Lagoon Day

Each summer Jared gets Lagoon passes from a dentist he does work for. And we are the beneficiaries. By "we" I mean Brian, Kali, Caleb, Emi, me, plus Jared, Jackson, Tanner, Annie and her friend, whose name I never quite got; I think it was Ailee.

I couldn't get pictures of everything, but here are a few that I did capture.

We have to start with a couple of Lagoon's traditional rides, like the brain Scrambler. 

It's a jarring, jerky ride, but you can't go to Lagoon without riding the old used-to-be The White Roller Coaster. 

Here's Caleb on another of Lagoon's traditional (by that I mean, old) rides. 

The Three Musketeers waiting in line for Colossus. 

Doing the loop. 

And the final run to the finish. 

Next we rode Wicked, one of my favorites. See if you can figure out what's happening in the next few pictures. On this ride we are propelled straight up at a high speed. Then we whip over the top and drop straight down, also at high speed. Then we do some loops and other stomach churners. 

Here we are going up. 

Over the top, I think. 

On the second up swoop. 

Are Caleb's eyes closed? 

Did you also see from these four pictures what happened?

Jackson retrieved his hat from Lost and Found a couple hours later. 

When we visited Lagoon last year, the new ride, Cannibal, was supposed to be open, but it was not until later in the summer. So this year it was a must-ride. And it was worth the wait. 

After Cannibal, I swapped kids with Brian and joined up with Jared and his two, and we headed for Rattlesnake Rapids to cool off. 

This is a relaxing and fun ride.

Everyone loves Rattlesnake Rapids. 

Even Annie liked it for the first time (it wasn't so popular with her in years past). 

Watch out for the water fall. 

Here it comes! And the boat is turning. Who will get the wettest? 

Tanner will. 

Waiting to ride the Dragon. 

Exiting the Dragon and heading back to the pavilion where we had hamburgers and potato salad, all compliments of Jared's dentist friend. 

I know you can't see them well, but this is Jared, Jackson and Caleb on another roller coaster ride whose name I can't remember. 

They're in the second seat from the back, I think, of this car that's rounding the last curve. 

And that's Lagoon on the day before Father's Day. 

Scottsdale, Arizona, in May

I attended a conference called The (Mastery) Summit  in Scottsdale, Arizona last week. I decided to drive my car--the company pays up to the equivalent of a plane ticket for mileage--take my bike and find a nice trail to ride. I also decided to invite Randy, since I do have two road bikes, and he's usually up for a road trip.

The conference lasted two days. It was a good meeting for me. I learned a lot about the growing multisite/DSO dental business and rubbed shoulders with some of the people who are making it happen. 

On Thursday night, Randy and I parked in this garage at Scottsdale's Fashion Square Mall, ate dinner, and watched "Captain America: Civil War." Great movie. Very expensive: $14, but nice recliner seats.

By the way, Scottsdale is a really nice place. This is only the second time I've been to this part of Arizona, and I decided that if I had to live in Arizona, which I prefer not to, I'd live in Scottsdale. Actually, Flagstaff would be my first choice, but in the Phoenix area I'd pick Scottsdale. 

On Friday Nate (my coworker) and I tore down our little booth at the show, and I was out of there by 3 p.m. I had told Randy I'd be back around 3:30, and he wasn't in the room when I returned, so I took a little bike ride about 10 miles up the Arizona Canal, which was close to the Doubletree, where we stayed. Scottsdale was 105 degrees on Friday afternoon. The most interesting thing I saw on the ride was this sign for Botox Happy Hour. It made me smile, which is more than the customers of this establishment can do. 

Nate's dad lives in Phoenix and has a lemon tree in his yard. He and Nate picked about 40 lemons on Thursday evening, and I took them back to American Fork for Nate. Of course, I also got a few. These things are huge. Like the size of grapefruit. And sweet.

On Friday evening Randy and I visited Scottsdale's Old Town, where we ate at a smokehouse restaurant. I had the smoked prime rib with goat cheese mashed potatoes and broccoli rabe. Yum. We then wandered to another place for some mango and roasted pistachio gelato. 

Old Town is an interesting mix of old buildings with restaurants, bars, art shops and golf cart taxis everywhere. Didn't seem like many people for a Friday night. 

Just some Old Town art. 

Cactus moon. 

On Saturday morning we got up about 5:30 and headed for a bike ride on the Indian Bend Wash multiuse trail. We started at the Westworld of Scottsdale parking lot, north of the hotel several miles--and wandered down a bunch of meaningless roads. We finally caught the trail near Cholla Street and rode 18 miles past golf courses and pretty little lakes to Tempe Town Lake Marina. The ride and trail were really nice. Tempe Town Lake was disappointing, not nearly as nice as the rest of the trail. I then headed back to find the car, but the battery on my phone/GPS was about dead, and I had no idea where the car was. Luckily the path passed the Doubletree, so I was able to stop and pick up an extended phone battery. With that I was able to find the car. Total bike ride was about 42 miles. Randy took a more leisurely ride from the lake back to hotel, where I met him. I discovered that quite a few people were on the trail when we went south, but hardly anybody was on the trail when I went back to the north. I assume everyone around Phoenix does their outdoor stuff between 6 and 8 a.m. Then it's inside, where there's air conditioning. All in all, hauling the bikes all the way to Scottsdale and back was worth it. I really enjoyed the ride. 

After the ride we showered, checked out of the hotel and ate lunch at Waffle House--who knew Arizona had Waffle Houses. Then we headed to Apache Junction (kind of a sad little town) and Lost Dutchman State Park in the Superstition Mountains. The "Lost Dutchman" was a German miner who supposedly found a valuable gold mine, but no one knows where it is. Several people have died looking for it. 

This place is rich with cactus. 

Lots of cactus. 

This is called Jumping Cactus, because people believe the cactus balls jump off the tree and latch onto your body. The cactus balls don't really jump, I don't think, but if you barely brush one you'll have several spines stick to your skin. Not deep, but very securely, and painfully anchored. I know. And if you pick up a cactus ball by the part that doesn't have spines, you'll find it does have spines. They're just so small and fine that you can't see them. But you can feel them. I know this, too. 

I was hoping to see a lot of cactus flowers, but this was about it. Well, this and some in planters in Old Town. 

Looking out from the Superstition Mountains. 

We hiked a trail that looped about 2-1/2 miles and climbed 500 feet for a pretty good view of the valley and a test of our bike-ride-wearied legs. 

I think this sheriff is looking for another Lost Dutchman Mine seeker. Or something else. 

Looking toward the Superstition Mountains. 

This is the view from a bench at the top of the trail. A family was planting a couple of tiny pecan trees here to see if they'd grow. Good luck. This place is very dry, and I think it has hungry cottontail rabbits. 

The Superstitions at sunset. 

The mountains to the west of the Superstitions. I'm not sure, but this may be the Usery Mountains. 

On Saturday night we stayed at the Chaparral Suites Hotel, which is being remodeled into the Embassy Suites. The rooms have all been redone, but the office and other areas are still under construction, so we got a very nice room with great a breakfast for a great price, a nicer room at half the price of the Doubletree (which was plenty nice, with a patio and lawn).

San Francisco April 2016

I attended an endodontist conference in San Francisco, so Chieko tagged along and we added a minivacation to the jaunt. 

Our first stop was Santa Ramen in San Mateo. This used to be my favorite ramen shop in North America, but there's now Tosh's in Salt Lake that is on par but has better and thicker pork. I also like a place in Vancouver and Monta in Las Vegas. 

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, heading to Point Reyes National Seashore on a cloudy late Thursday afternoon.

Passing Muir Woods, a redwood park that's close and maybe crowded but worth visiting and a pleasant walk if you're ever in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The road winds and winds through the coastal mountains to the coast.

Point Reyes is a beautiful place that we've never been to before, even though we lived in the Bay Area for a couple years. Someplace we need to come back to when the weather is sunnier.

Driftwood.

The National Seashore preserve. 

We were heading to Scoma's in Sausalito for dinner, but it was getting pretty late for a big seafood dinner, so we stopped at the first restaurant we passed, The Seafood Peddler. The fish and chips were very good. Nice, light and crispy. 

I did attend the conference on Friday, including a reception at the Exploratorium in the evening. You should take your kids there sometime. 

For lunch we picked a nearby Japanese place recommended by Yelp. The food was very good, and we considered coming back here for dinner. The restaurant is called Ginto.

The conference was in the Mascone Center West. Next door, in the Intercontinental Hotel, was U.S. President Barrack Obama, here for a couple of fund raisers. Thus the street was shut down with police and Secret Service plentiful. 

People staying in the Intercontinental had to go through a screening at the end of the street, including having their cars thoroughly checked by Secret Service and what I assume was a bomb-sniffing dog. They then had to go through another security checkpoint inside the hotel. 

For dinner on Thursday, we went back to Yelp and thought Hakkasan looked pretty good. Unfortunately, I forgot to check the prices before we went in. 

Chieko said she will never be able to eat dim sum again, because this was so good. No other dim sum will ever measure up. 

Just me eating. 

These spare ribs were smoked in tea leaves, or something like that. They were more than scrumptious. And fall-off-the bone tender. 

I almost never order dessert in restaurants, but we had already spent so much on dinner that another $15 for a small shared dessert didn't seem extravagant. It was worth it. 

Two very tall guys welcomed us to the Exploratorium in the evening. 

On Saturday we headed south on Highway 1. Lunch was at Johnny's Harbourside in Santa Cruz.

The artichoke cream soup was ok, but I have to say my mixed-seafood tacos hit the spot. 

Between Watsonville (strawberry capital) and Castroville (artichoke capital) is Moss Harbor and a great produce stand with local, very fresh strawberries; 10-for-a-dollar artichokes; and a lot of other fresh fruits and vegetables. 

We bought a pile of strawberries, and a few even made it home the next day before we finished them off. 

Now you see it. 

Now you don't. 

The artichokes are about ready for picking here. I think they are harvested twice a year. 

This cauliflower field was recently cleaned out. 

Surfers near Carmel. 

The first Prius I've ever driven. I was impressed by the power--I guess electric motors have a lot of torque. I didn't check the gas mileage, but each time I looked at the computer it said we were getting 45 to 50 MPG. 

17-Mile Drive is worth the $10 fee.

This coastal ground cover is apparently an invasive (but welcome, I think) species from Africa. 

I never tire of watching waves crash on rocks. 

I wonder if we can afford to retire in one of these homes on the oceanside golf course. 

The deer wander the golf course for free. I remember once when a golfer yelled at John for stepping on the course to take a picture. 

Cliche or coastal icon? 

This is the Lone Cyprus on 17-Mile Drive. 

And this is the lone tourist. 

The sand at Carmel by the Sea is very white, and the sun came out to make it a perfect day at the beach. 

See the sun reflecting off the waves? We really did have sunshine. 

This is a stream crossing the beach. 

This home is not only huge and right on the beach, it also borders the Pebble Beach golf course (the edge of which I'm standing on to take this picture). 

I can't visit the beach without getting my feet wet. 

The last time we were here with my parents, this house had just been remodeled and was for sale for about $5.5 million, if I remember correctly. It has a peek-a-boo view of the beach. 

We were hoping to catch the sunset as we drove back between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, but the further north we went the cloudier the sky became. We did catch a small hole in the sky, "big enough to patch a Dutchman's pants," as my mother used to say. 

For dinner we found Gombei Japanese restaurant in San Jose's Japan Town. Great food at a great price. Thank you, Yelp. We will be back here. 

Sunday morning was drizzly, and we didn't have a lot of time before out flight home. We were going to visit a peony garden, but it looked to be too far away. Then we found that San Jose has a rose garden near the airport. 

Yup, that's me in front of the red "Dick Clark" roses. 

Chieko. 

Heading to the exit.