Update from the past week (MCV)

We've been really bad with the blogs lately... Sorry. We've been pretty busy and sometimes it's hard to put down in words things that would really be best said with pictures, but I will try. Last weekend we went up the north coast to a place called Russian Gulch, near Mendocino. Pretty much it's a crack in the coast rocks (a fault, I'm positive) with a little creek in the bottom leading to a beach. The camping was great, and the people we camped with were all really nice and welcoming. The weather Saturday wasn't that great so we pretty much sat around the campfire eating, drinking and taking a break to go see the beach. Sunday was much nicer and Joel and I went for a 48k bikeride up the coast. The road was busy but the shoulder was wide and we didn't really have any road related problems until we hit Fort Bragg (another Fort Bragg) where they had chewed up the pavement to repave. Oh yeah, it feels like nothing in a car, but I was sure my head was going to rattle right off my neck! Otherwise, we found a nice bike path right along the coast to ride on and enjoy the scenery. The Pacific was remarkably pacific and with the sun and the beaches and rocks it was pretty much picture perfect! Monday we took the long way home driving down along the coast and the scenery was again very beautiful and dramatic, and so was the drive! On some turns I felt like if I leaned over a little I would send us plummeting down a 300m drop to the rocky coast below. Wowsers, not for the faint hearted! We tucked back inland in order to catch the road heading down the Sonoma wine valley to see what it looked like. We stopped at a 'chip truck' that did not sell chips but sold $1.50 tacos instead! Booya! All they need to come up with now is a poutine taco... oh yeah, that'd be awesome!
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We went riding on the bike paths again Thursday evening and managed to put in a decent 20k. Not bad for a weeknight ride. Joel's been riding a lot and may have narrowed down on the bike he wants to buy. Now all we need is for the tax return money to get put into the bank account so he can get it. As for me, work is work. It's funny, as much as I like my work, it's still just that: work. It's the thing that work both allows me to do the things I like and gets in the way of doing the things I like. Hum. Oh well, like I said, days like today make it all worth while. Now I just need to get into contact with the guy who runs the wind machine to tell him to turn it down when I want to go riding! Ha! Yesterday we went into Oakland (what went into Oakland? Why????) to meet up with some friends who live in El Sobrante (actually not too far from where we biked today) and visit Jack London Square. There's a bar there that is a old whaling ship that they beached and turned into a saloon in 1883!! Jack London apparently drank there! It's called Heinold's first and last chance saloon and is apparently (and I agree) the only thing worth seeing in Oakland. We had a few of their finest (outside because they only have three tables inside!!!) then headed into Oakland to test out a Chinese restaurant our friends had found. It was tasty! We must have ordered about 10 different dishes, and 6 of us ate it all! Let's just say it was carbo-loading for our ride today. Yes. And that brings us to today, which I have already covered. I think we're all caught up now. It'll be interesting to see what next weekend brings us: we severely need to clean the house, but when it's nice out and the bike calls... what can you do?
Oh and by the way, Joel accepted the job offer and his vacation will sadly end June 16. We're really happy with the offer but sad that we can't be a single income family and still live the way we want to. Maybe we'll win the lottery. Like everyone else!