Discovery Bay vacation Day 7

The last day of vacation is always one with mixed feelings. We were having a good time and enjoyed the time away from all of our responsibilities but on the other hand we needed to get back to those responsibilites in which we knew we were going to have a lot to catch up on. Our last day was spent doing just a teeny bit of shopping in Port Townsend. Christmathanks is only 2 monhs away.  Plus we went golfing again in Port Townsend this time. The first 9 holes were pretty good in the fact that I got 2 birdies!!! Yes, that's right I got 2 birdies on the 8th and 9th hole. In fact on the 8th hole is was almost a hole in one!!! I could have been finished right then and been happy but noooooo we had to play 18 holes. The last 9 holes I felt like I was on a hiking trip with my golf clubs on my back. We climbed and climbed up to the 10th hole. This is the view from the 12 hole. Larry is putting his ball in.

I'm going through my routine and lining up my shot.

After 18 holes hiking around the narrow course in the mountains that ate several of my balls I was saying whew! Larry said "Quoting someone I know and love, I'm glad I did it." He was quoting me after the bike ride. Funny haha...

Sitting on the dock of the bay watching the sea gulls fly away...

reminded me of Larry writing in my annual back in 1975

"Linda, Well it's been a good year. I had a real good time. But you made it even better after I was out of school. You even made it bearable in the hospital. I have a real good time when I'm with you ya know. If you would hurry up and get out of school then you cuold go to the river with me and I could teach you how to water ski. And we could get burned to a crisp together. And we can watch Johnathan Livingston Seagull fly around doing his thing. So you hang in there and keep on looking beautiful you hear. Love, Larry

p.s. Don't do too much flirting at school. And you'd better be at graduation or I'll give you a chance to use your self-defense".

Cute huh? His writing has improved over the 30 + years *wink*.

After riding 34 miles on my bike and golfing 36 holes I felt it would be ok to go to one of the hot spots around Discovery Bay and eat the famous hamburger, a Smitty's burger. This is what greeted us as we walked into the joint. Dollars, dollars everywhere.

Believe it or not Larry and I both ordered the hamburger.

I could only eat 1/2 but it was very tasty! Larry finished it the next day for breakfast.

We were a good exhausted as we finished up our week.

Hi Ho it's back to home we go!

Discovery Bay vacation Day 6

When I go on vacation I enjoy staying busy and being active. I'm not one to do much sitting around during the day when their are things to see and do. One of the things I enjoy is bike riding. Their is a freedom in it as the wind rushes past you as you ride. Plus you can see many more things along the way than you can from a car. I golf because Larry enjoys it and we can experience and enjoy it together. Larry bike rides because I enjoy it and we can experience and enjoy it together. Give and take that's what a marriage is. Towards the end of this bike ride though I'm not sure how much Larry was enjoying it. How much longer was a question I answered a few times. I did some research and found that their is a bike riding trail that eventually is going to be 150 miles long. Parts of it are done already and I decided that I wanted to ride on that so we drove to Sequim to park our car and start riding from the Railroad Park bridge. I didn't have any particular distance in mind but I wanted to have a destination. I just didn't know what yet.

This is where we crossed the river and didn't look back.

The section of trail we rode on rarely was on a street road but we did need to cross some streets along the way. We rode by parks, homes, fields, freeways. We rode up some steep hills, down some hills, up and down around bridges. We rode through forest and best of all I figured out what I wanted my destination to be. Larry is riding on the trail in this picture.

Bagley Creek is an example of several places on the trail where on one side was great the other side was torture going and coming. I should have taken a picture of the hills but the bridge was nicer.

Another bridge. See we're still smiling.

This is it! This is the destination I decided I wanted to ride too. The ocean!

Riding my bike along the ocean was a great adventure for me.

Larry didn't think that when we started the bike ride that this was going to be our destination but then again neither did I. We got to the ocean and Port Angeles was only 2 or 3 miles away, we could see it. It was calling to me. So I said let's DO IT! We rode from Sequim to Port Angeles a distance of 17 miles. And the kicker was... our car was in Sequim so we had to ride back. Total of 34 miles and 5 1/2 hours occasionally stopping to take pictures and grab a hamburger in Port Angeles to eat at the stop in the previous picture for fuel for the way back.

The question remains... am I glad I did it? Yep I am! Even though our thighs burned as we peddled ourselves up those hills and the toosh got a bit sore on the seat. It wasn't anything a nice soak in the Jacuzzi wouldn't help.

Discovery Bay vacation Day 5

On Wednesday April, her two girls, Misty, David and their kids were leaving this day to go back to their home. I am really happy that they were able to come and spend some time and have adventures with Papa J and I. It was low tide before they had to leave so we climbed over the deck banister and down the rocks to the beach right outside our condo to do some exploring. We found lots and lots of baby crabs under the rocks. Jovie and Clara wasn't too thrilled about it. In the Marine center we went to the other day the kids were told over and over again to not put their hands in the crab exhibit because the crabs would pinch their fingers really really hard. It was a lesson that they remembered. Jovie started running away.

Clara would have if her dad wasn't holding her.

Aria and Gabe found a safe way to hold the little crabs to get up close and personal with them.

David says "Look kids a star fish!" Cool!!! Nathan is liking it more than Clara is I do believe.

Grandma J isn't afraid to pick up the starfish.

Jovie is being so brave to come over and touch it.

We had to say our goodbye's and prayed for them to all make it home safely but for Larry and I the day was just beginning. I wish the time would have allowed us to take the kids to the next activity Larry and I went too but it just didn't work out.  We drove through a game farm and saw Lion's and Tiger's and Bear's oh my plus lots more.

Llama

The Yak's had the system down. See car with open window, watch Yak walk quickly to open window, watch Yak with bad breath grab a piece of bread from nice lady and man through the open window.

The Yak's were surrounding the car.

The bears were behind low fences still pretty accessible. We threw them bread and they picked it up with their long, sharp claws and ate it.

I can't remember what this one is called and I threw away my brochure. I thought she was cute the way she was staring at me especially with the fly on her nose. Wanting bread most likely.

The elk were so majestic looking.

We weren't allowed to feed the elk or the buffalo bread. That doesn't mean that they didn't try and come to take some from us anyway. My heart started racing when the buffalo started sticking their head in the car. Scary!

I got the window rolled up in time when another one tried to do it. In fact I had to keep rolling up and down the window. Scary eyes.

I liked the ones that didn't come over to the car.

I'm glad we went but now it's time to do one of Larry's favorite things. Yep, you guessed it.

Golf in Sequim, WA. This picture is us after we played 18 holes.  

A busy but enjoyable day was had. Stay tuned for Day 6. I know I am.

Discovery Bay vacation Day 4

I'm a morning person and so is Aria. We were up and about with almost everyone else still sleeping so we decided to go on a walk down on the beach. We found some cool sea shells and lots and lots of baby crabs. We also went and sat on the dock for a bit. I love the self timer on my camera or I wouldn't be in very many pictures.

Forks Washington, home of Bella and the Cullen's. Ok so call us silly but being so close to Forks which is the location of one of our favorite book series we couldn't resist the urge to go there. Which in reality their isn't much there but hey we can say "been there, done that" and won't need to do it again. I can tell you though that Stephanie Myers did Forks a huge service by choosing their city to locate her books. That city has made it into a tourist stop for sure. Larry talked to someone and they said that over 43,000 people have visited Forks so far in 2010. Crazy huh? So what did we do in Forks? Not much but let me tell you anyway...

We went to a few of the stores to see the merchandise. I got me a fun pair of lounge pants, they're black and it has "Bite Me" on the rear end and the word Forks on the front of one of the legs. Fun huh?

Then we went on a hunt to find Bella's truck. Which isn't really her truck as in the movie but her name is on the front license plate.

I think Jovie and Clara were most excited to be out of their car seats.

Doesn't Bella look mad that I'm having my picture taken with Edward?

Of course Edward doesn't seem all that thrilled either.

I just had to have my picture taken with Jacob too. I want to clarify that Jacob's cardboard cutout was actually falling over when April took the picture. That's why I was holding on to it. 

We found Dr. Cullens parking spot. See what did I tell you this town really is playing up the tourist draw.

La push, home of Jacob, was our next stop which was really nice since we went to the beach. Good thing we aren't vampires.

Jovie and Clara were ready to take off on a hike of their own.

Ooops, we better pray first. *wink*

I want to introduce you to our 11th grandchild. I'm looking forward to meeting "him" and getting to know and love "him". Sending positive "him" thoughts for Misty. The baby is due April 4th and so Misty is about 7-8 weeks along in this picture. Misty is the happy (and not feeling well) momma.

Beautiful girls up on this log at First Beach.

I wanted to share this picture of the view from the Beach.

Nathan and Misty hugging away. Misty had been waiting to get to La Push all day.

I sure love Larry! He's my Jacob. Larry and David were such good sports going with us today. Thanks guys!

The day is done, the day was fun, now to go back home to bed to get up for another one.

Discovery Bay vacation Day 2 & 3

Day 2 of our vacation was on a Sunday so we got up and went to church. We then spent the rest of the day waiting for Misty and her family plus April and her girls to join us for a few days. Yay! I love when any of our family can join us.  When I say we spent the rest of the day waiting for them to join us I really mean it. It took them 3 extra hours to get there because of an accident on the freeway caused the street to be blocked up. I felt soooo bad for them and I'm grateful they got there safely.
Day 3 we drove into Port Townsend and browsed some shops and then went to some Fort where their was a Marine center and beach. April and I took the kids to see the center. It was a highlight in the day for the kids, much better than shopping they thought.
Everyone was brave and touched some of the sea life under the water.
Clara, Jovie, Nathan and April watched Aria be the first brave one. Once we saw that she was perfectly fine everyone else joined in the fun.

The starfish Gabe is touching felt like a soft fluffy down pillow.

Nathan's starfish was more firm.

It's not like you really "had" to touch the sea creatures. You could just play in the water you know. That's the idea Clara had.

April. Ainsley and Larry enjoyed relaxing on the beach. I really liked this picture of these 3.

Larry, David and the kids decided to have a little sand sculpture contest.  Jovie was helping Papa.

Can you guess what it is?

This is David and his kids sand work. Guess?

I think they are both winners:)

After a long hot day their is nothing better than hitting the swimming pool.

We didn't stay up to late because we were making a trip to Forks the next day. So stay tuned to day 4...