Zion: Angel's Landing

The day after the Narrows, we set out to tackle Angel's Landing. After hiking Half Dome last summer, I was  thinking this would be no big deal. But man, it was intense! Definitely got my adrenaline pumping. The beginning of the trail is leisurely and offers great views of the canyon but the last half mile is what gets you. It is a steep climb up a jagged rock formation with sheer drop-offs on both sides. There are chains staked into the rock to hold on to and you better believe I had a death grip on those things. Check it out:

 the sis & me startin off the hike.

section of 21 switchbacks on the trail called "Walter's Wiggles"

start of the chains, headin toward the final ascent

this part was crazy! sheer drop offs on both sides. I gotta shout out to my aunt Linda (in front of me in this picture)! I followed her every move and I couldn't have done it without her!

don't look down! Bobby was brave taking this picture. 

finally made it to the top!

our group at the top!

So I'm getting all comfortable on the top and then I remember we have to back down!!

thank goodness for Bobby taking these pictures because I was not about to take my hands off the chains!

Phew! We were all stoked to make it down and have great memories because of it. Welp, check that off the list. :)

It was a whirlwind trip, 4 days, 20 hours of driving, and two epic days of hiking, but we enjoyed every minute. Here is a pic we snapped just before heading back home:

  All I can say is my family is awesome!!

...and on a different note, 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD (6/28) AND MOM (6/30)!

Love you guys!

Zion: The Narrows

Bobby and I recently got back from an epic trip to Zion National Park! We roadtripped from SLO with my brother and his wife, Katy, and met up with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, 3 of my aunts, 2 uncles, and my grandma! The Bushmans are a fun bunch and there was never a dull moment to say the least! The drive out was loooooong (about 10 hours) and crossed through 4 states (CA, NV, AZ, and UT), and let me just say that there is a whole lot of nothing out there. We arrived in Zion on Thursday afternoon and had a family barbecue at the Cliffrose Lodge & Gardens where all the "adults" stayed. Us kids were cheap adventurous and decided to camp across the river from the Lodge at the Watchman campground which is actually inside the park. 

the Kids

The next day, we ventured out to hike the Narrows which is a section of canyon on the Virgin River. I've never seen anything like it. You hike in ankle deep to chest high water and maneuver around rocks and boulders and strong current at times. The canyon walls are vertical and sheer and are very colorful shades of red and orange. Sunlight peers through the top on some parts while other parts are shaded. Considering it was well over 100 degrees every day we were there, hiking in the cold water was very refreshing. 

We hiked about 6 miles in the river which took most of the day. It's harder than you think to wade through the water, walking on rocks, half of the time against the current, but it's so worth it! The scenery is beautiful and the experience is truly one of a kind. I highly recommend this hike if you go to Zion! We all had a blast and it was great getting to experience this all together. 

Tomorrow I will tell you about hiking Angel's Landing! Second scariest hike of my life (after Half-Dome!). 

It. was. NUTS!

See ya then!

2 years as a Boss

On June 19th, Bobby and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary! Crazy! What's even crazier is that in total, we have been together for almost 9 years! Now that's awesome. :)

Some highlights from year 2 of married life as a Boss:

-camping in Big Sur & Henry Coe State Park

-moving to our awesome new house in SLO

-both of us getting promotions & raises at work

-running a half-marathon together

-celebrating my 25th birthday in Kauai

-backpacking in Yosemite and climbing Half-Dome

-Bobby finally getting his art studio and selling more paintings

-coaching volleyball at Morro Bay High School

not too shabby if I may say so myself! Life as a Boss is better than I could have ever imagined!

Last year, Bobby planned our anniversary festivities so this year I took the lead and planned a night out for us. I decided to take Bobby out to dinner at the Custom House Restaurant in Avila Beach. It was a perfectly clear evening, warm enough to sit outside and we watched the sunset over the ocean from our table. I got Mahi Mahi and Bobby got Halibut. Delish! 

Here is a Pic-Stitch that Bobby made of our dinner:

We enjoyed a great meal and reflected on the past year together and started dreamin' up adventures for the next year (a Nicaragua surf trip is on the list!)

After dinner, I had reserved a private hot tub at Sycamore Mineral Springs which is nestled in the hills of Avila Beach. This place is super cool. It has a bunch of natural hotspring tubs located on the hillside surrounded by towering oak trees with views of the stars above. I packed a cooler with some sparkling apple cider, grapes, blueberries, and chocolate desserts from Trader Joes (yum!). It was such a nice, relaxing evening together.

and to top off the night, Bobby surprised me with a little gift:

it's an iPhone case made by Heather Brown! She is a Hawaii-based surf artist and I LOVE everything she does!! When we were in Kauai, I was so stoked to find a gallery that sold her art and I bought one of her pieces and it is currently hanging in our living room. I'm obsessed! Check out her website here.

Bobby is always so thoughtful of me and he makes me the happiest wife in the world. I'm lucky to have been married to greatest guy on Earth for the past 2 years and am looking forward to many, many more!

adventures of dad & daughter

I'm baaaaack. My Kauai high is gone and I'm back to real life. Sigh. I can't complain about real life though cuz it's pretty dang good! My latest and greatest adventure involves my Dad (Bobby bowed out of this one.) Let me tell you something. My Dad is no ordinary Dad. He runs half-marathons with his 25 year old daughter and beats her. Yes, it's true. Dad and I ran the Rock & Roll Half-Marathon in San Diego this past weekend and it was awesome/exciting/fun/crazy! There just so happens to be around 30,000 people (yes, thousand) who run this race which makes for an interesting experience. Coming down from the SLO Half-Marathon where there were about 5,000 runners, it was quite different. The energy in the city was great and I loved all the excitement and chaos going on. We got down to SD on Saturday and made our way over to the expo to pick up our packets and swag-bags. Here's a pic we snagged by the sign:

We both picked up a t-shirt and some free samples from vendors and made our way around town to explore SD. We ate at a delicious Thai Restaurant for dinner to get some good carbs before the run and then made our way back to our hotel to get some sleep for our 4 AM wake up call. And let me tell you, 4 AM came quick. It was one of those nights where I felt like I never really got to sleep because my body knew it had to wake up so early but I felt ready and awake as my adrenaline started pumping and got me going. Our hotel had a special breakfast for runners so we headed down to fuel up and then caught a bus over to the start line. We got to the race around 5:15 AM so we could have time to walk around, stretch, check in, pee our pants use the porta potties, etc. It was awesome to see all the different kinds of people from all walks of life running this race and I couldn't help but feel like I was part of some movement that was inspiring people all over the world to challenge themselves and get in shape. Pretty cool! 

At the start line, they separated the runners into different corrals based on their estimated finish time so that they could do a "wave start" instead of starting everyone at once. Here are some pictures of the starting line from the website:

the first corral of elite runners starting it off!

crazy view...the entire street is filled for about a block. love all the colors! we were somewhere in the middle ;)

The fun thing about the Rock and Roll runs is that there are different live bands playing about every mile of the course. Some were good and some were not so good but it kept the energy up and it was nice to have music playing. Another crazy thing about this race was that they closed off a few miles of the freeway for us to run on. That was a first! All I can say is that I feel bad for the people on clean up crew because they must have picked up thousands of dixie cups!

cool shot of the runners on the freeway.

Dad had 3 goals for this race: finish in under 2 hours, run under 9 minute miles, and beat Bobby's SLO race time....well, he accomplished the first two! (can you say STUD?!!) Bobby better watch out for next time though! As for me, I kinda had to throw my goal of beating my SLO time out the window because unfortunately I had been battling some nasty shin splints for a few weeks prior to the race and during the race which prevented me from being at my full strength. However, I made it and I finished slightly over my SLO time and that was good enough for me!

finished!

After the run, we guzzled some gatorade and snacks and enjoyed a free concert by Donovan Frankenreiter (one of my favs!). We then made it back to the hotel, rested for a few hours, and headed out to Petco Park to watch a Padres baseball game which was free for runners! The next day, we hobbled walked around Sea World (cost included with race registration!) and saw some amazing animals. Here are some of my favs:

beluga whales & penguins

 Polar Bear

 Flipper :)

Man, what a great weekend! I'm so glad I got to spend it with my Dad! I'm so lucky and thankful for the time I got to spend with him and for the awesome memories we have of running these races together. Which race are we going to tackle next?! I got my eye on one in October!

 Thanks Dad for the fun times and I look forward to many more dad & daughter adventures to come!