Yosemite & Rafting the American River

So the end of our central coast loop and family reunion ended in camping at Yosemite, (my first time there, Jamie went before when she was tiny) and then, Jared, my brother-in-law, took us rafting on the American River. One night we hiked Half Dome in the evening to see the sun set and missed it, but the hike back was fun in the full moon. People left leather gloves at the bottom of Half Dome to use when climbing the cables, that was great for our hands. The one shot below you can see my brother-in-law, Jamie and I in front of Half Dome at night with a 13 second shutter speed, there was plenty of moon light, it was just hard to stay still for 13 seconds. Some of the highlights: (most of them pictured below)
Climbing Half Dome
Swimming in the freezing rivers and waterfalls, the days were hot
Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast
Seeing a small bear (might as well have been a big squirrel)
Amazing views
Hanging out with family


Can you tell who needs a hair cut above? It was windy on Sentinel Dome.





We then rafted the southern leg of the American River with another brother-in-law. We were so stoked that he took us, especially with my sister being pregnant and due in 5 days. (Sierra Jeppson was born on the 24th of July) Jamie had been wanting to go rafting for months, she was probably the most excited. The rafting photos are not of us, but they show two rapids we went through called Satan's Cesspool and Bouncing Rock. The boat behind us got flipped on one of the rapids, and the boat in front of us lost a passenger on the other rapid. Great times. Would love to do it again.

Cayucos 2 / Monterey Aquarium

Here are some more shots at Cayucos and our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We cruised up the central coast again and this time the bull elephant seals where there.

Cayucos / Central Coast

So we have headed north through Morrow Bay, Cayucos (and were lucky to stay at Jamie's Grandparents house) and will soon be hitting Big Sur and Monterey, here are some shots of the day, many more to come from my brother-in-law's kite boarding session. Maybe we'll see some more zebras passing Hearst Castle.

4th of July Race Revisited.

So here are some shots of the race, notice how Jamie is in front of all the dudes. And I don't know what my hands do when I run. One photo looks like I'm dancing to "Stay'n Alive" with my thumbs up. Anyway the race was fun and I look like I was dog tired in these photos although I didn't think the race was that bad.

4th of July Race & Upcoming Sprint Tri

Jamie and I ran the Laguna Niguel YMCA 10K on the 4th. It was a great race, fun and scenic. It was the first time I have ran a strictly running race for almost three years, but that race 3 years ago I got a BAD side ache and walked most the race. The latest race I ran without a side ache was the Rex E Lee 5K my freshman year at BYU almost 9 years ago. It was good to know that I can now run faster/better than when I was in high school cross country 10 years ago. Jamie took first in her age group, she is an animal and wasn't very far behind me, considering her legs are much shorter than mine. Coming up in August I'm going to be doing the Sprint Triathlon at Camp Pendleton again, if anyone is interested in doing it with me let me know, Jamie is going to be out of town. They expect the Tri to sell out soon.