Q’s Year in Review: Top Personal Events of 2012

Here it is, the last day of our week long Year in Review for 2012!  This is the one where I get to talk about myself incessantly.  It will probably be the most boring…or the most interesting, depending on how in to me you are!

As I've said before, 2012 was amazing.  Such a great year.  Between the vacations, and the physical challenges, and all that I've accomplished…its just been a wild, awesome ride!  Here’s a look back at the 10 more interesting/impactful parts of my year.

First off, the honorable mentions that did not quite make the cut:  Big Sur Marathon Relay, Annual Abalone Feed, Thanksgiving in Lancaster, Backpacking in Big Basin, Training Session in Knoxville, TN, and A’s v. Rangers on my birthday (but only because I covered it in the Sports list).

You know it’s been an awesome year when all of the things listed above DON’T make the list!  The Marathon Relay was fun, and was the catalyst for me signing up for the Half Marathon.  The abalone feed and Thanksgiving are always fun…annual mainstays for me.  Backpacking was legit, and with a good group of people.  The training session in Knoxville was actually an enjoyable week.  All of these are discussed in their own Q’s Adventures posts over the past year in the blog.  Go check ‘em out!

Now, on to the list!

11.  Weddings:  Dustin’s Wedding in Felton (July 15), Dan and Jenn’s Wedding in Whittier (June 9), and Sean and Christen’s in Capitola (Sept 8):  Yup, I’m cheating on this one.  Twice, actually.  First, I’m lumping 3 events into one item.  And second, I’m adding it as #11!  I just did far too much to contain my list to 10…and I wanted to make note of these awesome weddings of my friends.  Dustin’s wedding was fun…although I was exhausted, having flown in early that morning from my Sunriver Vacation (#2, Year in Review).  Very pretty location in the Santa Cruz Mountains!  Dan and Jenn’s Wedding was awesome because it ended up being a small C Building reunion!  I hadn’t seen many of my old college dorm buddies in a while, so it was awesome to get to catch up with everyone!  And Dan and Jenn picked a gorgeous setting on a golf course in Orange County to wed, so that was fun.  I was actually a part of Sean and Christen’s wedding (pictured below).  We rocked the crap out of Capitola the night before the wedding…and the wedding itself was gorgeous, with the most perfect weather ever!  Many good friends tying the knot this year…very good to see!

10.  San Diego (Oct 12-15):  A week after my Yosemite trip (#4, Year in Review), I accompanied my parents to San Diego for what was a very fun, relaxing weekend!  My dad drove down Thursday night, and my mom and I flew in to meet him that Friday afternoon after our work days ended.  The weather was incredible, and the sunsets were gorgeous (pictured below).  We went to the Wild Animal Park, which was awesome.  We went running in the morning along the beach, which was very, very pleasant.  We hit up the La Jolla Art and Wine Festival, which was really entertaining.  Loads of cool art.  That Monday we drove back home, with a stop in Lancaster to have lunch with my grandparents!  All in all, just a very enjoyable weekend!

9.  Sean’s Bachelor Party in Portland (Aug 16-19):  Well, I don’t want to talk too much about the specifics.  Bachelor parties have a mystique about them that I’d rather keep intact.  However, this was a really awesome weekend overall.  Our house on the Tualatin river was gorgeous!  We had our own dock into the river, and a gorgeous view.  We had some paintballing on Friday, and a bicycle brewery tour of Portland on Saturday, on one of the most unique things I’ve ever tried out (pictured below).  Super cool!  We terrorized Portland Saturday night, BBQd at the house the other nights, and really just had a great time!  I think Sean really enjoyed himself, which is what this was all about!

8.  Skydiving in Monterey (March 10):  I’ve always wanted to jump out of an airplane.  Free falling to the earth, with a parachute attached to my back for safe landing has always appealed to me.  However, I had always been far too heavy to do so.  Since I could only go on a tandem dive with an experienced dive master, I had to meet certain weight requirements, for obvious reasons.  This March, I finally made it under the threshold.  So, Chris and I headed out to Marina on a perfect Saturday morning and fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams.  It was, in a word, incredible!  Such a rush!  We jumped from 18,000 feet…90 seconds of free fall before pulling the chute!  I mean, it was just freaking incredible.  Its hard to describe what a rush this was.  I definitely will be going again at some point.

7.  Big Sur Half Marathon (Nov 18):  2012 ended up being the year of challenges and new adventures.  Skydiving was part of that.  Surfing (see item #1), paddle boarding (see item #2), and hiking Half Dome (see item #4) were all part of this.  As was running my very first half marathon!  Race day was perfect…the storm had cleared out, and thus the skies were clear, the winds were light, and the waves were crashing on the rocks…making for a gorgeous setting for running!  I trained hard for this, and ended up doing pretty darned well.  I finished in 1 hour, 45 minutes, and 19 seconds…good for an 8:02 per mile pace.  This was good for 604th place overall (out of 6912), 438th place among male runners (out of 2501 men who finished), and 80th place in my gender age group (out of 321 men aged 25-29)…so, not too bad overall.  Top 25% in my age group is decent…top 17.5% among men…top 9% overall when you add in everyone.  The average finishing time for men for this race was 2:10:05…so I beat that by about 25 minutes…which is nice.  It’s nice to not be simply average!  Crossing the finish line was a pretty cool sense of accomplishment as well.

6.  Las Vegas (June 28-July 1):  This year, for Bubba’s birthday, a small little group of us went to Las Vegas for the weekend.  It was Bubba and his wife at the time Trizza, and myself and my girlfriend at the time Elaine.  We are both single now (hmmm…Vegas strikes again???).  But really, Vegas was a great time!  We got in Thursday night and got some giant frozen alcoholic beverages and wandered around the strip.  Friday Elaine took off to spend time with a friend, so Bubba, Trizza, and I hit the strip.  We bought show tickets, we got Pink’s for lunch, we got Bubba some more art, and got some drinking in.  That night was drinking at Gallagher’s and a Cirque de Soleil show!  Saturday was more wandering around the strip…hitting up the Forum Shops, the Bellagio, etc.  Then we had a show that night, and a late dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant (which was delicious).  Went up the Eiffel Tower for some pictures, watched some fountain shows, and went back to the hotel.  And that was the trip!  All in all, a very enjoyable weekend.  Different experience, going with a girlfriend instead of as a single guy…but still fun!  As always, can’t wait to go back!

5.  Ventura and LA (May 25-28):  Memorial Day Weekend I went down to Ventura to hang out with my good friend Jimmy B!  It was a pretty spectacular weekend.  Saturday we spent at the Reagan Presidential Library…which was thoroughly entertaining.  Since I’m a political junkie, and a big Reagan fan, this was pretty awesome for me.  We BBQd it up that night at the apartment complex.  Sunday we trekked to LA for some Pink’s for lunch and then to the museum district!  We first went to the La Brea Tar Pits, which was really interesting…and then the LACMA, which was ok at best.  Dinner at Gladstone’s in Malibu that night, and back to Ventura we went.  A pretty awesome weekend overall…as it always is when Jimmy B and I get together!  My annual pilgrimage to Ventura has become a mainstay on the Year in Review list!

4.  Yosemite Camping Trip (Oct 4-7):  I like to travel for my birthday, but this year my birthday was on a Wednesday, so my trip got pushed to Thursday through the weekend…and I went to Yosemite!  Don’t get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoyed my birthday, since I got to be in attendance to witness the A’s win the AL West (as I wrote about in the Sports recap)…and that all is part of the awesomeness of this weekend.  But we’ll talk about Yosemite here.  Gina and I drove out there Thursday night, got camp set up, ate and went to sleep.  Friday we woke up and drove out to Mono Lake, on the eastern side of the Sierras.  Very, very alien landscape out there, due, mostly, to the tufa!  Very interesting, and very pretty out there.  On our way back to the Valley, we stopped in the Tuolumne Meadows and hiked up the Lembert Dome.  You get a good top of the world feeling up there.  Not as good, though, as you do when you hike Half Dome, which we did on Saturday.  Gina, Jason, Sean, Stephen, and myself made the trek up and back in like 9 hours, and that included the hour we spent at the top.  Yeah, we were beasting.  And that hike, definitely worth it!  Pretty awesome way to spend my first days as a 29 year old, I must say!

3.  Minnesota Sharks Road Trip (Feb 24-26):   This was (possibly the last?) annual Sharks road trip that Dustin and I have been taking the last few years.  This year, Minnesota was the destination.  First off, it was COLD!  Really cold.  That Saturday, while walking through Minneapolis after having breakfast at Al’s Breakfast, my face froze.  It was hilarious trying to talk, and my mouth wouldn’t form the words.  So we went to the Mall of America to warm up instead.  That place was pretty absurd...but in an interesting way!  We also watched some girls high school hockey championships that evening back in St. Paul…something very Minnesota of us to do!  Sunday we explored St. Paul, seeing some caves, and wandering up to the Cathedral of St. Paul.  That evening was the Sharks v Wild game.  We had phenomenal seats, and the crowd was great.  The Sharks lost (because they were bad last year), but it was still a great time!  After the game we cabbed it to the airport and came home!  Awesome trip…and if the NHL can’t get its shit together, it may be our last!  Sad times, but an awesome way to go out!

2.  Sunriver Vacation (July 7-15):  I took many vacations with my family this year.  Can you blame me?  We go to awesome places, and we have a great time!  Our summer vacation took us to Central Oregon!  I freaking love Sunriver.  In the summer, the weather is perfect, and the scenery is stunning.  It was pretty cool, too, as I spent the week working out, going for morning runs, going mountain biking with my dad, and generally staying active the whole time!  We also hit up the old favorites, like the High Desert Museum, Lava Lands, and the Lava River Cave.  Definitely got some golfing in as well.  My favorite part was probably the day we spent on the river.  My parents, grandma, and Titan rocked a canoe, while I finally got to try paddle boarding.  It was a really pleasant experience!  Very relaxing.  All in all, this was a great week.  I got to stay active, enjoy nature, and try out some new, awesome things!  All the while I got in some quality time with the family.  What’s not to love?

1.  Kauai Vacation (Apr 6-15):   The best vacation of the year, for the second year running, was our week and a half in Kauai!  I love this place, I really do.  This year might have been our best trip yet!  The food was outstanding.  I got Brick Oven Pizza twice!  I ate ahi, in some form or another, every single day there.  And dad and I made some awesome eggs benedict on Easter morning.  Delicious!  We got some golfing in…which was gorgeous, if not a wee bit frustrating.  Jason and Crystal joined us for the week after Easter, and we had a great time hitting up the beaches, taking pictures of gorgeous locales, and seeing the Waimea Canyon and surrounding area.  We all went ziplining one day, which was a total blast.  Jason, Crystal, and I went surfing one day…which was another thing on my list of challenges to tackle…and it was awesome as well!  Super fun, and I even started to get the hang of it by the end of the lesson!  And, yes, plenty of fruity, rummy drinks were consumed!  Princeville is my favorite place in the entire world, and I’m reminded why every time I go back.  This year was no different!

So, there it is, my awesome 2012!  Pretty great, huh!  Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  If you want a longer write up on any of these events, go back and read the full Q's Adventures of these trips.  They're all out there, and they're spectacular reads!

2013 is shaping up to be equally as awesome as well!  In 2013 I'll be once again returning to Kauai and Central Oregon.  I'll be headed down to Arizona for Spring Training.  I'm going to be attempting a triathlon.  Hell, I'm in New Orleans right now, preparing to ring in 2013 in style!

Thank you, once again, for tuning in for the Year in Review.  I hope it was enlightening.  Especially that monster sports post!  Hey, what can I say, I love sports...all sports...and it was a very entertaining year!  Here's to hoping all of our freedoms aren't stripped away from us in 2013 by a government that seemingly wants to run our lives.  And here's to hoping you have a great year ahead to look forward to!  I know I do!

Happy New Year, everyone!  Bring on 2013!