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Thursday, February 23, 2017

We planned our summer vaycay!

We planned our summer vay cay! Flights are booked. Hotels are booked. Cat sitter is booked. Race entry is paid (YES THAT'S RIGHT I'M RUNNING A RACE ON OUR VACATION!). The only thing I have to do yet is reserve our rental car, and as soon as the Alamo website is done being wonky, I will get right on that!

The short story is we are visiting Northern California to see the Redwoods! We'll be in Arcata for a night and Garberville for a night. Then we will drive down the famous Route 1 to Stinson Beach and stay there for three nights.

We have visited Stinson Beach before and figured it would be the best place to hunker down as it is close to some awesome trails, the cute town of Sausalito, Muir Woods, Mt. Tamalpais, and of course, San Francisco.

I will be running the Table Rock Trail Race 30k which takes you through Muir Woods and down one of the most beautiful trails I have even been on- the Dipsea Trail. I ran on this trail for a couple miles when Paul and I took a trip to San Francisco several years ago. I remember running up the trail, turning around, and seeing the Pacific Ocean behind me. It was MAGICAL and I'm so glad we get to go back and spend more than just a couple hours there.

Eventually, I'll write more about the race, why I chose it, and why I'm not “racing” it. Of course I will also give you lots more info about what we have planned a far as our itinerary. It will include a lot of driving, a lot of hiking, and not a lot of sleep! I will hopefully get to meet up with Rachel for a run while we are in Arcata. I'm always jealous of how beautiful it is where Rachel runs... well now I get to run there too!

I already miss the kitties...

Here are some pics from our first CA trip!

Biking across the Golden Gate Bridge

That was not a moving trolley.

Hiking just outside Muir Woods. I think I will be running this trail at the race!

One of the most gorgeous drives, though I am not sure it's as good as CO!
Maybe it is, it's just apples and oranges!
Have you ever been to NoCal?
Any suggestions on “Must dos” while we are there?
Do you have summer vacation plans yet?

28 comments:

  1. Wow, you are really on top of things with all your planning already! When will this magical trip take place?

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    1. July! Paul and I were laughing because we were like, "We're so excited but the trip is 5 months away!"

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  2. I can offer you nothing except to say that it sounds incredible! I would love to plan a race into a vacation!

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    1. I will admit, I found the race before booking the vaycay. But we had already agreed on NoCal- that was Paul's pick. I just timed it up right for the race.

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  3. That sounds like such a great trip! I havent figured out any summer plans yet. I think its good to plan in advanced otherwise things come up and get in the way!

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    1. Yes, and then you can search for cheap flights!

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  4. Awesome! Sounds just amazing! We did a SF/Sonoma trip a few years back and it was so much fun. Can't wait to hear all about your trip and your trail race. We have a spring trip to Mexico and then most of our summer trips will be to the mountains. A quick family reunion to MI in August so I am excited about that because I have never been there.

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    1. You LIVE where we vacation. We should house swap one summer... ;)

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    2. How about if you just come out. We hate to leave CO in the summer because it is just perfection! But winter and snowy spring...get me outta here to someplace warm!!

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    3. We will be in CO again for sure. Susan, we will meet SOMEDAY! :)

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  5. Awesome! We are vacationing in the same area this summer! Can't wait to compare notes! Maybe we'll run into each other, haha!

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    1. When are you going?? Oh wait I will text you. :)

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  6. I'm sitting here having visions of last years' trip to Big Sur and Yosemite. What an amazing trip you've planned! Of course you have to race.

    Now I need to get on my plans for the rest of my summer vaca--I'm doing the Lake Superior thing...

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    1. Cool! I have never been to the Great Lakes. Not even Erie!

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  7. I'm so happy for you! I love having something fun to look forward to like that. I used to live in LA and I've been back to CA many times but SF is the one place I've never been, and I'd LOVE TO GO. So cool about that race. The trails sound stunning!

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  8. That sounds like an awesome trip! We talked about doing Cali this year too but I am not interested in the long flight. Our 9 hour flight from Italy last year really turned me off of long flights. I hope to be ready to do another long flight by next year :) instead this year I will live vicariously through you.

    We ad not 100% sure of trips this year but we will probably do a cruise and also Adam wants to start visiting state parks before they are all ruined thanks to our lack of any real environmental protection agency.

    I believe you that you miss the kitties already. That's always the downside of every vacation! The main reason I wish I was a multi millionaire is so I could have a private jet to fly Cecil on!

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    1. I hate flying, it is so stressful. And unfortunately we have a layover on these flights! :( I already had a plane crash nightmare!

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  9. OMG, that will be an AWESOME trip!!! We have been to California a few times and loved it. I'd so move there if it wasn't for having family here. Alan and I did the touristy thing of driving around looking at stars houses in Hollywood. So fun!! The redwoods were amazing. Loved taking wine tours. Love love love it. Doing a race there will be the bomb. Jealous!!

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    1. Aw I can picture you and Alan doing that! Was this before you had kids?

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  10. When you're driving on the coast, it's gorgeous! I love Monterey, but then I love sea otters.

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    1. We went down to Monterey when we were there several years ago. We loved it and the aquarium!

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  11. This sounds like a really fun idea for a vacation! I hope you have a wonderful time. I would love to go to California someday, the only time I have been to the West Coast was when we went to Seattle.

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    1. Seattle is definitely on our list too. I know you enjoyed your time there and my parents loved their trip to Seattle!

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  12. This is like a dream vacation to me. California? With gorgeous summer weather? And a race? And giant TREES?! And maybe seeing Rachel?!?!!

    Seriously. This is enviable. What a great vacation idea!!

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    1. Thanks! We are very excited. :) You and Matt should do this sometime!

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  13. Oh that's a nice trip! I love Stinson Beach.

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