (whom I'm having coffee with in the morning) and wrote this... Pictures will follow... computer dying.

My yellow slug friend

Me on a Redwood on the Howland Hill Rd. Yes, they really are that big!

One of the amazing sights along my hike.

The result of my trail running. Will think twice before I try that again!

One of the elk, posturing to seem intimidating to me... he was very successful!

Pressed Hams

Great evening again last night. I picked up Tamara and we headed out to Sibbald Flats for another MOB ride. As we were driving out Highway 1, Omar trucking along effortlessly due to low wind (he has the aerodynamics of a brick), I noticed an RV annoyingly slowly passing me on the right after I had just passed it. A few seconds later, Tamara announced "We've been mooned!" The RV finished its pass and we tucked in behind it. I then had a revelation... I have my camera with me! So, Tamara fished out the camera and I pulled out to pass. The young men were a little shy this time, and although Tamara asked nicely for some pressed hams, we did not receive any. A little discouraged, we finished our pass and tucked in ahead of them.

Tamara was about to put the camera away when I noticed they were pulling out to pass again. Camera ready, the boys pulled past us again. Although we were not treated to a full moon, they were hanging out of every window, "rowing." We got a couple of good shots, fun times had by all. Made the drive out there entertaining anyway.

After all this excitement, the ride was a little dull. It's called Sibbald Flats for a reason. Not much for a ripping downhill, and it was fairly dull altogether. The riding was a little slow last night too so I didn't really get the adrenalin fix I was hoping for. Oh well, next week. I got lots of exercise anyway.

A huge group of us are heading to Cypress Hills to do some car camping for the long weekend. Lots of photos and stories of adventure will be forthcoming I'm sure!

The young men in the RV on pass #2










The RV boys rowing









The RV rowing by









Sophie running along beside me while I rode. There are 3 dogs that come along on the MOB rides, they're quite funny, and fast! Can be a little annoying when they decide to stop in front of you on an uphill though.






The MOB










We had to do the ride as an out-and-back as the bridge was washed out from last year's flooding.

MOB Ride

Tamara and I joined the MOB today for our first group ride. For those of you not in the know, MOB stands for Muffs On Bikes. I like it, kinda crass, just my style! Go with what you know, eh! We went out to Upper/Lower Sibbald, aka Pinetops, aka Jumpingpound Creek and met up with about 10 other ladies for a ride. It was awesome! It was so much fun to ride with a bunch of women. They were all really supportive of each other, very friendly and of varying skill and fitness levels so it was easy to feel comfortable with them. It was nice too to figure out how your riding ability compares to other women. I'm used to riding with guys, and I always end up feeling like I'm awful because my strength and stamina just don't compare. As it turns out I think I can hold my own. I was able to keep up with the strongest women in the group and made all the technical spots and steep hills, so I felt really good. It was just an awesome evening. I will definitely be joining them every Thursday for the rest of the summer. I feel like my physical condition is probably the strongest it's been since I was playing field hockey in high school (many moons ago). My legs felt really strong and the hills didn't kill me.

Tamara getting her bike packed into Omar








The great thing about Omar, he comfortably holds 3 bikes. Only two in there tonight though.








The MOB standing around drinking beer and eating chips and brownies after the ride. What can I say, we're girls, we like to eat!