Ten Thousand Rubber Ducks

To read all about why I was at the Silicon Valley Duck Race at the gorgeous Vasona Lake Park and the adjacent Oak Meadow Park you can read a previous blog post that explains why, for charity, I adopted a rubber duck.

How hilarious is this?

Normally at other venues the ducks are dumped into the water with a dump truck. You can view pics by CLICKING HERE. In Los Gatos they weren't able to get a permit to use a dump truck so they rigged these huge bags, that they had fastened to the bridge, to overturn dumping all of the duckies into the creek.

It was quite a moment with a real countdown and everything.

Here they come!

 

"Rubber ducky you're the one. You make race time lots of fun!"

Coming down the home stretch...

Heading towards the finish line.

The first one through the end of the bumpers was the winner! Second place made it through, then apparently the other 9,998 ducks got all clogged up so they had to choose the other 18 prize winning ducks manually.

The grand prize was a new Vespa! Honestly? I wanted to win either the $100 gift certificate to Michi Sushi or the $1090 dinner for 8 at La Fondue. As it ended up I won nothing but had a blast.

The losers...

Click the image to enlarge it.

Here's a picture board of all of the fun stuff that I saw on race day. Most of the activities were there special for the event. This is a great kids excursion. If you bring a picnic lunch even better. The food was a bit pricey. But they had lots of fun games and little workshops for the kids. They were selling tickets for those activities but I neglected to notice how much they cost. Dining choices included hot dogs, hamburgers, falafels, shaved ice and Dippin Dots. I had a mango Jamba Juice and some potato salad.

I loved how this image had a very nostalgic "country fair" feel to it. I figured if I converted it to sepia tone it would even more so. The only thing that isn't nostalgic are the prices! LOL

The carousel is an established attraction at Oak Meadow park.

The miniature train ride is also a regular feature at the park.

Click the image to enlarge it.

Here is one last picture board of all of the things that you can normally do and see at the park. From walking, skating, running or biking on the pathways to renting a small sail or paddle boat to several jungle gym sets for kids in both Vasona and Oak Meadow park and lots of meadow and picnic areas there is something for everyone. Even pets have a great time taking a dip in the creek on a hot day. For nature lovers the creek and lake attract ducks, Canadian geese, egrets and herons. The lake also offers fishing for Black Bass, Crappie, Catfish and Blue Gill.

It is a dog friendly park but dogs must be kept on leash at all times.

There is also a free summer concert series called Vasona Vibrations that takes place every Saturday throughout June and July.