bring exact change to vasona

so, today I took jane to oak meadow park to ride the train. we brought $10 in cash (2 $5 bills); $5 for parking and $4 for a train ride with $1 left over. there was no parking attendant at oak meadow, so I thought we saved $5, but there was no parking spaces available because they were repairing the parking lot. so we went to park on the street, but there was no space on the street because everyone else had to park on the street. so we went to the next door vasona park to park, even though parking there is $6.


there was no parking attendant at the booth at vasona either; so again I thought I saved $6. but I saw a sign that said that you have to get your parking ticket from a machine. everyone else in the parking lot had a ticket on their dashbord. So we got back in the car and drove over to the machine. the parking ticket cost $6. all I had was two $5s. I stuck both in. instead of giving me $4 in change, it printed a $4 refund ticket. We got back in the car, went to the train station and asked if we could trade the $4 refund ticket for 2 train tickets. the train guy said, “oh that is for vasona. we are oak meadow. we have nothing to do with that.” I asked how to get a refund. again he said, “I don’t know- that’s a vasona thing. we’re oak meadow.” so I spent a bunch of time getting a parking space, I spent $6 on a ticket, and now I can’t even buy train tickets because I have no cash left.


so I called the number on the ticket. I got the standard, “if you know your party’s extension…” I pressed zero. a lady answered. I asked her how to get a refund and she told me to come to the administration office. I asked her where it was. she had a hard time explaining that to me. she asked me where I was. I told her that I was at the billy jones wildcat railroad. she said, “oh you’re at oak meadow! we’re vasona. you parked in our lot. we don’t have anything to do with them.”

it turns out that the administration office was a couple miles away, on the other side of the park, near the youth science institute. I let the lady know that this was frustrating and inconvenient. no good attitude prizes for me today.

so we got back in the car, drove over to the administration building and gave the lady our refund ticket. she asked a guy in the office to help me. he did not look up from his computer for a minute. then he gave me a form to fill out. after I filled out the form, he gave me my $4 in change.

so we lost about 45 minutes of playtime because:

1. vasona and oak meadow don’t work together, even though they are side by side parks and the train goes through both of them.

2. oak meadow had no parking and vasona didn’t staff the parking booth,

3. the parking machine doesn’t give change,

4. they let a machine answer the phone, and they make you fill out a form to get change when you over-pay, and really,

5. customer service is not really a value.

it took me a while to calm down. I was so ticked off. but then I started thinking about customer service in my world. are the systems set up for the guest, or are they for my convenience? am I making it easy for people to participate? or it it way too complicated for people to sign up for events, to pay, to get information? how well do different departments work together in my world? do people walk away from event under my leadership with the same frustration?

we can’t let that happen. its got to get easier. its got to get streamlined; and frankly we have to care about the frustrations that people are dealing with and stay with them until they are fixed.

vasona tried to save money by not staffing the ticket booth, and they tried to save time by letting a machine answer the phone; and what they communicated to me was that Janie and I were not worth their time or money. and that makes me not want to come back. (but how can I stay away?!)

when it’s a park, its frustrating. when its church, someone’s eternity could be on the line.

bottom line #1: we have got to be excellent and customer service and make sure that everyone has a great experience.

bottom line #2: bring exact change when you park at vasona.

or use your credit card (which I wish that I did!)

los gatos creek trail mile markers

my favorite way to start the day is to go to vasona park in los gatos and walk for an hour. I like to review my memory verses, have a prayer time, look at nature, and think about the day ahead. there are some cool little mile markers along the los gatos creek trail (which runs through the park); and I've often wondered where they lead. so recently, I made a goal to find all of them- and along the way, I learned a lot about the los gatos creek trail:

the trail is almost 10 miles long. it goes next to highway 17, under it (which was pretty spooky in earthquake country) and over 17!

the trail starts at the Lexington dam in los gatos.

 

 

here is the ZERO marker-

 

 

pretty much every part of the trail is full of walkers, runners and bikers- but this area is the least populated.

 

here is the half mile marker- its the only one that is damaged. ths stretch is the only part that isn't paved, and the only part of the trail that features a steep hill:

 

there is a big pipe that runs along this area, I have no idea what its for- probably water since its so close to the dam. its covered in moss and dirt and people write their names in it. there is some pretty spectacular scenery out in this area too- giant hillsides, a shaded creek, old trees-

 

 



here is the one mile marker:

 



the 1.5 marker is right along 17, just after downtown los gatos:

the 2 mile marker is behind old town los gatos just after a wooden bridge that goes over the creek-

the stretch between the 2 mile marker and the 3 mile marker is my favorite- and the park I walk on most days. the 3 mile marker is right before vasona park:

 

the 3.5 is at the end of vasona, just before the dam:

 

 

the area between mile 4 and 5.5 goes through a los gatos neighborhood from the park to lark avenue-

 

 

the area between mile 6 and 7 goes through los gatos creek park and all the way to Campbell park. a LOT of people jog in this area:

 

 

the 7.5 marker is at Campbell park and hides under this rock. Campbell park is a great park for the kids and is close to downtown campbell:

 

 

the trail goes behind the pruneyard and through downtown los gatos at mile 8. this is the most urban part of the trail- with the trail actually going through a parking lot at one point:

 

 

 

the trail goes past Blackford Elementary school in Willow Glen and then ends at Meridian Avenue in Willow Glen:

 

this photo is the only one that I googled. I searched for an hour trying to find this marker. it certainly isn't a half mile from the previous one. it may have been removed, or it might have been covered in ivy or something, but it made me super frustrated because I couldn't find it! if anyone knows where it is, please let me know!

 

 

here is where the trail ends at meridian in willow glen:

 



the los gatos creek is an awesome way to get a walk in and enjoy nature right here in los gatos/ Campbell/ willow glen/ san jose. there is good parking, and almost all of it is paved. there's also lots of dog doo-doo stations; and Campbell park and vasona park are 2 of the best parks in the area for kids.

 

check it out!

-rob



 

 



frank + 12 middle school girls

a few weeks ago my friend frank was hospitalized at a rehabilitation hospital. i heard that he was at vasona creek hospital, a place that i have taken students on countless occasions. last week i decided to go and visit him and all of my other friends who are there.


i took danny, one of my former college students with me.
as i entered the rooms of my friends they all greeted my warmly and then asked, "where are the kids?" I had no middle schoolers with me- just me and danny.
i went to frank's room, but he was talking to a doctor- but he pleaded with me saying, "would you please come back soon?"
i knew that i had to, but this time i needed kids!
how would i get them there?
who could go during the day?
I talked to home schoolers, but the idea of visiting old folks wasn't so appealing to them. I figured that it wasn't going to happen.


tonight was "free night" at youth group. all of the small groups had free time to have fun any way they wanted to. so the 7th grade girls asked me to get my church bus and take them to starbucks. we were driving along down the street, when we passed vasona creek rehabilitation hospital.
and it was like the stars had aligned in this brief moment:
i was in the area-
i had the time-
and most of all, i had KIDS!
I squealed, "AHHHH! YES!"
the girls were like, "uhhh, rob? are you alright?"
I said "YES!
GIRLS!
we need to go visit FRANK!"
"who is frank?!" they asked.
I pulled the bus over and we rushed into the hospital.
we zoomed into frank's room.
he was laying in bed, on the phone with his wife-
he was so surprised to see us, he was in tears.
he has missed church for several weeks now,
so we brought church to him.
we sang together and prayed for him.
he couldn't even speak he was so moved and encouraged.


we left his room and I said
"girls, we can go to starbucks or we can go visit more friends..."
"more friends!" they said.
so we went to sing and pray with my friend barb.


the girls walked on air for the rest of the night.
I did too.
they were curious about barb's story
and how they could go again,
and had ideas of how we could go again and again as a youth ministry.


and as i drove that church bus home,
i thought about the whole thing-
it wasn't a huge event with a hundred kids,
but after seeing frank's tears and hearing the girls' enthusiasm,
i was reminded that this is why i got into this thing-
and to me, this is what its all about.
and i needed to be reminded that again,
because i almost forgot.


thanks girls, thanks frank, and thanks God-
I needed that.

my morning walk in miniatures

on my day off, or on days I go in late, I like to walk in Los Gatos, along the Los Gatos Creek trail to Vasona Park. as I look back on the miniatures I have made for my plant, I have pretty much mapped out my entire walk with miniatures.

first, I park behind the great bear-

then I go inside and get a banana bread:

then I walk past Icing on the cake:

then I walk down this wooden path:

then I turn onto this bridge:

then I walk down this long path:

under some trees:

past the carousel:

past the playground:

past the train:

then over to this bridge:

past some geese:

then to the big red bridge:

and back again. some of these pictures all have my kid in them, but she rarely goes on the trail with me. walking in nature and making miniatures- how introverted can you get?

God is love.

-rev-rob

enjoy it while you can-

i was walking through vasona park yesterday
with janie in my arms-
we were waiting for the train to start running
and we were looking for a table
to have our mid-morning crackers.
we passed by a lady walking her dog
who smiled and said,
"enjoy it while you can!
she won't let you hold her much longer."
i've been thinking about that a lot lately-
people are big
a lot longer than they are small,
and so small people need to be cherished-
because their smallness doesn't last long.

but that's good advice for a lot of areas of life:
"enjoy it while you can..."
health, wealth, love, your 20's,
your 30's, your career, your kids,
they all are gone way before you are ready
to say goodbye to them.
"enjoy it while you can..."



this is so much fun!

let's go fly a kite!

yesterday we went out and got a kite! we went to vasona park in los gatos, tied on our string and let it fly! jane is a natural kite-flyer! we had so much fun that we went 2 days in a row. a reporter from the san jose mercury news was walking by and snapped a few photos and they should be in the newspaper on May 31!

my favorite kinds of trees

my wife was confused by my posts about time management. hopefully no one else was. you have to read the blogs in order, 1-4, not 4-1 like they appear. also- there is just one master daily list for each day- they calendar lists just help to build it.

ANYHOW- on a less confusing point- here is a list of my current favorite trees:

// magnolia
I know they only bloom for a bit, but when they do, those petals look like paintbrushes dipped in purple paint!

// jacaranda
I have never seen one of these trees, but I saw a documentary about them and they look super cool. I heard that when the leaves drop it looks cool, but its a pain to clean up:

// circus trees-
but you can only find these at gilroy gardens!

 

// giant oaks-
these things seem to defy physics and gravity.

// eucalyptus trees-
these sight and smell of these remind me of the central coast- and vasona park:

// weeping willows
but probably because they are in one of my favorite scenes ever filmed, the jolly holiday scene from mary poppins!

// giant sequoia trees/ redwoods
well- I am a true californian! these are breath taking:

// joshua trees-
well, I'm really into that ONE joshua tree!

// cherry blossoms
these look awesome when a whole orchard is in full bloom:

 

// tarzan's/ swiss family robinson's tree in adventureland!

 

// the pechanga oak-
I saw this tree on california's gold once- its in temecula and is supposed to be one of the world's biggest trees. its so big that you can have giant parties under it and feel like you're in a tree building. I'd like to visit it someday:

 

what can I say? I live in beautiful, sunny california with all of those awesome california trees! some of them make my allergies go off like crazy- but there is nothing like being around these old happy trees to put life in perspective.

"blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
that person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers."
-psalm 1

God is love.
-rev-rob


p.s. here is a funny song about trees: