Hurkey Creek - Spring 2009

We woke up early Saturday morning and were on the road just a little after 7, headed for Hurkey Creek for Chris' bike race. He was competing in an 8hr relay race with his brother. The course is about 10 miles long and they take turn doing laps. Chris ended up riding 5 laps in the end, so almost 50 miles. They also had a kids fun race that Athena was really looking forward to (I pushed Rowan along on his trike). The race is put on by the "24 hours of Adrenaline" people, and Chris has done the 24 hour category before, but this time opted for the 8 hour category.
The kids got to spend a day out in nature. They loved playing in the creek! It was a pretty cold day, but warmed up between 1-3 pm enough to not need a jacket (and play in the creek). We also visited a nearby animal sanctuary which was cool. It rescues dogs and cats who are about to be euthanized in animal shelters. The kids' favorite part was going into the "cattery" where there were about 30 cats in a room and we just got to sit around and play with them all. Back at camp, we gathered pine cones, played in the dirt, watched the race, ate junk food vegan style. Our favorite snacks were chips with guacamole, pretzels and hummus, rice crispy bars from Trader Joes, and pistachios (Rowan calls them pi-cashews). We were originally planning to camp and set the tent up and everything, but in the end decided it was so cold that we wouldn't get much sleep, so we headed home at about 9 pm after the race. It ended up being 27 degrees that night so I am so glad we left! Since Athena was disappointed she wouldn't get to sleep at camp, I told her she could have her breakfast for dinner and that made her quite happy. She feasted on Panda puffs with soy milk for dinner! The kids fell asleep in a matter of seconds once we hit the road. Luckily Chris was still pumped up from his race because I couldn't keep myself awake on the drive home. You can click on the photo above to see more photos from our long day.