Posts tagged ‘Lilly’

May 19

Well Rested

I chose not to write anything yesterday as Kelly and I were strictly observing a proper day of nothing. Squeezed in between Lilly walks, we mostly did a lot of nothing … the highlight of the day being my lengthy afternoon nap. Unlike yesterday, our plan today called for a quick morning walk before prepping Mabel for her return home to Half Moon Bay. The campground we were staying at is located at the far southern end of the park. There are a number of trails scattered throughout the broader park itself and our plan this morning was to complete a four mile loop located at the far northern tip of the park boundary. As an added bonus, the trail is also situated atop the highpoint and offers a nice view of the surrounding areas.

Looking west over the town of San Martin

The trail starts at the Coyote Dam, built during 1935-36 as a WPA effort. Today, the dam overlooks the mostly recreational lake and is open to any pedestrian interested in walking along the topside.

Coyote Lake placard

Moving towards the trail – which starts off easy enough – we were greeted by the warning sign below:

Warning sign at the trailhead

We never did encounter any Mountain Lions or Babcats, but did see a lot of cows and a few wild turkeys.

Approaching the cows

A lone turkey

Anticipating hot temperatures and having read the trail lacked any significant shade, we got an early start. The absence of shade and very little breeze propelled hot temperatures, but Lilly didn’t seem to mind too much as there were numerous gopher holes to stick her nose into. As usual, she found nothing.

The rolling hillside

Lilly waiting for me

Following our hike, we had to hustle in order to pack-up the trailer in advance of the 1pm check-out. Sadly, our relaxing weekend was ending … it was time to go home and begin thinking about the looming workweek. Dang.

Mar 31

Fetch

I didn’t get a chance to take Lilly for a trail run yesterday due to our marathon spring cleaning efforts. The resulting guilt left Kelly and me with a sense of obligation to ensure we took Lilly out for some fun first thing this morning. The sun was shining and the temperatures were balmy so we decided to take her to the beach for a round of fetch.

Off to the races

Returning with her ball

Lilly loves the beach and is instantly excited once she sees the fetch-stick and ball combo and it’s all that we can do to contain her enthusiasm during the quick five-minute walk from our Airstream to the waterfront.

Per usual, Lilly had only one speed today – sprint. Her inability to pace often leaves her huffing-and-puffing something serious. As a result, every so often Lilly likes to stall by playing it coy.

Keeping her ball safe

Full-on stall mode

But inevitably, her desire to chase the ball returns and she’s once again off and running.

A bit of tug before another round of chase

Tired and ready to go home

Lilly had a blast which always places a smile on my face.

Feb 22

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Our First Visitors

I’ve come to realize that one of the odd realities about living in an Airstream is that our visitors are not able to actually stay with us. This has never been an issue until my mom and her husband Ed decided to visit Kelly and me here in HMB this week. Staring at the prospect of four cramped adults in the Airstream, Kelly and I opted for the ~~easier~~ better solution – book a hotel room for our guests.

It’s the least we could do.

And before you ask … no … I didn’t spring for the Ritz Carlton, despite it being located just a few steps from our RV park.

I may be the most favored child, but I’m a cheap bastard. Sorry mom.

The alternate solution I decided, would be to secure accommodations at the Half Moon Bay Lodge – a Best Western property which happens to be situated just down the street. I even found an online coupon which provides Mom and Ed with complementary daily breakfast. Nice.

Being the good son I am, I took a vacation day from work today and ~~dragged~~ volunteered to drive mom and Ed all over the place as I completed a few errands, all under the ruse of a “tour of the area”. More, I even acquiesced my otherwise firm rule not to accept help from others, and allowed Ed to assist with the installation of a new set of running boards for my truck, but not before offering a tour of my office, where coincidently, I had the running boards delivered and waiting for me. Hey, I do not see anything wrong about knocking out two birds with one stone.

Apparently the lack of running boards has long proved to be problematic for others riding in the truck. It seems these basic add-ons are desperately needed by ever passenger but me. Fortunately, the good folks over at runningboardwarehouse.com had just what I needed. I was quite pleased to score a set of factory boards which look just like the Ford OEM set, but cost me only $249 shipped, not the $700 my local dealer was asking.

Ed and me sorting nuts and bolts

Prepping for the installation

The finished product

As added bonus today, Mother Nature decided to smile kindly upon us. The moderate temperatures and partly cloudy skies made for a really nice day. After completing all items on my our list, we grabbed Lilly and all of us sauntered over to the beach, which happens to be one of Lilly’s favorite locations, especially at low tide when much more of the shoreline is accessible to her.

Lilly inspecting a rock formations only accessible during low tide

Lilly inspecting rock formations only accessible during low tide

Mom and me

Ed and Mom - the Ritz Carlton in background

Mom and Ed – the Ritz Carlton in background

Once Kelly returned from work, the four of us went to dinner and enjoyed tasty eats and good conversation.

Tomorrow we are playing in the city.

Feb 18

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Long weekend at Coyote Lake Campground

For the first time since I can recall, working for the man (that is to say corporate America … or more specifically – the private equity firm which owns my company) has bestowed upon me a great gift – a day off of work tomorrow in observance of the President’s Day holiday.

This being the case, Kelly also took the day off as PTO (the man she works for is not nearly as generous with holidays) and we decided to get out of town and check out Coyote Lake Campground – a county park which is located about 90 minutes southeast of our home base in HMB.

We’ve been anxious to find more locations ideal for quick three and four-day weekends and we were particularly keen to see how this county park differed from the state run parks we’d visited previously. More importantly, this county park is very dog friendly, which isn’t the case with most state parks.

We arrived mid-afternoon on Friday to a mostly empty campground and quickly found the park to be great on many levels – two generous loops, one with water & electric, the other being dry camping only.

Our campsite

We chose a water-facing spot in the dry-camping loop. A $12 per nightly fee gets us a paved pad, fire pit, picnic table, and food locker. The proximity to water affords plentiful waterfowl and some of the loudest frogs you’ve heard.

My cones

There are loads of trails to explore, and most interesting, many trails roam through beautiful hillsides and are shared with free-range and grass-fed cows.

Yes cows.

A few cows wondering why I am so close

Also, in the event you are wondering how two cows react to a pair of cyclists riding bit too close, you’re in luck as I have some video.

The best part of the weekend was that Lilly got to join us on every hike. Most California state parks restrict dogs from the trails, but not here at Coyote Lake. Thrilled that Lilly could join us, her presence allowed us to enjoy the half-day hikes guilt-free, unlike when she is stuck back in the Airstream while we were enjoying ourselves outdoors.

I know this sounds a bit kooky, but dog owners will relate to our excitement in bringing Lilly with us, particularly on the longer, multi-hour hikes.

By the way – per usual, Lilly was hell-bent on investing every gopher hole she could find. At one point Saturday, she decided to dig herself under a felled tree rather than simply jump over it as she did initially. I captured a quick video of her in the act.

As evidenced in the picture below, all that digging, coupled with the 8.5 mile hike required some serious napping yesterday alongside her favorite red squeak toy.

Lilly napping

Most of the the park literature hypes the views atop the ridge line highpoint, near a scenic overlook. We decided to see for ourselves, but unfortunately, a thick fog rolled in Sunday morning, so the views were not so great.

Lilly, impatiently waiting for me near the top

I question the need to describe the climb as “strenuous” (it was not), but I definitely agree that it’s worth the effort to ascend even if the views were limited. Once we reached the top, there was a nice clearing which I’m sure makes for a nice lunch break when the the views are clear.

One of the scenic overlook picnic tables

On the other-hand, based upon the picture below, perhaps there is not all that much to see.

Very descriptive signage

Anyway, the park is great and I’m excited to visit other Santa Clara county parks soon.

Full-timing since April 2015 … Dave, Kelly, and our dog living and traveling full-time in our Airstream trailer.

Posts tagged ‘Lilly’

Well Rested

Fetch

Our First Visitors

Long weekend at Coyote Lake Campground

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