This was less of a lazy day.
After the breakfast provided by One Mesa (the brie-filled croissants were delicious), we headed into town to watch the parade. It seems that we had arrived on Western Day, which essentially sounds like a homecoming. The parade lasted an hour, largely showing off horses and the dairy industry. Makes sense somehow... Meredith's favorite part was that the Library drove the bookmobile in the parade with volunteers running up and down the route handing out books to kids that were watching.
After grabbing a sandwich to eat, it was off to go hiking. Meredith had decided on the hike from the Bear Valley Visitor Center to Arch Rock. Round trip: 8.2 miles. It took us just over three hours to make it. In retrospect, this was probably about two miles longer than we should have tried — we are both quite sore. And I seem to have a slight sunburn on my face (despite using suntan lotion). The hike ends on a rock over the ocean, which was really pretty. It was also the only cold part of the hike, with the wind blowing right over the rock. The rest of the trail is largely sheltered from wind and the sun by the forest around it. Surprisingly, there were quite a few people on the trail, even at the end, in contrast with what we normally find where the number of people drop off dramatically after about 500 feet from the parking lot.
We thought that we'd drive into Stinson Beach on our way home to get some food to eat. By the time we got there, though, everything looked packed, so we kept on. It had been long enough since we drove on that stretch of Highway 1 that we had both forgotten quite how bad it is for Meredith. Her stomach was feeling queasy for some time afterwards.
Finally, close to 8 PM, we arrived home.
Posted by Mike at June 2, 2002 10:00 PM