it could not have been better

hiya! so, friday came and it was fantastic, fantastic, i tell you!!! a while ago, tom discovered a new lake. you would never even know it existed because it is in a neighborhood at the end of the street. we road our bikes there, picked up some cherry rejuvenating power along with some nectarines and found a spot on the sand under an umbrella. thanks don castro (that is the name of the lake), for providing umbrellas, my skin thanks you.

this lake is pretty, pretty awesome. one, because it is big for being a man made swimming lagoon. two, you can actually bbq right next to the lake AND lastly, the water is heated so it isn't freezing cold, it is perfect on a hot day. it was bliss, truly bliss. we listened to some tunes, soaked up some sun, threw the tennis ball around and ate some cherries. it was perfect and when it was time to go it was soooooooo hard to leave. we are heading over there after tom gets off work today. this is my kinda place and i could easily find myself there everyday i have off. have i mentioned how perfect this lake is?

we headed home, washed up and oh gosh...we did.... we went out on the town. since moving here, we haven't really ventured out, well....because there really isn't a night life here nor any place we have wanted to go. but the a's were playing, we were hungry so we found a super awesome dive bar, ate some divey food and drank many beers. it was so fun! plus we got to watch the regulars and i met a few dudes who tattoo in the area and i will be talking to them soon and seeing if they need a shop girl! it was a fantastic day, and we have our silly town to thank for it! thanks hayward sometimes you are pretty awesome!

xo,
cb

hot hot hot!

tom and i have been searching for a new place to go bike camping. we found one that was super close to home. they were all booked so tom and i decided that we would just ride out there and check it out. when we got of the bart train in pleasenton it was HOT, like blazing hot!! i have never applied so much sunscreen in my life and i am happy to report that it paid off, neither of us got at all burnt!!

the way there was pretty easy, lots of bike lanes (yay!!) and it was pretty much flat, or so we thought.... since it was so hot out we took a few breaks one being at this awesome little fruit stand, where we refueled on ice cold water and the yummiest yellow nectarines i haven had in a while.

to the left you can see the road going down, that is where we were coming from and we weren't half way up!

 the moment we mentioned how awesome and flat the ride was, it got crazy!!!! and i mean super crazy! we were almost to the lake and the last oh, 4 miles was up hill! it was bananas and on top of that it was about 91 degrees and no shade! the road we were on was part of the tour de california which is a bike tour that just happened about a couple months ago. the part of the ride we were on is called king of the mountain which is one of the hardest rides and whoever gets to the top of the hill first wins a prize. we both kinda felt like rock stars but sweaty tired rock stars.

we got to the lake, refueled on some homemade veggie sandwiches, and of course a push pop and preceded to have a kick-ass time at the lake. the water was pretty much perfect except for a slight breeze but other then that it was awesome. we listened to npr and did a few puzzles and really really enjoyed each others company. it was flippin' fantastic and so hard to get back on gilbert because the way out was worse then the way in....yea.

it was the most fun we have had on gilbert for a while. it is always nice to find a new place to ride to and plus ending in a lake is pretty much awesome because it is such a perfect reward for busting up that huge ass hill! now i have a nice little tan, toned legs and a great memory of a truly rewarding day!

xo,
cb