California Sleeping-By Hal Clark...

We are home from the last trip to California and we are both very tired. This is the point of this post. Dealing with the stress of traveling and burning the proverbial candle at both ends.

We left from Frisco, CO at about 8:30am after two days at the firehouse for me and two days of work for KC. Delta Rose really wasn't feeling the weight of her career as a pet.



Who me?



 So the trip starts with fatigue and we drive for two days and now we have four days of accumulated stress. But we are on vacation and must get out to see everything right? Well, sometimes maybe... other times not so much.
The thing with the "living simply" mantra means that you will have the time to see so much stuff that it will hardly matter if you miss a sight or two during your travels. Who cares. The point is to get out and enjoy your time in a different place or the same old place for that matter. We sometimes feel a little guilty for slowing down and missing something but enjoy being rested and energetic. You will be surprised by the things that enlighten you that you could not have planned on. If you find yourself antsy, get out and see everything you can... if you feel like just slogging out to a coffee shop to people watch, then so be it. The best way to relax is to be present and not thinking about your stocks, job, mortgage, and other pending dumb obligations you have set for yourself or even worse, that others have set for you. I am not saying that having obligations is bad, I am saying to control those things so there is room for the unexpected. In this you will find freedom and time to give.

Silver Back behind glass. They are critically endangered.
A visit to the Santa Barbara Zoo.

That being said, we still will wear ourselves down and resting our brains and bodies becomes a must. Whether or not you are forced to because you get sick or you manage yourself well and learn what you need to do to stay healthy, longer sleep hours, nap, meditation, writing, whatever. You will need rest at some point. In the name of health and balance KC and I prefer to rest before we need it. We think it keeps us sharp and contributes to a steady level of high energy.

When you fail at this, and you will at some point, the trick is to not have so much scheduled nonsense that you get worse and drag a day of recovery out to a full blown sickness that takes you out for weeks.  Take time to recover, time for yourself and time to reflect and slow down. If you know me you may be thinking, "I am full of shit". But I assure you I take time to recover and rest.

Today we had a special visit from our friend Rob Montgomery. He is healthy, happy and has a smile on his face every time we see him. He really likes to meditate and uses it on a regular basis to maintain his energy and mental clarity. Try it!

We drove for four days, visited 12 relatives, worked with Primal Wear at Sea Otter for four days, rode on the road a bunch, hiked, ran, worked out in the gym, hung out in the hot tub (a lot), had bed bugs in our hotel in Mesquite, snuck Delta into multiple hotel rooms, hit up Moab and the antique car show, then went straight back to work.

KC made Cadel Evans throw a bean bag to win a Primal Wear water bottle and he did. Very humble guy.

 

Hanging out with some serious dudes in the Primal tent.
Dave Wiens and yours truly.

 

 

During a ride in Santa Barbara we stopped at a place that had a catchy outdoor sitting area complete with an antique airstream, umbrella table, and fake grass. I think there was a motorcycle parked in the setting as well. We saw a bunch of Airstream trailers in different stages of awesomeness. While checking the place out a man came from the office to greet us and happily agreed to let us spandex clad, slippery shoe wearing folk behind the gate for a tour. Glad we stopped. After the tour and a million fielded questions, Wally told us the story of his son Mathew Hofmann who wanted to live in an Airstream and did so. Mathew has a cool story and used his architecture skills to provide really great, elegant and livable trailers, with lots of help of course. Here is another link in case you missed the first one. http://hofarc.com/

We wanted to share with you this sweet place because they share the same spirit and passion for life as you do.


Thanks for reading.

Point Lobos State Park

After four exciting and busy days working at Sea Otter, we decided to check out Point Lobos State Park before we head south to Santa Barbara.

If you walk into the park, they only ask for a donation, no required entrance fee. We left Delta in the car, because they don't allow dogs in the park.

There are dirt trails circling the park boundary, making it a great easy hike.

Completely beautiful place, like nothing back home! 

And right now the seals are having their pups and you can see the mama seals and their babies out in the water and lounging on the beach...so neat to see marine animals since we don't have them in Colorado! And we learned that the easiest way to tell seals apart from sea lions is to look and see if they have visible ear flaps. Seals do not, whereas sea lions do! 

They kind of look dead, but are just very relaxed ;)

This is also a great place for scuba diving, assuming you have a 7mm wetsuit, complete with hood and gloves. We didn't have time this trip, but want to dive/snorkel here next year! 

Monterey in a Day...

We are sitting in the lovely Carmel Mission Inn, in Carmel, CA, getting ready to work/have fun with Primal Wear, Inc. for the next four days at the Sea Otter Bike Expo.

We decided to turn this "work" trip into even more fun by driving out a day early and visiting my relatives in Bakersfield and then spending a day in Monterey.

I haven't been to Monterey since I was a little kid, and I only remember the aquarium.

So, we spent last night at the awesome and affordable Monterey Hotel!

We unloaded the car and grabbed Delta and some warm jackets and set off for an evening run. We went out on Fisherman's  Wharf, ran through Cannery Row, and had authentic Mexican food at Chipotle-ha ;)

It's amazing how much you can see by running!

Then this morning we took Delta on a run in the opposite direction and saw the beach and a cool downtown park and beautiful cypress trees.

Then on to see if my childhood memories served me well by revisiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium! When you look up a list of things to do in Monterey, the aquarium is at the top of every list. We don't usually patronize places that display captive and captured wild animals, but this aquarium is different-I hope...

They are non-profit and most of their animals are rescued from bad situations, nursed back to health, and released back into the wild, if possible.

We saw all the exhibits and a short documentary on great white sharks. Obviously I'm not super excited about swimming in the waters around here anytime soon...!

And like the little kid in me, I had to get a commemorative stuffed penguin!

Thanks for reading, and if you happen to be at Sea Otter in the next four days, come by the Primal booth and say hello!