No. 44

No. 44 was another audio book, consumed while doing chores, driving, and running.

Dead to the Last Drop by Cleo Coyle:

:)

Exploring San Francisco on foot

Another blogger recently wrote about her lack of posts. She said new job responsibilities meant that she had less time for adventures. I have plenty of time for adventures, but no time to write about them!!

So please excuse this look back at our holiday weekend in San Francisco :)

On Labor Day weekend, my mom, dad, Eryn, and I flew to California for a short getaway. It was hot at home, but the Bay Area is always nice and cool... except when it's the hottest day EVER - 106 degrees!

We didn't have a car, so it was travel by foot or public transportation. Eryn and I had a blast exploring the town!

Our hotel was near the bay, so our morning run took us along the water on the San Francisco Bay Trail along Oyster Point:

Mom, Eryn, and I rode the bus to the beach and found it packed with people. This isn't what Oregon beaches look like:

Mom didn't have sandals, so she watched from a distance while we stuck our feet in the ocean:

After our beach trip, we walked about two-thirds of Golden Gate Park. If it wasn't so dang hot, we might have walked the whole thing!

Then it was time for a Giants game!

We had much lower seats on the third-base line, but they were in the sun. We could only handle that heat for so long before we moved to some empty seats in the shade. It was SOOOO hot!

Before we left for the airport, Eryn and I explored more of the San Francisco Bay Trail, this time walking south from our hotel to the airport. It was very smokey and very cloudy, obscuring the view over the bay. But it was still a wonderful walk!

Then we walked back toward the hotel and found a hole-in-the-wall pizza place in South San Francisco:

We shared an excellent veggie pizza! If you're in South San Francisco, go to Pronto!

We had a wonderful time exploring and just doing what felt right at the time. Eryn's a great travel partner - can't wait to do it again sometime :)

Two Discovery Runs... and maybe the last

One of our favorite monthly activities may be a thing of the past.

Since September 2013, we've been doing the Road Runner Sports Discovery Run, a running scavenger hunt around Tualatin. It's a great way to get a fun workout, bond with other runners, and sometimes win prizes!

The woman who organized for the past couple years left Road Runner in September, and apparently no one remembered to set up the next month's event. (advertising and getting vendors and volunteers and checkpoint sponsors and prizes and such) So the September run was thrown together at the last minute and hosted by a guy from the Seattle store. There were just a few checkpoints and not very many prizes. 

Still, we had fun collecting tickets and crossing our fingers for prizes.

We hit all the spots and only had this many tickets. It was pretty skimpy.

Eryn joined the fun:

I won an ice pack from Therapeutic Associates:

YAY! I stopped by the office later in the month, and they gave me a full-size hot/cold therapy pack - woohoo!!!!

The Seattle host said he'd be back in October for a bigger and better event. So, of course, we had to be there to get some exercise and (hopefully) win some prizes!

The event was not much bigger or better. But, we still had fun... and I won a Stick for massaging muscles!

At the end of the night, the Seattle guy said it might be the last Discovery Run for our town. I sure hope not, but at least we went out with some free stuff :)

We'll sure miss these monthly community runs :(

Silver Falls (11/11/17)

I had the pleasure last weekend of exploring some major Oregon beauty with my friends and their boys!

Eryn and I were supposed to camp Veterans Day weekend at Silver Falls State Park. But the forecast called for major overnight rain, so we turned it into a day trip. Saturday day called for dry-ish weather, so we asked Connie and Marc to join us for some hiking.

The Jolley family met us in the South Falls Day-Use Area, and we set out to explore South Falls and Lower South Falls. The kiddos hadn't hiked the falls before, so it was great to see their reactions :)

With recent rains, the falls were really flowing!

Lots of fun exploring behind the falls:

We had some rock climbers in the group!

Eryn:

It was really wet behind that gusher! Jolleys:

Eryn and me:

After lots of playing behind the falls, we kept going to Lower South Falls:

Cameron:

And his mad dabbing skills:

We took the Maple Ridge Trail to complete the loop, and the group naturally separated into me chasing the middle schoolers up the big hill and the others hanging back with the 6-year-old.

But we all made it back to the car and had grilled cheese and tomato soup for a hot lunch:

The Jolleys had to get back to town, but Eryn and I decided to head back out to do the rest of the Trail of Ten Falls.

Lower North Falls:

Double Falls:

I must have not taken a photo of Drake Falls :(

Middle North Falls:

Middle North Falls - from the other side:

I missed Twin Falls, too :(

North Falls:

Oops :)

Upper North Falls:

Winter Falls:

Darkness was falling as we finished our hike on Rim Trail. Between the two outings, we hiked about 13 miles - on a mostly dry, beautiful day. It was so awesome to get out with friends and see some amazing nature :)

Nos. 42, 43

No. 42 was One Bad Apple by Sheila Connolly:

I picked this up at a used book store and enjoyed the small-town mystery. I also learned something about septic systems and apple orchards :)

No. 43 was Through the Grinder by Cleo Coyle:

I downloaded this audio book Sunday to get me through 5+ hours of yard work. It was the perfect distraction while I transplanted a ton of plants from my grandparents' old house. I finished it off in just two days :)