Gotta Go Hiking

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

Wednesday the 29th of May was a fun day for me and my girlfriend.  We'd been surfing in the mornings starting Saturday the 25th through Tuesday the 28th.  The surf looked awful, so we went hiking in the afternoon instead.  This hiking trip was training for Montana later on this summer.

We went down to Irvine, Ca and hit the Shady Canyon Trail by starting at The Quail Hill Loop Trail parking lot.  We went off to the left, instead of following the usual path.  It was a good hike, really steep at the beginning.  We don't do this side of Quail Hill often, so it was a good change.

We hiked a total of 3.6 miles in just over 1 hour's time.  You can view the Training Peaks file here.

Give Forward - Striving for Julia

Striving for Julia

$3,298 raised of $40,000

A friend of mine from Alabama is involved in helping a friend of his raise money for the little girl pictured here.
Julia is fighting cancer but her family doesn't have all the necessary money to make ends meet.

Please read below and if you are feeling generous, please donate.

Thanks,
Clayton

My name is Mike Minton and I live in Brooks, KY. I personally am not a cyclist, but I am writing with a huge request.

I have been designated a de facto fundraiser for a little 7 year-old girl named Julia Warren who is bravely battling stage-3 sarcoma, which is a rare and aggressive form of soft tissue cancer. She is currently undergoing treatment at Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, MD., to include chemotherapy, radiation, and eventually surgery.

She and her family are staying there from Tennessee, and they started this journey with a total savings of $3,000.00. They are being housed at a place close to the hospital called Hope for Tomorrow, at the cost of $20.00/day. The plan was for the family to originally stay in Baltimore for 6 months of chemo, but with addition of radiation, they are looking at a 9 month stay now. They have been there since late March.

While there have been a number of fundraising efforts, we’ve barely made a dent in the expected out-of-pocket costs, which are expected to be up to or above $120,000.00. That’s where this letter comes in.

Julia is being raised by her grandparents, Leigh Ann (YaYa) and David Eddy. I went to college with Leigh Ann back in the 90’s, so that’s my connection. Anyway, her grandpa David is friends with a man in Hoover, AL, who owns a cycling shop called Bike Link, and a deputy Sheriff in Jefferson County, AL, Christopher Wilson.

These guys are both dedicated cyclists, and have come up with the idea of having a fundraising ride for Julia which has been temporarily dubbed “Julia’s Century,” in which they will raise funds via dollars-per-mile and registration fees. They are still working out the details at this time.

That gave me the idea, though, of a possible nationwide ride for Julia which could help cover some of the out-of-pocket expenses which this family is facing during these tumultuous times. I wanted to see if there might be an expected interest in your community to help this child through holding such an event.

If you would like to learn more about Julia, there is a Facebook community called Striving for Julia at: https://www.facebook.com/StrivingForJulia?fref=ts, and also an online fundraising page at: https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/xc72/strivingforjulia. You can read much more about Julia there, and keep up with her progress as well.

This is obviously still in the planning stage, but I think it would be a great way to help this little girl who deserves the best fighting chance we can give her. If you have any question, please feel free to email me at maminton@iccable.com, or call . I’ll be happy to answer any questions I can. I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Mike Minton

San Diego Zoo

Original photo by ConspiracyofHappiness

On Tuesday the 23rd of April, my dad, my girlfriend, and I went down to Balboa Park in San Diego and visited The San Diego Zoo.

Similar to our trip on the previous day to The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, we walked and walked and walked all day.  The Zoo is built on the side of a hill.  There is very little flat.  When you are walking around the zoo, you are either going up or you are going down.  It tough walking, but made for some pretty cool views into the exhibits.

I would compare The San Diego Zoo to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium in its grandeur.  They have a little bit of every thing and most of the exhibits are very open for a zoo.  Granted, it doesn't compare to The Safari Park, which in turn doesn't compare to the real thing.

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

I think the coolest thing we learned from the trip was that the Polar Bears in The Polar Bear Plunge exhibit are totally acclimated to California now.  They won't go swimming in their water unless the water is kept at a balmy 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  What a bunch of weather whimps!  HA!

To end the trip we took the gondola ride from the Polar Bear Plunge back to the park entrance.  That was really neat.  Getting a bird's eye view of some of the exhibits, most notably the Gorillas, was cool.

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Original photo by Ernie Tyler

On Monday the 22nd of April, my girlfriend, my dad, and I went down to Escondido, CA and visited The San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

We walked and walked and walked all day.  It was very enjoyable.  We saw the whole park and then some, for sure.

On The African Tram Safari Ride around the open space we had an awesome tour guide named Alex.  He was very energetic and funny.  He reminded both my girlfriend and I of Mr. Ping.  He is Po's dad from Kung Fu Panda, who is voice acted by none other than James Hong.

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

We took in one of the shows called The Frequent Flyers Bird Show.  They had a couple of Harris's Hawks, an Eagle Owl, a Secretarybird,  three Helmeted Guineafowl name Larry, Curly, and Mo, a blue Macaw, and a Red River Hog that wanted to be part of the show.  They played The Angry Birds Theme every time the hog came out.  It was an excellent show.

While walking around that area of the park we came upon one of the keepers walking a Cheetah and the Cheetah's dog.  It was really cool to see.  They pair the dogs with the cheetahs to keep the big cats calm.  It really works too.  A fly made the Cheetah jump about a mile, but it's dog partner was just kind of like "whatever" so the Cheetah instantly calmed down.  It was cool to witness.

Speaking of Cheetahs they have a Cheetah Run every day at 3:30pm.  We just missed it unfortunately.  Though we did get to listen to them talk about the Cheetahs and which one amongst the cats at the park hold the fastest time for the set distance.  It was still really neat.

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

We ended our day by hiking up to see The Tigers.  It was really cool because one was out and about.  An Egret thought it would be a good idea to get a drink from the Tiger's watering hole.  That is until the tiger took interest just before it landed.  It was really funny to see the abort process.  The Egret lived to see another day.

Saturday Surf Session

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

For today's Saturday Surf Session I went to. . . Oceanside Harbor!  Yes. I know.  You're all like, "what?"  "Wiskey Tango Foxtrot?"  "Why didn't you go to Anderson Street?"

Well, kids, I felt like it.  Actually, my girlfriend and I went down to her parent's house to hang out.

This was a good weekend to hang out at her parent's place, since it was Mother's Day on the 12th.  Plus, Sunday the 12th also saw the start of The Amgen Tour of California for 2013.  We got to see the very beginning of the 1st stage in Escondido.

Original Photo by Clayton Plummer

Any ways, surfing at Oceanside Harbor.  I watch this break on Surfline often.  More often than not, the waves here have a fun shape even when Surfline is calling it otherwise.

I brought my SUP out this time, since the surf was on the small side. Plus the waves at the harbor tend to have shape as I mentioned before.  So, a longboard is fun to ride here because you can hot-dog it, hang ten, hang five, headstands, etc.  I had enough time on the waves to think about what I wanted to do.  It was a lot of fun.

The water was warm and CLEAR!  I could see the bottom, all the little fish, and the seaweeds floating around.  I even saw dolphins as I was surfing.

I caught a bunch of waves.  Some had their way with me.  One in particular sent me over the falls with the lip.  In my effort to bail I flipped the board and as I dove to the safety of the backside of the wave, caught one of the fins square in the middle of my right quadricep.  OUCH!  I have a perfect picture-book contusion.  It was still a really fun day.  I had one set that kept trying to buck me off the board going forward.  That didn't work.  So, the next little ripple of a wave caught the board and I went back-steping, rolling the windows down, off the back of the board.  I wish I had the whole scene on film (should have brought the GoPro out) because it was funny.  I came up out of the water laughing at myself.

Until next time!  Keep it Rubber Side Down!

Gotta go Hiking

Original photo by dlofink

Saturday the 20th of April was a busy day for me, my dad, and my girlfriend.  Besides surfing in the morning, we went hiking later that afternoon.  This hiking trip was training for Montana later on this summer.

We went down to Irvine, Ca and hit the Shady Canyon Trail by starting at The Quail Hill Loop Trail parking lot.  We made our way out to the Boomer Canyon Community Park and did a small loop there before returning home.

We hiked a total of 6.8 miles in just over 2 hour's time.  You can view the Training Peaks file here.

Similar to our Friday hike in Fullerton, Ca on the Juanita Cooke Greenbelt, we saw a lot of wildlife.  The highlight of this trip was a couple of roadrunners.  Technically we had three different sightings.  My dad and I suspected that two were the same bird, since one sighting was on the way out and the other was on the way home in roughly the same vicinity.

Original Photo by Clayton Plummer

Saturday Surf Session

Original photo by Tami Veldura

For today's Saturday Surf Session I went to. . . ANDERSON STREET!  Yay!  I know, surprising.  I really do like the wave and the showers.

Instead of my normal standup paddle board, I surfed a board my brother gave me a year ago when he was here visiting from Australia.

It is a Dead Kooks Hell Hound.  The board is a retro 70's single fin pin-tail board.  When I first got it I didn't really like it.  Mostly, I wasn't able to surf it.

I have been surfing a LOT more since a year ago.  Plus, my Valdez Tanker of a SUP board makes the 6'11" Hell Hound feel very light and responsive.  I wish we lived closer to a point break surf spot.  This board would be AWESOME on a good sized day at a point break.  It's fast enough to get out of trouble, has all kinds of hold in the pocket, and would cruise all day on a point break wave.

I still had a lot of fun.  I caught all kinds of waves, some that I didn't think I was going to make the drop on.  It was a funky day as far as surf because of the low tide really early in the morning, swell direction coming in at 180 to 190 degrees out of the south, and then the wind picking up as the fog blew off.  Still, the waves had a nice little a-frame peak to them and could be ridden for more than just the bottom turn, which is typically the case on a bigger day at Anderson Street.