You shouldn't be able to drive for 9 hours and be in the same state the whole time.

After spending 9 hours in a car on Thursday (plus some time standing on I-5 due to a tire blow out) and 8 hours in a car on Sunday, I was ready for a good workout yesterday.

I did arm weights and went to spin class. Spin felt less like torture that it had been lately; I think because I actually got outdoors on my bike this weekend. I think I can only handle just spinning for so long before I snap and it seems like the worst thing ever. Even though I love my spin instructor.

For weightlifting lately, I've been trying to do mainly free weights instead of weight machines. I think that I'm getting stronger faster, but maybe that's all in my imagination. I've kind of slacked on keeping track of how much I've been lifting, so I need to start that again.

On a different subject:

When you picture California, do you immediately think of this?

Or this?

The fact that I live in Lake Taco and my boyfriend lives in Santa Barbara means that I spend a lot of time driving through the state. While it's perfectly true that California has palm trees, sandy beaches and plenty of "celebrities", California offers so much more.

One of the (many) nice things about spring is the fact that I could do the whole drive in the daylight hours. So here it is, a picture tour of the (non-beachy) parts of California:

Heading out of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Highway 50 is windy, narrow and gorgeous

The American River running along

Now we're into the really gorgeous part of California. The Central Valley.

Psych! The Central Valley is long and pretty boring. I also got to drive through a windstorm next to a CAFO. That was a lovely 15 minutes of driving through wind-blown cow shit.

This is about an hour before I had a blow out doing 75 mph. Scary! Luckily, a nice man named Pedro who barely spoke English stopped an helped me. He pointed to my tire and said, "No es bueno." Even with my limited Spanish skills, I knew what that meant. But he quickly changed my tire and I was on my way again. Yay for Strawberry's full-size spare!

Now that's something that's recognizably Californian - In-n-Out. Sorry about the blurry picture. I was trying to be a little bit safe with my picture taking/driving and didn't really worry about focusing too much.

I'm getting so close! Only two more hours. This is just outside of San Luis Obispo. Some people might think I'm crazy, but I think that SLO is one of the prettiest parts of Cali. My PNW soul just loves the green.

First glimpse of the ocean & palm trees at Pismo Beach.

I'm rocketing down the final stretch of 101. I'm almost there!

What? Back into the hills again. I wanted to drive along the ocean with my windows down, blasting Beach Boys.

Oh well, pretty soon I will be in Santa Barbara sitting on the beach, enjoying the warm sunshine...Oh wait...it's foggy and gross.

I guess June Gloom is here early.

Three Things Thursday- FML edition

Today is moving day...which I hate.

Today I had to go to the Lady Doctor...which I hate.

Today I got a flat tire (on moving day!)...which I hate.

Ugggghhhhh...and since my car is packed full of stuff (moving day), I couldn't even access my tire changing tools. Despite hating flat tires, I actually kind of like changing tires. But, due to the lack or access to tire changing implements and the fact that I was at work (and supposed to be working) I just said "eff this", called AAA and let them deal with it.

Luckily, Strawberry has a full size spare, so I can finish moving and then deal with getting the other tire fixed.

In cheerier news, this was in my parking lot at work this morning:

I'm not sure that I would let my hypothetical children be tested for autism in that creeper vehicle.

Three things for Thursday

1. Dan was supposed to be on his way up here right now, but plans fell through, and he is not coming this weekend. He better get me the blender I asked for for VDay. But, on the bright side, I will be going to Santa Barbara next weekend! And my friend Katie is coming with me, so I don't have to drive by myself. Time to make some mix cds!

2. I finally decided what to name my car. Her name is Strawberry. Incidentally, strawberries are also the food I could eat the most of in one sitting. I ate two pounds in about an hour driving back from Mammoth last summer.

3. Tickets are now on sale for the 6th Annual Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival. You can go here to buy tickets, watch video clips, and learn more about the Film Fest. If you are in Tahoe, you can also buy tickets at the Alliance, MacDuff's, Patagonia, Gaia Licious, Tahoe Rock Shop, and Sierra Ski & Cycle Works. This is the first event I'm putting on for work, and I'm really excited about it! We have awesome films, a great venue, cool giveaways, and it supports a great cause. I hope if you are in the area you can make it! March 11th, MontBleu Casino, 7 - 10 pm. Kids welcome!

Since I was planning on having visitors this weekend, I also planned to do a long work out today just in case I had a little too much fun this weekend. I planned on going to spin, doing some lifting, and then going to yoga. However, after the elliptical and spin class, my knees were majorly complaining. Stupid stair climber. No more for me. So I decided to head home and ice instead. So now I am finishing off my toffee with frozen peas on my teas and tea in my hand. Lovely evening.

Does anyone else have Lincoln's Birthday off tomorrow? I do. Getting all of the holidays off is one of the benefits of nonprofits I have to say. I'm planning on sleeping in, addressing my floordrobe situation, making soup, and taking a long walk, enjoying the sun and the bare roads because SNOW is in the forecast.

Happy Birthday, Lincoln! Thanks for the day off!

I bought a car!

I have a job, a place to live, and a car!

OMG a SUV

I'm going to look at a car tomorrow! Wish me luck.

It's like I don't even care about the environment.

For serious, though, I wish I didn't have to buy a car. I wish that I could be car free again. But South Lake Tahoe is not a walk-friendly city. Especially in the winter. Businesses aren't required to shovel their sidewalks so the only place to walk is on the shoulder of the highway. There are exactly 2 bus routes that run every half hour and are almost always late.

Keep Tahoe Blue? Maybe Tahoe would stay more blue if everyone didn't have to drive everywhere.

At least I'll be able to ride my bike when spring arrives (in mid-June).

My dad

I was talking to my dad on the phone yesterday. This is a very common occurence. Sometimes we talk multiple times a day. This is mostly because we have unlimited family minutes and jobs where much of our time is spent not doing anything. So, anytime one of us finds out something that the other one finds interesting, we call the other one. For example, yesterday I called my dad to tell him that Haggen bought the Larry's Market in Redmond and also that Errol Knight signed to play with the Bellingham Slam. He said, "Speaking of athletes...I saw that Jake Locker is playing baseball in Bellingham this summer."

I replied in the affirmative, and he went on to outline a plan. The superintendent at the school he teaches at is from Ferndale and knows the Locker family. My dad wants to give him my picture to pass on to Jake Locker, and then have me hang out at the Bellingham Bells games. To quote my dad, "Marrying Jake Locker would even be better than going to business school!"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha forever.

This is mostly funny because this is the last thing that you would ever expect to come out of my dad's mouth. He is constantly reminding me that I probably shouldn't get married until I am at least 35 (despite the fact he got married at 24), and whenever my mom asks if I'm dating anyone, he says, "Janet! It's PERFECTLY fine if she isn't dating anyone." Apparently, this deal seems too good to pass up. He's probably even pay for the wedding. (He once offered me $5000 if I promised to elope when I do get married.)

In this tribute to my dad post, I will list five important things that he has taught me:

5. B.E.E.F.: Balance, eyes, elbow, follow through. These are the four essentials for a good shot in basketball. While I am not a great basketball player, I do have a nice looking shot.

4. How to easily convert from Celcius to Farenheight in my head. This is especially useful since I mostly listen to Canadian radio. This is how you do it: you multiply the temperature in Celcius by 9/5 and add 32. "Hey!" you may think, "that's not easy!" Well, the secret is estimation. Let's say The Beat 94.5 tells you that the temperature is 19C. To figure that out, I would just say, "Well, 20C is pretty close to 19C." (My dad also taught me the importance of 'pretty close' in math.) 20 x 9/5 (reduce 20 to 4 and cancel the 5) is 36 + 32 is 68F. So you're off a few degrees. Whatever. This isn't analytical chemistry.

Sidenote: this may be why I did not do very well in analytical chemistry.

3. How to shoot a gun. When I was seven, I got a bb gun for Christmas. Mind you, I did not ask for a bb gun. I guess he just wanted me to be ready to inherit a small armory.

2. How to change a tire and the oil. I am rather uncoordinated and messy. If there is a slight possibility that a person could get dirty doing something, it's guarenteed that I will get dirty doing it. My dad said I had to change the oil in my car as part of the 'responsibility of driving'. I think he mostly just liked to laugh at me when I was entirely covered in old motor oil. Same with changing a tire. Les Schwab will put on or take off your snow tires for free. However, it's even freer to make your daughter do it as part of the 'responsibility of driving'. I have had to change a flat tire several times, and I was very glad that I did know how. Thanks, Dad!

1. How to put on my socks. This he learned from John Wooden. First off, you always wear 2 pairs. The first pair you put on inside out, so the seams don't rub on your feet. The second pair absorbs your sweat and keeps your feet dry. You must be very careful that there are no lumps or bumps. Your socks must be absolutely smooth before the shoes go on. I wore my socks like that until I was about 15. I still feel a little guilty when I only wear one pair of socks, and when I do get blisters, I know it's my fault.