California

Mike, Thomas, and I headed to California for the weekend.  We dubbed ourselves the “support team” for our good friends that were competing in a half ironman triathlon.   We got in late on Friday night, Thomas did great on the plane and stayed up way past his bedtime!  He crashed once we got to the hotel, then Mike and I went up to the hotel bar for a bite to eat and a drink.  Saturday we got up and headed down to the  Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.  This market was amazing, all the food was certified organic, sustainable, humanely raised                             , and was DELICIOUS!  I am jealous of the people that can go to the market every week, but I would go broke spending money there!  We then headed to Sausalito, CA for lunch. We didn’t know where we would eat, but had heard that this would be a great place to do it.  We ended up finding Horizon’s which was super yummy seafood with a view.  After we left we stopped at the boardwalk so we could let Thomas put his toes in the Pacific Ocean.  After we saw a friendly crab I was quickly reminded why you should be careful about what you put into the ocean!  So a splash of Pacific water on his feet would do.  Thomas loved watching the water splash against the rocks. We then were off to meet up with the rest of our crew at the cabin we rented.  We got there about dinner time and Mike was nice enough to cook a fresh dinner with all the produce, pasta, and meat we had picked up early in the day at the market. 

Sunday was RACE DAY!  We were all up early to see the crew off at 5 a.m.  Then Mike and I got ready and headed down to watch the start.  We were able to see each different person at a few different stages.  We got to see the start of the swim, the transition from swim to bike, start of the biking, and the finish.  Whew, what a race!  It was 70.2 miles they had a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike, and a 13 mile run.  When they finished they all had smiles on their faces, but wondered what they were thinking. 

Monday we got up and headed out to wineries to taste some wine.  We started at Korbel, which is the champagne that many of us drink.  Then we just headed up “River Road” to see what other wineries we could run into.  Thomas was a hit and loved flirting with all the ladies.  For lunch we went into Healdsburg. We made it to 5 wineries before the day was over.  We then headed back to our house and then to pizza for dinner.

Tuesday we were back off to San Francisco.  First we stopped in for a quick visit to see Colonel Armstrong, a “BIG TREE.” We then drove down the coast for a bit to see what we could see.  Thomas slept most of the way.  Along the way we saw the water, lots of cows, some seals, and a harbor.   Once back in San Francisco we had lunch and then headed to the airport. 

It was a great trip.  Thomas surprised both Mike and I with how well he did and how well he rolled with the schedule fluctuations.  He was a trooper. This was his last picture from the trip when we got to the Denver airport and were on our way to the car…he was a sweepy bear!