Weekend with Carrie

This past weekend my best friend and college roommate flew up from Orange County to visit.  It was SO much fun to see her and we reallly packed a lot into the couple of days we had.  We hadn't seen each other in a long time and so we spent both nights that she stayed with us staying up late and chatting non-stop.  It was awesome.

On Saturday morning we went for a run together (she kicked my butt), then went to the farmer's market with Paul.  After driving around Campbell and San Jose to show Carrie where we live, we dropped Paul off at the apartment and Carrie and I went to the Winchester Mystery House.  It is a crazy old house built by the woman who inherited the Winchester rifle fortune.  She believed she was haunted by the spirits of those who were killed by Winchester rifles.  Some medium told her that to appease the spirits, she had to start building and never stop, so that's what she did for something like 38 years.  She had something like 160 rooms built with crazy corridors, doors that opened into solid walls, stairs that led to nowhere, a seance room, etc. 

After the Winchester Mystery House tour, Carrie and I picked Paul up and drove to Santa Cruz.  First we got ice cream at Marianne's.

Then we went to the boardwalk where we rode the Giant Dipper.  It is one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in America, and it is rad.  I think we lasted about 3 seconds with our hands in the air, and after that Carrie and I were gripping the safety bar and screaming for the rest of the ride.

Um, yes, I took a photo of the photo that they took on the ride.  Obviously we were all having fun.

It may not look so intense, but trust me, this coaster is amazing.  It is maybe one of my favorite coasters ever.

Then on Sunday after church we went to Big Basin State Park to show Carrie the redwood trees. 

It was wonderful having Carrie out for a visit and we are hoping to get down to see her and her family sometime soon.