Celebration of Goals Accomplished

My Adventure Girl has wanted to learn to ride a horse from the first time she saw one.  We promised her that, now that she is old enough, we would find a place to ride in California.  Once we arrived and realized that riding lessons would mean a $70/week commitment and a drive through the craziness that is the interstate system, we had to backpedal a bit.  We made a deal instead that if she (yes, at 7 and a half) finally stopped sucking her thumb, we would take her on a trail ride instead.  Luckily, an awesome deal on Living Social came up right at the same time that she not only stopped sucking her thumb for three weeks, but also hasn't chewed holes in the neckline of any of her shirts.  This is huge.  Huge.  So I bought the deal.  But this also meant that I, who at 32 have never ridden a horse myself, also had to go along.  Yipes.

After buying the voucher online for the Sea Horse Ranch in Half Moon Bay, I made the mistake of reading the reviews for the place on Yelp.  And they were not good.  But, at less than half price, I figured we could always walk away if it was really that terrible.  And at first, I wasn't convinced.  I had to sign our lives away, which is to be expected, but the wording of the waiver was downright scary.  It talked about how tiny humans attempting to tame and ride animals that are several times their size is kinda crazy.  (We were the only ones of the group who chose to wear helmets, which I was surprised by.  Helmets to us are just one of those ugly necessities.  Why risk a head injury when you can easily wear protection?) Also included was the standard legal muck about not being responsible should anything bad happen to us...and it was quite likely that something bad would happen, according to the waiver.  So, lesson one learned: it's best to just skim over the fine print sometimes.

Except when it concerns my child, I suppose.  Being responsible for a little person's life runs the One Republic lyric through my mind all the time: "Old, but I'm not that old.  Young, but I'm not that bold." I'm more afraid of doing things that have potential to result in harm to myself because I have to be able to take care of the kids, and letting them do things that involve potential for danger is even worse.  By the time all of these thoughts had passed through my mind, I had also overheard the ride guides, speaking to each other in Spanish, discussing what to do with Ava, who was the smallest and youngest beginner rider of the group by decades. I understand enough Spanish to know that they decided to have one of the guides ride alongside her, leading her horse along.  I was good with that.  But then they put me up on Dot.  Did I mention that I have never been on a horse?  As soon as I grabbed the reins, she backed up.  Quickly.  And I panicked a bit.  The guides told me to pull more gently when I wanted her to stop (whoops) and then, with no real explanation of what we were going to be doing, the horses began strolling down the path toward the Coastal Trail.

And I do mean strolling.  Which I was perfectly happy with.  I ended up in the middle of the pack, while Adventure Girl was taking up the rear with her guide.  I was not at all comfortable with her being behind me where I couldn't see what was happening, but it was probably for the best.  The guides wanted me to get comfortable on my own horse without worrying about Ava as well.  I'll admit, I was nervous for at least a third of the ride.  I didn't know what I was doing.  How do you steer a horse?  What if Dot decided to just take off at a gallop and leave the group behind? The guide nearby made a clicking sound, and all of a sudden she was trotting.  Afterward, he taught me how to stand a little to make trotting more comfortable.  Following a jaunt through a creek and some muddy muck (Ava's favorite part), we eventually ended up at a steep path down the bluff to the beach.  By this time, Ava and her guide were in the lead, and I held my breath the whole time she was descending the slope.  She didn't panic once, the whole ride.  But she did say afterward that she was expecting it to be a pony ride, like at the Alaska State Fair, and that she was surprised to ride an actual huge horse.  We won't be taking riding lessons anytime soon (hooray for my bank account!).

On the beach portion of the ride, I finally got comfortable with Dot, as she had stopped to eat the weeds several times and didn't seem in any hurry to escape her sandy paradise.  The part of the morning that I enjoyed most was the Northern California beachy weather.  People around here think I'm crazy, but it's just too consistently warm and sunny in Alameda for my taste.  Half Moon Bay was fogged in and misty with a cool breeze.  It felt fabulous to ride along listening to the ocean waves...almost like Home(r).  There's something wonderful about knowing that the same ocean flows all the way up into Kachemak Bay, and the same whales travel between here and there.

But back to the horses.  About the same time that we arrived at the beach path, a guy on a Segway appeared out of nowhere and started taking photos.  It was funny in a completely out-of-place kind of way.  No phones, cameras, bags, etc. are allowed on the ride, so a photographer pops up to take photos along the way.  Which is how we got these (after we paid a pretty penny for them, of course).  Now that we know what to expect, I'm sure we will go back.  Especially if we get another half-price online deal!

The guide stayed with her the entire time

Ava and Gloria

At the bottom of the steep hill to the beach

The bluffs are just beautiful

Riding on the beach

Foggy, cool, and misty...just like I like it

Finding Peace in the City

We have been on a quest to find places that the whole family, dog included, can get away from the city feel and enjoy some of our favorite activities: hiking and wandering the beach.  For the past 3 weekends, we have taken day trips, all within an hour's drive or ferry ride, to explore new areas.

First up was Rodeo Beach, in the Marin Headlands, after I ran the USCG Station Golden Gate Heritage run.  Which was pretty difficult, by the way.  The whole first mile and middle mile of the 7.5-mile race were entirely uphill, to get from sea-level to Golden Gate Bridge level.  Whew.  But I did it, and didn't finish last, either.  Back to Rodeo Beach.  It was nice to bring the dog for his first California outing.  But the beach, on the Pacific just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, was rocky and windy.  We managed a quick hike, and Midas was happy to be allowed off his leash.

Last weekend, we made good on our promise to take the kids to the city once a month.  We took the ferry over on Saturday morning (which we love...so easy!) and went to a Filipino parade and festival, Chinatown, North Beach, and Coit Tower. It's amazing how small San Francisco actually is.  It feels very much like Boston, only with more hills.  We rode the streetcar from Pier 39 to Market Street and walked the whole rest of the day, and we were done and heading home on the 3:15 ferry.  We didn't take the dog, because he is not allowed on the streetcars, but we plan to try to take him along sometime soon.  The kids had a blast.  They both tried dim sum in Chinatown (none of us were big fans), had pizza in North Beach, and counted all the steps down Telegraph Hill (343, give or take a few).

Today was, by far, my favorite day.  We drove to Half Moon Bay, with our new book about hiking with dogs in the Bay Area in hand.  We took the scenic route, over the Bay Bridge and along Hwy. 1.  We are having a bit of a heat wave, so the morning fog burned off early at the coast.  Our first stop was the Grey Whale Cove Trail, where we hiked about 2 miles along the bluffs.

View of Grey Whale Cove

Grey Whale Cove Trail

Being surrounded by open space and able to see out into the ocean does my soul good.  Thank goodness we have found this place!  We had a picnic lunch in Half Moon Bay at Blufftop Coastal Park and then ventured down to the beach.  The kids were so excited (and a little confused) to see soft, warm, white sand.  The dog was happy to get his feet wet (and so was his sister).  After we were sufficiently sandy, we tool a walk on Main Street in Half Moon Bay.  Our favorite stop was the Feed Store.  That's our kind of place!  Live chicks, pet supplies, and a bull moose mounted over the door inside.

Blufftop Coastal Park, Half Moon Bay

We only have one week left until the kids start school.  They were really busy last week.  Ava finished up her final week of sailing camp, where she sailed an Opti by herself, went on a field trip by boat to Ben & Jerry's in jack London Square, and finished the week by finally learning to swim unassisted (although we are are still working on her confidence level when doing so).  Emerson went to Kung Fu camp all week, where he was the youngest camper and got to go to a different playground in Alameda for lunch each day.  It did him good to get a break from his mom and sister after 3 months of togetherness.  This week, we have lots of fun in store.  We were able to get free tickets to Monday night's Red Sox/Giants game at AT&T Park, thanks to Operation Care and Comfort.  I'm planning a surprise trip to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield for the kids later in the week.  Next Sunday, we are headed to Sonoma for the GoPro Indy Grand Prix, which we also got free tickets to thanks to the Heroes in Our Community Program.  The kids don't know it, but the race is preceded by an air show with the Patriots Jets.  It's so nice to have community organizations include the Coast Guard in their special military events, as it doesn't always happen.

This area certainly has kept us busy so far!  We have to remind ourselves to stay home once in awhile, but that will happen more once the kids are back in school.  Second grade and kindergarten...eeek!