Sports weekend

With both hockey and football off season all summer, I haven't watched many sports lately. But luckily this past weekend on Anaheim I was able to get my fill!

First up was a more unusual sport, arena football with the LA Kiss

Basically it's indoor football played on a field half the size of a normal football field. It was a very exciting game as pretty much every play resulted in someone scoring. 

The coolest part is the team is owned by Kiss the rock band, so we got to see Gene Simmons. He wasn't too happy that his team lost 84-55, but it was still a fun game.

The next day we went a little more mainstream with a baseball game

Angels stadium was beautiful, and naturally it was perfect baseball weather

The game went into 11 innings and was full of home runs and exciting plays. The Angels finally ended up winning the game after 4 hours of play. Unfortunately by then, my friends and I had some serious sunburns from sitting in the sun all afternoon.

We also took some time to explore long beach, which was just as beautiful as the past few times I have visited 

And of course, we had to get some fancy LA food, going to a "southern" BBQ joint that is suppose to be the best in Southern California 

It was pretty darn good, but I will have to keep trying all the "best" BBQ in Southern California before I can declare a winner. 

Everything wrong with Los Angeles

Why I have a problem with LA....summed up with one picture 

Trapeze in Hollywood

I've been boring the last few weeks, but luckily I have been kicked out of the trend by my new coworker/fellow penn stater. Sunday we hit the road to the coast for a very unique experience.....trapeze

That's me, high flying 3 stories up. For some reason this website doesn't let me post videos, which is sad since I have a few good ones of me doing back flip dismounts.

We flew for 2 hours, doing a simple jump off the platform and swing, to flip dismounts, to attempting catches. Luckily I have no fear of heights or jumping. Sadly, I still need to work on my upper body strength. Still, it was very thrilling to fly through the air. Our instructor said its the best stress relief in the world, and I couldn't help but agree.

It was a big workout, and I sure can feel it in my arms and shoulders today. Luckily we refueled with some local chicken and waffles.

And then no trip is complete to Los Angles without a drive down to the beach

I'll never get sick of the ride down to Santa Monica. The water was perfectly warm and felt amazing on our sore muscles. I didn't realize how much I miss diving under waves and splashing around in the ocean. Most of my friends go to the beach to tan, so it was nice going with people who wanted to swim and body surf. And the view of Santa Monica pier was perfect

A very successful day which ended with some classic Californian In-N-Out burgers and a drive back to Bakersfield. 

Pismo Beach

It was time to hit the beach again! Just a two hour drive through the desert to hit the coast, specifically Pismo Beach. It is known to be the choice beach of Bakersfieldians. 

Nothing too interesting here. We laid out in the sand, watched the surfers, played a little beach soccer, and walked the giant pier.

All three of us got a little too much sun and were a little red today, but that's just a side effect of living in the California sun. 

Sadly it was back to work on Monday, but at least we were a little more relaxed.

Sorry so quiet...

Sorry I have been quiet lately but I've had an unusual pattern the last few weeks. It appears I'm finally settled in Bakersfield as I have enjoyed just hanging around town with my friends on weekends, doing nothing but...

Go swimming all day 

Hanging out at the bars

Going to the movies (Jurassic world was amazing, so was Trainwreck, and we are seeing southpaw tonight) 

Enjoying baseball and cheering on our minor league team, the Blaze

Playing lots of soccer, my team came in second in the A league tournament, including a 8-0 victory in the semi-finals! 

Hitting the gym hard, and eating lots of good food. 

Overall, life has been good and it's nice knowing I don't have to go on a grand adventure every weekend to have a good time. I've also got a solid friend group between my friends at work and the ones I've met between hockey and soccer. 

But we did realize we haven't been to the beach in a few weeks, so we are heading there tomorrow!

4th of July

No better place to enjoy America then at one of its golden beaches! 

Sequioa...again

A strange thing happened this weekend. We have two new youngins (although I'm still youngest) that started in my group, and I realized that I'm now one of the members of the under 30 crew who has been here the longest. The new people were looking to me for advice on where to go and what to do. Very strange. Since we had Friday off, I thought I would take them hiking in sequioa national park.

Not much has changed in the past few months in sequioa, other then it was hotter then when I was last there in October. We also saw a lot of bears, which I hadn't seen in my other trips.

It was a nice easy day of walking around and getting to know my new coworkers

And of course, eating a nice big fat juicy burger with fries to reward our 20,000 step day