Reunion time and a horseback video blog

Question: what is cold, cloudy for 65% of the year, has no major attractions, and is not located near the ocean?  

Answer:  East Lansing, MI.

What happens when these four factors combine?  No one comes to visit you.  Ok, ok, that is not totally true.  When I was living in East Lansing, I did have a handful of visitors, and we did have some fun times.  

Davys came up to see me first....

....and I got to see Lila and Marc in Frankenmuth one day....

...Adam came up for a ski trip and we got lost in Amish country...

....and my mingos came to visit and we had tons of fun at Cedar Point and elsewhere.

But generally speaking, when people take vacation days, mid-Michigan is generally not their destination.

Enter the perks of living in the central coast of California!  Suddenly you attract a lot more visitors.  I like to think my personality is the reason, rather than the fact that it is 65-85 degrees and sunny year round and is absolutely beautiful.  I have already managed to bring in three east coast visitors in my short 6 months out here thus far!

All joking aside, I was really excited to have Kate come visit this past weekend!  She was in southern California for a conference and was able to come spend the weekend in SLO.  Kate and I grew up working at Camp Kanata and riding horses, but I haven't gotten to hang out with this girl since I drove her fabulous horse, Puff, out to Alabama when she started grad school a few years ago.  So this was long overdue!  

We had a blast eating delicious food, hanging out at Morro Bay (enter the sea otter extravaganza previously mentioned), watching quality films like "A Bug's Life" and "Cowboys and Aliens," and enjoying a couple glasses of excellent beer while reliving the glory days of high school and early college.  But most of all, we enjoyed a nice ride through the hills on a beautiful day.  

I needed to check fence on one of our bigger pastures, and the only way to do that is either on foot or by horseback due to the steep grades some of the hills have.  I mean, "Man From Snowy River" steep.

Therefore, what a great opportunity for a hilarious video blog!!!  Enjoy :)  (if you want to skip to the moments of peril, skip to 3:15 and 6:40).  Tricia, this is "treacherous" riding, haha.  So if you come, I won't make you do this.

Food for Thought:

When was the last time you got this excited about something??

Tomorrow is the one time of the year I pull for the Tarheels.... down with Duke!

How much do you know about the US presidents?  Not as much as this kid.