Fourth of July

This fourth of July weekend I flew back to Boise for my Brother and Mother's birthdays. On Saturday we took the family boat out to go tubing and playing around Lucky Peak. Chuck, Song, Wes, Andrej and Ashley came along for the fun. It was a good time, and I didn't lose my hat on the boat! Yes!


(Wes, Andrej, Ashley, Chelsie, Adrian, Chuck)

On Sunday (the fourth) it was an awesome surprise to find out that my friends had organized a limo drive to the Snake River valley wineries for wine tasting! We went to several vineyards and tasted wines. We purchased some of my favorite (ice wines) and drank them up too! When we got back to Boise we had some drinks at Pitchers and Pints then blared some music out of Adrian's office downtown. Then we headed over to PF Chang's for dinner and then down to the park to watch the fireworks. What an exhausting day! Who knew Boise was such an amazing place to visit!?! :-D Loving it. Can't wait to go back and see my friends. YOU ALL ROCK! And Happy Birthday Bro.

San Francisco Pride

This was my first time going to San Francisco Pride. Joe flew in from Boise and I picked him up at the San Francisco airport. We saw some amazing sights in the city, and had some really good times. We saw a fire downtown and watched the firemen respond. We hit up some clubs and went dancing.

On Saturday we drove my motorcycle to the city and met up with Ian and Shawny. We went to the events in Civic Park. Sunday we watched the parade; Sonoma State University had a float in the parade, their first one. It was awesome seeing my school have their float in the parade. I couldn't believe how looooong the parade was. We watched it for over three hours before we gave up and went to the events center. I think we'd only seen about half of the parade!

That afternoon in Civic Center the Backstreet Boys performed a couple of songs. By that point Des had met up with Joe and me. (See picture above) It was a great event, everyone was having a wonderful time. Joe seems convinced to move to SF. I'm glad he liked it so much.

It's definitely an event I'd like to be at next year!

Cozumel Mexico

(Wes, Andrej, Francisco, Ashley, Ross)

This year for our annual Mexico vacation we decided on an all inclusive resort on the Cozumel island. Ashley flew to San Francisco from Boise and I met up with her there. We then took a cab to get sushi nearby and met the nicest couple who owned the place. They had friends back in Boise, what a small world! Then we took a cab back to the airport and after small trouble "scanning" the passports, were were set for our flight to Cozumel via Houston.

The flight left San Francisco after midnight and then arrived in Houston early that morning. Then we had some down time before we headed for Cozumel. It was wonderful finally landing and getting to our hotel where we met up with Wes and Andrej. At check-in we were upgraded to the members only area of the restort- SCORE! The room was very nice and overlooked the member's pool and then beyond that was the ocean.

I'd worried about the rain; there was only one day where Ashley and me were heading to dinner at Roberto's (a reservations only italian restaurant with amazing food) that it started to rain. I remember asking Ashley "I have an umbrella, should I get it" and she'd said, "no, we'll make it there". Sure enough, it absolutely dumped buckets on us and we were drenched for dinner. With that one exception, the weather was amazing the whole week.

One of the days the four of us took a small boat out onto the water and Andrej expertly navigated us around the bay (not! lol, but it was fun regardless). Once we almost left Ahsley out in the ocean when the wind picked up and the boat started to leave her behind! Several times we barely escaped with our heads as the boom swung about the boat. It was a lot of fun; pushing people in, steering around the water, jumping in here and there. When we decided to go back in, Wes and Ashley ended up having to push the boat with their expert swimming skills as the wind just wasn't in our favor. The only downside was this was the first technical glitch for Andrej on the trip; his iPhone had been in one of the bags we took along and sadly it didn't survive all the water.

I'd never had a massage or pedicure before, so I went along with Ashley to see what all the hubub was about. Oh my gosh! The full body massage was amazingly relaxing as I drifted off and relaxed. Then we had herbal tea and relaxed in the hot tub after the massage but before our pedicure. Then we got to sit and chat, dream of our future plans while our feet were cleaned up and massaged. WOW! I'm telling you, if you ever get a chance, have a massage and pedicure. It's defintely on my list of things to do again!

Most nights we ate dinner at Roberto's. And most nights I didn't remember leaving the restaurant. I mean, a full course italian dinner with all the wine you can drink; that's just trouble! There were so many funny incidences; like the congo lines around the bar and pouring tequilla in people's mouths. One of the funniest drunken evenings was when Ashley and I had been jumping off the end of a pier with some guys (whom I ended up wearing his "favorite Golds" shirt somehow pictured here) and we told everyone "See you at the bar!" and we went back to get ready but ended up falling asleep. Then Ashley woke up about 10pm and couldn't get room service (cause we'd missed dinner) and I awoke to the sound of the most forlorn voice yelling "ROSS!!! THEY WON'T FEED US!" amongst other comments I think she also said "We're going to starve!". Still intoxicated but now also hungry, I somehow managed to get a hamburger for Ashley and Fajitas for me ordered up to the room. Yes! It was a great save. And hillarious to think back on.

Senor Frogs

Two nights we went downtown Cozumel to Senor Frogs. That place was a blast! They had great DJ'ing and on one of the nights excellent dancing. There were a lot of other tourists of course, and we all had a great time. I do remember on the way home on the first night Wes taking a speed bump WAY to fast and it scared the crap outta the rest of us. But it was good fun to look back on. haha!

I did spend a lot of time on the beach, playing my music or reading Eclipse (I finished the whole book in two days- in anticipation of the movie coming out later this month) So many fun stories... mostly I enjoyed the time with my friends and I cannot wait to go again. We're thinking we may need to go this winter. I'm totally in. Ashley, Andrej, Wes- thank you so very, very much for the most awesome vacation!

Point Reyes Lighthouse

After my half marathon this morning I was ready to take a nap, but it was just too beautiful outside for sleeping! I decided to get out my motorcycle and go for a drive through the redwoods and then along the ocean. I thought a picnic lunch at the beach would be fun. On my way, I stopped of at Lombardi's Deli and picked up a sandwhich for when I arrived. Before I headed out I checked out my maps on my iPhone and glanced at the street names. Then I turned on Pandora and headed off to the ocean. However, I never went through the redwoods or even ended up where I thought I was going. I ended up going south on highway 1 and going toward Point Reyes. As I crossed over onto the point, I saw signs about a lighthouse. So I followed the signs. Well, little did I know that May is the windiest month at point Reyes and the winds were above 35 mph. On my motorcycle, this was at first obnoxious, then strenuous, and after 20 miles of it; chilling! The view beautiful, if a bit windy, was worth it. I sat on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and ate my lunch, all the while strongly holding onto my backback, gloves and napkin. Then I walked the mile down to the Point Reyes Lighthouse and looked around. Water as far as the eye could see. It was a nice thing to do, but if I ever take a friend I'm going in my car. ^_^

My First Half Marathon!

Today I got up at 5:30am. Why!? You ask? Because today was my very first half marathon! I met up with Trisha at the Stony Point starbucks in Santa Rosa and we went and picked up her sister-in-law Jaime. Then we went and picked up Irene and wala, our jogging team was complete and ready to compete!

(Left to right: Jaime, Ross, Irene, Trisha)

We've been training most saturdays by jogging through Annadel State Park. Our goal is to prepare for a full marathon. In the meantime, we're running other events and working our way to that crazy 26.2 miles. Today's event is the Windsor Green Half Marathon. I was very excited and even a bit nervous, as I've never done anything like this in my life. It's thanks to Trisha, for helping me discover what a passion I have for jogging. Thanks Trisha!!!

We got together as close to the starting line as we could and as we heard the announcer calling out the countdown you could feel the excitement in the crowd. As it reached 15 seconds I started "Shiela" (my Runkeeper Application on my iPhone) so I could track my progress and listen to some music. The first mile I just tried to avoid the crowd. Then the second through fourth miles I focused on passing the people in my way. By the time the fifth mile came around I was averaging 8 minute 15 second miles and I knew I needed to slow up if I was going to pull off the whole 13.1 mile track. By the time the sixth mile came up I'd had my first energy pack and was settled into my pace. It felt great! I really enjoyed the run through the back country roads around the small city of Windsor. It wasn't until the last mile, running headstrong into the sun, with Shiela on the glitch that I struggled. That last mile was really rough! But I made it with these final numbers:

Total Distance: 13.1 Miles
Total Time: 1 Hour 56 Minutes
Average pace: 8 minute 50 Second miles
Finish List

It was a GREAT first half marathon and I'm looking forward to more!

Bidnight Madness

After having a good rest following my morning jog, I got ready and went to Sonoma State University for the eleventh annual Bidnight Madness! This event is held to raise money for the athletic teams at the University so they can fund their activities. I met up with several co-workers out front and as we walked in the Athletes were there to greet us and give us our beer or wine glasses for the evening. Then we were escorted to our tables where we had pretend gambling chips we could use at the various gaming tables. I tried my luck at black jack and did ok. Then I headed over to the poker table and racked in a good win with trip 7's. Then I went in on a pair of 10's and lost most of it. All in good fun!

I walked the silent auction tables and bet on gift certificates to the Cheesecake factory, Outback Steakhouse and Vlopis (a local italian restuarant). There was kind of a theme with my auction items :) Then I noticed a two person full day ski pass that hadn't been bid on so I bid on that as well. Long story short, after all the bidding was done I won the Outback and ski trip auctions. I'm looking forward to using them!

It was a fun night with co-workers, faculty and students. I'm already looking forward to next year.

12 Miles!

Today I was up at 5:45 am, got my jogging gear together and headed to the parktrail entrance of Annadel State park. My co-worker Trisha, her sister-in-law and Irene were all prepared to jog 12 miles. April 17th we ran 10 miles, but for me this would be the first time ever running 12 miles. When I ran the 10 miles I was having shin splint pains on my left leg, so Irene had me take a tylenol before our jog. Trishsa had brought along some "Gel" for extra endurance boost as needed, and I had my iPhone with Runkeeper monitoring the jog and pumping out tunes.

Annadel State park is absolutely breathtaking. Evertime I jog there I end up stopping at some point to take a picture. This time I took a picture as we were rounding out "Marsh" trail on the back side of the park. This was one of several natural creeks or springs that flowed down across the trail.

I lost track of how many deer we passed. They are so used to people that when we jog by them they just look at us as we pass within feet of them. There are also wild turkey's and I have yet to see the mountain lions and cyote's that signs around the park warn of. There are a lot of other poeple out enjoying the park, too. And it's common to come across other joggers, walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers.

We finished our twelve miles at a record pace! It took 2 hours, 29 minutes at an average pace of just over 12 minute miles. Much slower than street running, understandably as we ascended over 1,600 feet on our jog. The paths are mountainous and occasionally very rocky. The "upside" to the upward climbs is that the higher up you go the easier it is on the way back down!

Trisha and Irene have been training for a marathon held in August. We're going to do a half marathon in May and I think I'm going to keep on training with them for the marathon and give it a shot. I never thought I'd say that- I'm looking forward to it!