Tennessee Valley

I think Blake is really missing his tour guide glory days. It's hard since most of our visitors have been to all the "usual" San Francisco places. But right now, Andy and Bri are here visiting and Blake is in top tour-guide form, even adding new things that we have never done that are also tailored to Andy and Bri. Since Andy and Bri are training for an upcoming marathon and bike trip, Blake planned a fun hike to Tennessee Valley Beach for us this afternoon. The hike was supposed to be 1.7 miles and we picked the trail with the most hills to get there. We even let Andy haul Jack in to help with his training. Blake hauled Max in (he's in training for the long bike ride, too) and I think Blake got the better workout of the two. And I was just mad about all the hills since I'm pretty sure hike was longer than 1.7 miles. Good thing we got a pretty good picture at the top.
Everything about the secluded beach was perfect. It had the perfect mix of beautiful sand and rocks to throw and the weather was so nice. Andy must have had the magic touch since usually Max won't let a toe touch the water, but today Andy had him getting not only his toe in the water, but also his foot and calf. :) One time, as a wave was coming in, Andy yelled to Max, "RUN!" And instead of running away from the water, Max ran right in and the wave knocked him over. Poor Max, he wasn't the same for the rest of the night. But even more poor Blake since he was the one in charge of getting Max back to our car 1.7 miles away.

And on our way back to the car we found this sign--
1.2 miles to the beach plus 1.5 miles to the trailhead equals 2.7 miles each way, not 1.7 miles. Stinker Blake! So, let's just say we were all ready, and some past ready, for dinner tonight. Can't wait to see what Blake has planned for tomorrow!