Adventure?: California

Two weeks ago I went to visit my Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Don for a weekend in California. I also got to meet my new 4 month old cousin Judah! He was a pretty cool little whipper snapper let me tell ya. Never even cried once the whole time I was there. I was so stoked leaving Jacksonville on that early Friday morning because I knew that 8-9ft waves were to greet me that afternoon. I had my thick 4/3 wetsuit, gloves, booties, and the Essential kook cap all packed in preparation for some really sweet waves! Unfortunately however, I encountered a few "weather" delays on the way west and as a consequence, I arrived 7hrs later than was planned. I was pretty nackkered from sitting around in the Houston airport all day not using up any of the energy I'd built up from thinking about going surfing. UHH! By the time I got to the San Francisco airport, it was 10:00pm, so it was impossible to surf. But that's just how travel goes, nothing to get emotional about. Anyways, the next morning I woke up to 3-5ft choppy waves and an air temp of 32 degrees. In my head all I could here was that old surfer's saying coined by Bruce Brown "ya shoulda been here yesta-dye." So instead, we all drove 40 minutes North to the resident volcano of the area, Mt.Diablo(3849ft),which means Devil mountain in Spanish, and did some light hiking. Mt.Diablo is also the center mountain in the background of my blog's logo picture, with me skateboarding down a different mountain.

Look Familiar?
I did however, get do a bit of boldering on some of the exposed rock clefts about midway up the mountain as well as experience some of that exhilarating mountain air I hold so dear! It was spectacular! There is something so incredibly gratifying about putting some of my climbing training to use!!!Oh I loved it!
When we got back to the house, I put little Judah on his first skateboard as any responsible cousin would. I've never been so proud of that little crumb cruncher! and he's goofy foot just like me!!! The reason why it took me so long to finish this post was because I wanted to get those pictures of Judah and I on the skateboard but they got erased somehow. This post just doesn't seem complete without them. They would have turned out so well! Well enjoy the rest of the pics and thanks for your patience!

-Mark