Jingle Bell Run/Walk, Pacific Grove, California
Today, my wife and I woke up at 5 AM to travel to Pacific Grove to participate in the 2011 Jingle Bell Run/Walk of the Arthritis Foundation®. The national sponsor is Abbott, a company that I visited on business once, north of Chicago, IL. In the photo above, I am the big elf in the back (center) with the University of Wisconsin/Bucky Badger sweatshirt (graduate school) – Go Badgers! Any resemblance to Santa in the front row is strictly coincidental! 
(There is also one “rocket scientist” in the group.) My daughter assembled the team because her daughter, our granddaughter, has had juvenile idiopathic arthritis since she was about 1 year old.
The staging area for the “race” was Lover’s Point Park in Pacific Grove (Google Map), another one of those beautiful, memorable places on the California Coast.
The 3.1-mile (5K) course followed along Ocean View Boulevard, home to simple, small, $4-6 million homes (location, location, location!) and Bed-and-Breakfast inns and hotels, beyond where Ocean View becomes Sunset Drive (near the Point Piños Lighthouse (1) Reservation, and back to Lovers Point.
The weather was just about perfect for the run/walk: temperatures in the 50s (F) with a high of 58 degrees, hazy sunshine (sunshine always feels warm in our part of California, in contrast to the winter sunshine of the Midwest), and no breeze. Large waves were rolling in, smoothly and majestically, and crashing on the rocks with fountains of spray. Tomorrow, a little afternoon rain is forecast for Pacific Grove. (Hopefully. It is that time of year!)
Most of our team ate pizza at Gianni’s Pizza at 725 Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey (not a recommendation, but it is ALWAYS delicious!) Afterward, my wife and I drove north along the coast to Rio del Mar and Santa Cruz. Since she was at the wheel (and since I can sleep just about anywhere), I slept most of the way to Livermore – a perfect close to a very busy week.
-Bill at
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