Headin Back Home on Memorial Day

----- Happy Memorial Day -----

One last swing, clean-up, and then lock the cabin to head back home.

Had lunch at Panda Express in Vacaville (the girls got in some zzzzzzz's on the way:)).

Once we get rid of all of the dog-hair, we will be good to go again...

Beach Day

Headin to the beach this morning.

Stopped by Jenner to see the river and seals.  The Russian River is currently not flowing into the ocean.

The girls hiked Kortum trail from Shell beach to Goat Rock about 1.5 miles:

Aaron, Rio and I went to meet them at Goat Rock.

We all climbed on the rocks there and headed down to the beach.

Rio played in the surf and we hung out on the beach.  A bit foggy but not a lot of wind.  A good day...

Had lunch in Guerneville (Subway ordering was interesting) and then had ice cream at the usual place:
-Mocha-chip
-Bite of Heaven
-KitKat-Twix wirh Vanilla
-Twix-Cookie Dough with Chocolate
-Rainbow Sherbet from the DEEP Freeze

A little 1-on-1 at the school... And home for tacos... And Airbud... And zzzzzzz's

Back to the Cabin

Take your parents to Construction Tech day at Roseville High from 8-9AM!  Spent the morning sanding the exterior and caulking the interior on 2 mobile homes.  Oh yeah, also watched Aaron eat 3 donuts.

Then back to the cabin for Memorial Day weekend (5/25) with Cary, Aaron, Monsi, Tati, and Rio.

Bought 2×4s on the way to fix part of the deck.  Unfortunately, we needed 2×6s...

Got the tire swing up with Monsi's help...  All the girls (except Cary and Rio) swung this afternoon.

Removed some more dead trees and scotch-bloom and swept the backyard.

Aaron's getting in his Need-for-Speed XBox time...

Homemade pizza for dinner, yummmm.

Muir Woods

Lockin up the cabin and headin home today.  it was a great 4 days.

On the way back, stopped by Muir Woods for 1 last chance to hike.  Parked on "4" wheels at Steep Ravine campground.

Started on Steep Ravine trail which is a cool shady hike up the canyon (only a few berries this time of year, but they were good).

Cut over to Matt Davis trail at the ranger station to head back down.  Pretty steep stretches of downhill in the sun!

 Arrived at Stinson Beach.  Great sand, but wiiiinnnndddddyyyyy...

Took Dipsea trail back up to Steep Ravine.  Hit a lot of stairs over the 7 and 3/4 miles, but it was a great hike!.

Then headed home via Hwy 101 commute traffic...

Follow this link for our map of the week: Monte Rio Hikes

Russian River

Down day in Monte Rio (perfect weather but no hiking)!  Did a little logging with the Honda (Metin drove well, but is a little too aggressive when it comes to cutting...),  did some trimming,

hung out at the river watching the Osprey, and watched game 2 of Spurs & the Grizz in Santa Rosa.  West Side Grill gets high marks for their burgers!  Not a good beginning or ending for the Grizz, but it was a great retirement day.

Gualala Point Regional Park

Driving up Hwy 1, stopped at Jenner to see the seals. No river current today, but clear and calm so far.

Just past Jenner, hit a traffic jam on 1.

Took Gualala Regional park coastal bluff trail to "Walk-on Beach".  Beach to beach and back took 8.45 miles. By the way, there are volunteer openings at the visitor center "if" you like handing out "courtesy" parking tickets.

Above "Walk-on Beach"

On "Walk-on Beach"


Pizza was gooood for dinner. Waitress (daughter of famed acid rock poster artist Wes Wilson) spent "35 fricken years in Monte Rio" and had many stories to tell...

Point Reyes

Long drive, long hike for day 1 at the coast (Roseville to Point Reyes) with Metin.

Visited the Lighthouse which was active from 1870 to 1975 - beautiful views and nice foghorn.

Read the log for a description of How "us" old men feel about working in the lighthouse...

Hiked Bear Valley to Arch Rock and back over the "hills" (13+ miles and 2600+ ft elevation climb according to Runkeeper).

We think we hiked the "CA Coastal Trail" (Upper?). Decided to leave when we saw a bobcat out hunting.

Hwy 1 to the cabin.  We have a clean windshield now:-).  A goooood retirement day!

Tech Museum

Turtle pancakes and Froot Loops (minus the orange ones) for breakfast at Holiday Inn Ex...

Hit the Tech Museum. On the way, got to see the leaf blowers working on blowing orange and blue "paint" off the streets (Color run today in SJ).
Cool hands on stuff like Sammi in lights and robotics portraits.

Saw Hubble at the Imax.
Pizza My Heart (just like March Madness), MMMMM...

Headed back home to see Mom and Aarbow!

Discovery Kingdom

Disco Kingdom fieldtrip today with Sammi and Cary.

Sammi, Kiki, Jewels, and Becca hit everything dry that spun, flipped, swung, and dropped.  Medusa still came out on top, but V2 and Superman were close.

Off to Holiday Inn Express in San Jose... Hottub and bed, ready to go again...

Back in Roseville, Aaron was goin Iblaka and broke some ankles at the Palace!

Steven's Trail

18 hours into Metin's retirement (9 am thur 5/16).  Hiked Steven's trail.  Flowers in bloom, bay leaves are quite strong, slugs are plentiful, and there are gold panners in the hills.  Its cloudy today with a few raindrops.

4 miles into the hike and we are sitting by the American River (11:30), Ahhhhhh....

G: 《Far from OpenStack today.》

Listening to the river and planning a trip to the coast (Pt Reyes, Bodega Head, Salt Point).

What's for lunch?

The hike was much further on the way out.