Mtn ride - Rim of the World

Had some free time today to go for a last minutes bike ride. I've been wanting to do this trip since last year when I first heard about it. But I had to wait for the snow in the mountains to melt, then Spring and Summer arrived and there was not any time. So today was the day. Went up to the San Bernardino mountains toward a Lake Arrowhead and then onto a small town named Crestline. This route is called the Rim of the World since it's along the crest of the mountain and in certain spots you can see down both sides.

I also recommended this ride to the bike club I'm in. It might be too late this year since it snows early in the mountains so it might be a last minute trip for the group of we'll put it off until Summer 2010.

The roads were very curvy and in some areas very steep with switchbacks and going only 15 mph in spots. The locals drive crazy fast through these mountains as with the police.

There were very nice views in the places I stopped but there were many more turnouts that I did not stop in.

Company picnic

My first company picnic. I was abit surprised at the organization and things they had for us. We were able to bring family and friends so I invited a friend of mine to go with me. There was a lot of food. It was unbelieveable! And they had carnival rides, elephant ride, rock climbing wall, vollyball, miniature golf - pretty much almost everything you could think of.

Of course, being such a large company, they needed a huge space. I knew the company had a park for employees only but I had never been to it. And it's huge! So huge that I only saw a few of my classmates - and I had thought it would be a small ordeal and I would see all of them.

So here's my friend and I on an elephant ride.



So far, I've been with this company for 4 months. I'm still in training. I've been out of the classroom phase and have been on the job training for the past month. It doesn't look like my supervisor is in a rush to certify me on my own, which is kinda nice but so far no emergencies have occurred where I would need my trainer to actually train me. We have daily routine duties that are the same every day. In a way, time seems to go quickly but not at the same time. We end up working alot of overtime. As the recession hit the restaurant industry, it seems as if in the refinery world, it has not slumped at all or only a small amount.

Monterey

I had a few days off to do an overnighter trip to Monterey. I haven't been there in a couple of years and I've always thought that's a nice place to visit. Some friends of mine have never been so off we went!

In the morning, we walked outside to find ash covering the car. Come to find out the whole area further north was on fire. But the wind was carrying the smoke out to sea. We didn't realize there was a fire until we got home and looked it up online.



Sunset at Carmel-by-the Sea.

Couple of sea otters swimming in the Monterey bay.

Pismo Beach

One of the stops on the 17 Mile drive in Pebble Beach.

Another stop along 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach. This one is called the Lone Cypress, since the cypress tree is secluded.

Julia Pheiffer Burns State Park. It was really foggy when we stopped and walked around to see the waterfall. An hour later the foggy was slowly disappearing and the sun was shining through.

Me at the beach near Monterey bay.

This bridge is part of the Pacific Coast Highway. It was built in 1932 and it was the longest bridge in that time.

We saw some elephant seals too. As with pelicans and sea lions.