Monterey Bay Bike Ride

I'm going through the pictures we took over the summer and realized that we haven't been doing a very good job of posting everything to our blog. With the 150-mile challenge, we explored a different place each weekend. Probably the most fun bike ride we did was a 52-mile ride around Monterey Bay. We parked our car in Monterey, geared up, and then headed North along a trail that follows the bay's coastline. During most of the ride, we could see and hear the waves of the bay. Sand drifted across the bike path at many points. We also passed lots of farms growing artichokes, strawberries, and other delicious looking produce. We hit Castroville (16 mile mark) and then turned around.





Once we made it back to Monterey, we stopped at our car for lunch. Then it was time to head South through Monterey and onto 17-Mile Drive. This part of the journey was very picturesque, especially with all of the perfectly manicured golf courses. At this point, I was beginning to wish I brought my clubs along. But of course I realized that toting golf clubs on my bike would probably be a little difficult. We did get a couple of fun pictures, including a shot of Celeste and me in front the 8th green at the Links at Spanish Bay.



We continued a little further down 17-Mile Drive as the fog started to roll in. We saw several antlered deer meandering along the golf courses. We stopped at bird rock to look at hundreds of sea lions resting on the rocks. Then turned around to head back to the car and home. Total mileage count = 52 miles (13 miles toward the 150-mile challenge).

Dragon Boat Festival

So we've been meaning to upload some pictures from the Dragon Boat Festival back in September. The Festival took place on Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay and my Firm, KPMG, was one of the sponsors. Leading up to the Festival, we participated in three physically intense practices. Paddling is quite the workout. On race day, our team raced in three 300-meter heats. Below is a picture from one of the heats. You can tell from the photo that our starts got us pretty far ahead (you can see the dragon head of the boat right behind us). Can you find Celeste and me in the photo? We'll give you a hint -- we're both on the near side of the boat (click on the picture for a larger view).



Dragon Boat racing is a very team-driven event. Everybody must paddle in unison in order to get the most power and speed. We had a lot of fun team-building with other people from KPMG.

Zion's National Park

Celeste and I have gotten plenty of hiking in this summer. My work has a three month challenge to walk/run 150 miles or more. Bike riding also counts at a 4-to-1 conversion, so we've logged quite a few miles on bike as well. One of our favorite spots so far was Zion National Park. We did a few hikes there including Emerald Pools, part of Zion Narrows, and Hidden Canyon. The park really is amazing to behold. The steep walls protruding out of the valley floor are absolutely amazing. The red rocks are picturesque. A person needs to visit the park to really see and understand the amazing beauty that it holds.

Overall, we had a lot of fun, but there were plenty more hikes we wish we would have had time to see, especially Angels Landing. Looks like another trip is in order. :)

Zion's National Park

Snorkeling Pictures from Hawaii

It's been a couple weeks since we got home from Hawaii. We have lots of fond memories from our trip. We finally developed the pictures from our underwater disposable camera. It's been so long since we actually had to develop film that we forgot how to do it. But Costco developed the film and burned all of the pictures to CD at a reasonable price. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Hawaii

Hawaii Anniversary

Celeste and I just got back from Hawaii where we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful time with activities such as snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, sightseeing, enjoying the beaches, and eating at a luau. Here are some pictures from our travels. We also got an underwater disposable camera which we are going to develop and post soon. Enjoy!

Hawaii