Halfie Goes Hiking

It has been a busy week since my last post. It is STAR testing this week, so last week was a whirl of review for my students. We were very busy trying to remember all that we have talked about this year. Hopefully, memories were refreshed, and all is well for my students this week.

Last weekend, Ethan participated in the Santa Cruz Half Marathon. He was hoping for a time of 1 hr. 30 min. The day was especially warm, so I am sure he really appreciated the heat on his run. The course took him through along the coast of Santa Cruz from the boardwalk toward Natural Bridges. He said it was a beautiful run and even snapped a few pictures along the way, which I will add to this. While he was running, I walked the length of the boardwalk along the beach. Then, I walked down the wharf. There was a very curious group of seals just off the wharf. They were all in a circle with their fins out of the water. My guess is that they were all trying to warm themselves up in the early morning sun. They were quite a spectacle, and there was even a baby seal in the middle of the group.

Ethan finished is half marathon in 1 hr. 31 min. He was very pleased with his time. He finished 42nd out of 2,608 participants, and he was 12th in his age group. Despite having run a half marathon, we took a stroll around the boardwalk and had some grub before heading home.

Ethan at the start line...can you find him?

My silly group of seals!

Showing off in formation for the camera!

Ethan finishes the race!

Ethan poses on the wharf with the finish line in the background.

A friendly brown pelican poses for his own photo.

This weekend Ethan and I got out of the house to enjoy some hiking. First, Ethan went to take his Hang 1 (beginner) hang gliding certification test, which he passed! He was very excited. We decided to go to Ed Levin park to check out the hang gliding site there, since it was close to where he had to take his test. We climbed to the top of the 300 ft. hill just to get a look around. There are two other hills that Ethan will eventually be able to glide from.-- a 600 ft. hill and a 1750 ft. hill. He will have to get further certification for those, thank goodness! We took the direct route up the hill, which pointed out how much Halfie is already affecting my breathing! Once we had looked around for a while, we took the longer meandering trail back to the lake. Apparently, the Rotary Club sponsers a city fishing event for kids every year. So, one of the rangers was out getting ready for the event. The lake is pretty small, so we took a quick stroll around before heading home.

On Sunday, we set out for Pinnacles National Monument -- yes, I will post pictures, but I am writing this before my class tonight, and I don't have the photo card with me. This national monument is the site of the edge of an ancient volcano that has been drifting up the CA coast for some time now. It is located south of Hollister on Highway 146. The rock formations at Pinnacles reminded Ethan and I have a place called Meteora that we visited on a trip to Greece. Meteora hide high towering rock formations where monks had built monasteries. The rock formations looked similar to the ones below.

We first took the trail through one of the caves on the site. We didn't have a flahslight, so we bumped knees to rocks a couple of times. These caves are the breeding site for bats, so they are only open part of the year. By May 15th, they will be closed to protect the moms and their new babies. Some of the passage ways were a bit small. At one point we came to a spot that was really low. I had to do the crab walk to get under the rocks. Ethan didn't bother telling me that he had found a way around! Thank goodness I am still flexible enough to crab walk! The resevoir was quite beautiful with rock spires and formations around it. We stopped here and ate the sandwiches we had brought.

We decided from here to go along the trail to an overlook. We took a new trail back to where we had started and we went up the opposite side of the park. Pinnacles is a release site for California Condors, and you could see many of them flying over the peaks of the rock formations. Of course, this trail was in the sun the whole way! Luckily, it wasn't too warm (the brochure advised to come in the spring because summers were too hot!). Nevertheless, I did not to take some "breeze breaks" on the way up. We would get to a curve in the trail where the breeze was blowing, and I would say, "Time for a breeze break." As soon as the breeze calmed down, it was time to get moving again. Ethan was very patient with my slowness -- of course, he has always been patient, being that his legs are twice as long as mine, but I was taking it even slower in consideration of Halfie.

It was a beautiful trip, and I hope that we will go back again with Halfie in tow next year. I will certainly never go there in the summer. The trails (except for the one to the caves) are all very exposed, and it would be way to hot for me in the summer!

I am just moving along with this pregnancy. I am still feeling really good, and other than needing to wear some maternity pants now and the realization while hiking that I don't have quite the lung capacity that I used to, I am not feeling much different yet!

Tonight is my last Master's class! WOO HOO! We do have one more class, but it is the presentation of our Action Research Projects (think thesis in practice) that we have been working on over the past two years. That will take place next week. This is our final actual lectured class. I am very excited to have this finished. My graduation is on May 23rd. My partner, Suzanne, and I have decided to walk in the graduation for kicks! Of course that means that the already heat-intolerant preganant lady gets to sit in the sun for two hours in a black gown. Oh well, Halfie will be a fetal graduate! I guess I can bear through the heat for two hours.

Well, I best be off to class. Suzanne and I have some papers to check through before class begins, so I should get there a bit early. Until next time, friends!