SoCal to NorCal

We have now travelled from Southern California to Northern California

In San Diego we visited Balboa Park and got to see a variety houses from different countries. The kids enjoyed walking around. We also got to see a giant organ being played.

Monday we finished school work and drove to Carrillo National Monument / Park which had an awesome view of the city.

Afterwards we went to Victory MMA, a gym co-owned by a Jocko Willink, a podcasted / writer / leadership consultant / retired Navy Seal. I have heard him talk about the gym in his podcasts and books so I decided to take a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class there. After the class was finished and we started rolling, I saw Jocko on the other side of the gym. I excused myself and went and introduced myself nervously. He was gracious and said that he was happy to have me training there. I then got back to training and had fun.

Jocko Willink – Good

Unfortunately I forgot to ask for a picture with him. I will try to remember that next time.

Tuesday we went North to La Jolla which had some nice beaches, we also go to see some cool planes flying over.

Tuesday night and Wednesday we were in Encinitas at another nice campground on the beach. The weather was rainy one day and sunny the next. The kids did have fun playing in the sand. The Pacific Ocean is cold and the kids did not spend much time in there.

Thursday we continued North to San Clemente State Beach which had cool bluffs and a nice walk down to the ocean. The kids had fun making friends there.

I got Bored at the beach so I built a nice pile of rocks.

Friday night night we returned to a Walmart North of LA and I got a taste of how bad the traffic is there. I really did not enjoy the stop and go.

Saturday we drove to Santa Clarita which is close to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Saturday was Six Flags. Sunday was Church and Six Flags. Monday was Mariana’s Birthday and more Six Flags. By the end of Monday, I was done with thrill rides.

Tuesday we had an uneventful drive North to Avenal. Well, half way through the drive it smelled like someone pooped their pants. It smelled for 5 minutes. Then we came over a hill to the largest cow farm I have ever seen. There was no grass in it. Just thousands of cows standing around piles of manure. I think it was almost 2km long. It was crazy how big it was.

Wednesday we hit up a library and a Walmart in Los Banos.

Thursday we drove to Mariposa Fairgrounds which was close to Yosemite.

Friday we loaded up early and drove to Yosemite National Park. Fortunately it was not too busy but there were still a lot of people there. It took us 2 hours to drive there and the kids were quite bouncy. It was a balancing act to enjoy the surroundings and keep the kids from falling off rocks. Giovanni did have a small tumble but there are no bruises.

We left Yosemite at 5PM and climbed a road to 6162ft elevation and then back down to 2000 ft. At the top there was a lot of snow on either side of the road but the road was clear. Overall it was a very difficult drive and the brakes were smelly by the end of it.

Today is a rest day in Sonora. The kids are having fun at the playground and the library.

I am enjoying the rest day.

Closing Thoughts:

Sometimes I get nervous when I go to a new Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym. The coach and the majority of the students there are better than me and could beat the snot out of me if they wanted to. There really is no debate about it. If someone is better at BJJ than me, they will be able to beat me. This makes me nervous when I go to a new gym.

I was recently thinking about this and I finally made a breakthrough with it. There is a very low chance that anyone at a new gym would want to beat me up and more importantly, I am likely missing the bigger risks that could cause more problems.

For example, wrestling with new people, there is a small chance that someone could twist too hard and I injure my shoulder. We stop. Say sorry and take care of my injury.

Versus, cruising along an easy road fighting to stay awake, if I fail, then we drive off the road and lots and lots of bad things would happen. Much worse then a small injury at a gym.

They are two very different examples but if we isolate the risks and the probability of injury, we can compare the two and see that one is much worse than the other while being harder to see in the moment.

I am trying to open my eyes more to the risks that are around me and see the major risks that I am missing.

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