Wine Country Century and our Weekend in Santa Rosa

 Last weekend we headed up to Santa Rosa for Jon to do a 200k ride (a whopping 124 miles!). Doing a century ride (100k) has been on his bucket list, so when a coworker asked if he wanted to do this ride he jumped at the chance. He trained every chance he could, which wasn't as often as he would have liked, but between working overtime to finish Madagascar 3 and having a family there just wasn't much time to work with. He did several 50-100 mile rides, even riding out to his parents house and back (108 miles)!

Friday afternoon we drove what should have been 1 1/2 hours, but ended up being over 3 hours, to get there. The kids were DYING to go swimming at our hotel swimming pool and it was warm out, so as soon as we set foot in the hotel, swimsuits went on and we headed back out. This was Ellie's first time swimming and she LOVED it....could not get enough.

The kids would have stayed in the water all day if we let them. They declared this the best.day.ever!

Saturday morning Jon got up bright and early to start the ride at 6:30. I think the kids were just too excited to sleep because all 3 were awake by 6:15! We were planning on meeting Jon at his lunch stop and then at the end of the race, so we headed out to see some sites before meeting him. Our first stop was this awesome restaurant that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. It's called Worth Our Weight, and is a non-profit restaurant/culinary program for troubled and underprivileged teens. The kids have class during the week and then work at the restaurant on the weekends. There are no prices on the menu. Instead you pay what you feel your meal was worth. Such a fun idea, amazing food, and a great way to support a good cause. Here's the clip from the show if you're interested.

Matthew loved the syrup jug, so after pouring all the syrup on his waffle, he filled it with his water and then his juice.

After breakfast we headed back to the hotel for one last swim and then checked out. We loaded up and went to find Jon, which was no easy feat with no cell phone reception and a 124 mile track through the back roads of wine country. After winding our way past dozens of wineries and several small towns, we finally got in touch with Jon and figured out where we were supposed to be. We piled out of the car and waited for Jon to ride in....then we waited and waited some more. Finally the kids needed to go to the bathroom and just couldn't wait anymore so we ran to do that, and of course Jon rode in while we were gone. So much for pictures and greeting him with our poster! But we had a nice, quick lunch together and then he was off again.

Jon rode with two coworkers, Kris and Dave

Our next stop was the Charles M Schultz museum, which we'd heard a lot about. It just so happens that the first Saturday of every month is free comic book day (who knew?) so Emma and Matthew were excited to get their free gift.  We wandered the rather small museum, saw what there was to see, and did what there was to do. It was okay but I think I would liked it a lot better without kids...and if I was a diehard Peanuts fan.

It was HOT that day so we made our way to Coldstone for some ice cream and then to Panera for dinner. At that point I thought Jon should be finishing soon. He was supposed to call me at his last rest stop (20 miles before the finish) so we could be there, but he forgot....who can blame him? Instead he called AFTER he crossed the finish line, while we were getting our food. So we missed him again!

Woohoo!!! Jon finished the ride in about 10 1/2 hours, including rest stops, a lunch stop, and getting his back rim straightened after he wiped out.

This was quite an accomplishment and I'm proud of Jon for following through and doing it. And I'm not gonna lie....I'm glad this one is crossed off the bucket list now.  :)