Adventures

As I've mentioned many times before, there's so much to do here in Northern California. We've got a long list of things to see and do. Unfortunately these things were put on hold due to getting in to a car accident several weeks ago. Our car is still driveable from it but it's not in good enough shape to want to take out of town at all. We've had to do a lot of waiting while contacting the insurance of the driver at fault to get it all taken care of. We had planned to go to a Stanford volleyball game on one of 2 dates but our car issue kept getting in the way. Finally, we decided to just ask to borrow a car from someone so that we could go. So we finally got to go to a Stanford volleyball game!

I know it's random, but since my freshman year of college (when I finally started keeping up with college volleyball), Stanford has been my favorite team. They are always one of the top ranked teams with a crazy awesome coach. About a week after moving to Tracy, it hit me! We could go watch my favorite team... also a chance to go to a D1 volleyball game for the first time!

Prior to going to the game I looked at the roster for Stanford to get an idea of their players. There just so happened to be a girl listed from Tulsa! She played for Bishop Kelley, so I wasn't surprised she ended up somewhere good. She is a freshman so initially I didn't anticipate seeing her play a whole lot. But I was very wrong. She and one other girl ran the court for Stanford. She was outstanding- so fun to watch! So that was a lot of fun to get to watch her play and have a little bit of Oklahoma in Cali!

Before the game started though we did some exploring. Stanford is located south of San Francisco. Silicon Valley is near this area too, so the headquarters of Apple, Facebook, Google and some other big technology companies are located here. So of course, we had to go to Apple Headquarters. Now there isn't a lot to do there besides go to the company store, but they do clothing at that store unlike the usual Apple Stores, so Tyler got a t-shirt like he has always wanted! We asked if we were able to go to any other part of the building and they told us no. But I noticed a restrooms sign... so I decided to ask if I could use that restroom and I'm glad I did! I decided it would probably be the only way to see a little more of the facility. Thank goodness for glass walls everywhere! I got to walk back and see a little of the courtyard area and some offices along the way. I quickly texted Tyler to tell him he should "go to the bathroom" too so he could see a little more of the facility. Of course we didn't get to see much.. but if you ever go there, at least ask to use the restroom so you can see a little bit!

We also went by the Facebook headquarters. Here we did not have such luck of using the restroom. They, too, did not allow visitors in the facilities. After this we went to Stanford's campus and took a tour! It was only a little bit awkward being on this tour with a bunch of high school students and their parents. Just a couple of young adults taking a college campus tour for fun! It was a beautiful campus with a lot of history!

So, like I said earlier there were a couple of dates we thought about going to Stanford to watch some volleyball. The first day was the week before we actually went. I wanted to go to that game because they were playing Oregon. Oregon is ranked high plus I have personal connections to Oregon so I thought that'd be fun. Well, like I said, the car kept us from going that week. I was bummed, but I knew we could maybe go the following week. And boy was I glad we did. After the 2nd game, they started playing this montage of Kerri Walsh-Jennings and her time at Stanford. This was fun, but I had no idea they were playing it because she was there! They retired her jersey during the middle of the game and brought her out for a presentation! It was so exciting to see one of the greatest volleyball players of all time, and my personal favorite! She's incredible, I hope she really does come back for the Olympics in 2016!

We also got to use this day to eat at Tyler's favorite restaurant, Chick Fil A! There was one in San Jose that was just on the way to Palo Alto. All in all, it made for a really fun day adventuring Northern California. We have much more to see and do, but we've got this one crossed off the list!

Why I Love Tracy

In another post, I mentioned doing a post about why I love our new home. So here goes nothing!

1. The weather. For the first two weeks we lived here, I did the same thing everyday. I walked outside and said something like "Wow it feels so good here." While everyone here was complaining of heat, Tyler and I practically ran to get our sweaters. There are so many things to love about this weather. While we have only been here long enough to experience one season, I can tell you some specifics that I love. I know I complained about how bright it is, but I also have to mention how much I love the sunshine. It's hardly every cloudy and when it is, it's not dreary. I love how much it cools down at night. It's so refreshing to wake up and open windows rather than turning on our air, and opening them again in the evening. Or like today- windows open all day. I'll probably need a winter post to comment on my feelings about the "winter" weather here.

2. The scenery. We live in the valley. This is cool for two reasons: 1. You can't live in a valley in Oklahoma, so that's a change of pace. 2. This means non-valleys... or mountains. We live on the very western edge of the Central Valley. From Tracy, we can see mountains from pretty much anywhere in town. Coming from the lovely flatness of Oklahoma, I find a lot of pleasure in simply looking at the different scenery.

3. Friendly. I did not anticipate Tracy to be such a friendly town. Tracy is quite a bit bigger than Owasso, Joplin, and Stillwater, but it feels a lot more like a small town than those towns. For example, I finally found a good place to run in Tracy. There were many people running or exercising, just like the park I ran at in Owasso. In Owasso I'd receive the eye contact or casual wave from other runners, but here it is like we all know each other. Everyone was quick to smile and say "Good morning!" I had to try to avoid laughing. The last thing I do while running is smile. Anyway, there's a general friendly factor around Tracy that a lot of towns don't have.

4. Location. Our location in the western edge of the Central Valley puts us within a few hours of a lot of pretty cool things. We haven't gotten to see or do a lot yet, but we've got a long list. For starters, we have San Francisco, and all that comes with the Bay Area. For instance, we are planning a trip to Stanford to go to a volleyball game as it is my favorite team. We've also got good beaches not far from here. East of us we have Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. North of us we have Sacramento and then Napa Valley. The possibilities are pretty cool, we can't wait to go exploring! 

5. Our church. Moving to a new town is pretty intimidating. Not just a new town, but a new state, new climate, new area of the country, etc. It's a big change. Something else that is intimidating is moving to a new church. Our transition at the church as a couple has gone so well. Everyone is so very welcoming and inviting. We have had several people invite us over for dinner, offer their services to the youth ministry, and make sure we are settling alright. I think we've even begun to make some friends! I am volunteering with the high school students and involved in the Thanksgiving/Christmas vocal ensemble. So I'd say we are settling in nicely and finding our place at Journey Christian Church.

I learn something new that I love just about every week. I'm sure there will be many posts in the future about likable and more weird things about this interesting state. In the mean time, I'll keep you updated on other life happenings!