Happy Birthday Katy!

Jackson Adventure

I've been asking my friend Subrina to go on a road trip with her jeep. I love jeeps, the open air, the off roading (if needed), for some reason I just feel more adventerous when I'm in one. So she got it ready and drove up to Sacramento, where we were going to kidnap Lisa and hit the open road. With it being Katy's birthday on Wednesday we knew the three of us had to be together.

It had been beautiful, sunny, blue skies and warm. Needless to say, Tuesday happened to be one of the coldest days of the week. But hey it's an adventure so off we went.. Of course Lisa said, she was only going because it's what Katy would have wanted her to do. And by looking at her bundled up I'm sure she wasn't kidding;)

Lisa and Kirby

Amador county has several wineries, but we stayed in Jackson which is a about 25 minutes south of all of them. Hey no worries, let's go check out downtown Jackson.. that took all of 2 minutes to drive through. And we learned that most things are closed, Mon, Tues, Wed.. how do people stay in business??

Downtown Jackson

Off we went to Sutter Creek, a cute little town , 10 minutes away. Had some lunch at the Palace, then walked down the street to wine taste at the only place that was open for wine tasting. However before the wine tasting we had stopped at a few Antique stores, Subrina is a big fan, it's something she and Katy shared and appreciated together.

As we were looking around, we started talking to a local, we were telling her we are going to walk to downtown Jackson and check out the local bar. She was adamant about us not going.. that we should drive 15-20 minutes away and go to St. George in Volcano. She had lived there all her life and had never gone in. What?? Well then for sure we have to check it out right?



In town, Lisa and Subrina stopped at a book store. Lisa likes to check out books, pick up ones that she needs to replace in her library. Odd thing is as she went inside Subrina was looking at the books outside, okay Subrina looking at books isn't the odd part :) It's the book that Subrina finds, "What Katy did at School".. throughout the day there were signs that Katy was with us.










The Main Event Bar, with the tourquoise door was nothing to be afraid of. I think most people are friendly if you give them a chance. We met a few locals that day and their stories were very interesting. However they did think we were with the FBI because Subrina was asking so many questions.



All in all it was a good trip, we created new memories and have more stories to tell.. isn't that what life is about? Take adventures.. whether it's an afternoon, a day or a week go out there and make new memories with your friends and family.

Santa Cruz 10k

Sometimes we do things because we can, or we have the time or because somebody asks. A few weeks ago Christine had told us about this 10k she was doing in Santa Cruz. She's a soccer coach and had been teaching her kids about doing more than just playing the game. Last season she told her kids she would donate $50 a win towards Cancer research and $75 for any shut outs. They asked why she was doing that and she told them about Katy, and then said try this 10k and see if it's something you'd want to do in the future. To find something that's important to you and work towards it.

So Christine did it for her girls and we did it for Christine. So off I went.. driving 6 hours to run 6 miles. But I was excited to see Christine, Candi and Subrina and I had never been to Santa Cruz. It was a beautiful weekend in northern california, we walked on the boardwalk, laughed and told stories as always enjoying our time together. Sunday morning we woke up bright and early for our run along the beach. Don't know if it was the will to compete, the will to finish, or just the fact that we were able to, we all got our personal bests.

Christine finishing with her girls

Me, Subrina & Christine happy we're done

Moab Moutain Bike Ride

I've always wanted to go to Moab, Ut to ride my mountain bike. I use to mountain bike a lot more a few years ago. I absolutely loved it, but life changes and the things you love to do sometimes get pushed to the side. I'm working on bringing and keeping the things I like to do back into my life.

So after 2 days of road bike riding.. Subrina and I were excited to go with Terry and Jill mountain biking. Jill found us a nice easy trail.. beautiful surroundings, easy trails for us non-experts.

When road biking, I get on my bike and pedal, pedal, pedal. Not a lot of technical skills are required, at least for the type of riding I'm doing. On the mountain bike, you have to think about what line to take, the different type of terrain, the ups and downs.. how am I suppose to position my body so I don't go over my handlebars? Yeah didn't have that down because I did this..

I'm pretty sure that what I looked like as I was going over my handlebars.

After I took a header, my friends thought it was a good idea to have a reinactment. However, it wasn't a true reinactment because my bike had actually bounced off my back and ended up about 5 feet away from me and I'm pretty sure I wasn't smiling. So after getting that out of the way within our first 20 minutes of riding, I was as confident as could be continuing on with the day. Yeah right! Nonetheless, we still did have a great time.

Terry

Subrina

We were exhausted!

It's the simple things that make Subrina happy.

Last day of Skinny Tire weekend

Ride days are over.. now we get to sit and enjoy each others company.

Enjoying the view

Subrina and I enjoying an adult beverage

Candi and Christine

Maria and Subrina being silly

Jamie and I waiting for our beer sampler

A toast to Katy and a thanks for bringing us together

Ride to Dead Horse Point

All afternoon and the night before, everybody kept looking at the the climbing we would be doing. Stressing, complaining, stressing.. finally we said people!!.. there's no getting out of it so let's just enjoy this time we have together.. because after the climbing tomorrow we don't know what kind of shape you'll be in :)

Candi, Jamie, Christine, Subrina and I decided to do the 44 mile ride, instead of the 67 miles like Roseanna and Maria. Yeah the 44 miles was plenty for us "non-climbers". But the view was absolutely worth it! And to those gals who haven't been riding any hills.. 2 mile, 8% grade was a heck of an accomplishment. Enjoy the pics from along the way.

Me, Jamie, Christine & Subrina before we started up the hill.

Candi.. I did it!

Subrina, Jamie and Chrisine.. making up the hill.

Subrina really does think she's a superstar

Jamie still smiling

I'm smiling thinking of the downhill we're about to do.

Team KatyStrong at the top of Dead Horse Point

Festival Celebration

After our ride on Saturday we all showered up and went to the Festival celebration. There was food, guest speakers, live music, adult beverages, but what I enjoyed the most was meeting new people. Ames is in her survirship from Ovarian cancer. Last year her friends rode for her, and this year she rode for herself. Way to go Ames!

Brett is a 3 time survivor of three different types of cancer, he kicked peoples butts up the hills!

Team KatyStrong was the top team fundraiser, raising just over $3,800 for the livestrong foundation. Thank you all for your support.