Merrrrry Christmas 2006

<-- near Vacaville
Capitol park -->


We went to Sacramento. Everyone was asking why, but they always say that. We started at Fairfield, a pretty little town, and cycled to Winters first. Leafless trees sat close to some of the road, and opened out into freshly ploughed farmlands. The road was quiet and beautiful, getting busy on the approach to Davis and through to Sacramento, partly running right next to the stinking 3 lane highway 80.


<-- Discovery Park, Sacramento
Amtrak Capitol Corridor is a great train line -->

Davis was a pleasure being the only platinum graded friendly town in the whole US. Sacramento has an excellent rail museum, and very pretty suburbs, but downtown is scarred by the Interstate-5 which unfortunately belches stink and much noise into most of downtown and old town.

San Jose Sharks Ice Hockey Dec 21 2006

This is a pretty exciting spectator sport. With about 3 sets of players being substituted regularly, the pace is furious. Regular crunches into the perspex is great to see, kinda like gladiators. Players grab each others sticks and jerseys; they need a video umpire damn it.

Oh, and my team, the sharks, went down about 3 to not much.

San Diego Dec 2 & 3 2006

<-- about 10k's cycle along cycleways to Mission Beach. More paths run around Mission bay.

4 jet engines not subject to civilian pollution control by the looks. It's big. San Diego is in the background -->

We got cheapie plane tickets a while back, so this weekend we're heading for the ocean, and San Diego bay. There's a big naval base with the Pacific fleet. Ocean Beach bars are a bit wild, and plenty of the people look like they're from Metallica or Guns and Roses.

We hired bikes for the whole weekend, and guees what? San Diego is the number one large US city with regards bike riding. There's trails going around the bays, and along the beaches. All very spectacular, and even in winter, very pleasant.
<-- nice break dude

50 oz. beer, about 1.5litres, just enough to get a glow on -->

Utah 26 Nov 06

<-- the Needles, Canyonlands
Salt Lake City Great Temple -->

After spending all day yesterday in Arches NP, we're back for more in the morning. It's a real shame we don't have more time, so we have to choose between seeing a lot too quickly, or picking a few places to look at properly.

<-- Delicate Arch, Arches NP

Hanksville, Utah -->

Moab, Utah - Arches National Park - 24 Nov 06

<-- Park Ave. Where's Wally? I'm just below the middle of this shot.

Marie at doggy do rock -->


Moab is surrounded by crazy red rock mountains. Nearby is the snowy La Salle Mountains, and Arches National Park. This park has Delicate Arch, which features on a lot of Utah number plates. This place is just like a drive through the valley of the giants, which some impressive arches thrown in.

<-- perched on a toast slice

Double O arch -->

Utah

<-- near Spanish Fork amazing Canyonlands.

Check the road on the right to give you perspective -->


Utah is an awsome place, and is worth a couple of posts just to get all the pictures in. We started off in Salt Lake City, and picked up a car. Just nearby snow mountains. It would feel a bit more Alpine, if there wasn't 2 or 3 oil refineries right in the middle of town. That's one thing they don't usually talk about.

Night one was lovely Provo. There's ski fields nearby, and mountains next to town. A scenic drive took us to Moab via Canyonlands National Park.


Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. This has an arch, Roadrunner cartoon formations on the left, and a huge set of huge canyons -->

Bundy Rum

<-- Bundaberg Rum at the airport on the way back

If you've been to Bundaberg, you know you won't be seeing a polar bear. It's the trademark of Bundy Rum anyway, and I think this is a great play on the Australian Coat of Arms.

Having a ball

<-- Willie all 3 -->

We dropped in on Ceals and the fam. We did some trampolining, and stayed for tea.


Tess's eye -->



<-- my eye

Belle's eye -->

A week at home

We had to go home due to family emergency. This was hard, but nice to hear stories about a well loved man.

<-- Marie's home

Saturday night before Halloween

<-- guess which house welcomes trick or treaters?
getting into these pants was a good trick -->

Twas the Saturday night before Halloween, and there were trick or treaters aplenty down at the Castro. If I didn't say so already, everyone is so friendly down there.

<-- scary Halloween penguins

They really put an effort into dressing up, and a huge amount of fun. This is one festival we should get going back home.

hellraiser having hell good time -->

Sandy comes to town

<-- Sandy and Marie
Farm near Gilroy -->

Sandy came to town, for an HR conference in Vegas. Some people tore themselves away from the glitz and actually turned up, so it went pretty ok for her.

We also went down to Livermore, a pretty little town, to check it out. Also we popped down to Gilroy for the factory outlets and more fresh fruit off the farm.

<-- Heck of an RV in Livermore

Another day at work...

So what's been happening lately? Just been working. My work is making those annoying pop-up surveys. Some people who really hate us, and have nothing better to do, take the time to give us some feedback. And thank the lord that they do, because it is hilarious. Whenever I get to read these, I have no interest in why they like their SUV, but I love reading swear words.

<-- DanO's got about 10,000 emails in the inbox, no joke!

Weekend in Mendocino, Oct 7

<-- beautiful Anderson Valley Brewing co.
Us and Willie Wonker->

The weekend in Mendocino was sensational. We started in Mendocino, where they filmed "Murder she wrote". The following day, we wandered the cliffs, checked out Fort Bragg. They filmed "Overboard" here.

Drove through forest, dropped in on Anderson Brewing Co. Met some people at the bar, who persuaded Mr Willie Wonker himself to take us on a tour of the facility. The old copper vats are resplendently glimmering. Saw Fort Ross, an old Russian outpost where they sealed for a bit, until they almost wiped the seals out.

<-- Fort Ross

Oakland Raiders Oct 1, pt. 2

<-- this guys going nowhere
they're there already, uh oh -->

Both me and Mar
ie have have Raiders gear now, and it was a lot of fun, so we'll be back for more.


<-- a catch here is bad news for the men in black Raiders fans take it seriously. Don't argue with this man -->

American Football - the Oakland Raiders

<-- right, so first off you point at the bad guys.
2nd, get ready to throw. Handstand not req'd -->

On Sunday Oct 10, we went to see the greatest American football team in the world: the Oakland Raiders! These guys are working for the common man, unlike those yuppy SF 49'ers with their gold pants. They've only won two more games than us. We're the only team who hasn't won yet from 5 games, but struggling is our strength.

The game was sensational, and we did so well. We were up about 20 nil, but managed to put together enough misses to end up losing. I think we've got the most vocal supporters though, so we're bound to bounce back soon.
<-- Then you throw it, or pass it back.
Then catch it, and try out-run the other 20 dudes -->