the fourth of july

Unfortunately, I had to miss Addy's bon voyage run on the fourth. Addy's been one of the most positive and nicest people I've met during these last few weeks. Fortunately for us OC'ers, she's a home-grown girl, so I'm sure we'll see her on these trails again when she visits her family.

Instead, I played in our annual July Fore Golf Tournament. Wouldn't think of bailing on this one. Already missed last year's because of traveling. My cousin puts it together, and it's been a little family tradition now for the last 7 or so years.

Now if only I put in as much time playing golf as I do on the trails, then trying to sink that little white ball in that little white cup wouldn't have been so embarrassing. Fortunately we only played 9 holes on an executive course, though from looking at my score, you'd think I was shooting 18 holes. It was actually a comedy of errors, with me losing 5 balls to the omnipresent Aliso Creek. All in all, it was still good fun.

In the afternoon, I went down to Eusebio's place in Dana Point for a little get together. What a host. He had a little spread on the table that would rival a Love Boat buffet. Met a few cool dudes and dudettes for the first time—Stephanie, Rachael, Michele, Flora, and Chris. Kip aka RJ and his wingman, Ivan were also there. Eusebio surprised Steph by busting out an ube birthday cake for her from Goldilocks (the pinoys' fave bake shop). Awwwh...

After filling our tummies with pancit, pasta, salmon, adobo and Kip's iced tea concoction, we walked down to the harbor to board Lola. We motored out to the ocean with several other boaters as we watched the sun setting over the horizon.

Viewing the fireworks shoot right over our heads as we're anchored just outside the harbor was an amazing experience. There was a little over a half hour delay because of tech problems, but once those pyro experts got it on, they got it on. The finale was awesome. Check it out. You can hear everyone screaming with excitement at the end.



No running today, but what a fun day it was, and a great way to celebrate the fourth. Happy Birthday, America!

Group photo courtesy of Eusebio.
July Fore graphic © 2007 JOD.