Went on an amazing camping trip out to Coast Camp. This place is soooo easy and fun, it's stupid. I think we've gone the last 3 years now? We were joined by the Souzas, part of the Smiths, part of the Mooreheads, Metres, part of the Hoefts, Marian, Mendelson, Aida, Rachel and more... wow that was quite the crew.
these monkeys are ready for the 1 hr drive...
Loading up for the flat 3 mile ride in.... another alternative is to walk on the beach from Limantour for less than a mile. It'd be pretty easy to boat in from there.
Go Kimbo go!
Nikko's bed on wheels... note the bucket keeping his bed level.
these two.... trouble makers...
family shot...
with a Brynn Bear photobomb.
check out all the kiddos. And the sunshine! We sure lucked out on another amazing fall day in the Bay.
We took a hike to the top of the bluffs. Highly recommended. Get to the tree with the rope swing, and keep on scrambling up for this view. Limantour Beach is above Hoeft's head.
And a view of our crew through the trees...
these kids decided to slide down on their tush.
Hang time!
Zoe snacking in the shade.
I tracked these curious animal tracks to one Nikko bear.
the set up...
The kids decided to play in the murky lagoon water vs the ocean... oh well. You can see the top of the bluffs, where we were earlier in this pic.
Dinner time!
We went up to the bluffs for sunset. And to see the whales!
The kids made Dave into a double horned rainbow unicorn.
Ellery wanted a ride.... How can anyone refuse this pout? Only stern Dave...
Nikko probably had the worst night sleep I can remember. He was just getting over a cold, teething, and he hasn't been sleeping well in a tent. I went on a lot of long walks. And didn't sleep...
Next morning some of the crew decided to hike out to sculptured beach.
Cormorant... doing his thing
Natural Arch to more beach... and to Secret Beach...
Rugged coastline
Kiddos doing their thing..
back at the trailhead. Aaron was popular with the ladies.
We stopped for some food and refreshments on our way home with the Metres clan.
And for some of this stuff.... wow this stuff is amazing...
Started the Friday off in sunny Alameda at Crab Cove to check out "Concerts at the Cove"... very kid friendly and fun. Fleetwood Mask was ok.
Met up with Anna who was there with Julian and Craig in tow... both these ladies are both carrying another one too.
Sat morning, I took the first BART which was delayed... the bay bridge looked as pretty as I have ever seen it while riding down the Embarcadero in SF.
Started riding with a guy on the GG Bridge who showed me the route up Old Railroad Grade... we parted ways at the West Point Inn as he was carrying on for a much longer ride. A pretty sweet route, and I was very impressed how fast he was going on his road bike with 23c tires... anyway, thanx Nathan.
The view of the bay from heaven... turned out this was the best weather I'd see all day.
Met up with Kimbo for Brekky at Fred's... known for their deep fried french toast... (is that a Paula Dean recipe?)
all their food was quite yummy. We ate outside in a breezy, foggy alleyway.
Then we took Kai to Mia's B-day party at the Bay Area Discovery Museum at 10 am.... i.e. heaven for kids aged 1-8... that place is amazing.
Kai checking out the pond/waterbed!
Then we cruised up to Tomales Bay Oyster Co to pick up 2 dozen oysters...
While Kai napped. This morning Kai woke up with a fever, so we changed our plan so we could take it easy. We were planning to spend the night at Coast Camp in Pt. Reyes with Rachel, Jill, Piper, Kevin & Riley... but we decided we'd just go in for the day.
at the trail head we ran into this guy getting ready to bike in with Riro!
Check out this setup folks. The xtracycle with the trailer carrying all the campgear, while I ran next to Kimbo with Kai in the jogging stroller... All of the campgrounds in Pt. Reyes is bike friendly. Not all the trail are, but there is always a bikable route to a campsite.... as there is a vault toilet and trash at every site... meaning somebody is driving in for maintenance. In anycase, this makes Pt. Reyes a pretty ideal spot to go camping with kiddos. Just take your jogging stroller with ya!
Hangin' out at the beach with Rachel!
We packed in our oysters for some yummy appetizer...
Jill & Piper cooking up a mean meal... I think I took in too many oysters and beer as these ladies weren't as hungry for oysters as I was. So my 3 mile run back was a LOT more painful than my run in as my belly had 4 beers and at least a dozen oysters swishing around. At one point, my face went numb...
The next morning we took the tandem bike for a cruise around Oakland. Around Lake Merritt then ended up at Jack London Square's Farmer's Market. After listening to a guy jamming on a bluesy steel guitar we headed up to Telegraph Beer Garden for my first beer of this Father's Day! BTW, the Telegraph Beer Garden is awesome!
During Kai's nap, Kimbo let me go on a Coker ride for Father's Day. But the day being Father's day and all, I wanted to be with Kai as much as possible. So I decided to ride up to the Tilden Steam Trains via Redwood Mtn Biking Loop. That was a challenging uphill. But my timing was perfect, and as soon as Kimbo got Kai dressed and ready after his nap, she drove up to the steam trains, 1 min after my arrival.
On the way up, I saw this... so this became my Father's day gift to Kai... the kiddos love it!
Here's Kai's first lap on the steam train! Choo Choo!
Then we drove just down the hill to Codornices Park to see if Kai could handle the concrete slide... he did it , but was "all done" after his first ride with papa. I think Kimbo got a pic, but it's on her phone... so here's a pic off the interwebs.
Then we ended up eating pizza at Jupiter's! A great ending to a great weekend. Phew, that was a lot of bikes & fun...
