The Gar Fish

So when you think of fishing, you probably think of this...

You probably don't think of this...

This would be called bow fishing, where you shoot a fish with a bow and arrow.  The arrow is attached to the bow with a string, so you can reel the fish in.

There were some big rains in Waco which caused all the rivers to flood and the Alligator Gar and Carp to flood the streams.  Now, most of you have probably never heard of an Alligator Gar.  They are this giant, nasty fish with sharp teeth and hard scales, so I guess you could say they resemble an alligator.  Austin and I decided to go investigate when we heard about this surplus of fish, and needless to say, there was a surplus!

The funny thing is that Austin kept trying to shoot these fish with his bow which was nearly impossible to do.  I was just playing with a fishing rod and suddenly felt a tug and then another.  My eyes suddenly grew huge when I saw that there was a 4 foot ferocious fish that I had managed to foul-hook on the end of my rod!  Thankfully, Austin was able to reel it in, and after it was dead, I was proud to display it.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that in an attempt to clean my hands, I managed to clean my entire body by slipping into the river and practically get swept away downstream.

Later, we brought Austin's roommate and his girlfriend, Ali, back to the creek.  The boys had better luck this time with using a trident as opposed to the bow.  I enjoyed watching the spectacle more than the fishing, but I am extremely proud to say that I caught the largest fish!

13.5

Yep, I did it again. The Bearathon. This is the toughest half-marathon in Texas, sponsored by my very own Baylor University.  It was even more fun this year, because my roomies, Bekah, Chloe, and Emily decided to do it too.  Getting up at 4:45 a.m. in time to have some coffee, water, and my pre-race breakfast of chicken and quinoa wasn't so bad when the rest of my house was up too.  Our other roomie, Peyton, even made us the cutest good luck signs and cupcakes!

Since the race started at 7 a.m., that meant that we had to arrive at 6 a.m. when it was still dark!  Even though it was early, we had adrenaline flowing through us.  In support of Outdoor Waco, the outdoor adventure store I am helping to open, we all got to wear their running jerseys.

With the shot of the starting gun, the playlists started, and the running began.  At each mile, we had a different group from campus cheering us on, and of course, my favorite group was the Kappa group.  Around mile 11, I was obviously getting tired and must have been singing along to my songs, because all of a sudden the guy next to me goes, "Are you singing Mean by Taylor Swift?"  I looked at him for a second, somewhat confused and then admitted, "Well I guess I am!" and ran off.  I finished with a personal best time.

Bekah

 

Emily

 

Me

 

Hannah + Chloe

 

We all were so proud that we finished and would definitely do the 13.5 mile race all over again, just not that day!

Spring Break III

Our final stop on our trip was Carmel/Monterey.  By this point in out trip, we were all pretty tired from the non-stop activity... I seem to have a knack for doing that on my trips, so we were ready to relax a little.  My grandparents happened to be in Carmel, so we met up with them to have lunch.  As we were sitting there, who do I see in the window but my dad!  He had a business convention in Monterey that weekend, but we didn't tell him where we were eating, but he somehow found us.  He walked in, grabbed the half-eaten sandwich off of Peyton's plate, and proceeded to shoot one liner comments back and forth with my grandpa that kept us girls laughing and my poor grandma trying to reprimand her "boys".

We decided to walk down to the beach to test the water.  Needless to say, we did not last long, because it was FREEZING! Whoever came up with the image of warm, sunny California beaches has never been to California, because I have hardly ever been to the beach when it was warm.

Carmel is filled with tons of cute shops, so we spent some time exploring them and of course had to make a stop in the candy shop.

 

Just trying out some senior portrait poses. 

Next up was the 17 mile drive.  This was a great idea, until about 10 minutes into the drive when I realized we were below empty on gas! Amazingly, I made it to the only gas station in Pebble Beach, but the gas was a record $6.12 per gallon!  I only bought 2 gallons, just enough so we could get out.

 Pebble Beach
 

 Lone Cypress
 

Bekah, Emily, and I wanted to take some more beach shots, but Chloe and Peyton were too cold, so they manned the car!

 The wind got the best of us....

We made it to our hotel in Monterey and enjoyed the nice workout facilities, fire pits, and retreat-like environment.  We had a great dinner at a seafood restaurant in town that night.  The next day, Peyton and Chloe toured the aquarium, and Bekah, Emily, and I hiked around the beautiful Point Lobos State Reserve.

Our girls trip was a success and much thanks to my parents for letting us stay with them and helping make the trip so special!

Spring Break II

The next stop on our trip was San Francisco, and boy did we have a jam packed day.  Let's see if I can give you a play by play of our day!

1. Cable car ride to Fisherman's Wharf

2. "The Earthquake" at Giradehelli Square.  This is an 8 scoop, 8 topping ice cream sundae.  You should have seen the look we got for ordering such a monstrous ice cream dish at 10:30 a.m.  Even better than the initial looks were the looks that we got after demolishing it in less than 5 minutes. What can I say, we had lots of activities planned and needed the sugar rush.

 

 Before and After

 

3. Next up we had to take some pictures on the beach.  This is the same place where the Bachelorette showed Ali playing in the waves on one of her dates.  They made it look warm, but trust me it is not.  We felt the water!

 

4. Renting bikes is a must for any trip to the city.  We rode all along the waterfront to the Golden Gate Bridge, however, we underestimated how steep the hill getting up to the bridge was.  It was practically a 90 degree angle with lots of twists and turns.  We were ripping off layers of clothing right and left because we were so hot, but the view at the top was worth it.

 

5. We then rode our bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito, a cute little Italian-like village on the water.  We grabbed some lunch before taking the ferry back to the city.  While waiting in line for the boat, we met Diamond, the singing dog.  Well, actually it is her owner that sings, but they are absolutely hilarious.  YouTube has tons of videos of them, but here is one!

 

6. Back in the city, we made a quick pitt stop at Pier 39 to see the seals.  Honestly, I am not a fan of this tourist trap and the smelly seals, but my roomies were tourists, so we made the trip.

 

7. After returning the bikes, we climbed  up the Filbert Steps to the top of Coit Tower for a beautiful sunset view of the city.

 

8. We finished off the day with a great Italian Dinner in North Beach.  By the time dinner was done, the tablecloth was completely decorated with our drawings and "Emily Kinney" was scribbled everywhere, as the newly engaged Emily practiced writing her soon to be last name.