My Favorite Day: Make that day and a half — parks director is one active gal
| Wednesday, Jul 09 2008 02:18 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:25 PM
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DAY?
Where do you like to go, what do you like to do, who do you like to hang with? We’d love to know. If you’re interested in writing a My Favorite Day piece, call or
e-mail Lifestyles Editor Jennifer Self: 395-7434 or jself@bakersfield.com.
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Dianne Hoover, director of the Recreation and Parks Department for the city of Bakersfield, likes to bike on the bike path near her home most mornings.
Dianne Hoover on the Kern River bike path.
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There are many things to do in Kern County. Even though I have not done all these in one day, it is possible. Take Friday off, and try it because you will need a couple of days to recover.
Start the day at 6:30 a.m.
Ride the bicycle to Vons at The Marketplace and pick up a few energy bars and water bottles. Ride through the Cal State campus onto the Kern River Bike Path — it has a crossing at Stockdale Highway. Head on out to Enos Lane, and return home; about a 22-mile roundtrip bike ride — all flat terrain. Along the way I usually see roadrunners, coyotes, kit foxes, squirrels and trees chewed by the bike path beaver.
Once home, take a quick shower, drink more water and consume some fruit and an energy bar. By this time, it will be about 10:30 and time to head over to McMurtrey Aquatic Center for lap swimming for about one mile. Quick shower there, too.
After biking and swimming, have my husband ride the Harley and meet me at Mexicali downtown on 18th Street, not far from McMurtrey Aquatic Center. I will be hungry for a good Mexican lunch by then.
Then head up the Kern River Canyon Road on the motorcycle, all the way to Kernville.
Arrange for one of the short, guided river raft trips in the early afternoon. It takes less than a couple of hours and is lots of fun. Once we get off the raft, we need to take a little hike to get the land legs back, so ride the Harley on over to the Whiskey Flat trail for a quiet, leisurely walk for a couple of miles roundtrip.
Return to Kernville for a great meal at That’s Italian restaurant on the west end of the square in Kernville. If available, eat on the patio and watch all the people and cars traverse the area. Head back down the canyon before dark, since we are still on the Harley.
He drops me off to pick up my car that I left at Mexicali. It is Friday, so I want to cool off at the Ice Arena for a few spins around the rink with all the families and teens. I grew up ice skating, so it is fun to keep up with the various skaters and when the area is clear of little skaters, even skate backwards a few times. My husband skips the ice skating and heads home to clean and put away the Harley.
My day is not complete until I stop at Rosemary’s on F Street for an ice cream treat — I earned it after all that!
Drive on home, happy, full and feeling completely content before crawling into bed. What a perfect day for me! (My husband just shakes his head and smiles — his day was not quite as busy, but he is happy just the same.)
Dianne Hoover is director of the Recreation and Parks Department for the city of Bakersfield. Hoover, who has lived in Bakersfield for four years, is a newlywed, having married Dan Burns just weeks ago. Dianne enjoys swimming, biking, hiking and “all the outdoor activities I can fit into a day, a weekend and vacations.”
