Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca

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San Francisco Highlights

We only spent one day of our trip in downtown San Francisco. It was a whirlwind, but we got to see the most important things on our list. We only got lost once when we drove off our map! Thankfully Dave and I are a good team and have above-average senses of direction, so we got back on track fairly easily. The weather was gorgeous and we had fun!

Here is the classic Golden Gate Bridge shot. It was impressive, and I do like the color choice! Seems like most bridges are blue, green, or gray so I like the Golden Gate's uniqueness.


We had to drive through a huge group of adorable Asian tourists to drive down windey Lombard Street. I think it's safe to assume our rental car was in every one of their pictures. They all seemed pretty excited to see someone actually drive back and forth down the insanely steep street! I didn't even try to take this shot at an angle like I do sometimes, the car was just that slanted!


We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin Headlands. We like visiting lighthouses on the coast, so we (mostly me) braved a narrow suspension bridge to walk out to the Point Bonita lighthouse. It had a great view!


My first request when I found out we were going to SF was to visit the houses from "Full House." If you watched that show back in the 90's you will know what I'm talking about! They were adorable, and seemed pretty true to how they had the house laid out on the show. But I would like to know what their backyards look like. I don't think they have as large a yard as the Tanner's did!


Can you tell that I'm excited to be there? Watch the Full House intro here.

I will have to post more pictures from our trip later. The race and Monterey were a lot of fun, too!

Tired!

Oh my goodness... this has been a crazy weekend! I have to get some pictures of our trip to CA up here soon. I've spent this whole weekend cleaning, organizing, and just getting ready for Megan and Aaron to arrive. (and Dave and my dad) They are somewhere in WA right now on the last leg of their looooonnngggg drive from Minnesota. I can't wait to see everyone!

I will post pictures soon!

It's Friday!

Okay, so it's actually Thursday, but for Dave and me it is Friday! We are flying to San Francisco this afternoon after work and driving down to Monterey, CA for the American Le Mans Series championship race. Dave is really pumped to see all the race cars. I am just excited to go somewhere I have never been and do some sightseeing! We went to an ALMS race in Oregon two years ago and it was a lot of fun. I gotta find some earplugs here at work today before we go. It's going to be noisy!

Photo courtesy of DAVE! One of 350 on day one. More to follow.

My Adorable Dogs!

I just love my dogs! Dave and I were playing outside with them after I got home from the barn yesterday. As usual, Dave had his camera with him, so I grabbed the dogs and had him take a few pictures. Dylan is always happy to cuddle, but Molly is the typical independent Sheltie. So I had to force her into it. Good thing she is little and easy to hold!


Dylan really got into the lovin'. He would not stop kissing me once I wrapped my arms around him!

Then Molly had enough. She went galloping off after Dylan. She looks like a rocket in this shot, absolutely flying after Dylan!

She can be sweet, and poses nicely for the camera when asked.

I love my doggies!

Aaron and Megan Visited!

My sister, Megan, and her boyfriend, Aaron were here for a few days last week and over the weekend. They both had two interviews with companies because they are MOVING here at the end of October!!! I am just a little excited ;-) They both had good interviews and I can't wait for them to come back!

We like to decorate cookies together, and they even came prepared with Halloween sprinkles. There are some cute cookies in these pictures, and you can tell which ones were decorated when we got tired... hehe!



Dylan and Molly both love Aaron and Megan. Dylan especially has fun with Aaron because he always plays fetch and scratches him just how he likes.

I took Megan and Aaron to the barn to see and ride Jack. Jack was grumpy this day because he was wet and I put the saddle on his wet back. He's pretty sensitive, he doesn't even like being brushed, so this was no fun to him. I warmed him up and then put him on a lunge line so they wouldn't have to steer. Megan did pretty good posting and even did a little cantering! Aaron trotted a little and did pretty well.

Here's Megan sticking out her tongue at the camera. She had to wear Dave's hiking boots because she didn't have any barn shoes and my shoes are too small for her!

Dave is flying one way to MN on October 24 and driving back with Aaron and Megan. They are driving a car and probably a U-Haul truck towing the other car and wanted to be able to rotate drivers. Google Maps says it is a 16 hour drive!

Carbon River Loop

While Heidi was officiating at a show last month, I took advantage at went hiking. I knew I wasn't going to take the dogs so I decided to hit Mt. Rainier NP. I found this website: Hike Info, and figured that with an early start, I could take my time and be just fine. That turned out to be optimistic - it was quite the ordeal. The 3000 ft climb at the 8 mile mark was a killer. Here are the highlights of my 17+ mile trek:

Mt. Rainier

This is Mother Mountain, and the hike is basically a loop around this ridge.

This is the Carbon River. This area of Rainier gets the most rain (it shows) and there is plenty of evidence of the unusually large flooding of 2006. My trail had been washed away, so I had to cross the river, hike up a mile, and cross back on the suspension bridge below.

Heights usually don't bother me, but heights combined with a shaky bridge with broken and missing slats does not instill confidence. It was very 'Temple of Doom'. Have a look at the second board of the walkway. The bridge was 30 to 40 feet above the river bed and probably 50 yards long.

The last stop on the trail was Spray falls. It's a 300 foot drop from the top.