March 2019

July 2015

The heart of the summer is the month of July, as the saying goes:” Make hay while the sun still shines”.

We went to Seattle (Kirkland), Washington to visit the Kurowskis. Dawn and I flew into SEATAC airport and rented a car then drove to Brian’s house. We wanted to take the Kurowski kids to San Juan Island on a ferry. Well, we got there and the hydrocraft sucked up a log and was not functioning.

So we did lots of sight-seeing and wonderful meals. A few highlights while visiting them was our hike to Rattlesnake Peak, our Duck Boat tour and float on Union Lake, Space Needle and of course being with Orion, Machaela and my favorite girl Eleanor.

Once back with the family in Idaho Falls we found Julia not feeling up to par. She is having trouble with her heart and medication. It is not like her slow down but she has lost steam. We did have a great outing when we picked goose berries for jam along the south fork of the Snake River.

We caught our breath and discovered it was time we packed our bags for Santa Cruz and ready ourselves for the “Wharf to Wharf” run with family members.

This mini reunion will include Adam and Monica Mariner with their two kids, Ben and Sage, Robyn and her family along with Kesler and his friend Logan. We were to last folks of the clan.

We traveled by auto to SLC rail station and parked our car and boarded AMTRAK at 1:30 AM headed for Colfax, CA. By the next morning we were in California and arrived at Colfax 12:30 PM> right on time!!

Kesler picked us up at the train station. We had the exciting time of riding in his 4x4 Jeep back to Grass Valley. He is a good driver and demonstrates caution.

That afternoon we drove to Santa Cruz. I rode with Wayne and the boys. Robyn and Dawn drove separately in her new Lexus SUV. When we arrived Ben, Sage, Adam and Monica were already there. The next day we went to beach with the kids at the Monarch butterfly park. Then on Saturday we went to the pump track so the kids could ride their bikes. Young Burton was the star. He and Sage both rode clear through the obstacles and returned. Indy is an advanced rider and needs no encouragement. While at the beach the kids explored and played in the surf. Kesler, Adam and Wayne surfed while we relaxed. In the evening we took the kids to the Boardwalk.

That evening we had pasta in preparation for the 10K the next day.

We were up early and ready for the fun run. Adam dropped us off at the start and Ben stayed home with the little kids. Once on the Boardwalk starting platform we waited for the race to start. We were in the 3^rd corral (Green) with Robyn and Wayne. Kesler was in the 1^st corral (Yellow). Monica was in the 2^nd group (Blue). Things happen on time the crowd of 16,000 runners started down the road. We separated early and our times were all recorded at the finish. I really enjoyed the run this year. I listened to the music groups along the way, watched the crowd and runner ahead of me. I ran better than I did last year finishing 114/620 in my age group at a time of 1 hour 3 minutes for 6 miles. Monica ran ahead of me and finished in less than one hour!

That was it! The month of July is over. Dawn and I rode back on Amtrak to SLC and arrived at 3:00am. We drove home and rested up from a great trip.