Oregon Fall 2015 written while traveling - finally published!

Day one of the trip: 8/5/15.

I drove to Debs house around 7:45PM, we packed up and headed to the air port. Tim drove and Dad drove with him for company. We got to o'hair and said our good byes, headed to check baggage. Deb and Mom got special marks on their boarding passes so that they didn't have to take off their shoes, I of course did not get that, and had to go through regular checking procedure. 

Everything went smoothly and the flight went fast, we flew united. I did not get RLS or anything although as usual the seats were horribly uncomfortable, but we all managed to sleep.

We flew into Portland around 1am, headed down to get a cab and told him the Holiday Express… He brought us to the Holiday inn, and of course we did not notice till we asked to check in and our name was not on the list.. SO, we had to wait for the Holiday Inn shuttle to bring us over to the express… Finally around 2am we were settled in our beds and trying to fall asleep, it was 4am our time, and since we had slept on the air plain and were excited to be in a new place, no one was too tired for a while…

Day 2 August 6th We got up around 7am or so portland time, I could not sleep and woke up with RLS at 6am portland time and was not even tired… We headed down to breakfast and enjoyed omelets, cinnamon rolls, pancakes from a pancake machine, sausage, biscuits and eggs and of course lots of coffee….

Next step we headed to the hotel shuttle and waited till it arrived, we got taken back to the air port to the car rental shuttle, then headed out again to the off site location. For under $400 for the week we got a Mazda 5, it was nice and roomy with sliding back doors, and we discovered right away it had an optional manual shifting feature… We discovered this when it would not shift out of first gear… and i found out that if i pressed up it shifted, or down it shifted down, but it had no clutch… did not expect that, but found the auto option at the next stop light.

We headed to Mt. Hood, and arrived in a little over an hour. We got a growler of beer at Mt. Hood Brewery (i'm looking forward to drinking it soon) and then to the old lodge that was built in 1930s. It was a really interesting building with great views of Mt. Hood. 

After that we headed back down the highway and down to the Merror lake trail. It was about a 2 mile hike up to a lake, then a loop around the lake with great views of Mt Hood. 

We got a little turned around by our GPS after this, and ended up getting a little lost, but our next destination was the bunkhouse. I had inquired about "The Medow house" on VBO and it was already rented, but Barbra the owner responded that they had a new place, the bunk house, ready to rent but had not listed it. It was a old bunk house and they had just redone it for her new daughter in laws make ready room for her sons wedding. We stopped at Bend to get some food, sandwich stuff and breakfast stuff, coffee, wine… Then made it to the Bunk house around 8:45. IT was down a LONG winding driveway, the road had 4 mail boxes, we drove past the main house, then past the meadow house, to what looks like a barn… Barbra met us and showed us around. The inside is a big finished room with three beds, a kitchen area with a table counter with fridge, counter stove etc. and also a sitting area, then a hall leading to a nice big bathroom… Horses are right outside, they have 5, along with lots of berries Barbra says we can pick and eat, she also says a bear like them too. They have 100 acres with trails we plan to check out…. We are pretty happy with this place, it's WAY better than a hotel… We took a little walk last night after eating then went to bed.

Day three Aug 7th

We got up around 6:30AM and mom made breakfast as Debi and I slowly got ourselves up… We had egg sandwiches and coffee… We geared up and headed out the Crater lake National park. The road to the park was windy and steep, but very pretty. We got to the entrance and payed our $15 to get a weekly pass then headed to the visitor center to get a few souvenirs, I got a cool hiking log book and a pin… We drove on the rim road after that an pulled over at the first pull off for our first view of the lake. IT WAS AMAZING, looked un real… We ran into a biker that was 2000 miles into his ride from CA to WA… He gave us some good tips on where to hime, said their was a "Easy Peavy" hike up to the hughes point, Mt. Scott just a bit down the road. We were getting very low on gas, so I was hoping he was right that it was close. It was, and we parked and headed up. Debi and I though we were going to run up, so we left mom to hike and headed out, our ideas of running ended quickly as we released it was straight up with a bunch of switch backs.. we did walk fast though… It was really cool, amazing views of the lake and the rest of the park. We made it to the top in about an hour or so, a 2.5m climb. We Enjoyed the views from the top, then headed down (finally running) we ran into mom maybe .75 miles down, and Debi continued walking with her while I ran because I needed to make a phone call when I got to the bottom (work related) After that we went down to get gas and were very thankful we made it! Then we were going to eat at the lodge, but they were closed between lunch and dinner, so we went to the cafe and got expensive food that was not awesome, but thats ok. I got a hot dog for $5.50… but it was to fat, and did not taste good to me.. but thats ok… We went on another hike after that, down to the lake, 1m down REALLY down. Mom and debi put their feet in the water, debi got in a little with out getting her clothes wet… it was cold, but I was determined to get in so I did, it was really cool, so blue and clear…. but cold… I got out and actually was not hugely uncomfortable… We headed back up… it was really steep.. but we made it. After that we found the location of the marathon meeting and watched a little video of a previous year and could ask questions if we wanted to… Then we headed back, we all chose the wrong direction and after we started seeing big fields full of cattle I started to think we were going the wrong way. We made up reasons that we had not noticed "maybe all the cattle were behind those trees" "well we were really exited to get to the park" "it was a long drive…" Finally I got my GPS out and turns out we were going the wrong way… So our drive took about 1:15 instead of 45… THEN we finally got to Beckys where we wanted to eat and they had a 45 m wait.. So we got a bbq chicken sandwich across the street, but debi just made a sandwich at home. We pretty much just went to sleep after that…

Day Three Aug 8th. 

We got up at 4:30am (well thats when the alarm went off,) We actually got up at 4:45am, I had not prepared well enough, and was searching for items, I had also forgotten to charged my camera battery… it was lame. My mom however was prepared, and had the coffee maker ready to press start, she had toast ready to go in for us… We headed out abut 5:15am and got to the lodge around 6am. Mom wished us luck and took a picture of us and we jumped on the bus. The bus took us to the start of the race and then we waited and talked to other runners. It was COLD. We even had our coats on… Once bus #4 got their we were supposed to put our stuff on that bus, so we waited inside where it was nice and warm till the race was ready to start, then we remorsefully took our coats off rolled them up to fit in the bag and stowed it under the bus. We headed to the middle of the road and all stood in a shivering huddle waiting for them to say "ready set go" It only took a couple minutes and we were off. about 2 miles of mostly gentle down hill with a little up, then we had rolling hills with amazing views till about mile 9.5, the views were still amazing, but the hill was steep and lasted 4 miles. We passed the half marathon finished and headed up to a little loop, this was partly down and partly up, we passed an aid station (these had been practically every mile, very well supported) After the loop we headed to the right and down, LOTS of down and the road was very slanted around bends which made for unhappy ankles… They said "it's all down hill from here" but I hear that a races all the time and it's never true… But this time it was pretty much true… It was A LOT of down… Our strategy was to walk up the big hills to save energy… but if I had know of all the down I may have pushed it harder on the ups and not walked so much. We did really get out of breath fast on the up hills, could really feel the thin air.. But it was great to feel lots of energy at the end, I think we could have done better though and ran the race a LITTLE smarter if we had believed that it was all down hill (expect 2m at the end) after the half marathon… but like I said, we hear that all the time and it's never true… TIll Yesterday.. Anyhow, we were feeling great running the last of the race, mile 20 seemed like it hardly even took any time to get to, after that it went  a little slower (in my head, not our pace, we had negative splits, till the last 2 uphill, but the hills helped with that). At mile 22 we crossed the finish area and had a 4 m out and back left. We were probably at a 8:30ish pace, and debs foot hit something on the rough pavement. The pavement was extremely rough, it seemed like they had just put gravel on it a while back with tar, then the gravel eventually sinks into the tar, but the gravel did not completely flatten, it probably had juts coming out around an eight of in inch in some places… My sister went down on her left knee first I think, then her right knee, then her left hand, right hand, and then the elbows went down then her face hit… Her little video camera went flying… I can see it all now still, it was horrible. When she rolled over with a dazed look on her face we had people rushing to help right away, she was all torn up… Thankfully her face did not have a mark on it, but she felt her lip and tooth meet the pavement. The volunteers got first aid kits out, and patched her up, she insisted of getting up right away, and 3 people helped pull her up…She walked a few steps and said she was fine, we thanked the people that had helped us, and continued on to the next aid station, we got a drink, and Debi though we got to turn around already…. I wondered if she was still a little dazed because we still had to go out another mile.. We did, and got to turn around and drink more water… then back for 2 miles, about half of it was up hill.. I drank so much water, every aid station plus some in my camel back… We got to the finish area, and took a left into the camp ground where the timer was setup, we finished in 4:34ish and 34th and 35th and I was 2nd in my age group! We got our medals and our bags and then heard someone say that the bus was leaving… I asked how long till the next one came and he said a half an hour.. SO, we started running again, I ran to grab a piece of watermelon first then we dashed to the bus and got on… We had asked where our bags were and were told they were back where we started… SO, we got back to the parking lot near the lodge and spotted mom watching for us by the gift shop with others watching for runners. She spotted us also and had planned to take a picture right away, but after hearing of Debi's fall, and seeing all her bandages she forgot, and they headed off to the bathroom to get everything cleaned up, I headed off to find our stuff which I found out actually WAS at the finish line, then I went to the gift shop and asked if they had a first aid kit explaining what happened. They had some stuff for me, big bandaids, tape, gauze, neosporon… I headed back to the bathroom with everything… Deb and Mom were washing her wounds out with soap and water, debi was dripping blood on the bathroom floor, she truly was  a mess… When she was almost done and just had the really bad hand left I started feeling sick form not eating… and her scrubbing her fleshy hand wound out did not help my sick feeling… I headed to the car, and mom went and got me some chips… I drank water and ate a few chips and started feeling better…. We headed BACK to the finish and got our bags and mom took the picture, the we headed back towards 62. It was such a shorter drive when we turned the right direction… RIGHT. we headed to Becky's again and got their around 3pm perfect timing we got a table right away. We ran into the same couple for the 3rd time, which was funny, the first time was at the lodge, the guy was running the marathon, the girl was going to run a little of it with him, then we ran into them on a hike, then at Becky's.. what are the odds? Anyway, Debi and I got a glass of yummy wine and ordered crispy chicken ranch sandwich, I got chips with it (home made) and Debi got fries, mom got a hot roast beef sandwich.. Everything was really good, and we then got a piece of pie Al La Mode to split. it was delicious. We headed down the high way to Natural Bridges,  it was a nice little mile walk down a paved path to a bridge with a water fall, then along a path next to the creek/river to the natural bridge. It was cool, pretty much all the water went down into the rocks, then rushed out a side cave a few 100 feet later. Lots of pot holes from the lava also. The lava formed the natural bridge, and water claimed it after the lava was done…

After that we went to the little store in prospect for more bandaids for debs, it was a nice little store, not full shopping store, but had a little bit of everything and the prices were not overly inflated…

We headed back to the bunk house after that, took showers, then talked to the ranch owners for a while after that, really nice people…. We went for a little walk in the 100m forest, then back to the bunk house and were all asleep before 9pm, but to make ourselves feel better that was 11pm OUR time at home…

Day four August august 9th

We headed out around 8am to see some water falls that were about 2 miles from the Bunk house. The car was packed, and we were going to head to highway 101 after that. We saw Bar falls and Mill Creek falls. They were really pretty and about a 1m tops walk. After that we headed back to 65 and we got about a mile past the bunk house when we heard strange sounds like a flat. We discovered loose rubber coming off our front right tier… We cut it off and called the guy, Jim, that we had rented the house from and had talked to the previous night. He said we should go to a auto shop that was about 35 miles away, and I though I knew where he was talking about. He also said we could bring it back to their house and he would change it, but we only had a mini tier, so we would still have to goto  the auto shop…SO, we headed out to find the car shop… we kept loosing time on our ETA, it was sad… Finally, we did not find it, and we stopped looking. We took it to walmart to find that you should not keep driving cars with missing rubber and that all FOUR of the tires were ready to blow. We got our shopping done, and by the time we were ready so was the car… The mechanics could not believe that the car had been in such bad condition… Finally we were on our way, and instead of stoping leisurely at different places along the way we had to go right to our house to save time, we had lost 3 hours on the tires, it was sad. We arrived at our beach house a vacation by owner home around 4:45PM, un packed, settled in and walked to town for dinner. We ended up eating at Drive Wood Inn, they had pizza, and a lot of other things that looked good, but we had pizza. It was good… Hit the spot. We walked back to the house and were in bed around 10pm. We all got up around 6:30am, had everything bagels with egg, cheese and bacon as well as coffee for breakfast, got ready, and were at the sea lion caves before 9am. We ended up not seeing a lot of sea lions, just a few swimming around, the caves were empty, but it was still cool. They built an elevator 300ft down to the cave, and had a really cool viewing area… We got a few souvenirs at the gift shop, and some pop corn and headed down high way 101 again to Florence. At florence we found a little farmers stand and got a lot of fruit… One was a plumb peach hybrid that was so sweet it tasted like candy to me. After that we walked down the dock and saw a couple seals swimming and a lot of tinny jelly fish.. Then we walked down the street to a few little shops, one was full of local artists work, and Debi got a cool dragon fly neckless, I got a bracelet, and mom got a cute little starfish. We got coffee at a local shop after that, they put scoops of our choice of coffee grains on top of our cups and filtered it in with hot water, it was really good. AND they had a bible question, if you answered it right you got free coffee… Debi got the question right first after we got a hint…

After that we headed back down highway 101 back towards our beach house. Our first stop was the brach, we just walked down one of the beaches, it was a flat one, we didn't see much, maybe walked for a mile, then we headed to see the light house. It was old, built in the 1890's, the most interesting thing about it was that, 1, it was the most photographed light house, and 2, the lens. It was a french lens and the only #1 lens in the USA of that type. could see it for 21 miles. Next we went to Strawberry hill, we parked down the street because the parking lot was full, it started with steps, then to a sandy and rocky path down to the beach, around the bend and around a bunch of rocks we were all surprised to see some large rocks with about 35 or so sea lions on it! We stayed and watched them for a long time, saw some swimming around, saw them arguing with each other.. it was really cool, we got to get fairly close too, after that we explored the rest of the rocks to find really awesome little crabs, Sea plants that were green, purple plant things that looked like those cush balls (later we learned they were sea urchans), little fish, and a lot of starfish. It was like a magical little sea world on those rocks, we had so much fun. We headed down for a walk on the coast after that and collected shells and rocks… Then back to the car and to a trail that wen town to "Devils Churn" which was more rocks, but a channel that went in pretty far causing the waves to break rather violently on the rocks. They got so high sometimes, it was so cool. I stood pretty close, and it was so fun to see the wave rushing at me and feel the wind from it and a little of it's spray… I could have stood and watched that for a long time, wished I had a bottle of wine and a blanked and I would have been set for the night! After that we headed back to Yatchs to find fish. After going to three stores looking for Salmon we settled for Halibut, it was more expensive, but the only thing we could find that was freshly caught. We then split up tasks, Debi and mom on check oil and then make a fruit, cracker and cheese plate, me on start french fries for app, start grill and cook food.  Everything turned out really good, we made mom's steak that we had gotten at walmart, and fish for Debi and I, the baked potatoes with cheese and cottage cheese, toasted french bread and baked beans.. It was really good, Debs and I also enjoyed some wine. We watched the sun set from at the end of the drive.. and here we are… the day is over, it was a great day and we're all tired! 

Day five August 10th. We were not too hungry in the morning from out big dinner the night before, so we did not make breakfast… We Hard boiled the eggs we had left, and made sandwiches for lunch, packed up and headed out down Highway 101. Mom had a nice little highway 101 map, letting us know what their was to see along different mile marks. We stopped here and their, the best things were stopping at a Marine Biology center and learning (and seeing again) that we had seen Sea urchins, Sea Animintys, and barnicals the day before, Then seeing a wooden light house (the only one left) and getting free grilled corn and cookies in the light houses garden because it was the 30th anniversary (or was it 20?). Newport was perhaps my favorite that day, we walked around the town and ended up finding maybe 100 seals, probably half of them were on the docks, the rest on some rocks not far out. They were smelly, fight, and noisy, but very entertaining to watch. One of the docks was enclosed in a cage, the door was open, and probably 20 sealions had piled inside. They were not happy when another joined them and climbed up, so usually this caused a big fight, sometimes they would give up and let the new comer stay, other times he would end up getting booted off into the water again. We got coffee at a coffee shop that had a patio out back where we watched the sea lions and drank our coffee, It was pretty cool. The next stop we found was a whale viewing place where we had a picnic and I finally managed to get 2 bottles of Great White Shark beer open for debi and myself (they were not twist off, and it was very difficult) After that we meandered down the coast again making our last stop cannon beach. They down looked like a lot of fun, I would like to come back and stay sometime, Judah (my husband) would really like it I think. they have a huge area that is a state park, and a huge sprawling beach. We walked down for a mile or so, our last beach walk. I walked in the water a little, it was not too cold… lots of rock formations in the water, it was really pretty. We headed to our hotel Days in after that i portland. Some conference was in portland so everything was pricy and booked. We got to the hotel around 9:30pm and had some wine and  more of the food we had gotten at the store for dinner then just went to bed…. We booked the hotel through hot wire and had said we had 3 people, but we only got a king bed, but did get a trundle bed.. they said they were going to charge us $10  a day extra, but ended up not.

Day six August 11th. We got up around 6:30 and headed down for breakfast at the hotel, they had the typical eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy… waffle and french toast for the foster and stuff like that. Coffee of course… Around 8am we headed out to see water falls in the Columbia gorge. We saw 3 including the the Munt Nomah, which was a 400ft fall.. Pretty cool. After that we headed back and stopped at a really cool vineyard/distillery/brewery/resort. It was a really cool property that would also be fun to stay at. We tried some wine and liked all of them. After that we went to portland, finally found parking in a garage after I accidentally drove the wrong way down a one way street (first time for that, it was scary) We choose our lunch at a area where lots of food carts were lined up, I had a Egyptian euro, Debi had falafel over rice and mom had a phillis cheese steak. All were good.

We headed to a bike rental pace after that and did about a 15m look around the city. Some of it had a lot of construction which was less that awesome, but all in all ok. 

We went back to the car for Mom to freshen up and then to happy hour at Mamma Meas, they had awesome cheap small plates and good wine for $4 a glass. Mom had set it up for us to have dinner with her friend from grade school that she used to live next to, so it was interesting to meet her, and cool that mom got to see her again after all these years. After that we went for a shot walk at forest park, mainly up a big hill and down. Lots of bikers… Nice park though would have liked to hike more… but it was getting dark and we were tired. That was it for the day.

Day seven august 13th. Today we are leaving. Im waiting to board the plain, our flight is at 1:10, and since we loose 2 hours we get into Chicago around 7:10, Dad is picking us up. This morning we just packed up, ate breakfast and returned the car. They are going to get back to us on giving us a "rebait" on their tires. It was annoying. It was like they were going to give us something but we were leaving them with OUR tires, we should have been the ones approving something… Horrible experience with payless car rentals.. We'll see how it all pans out, and we will defiantly be reporting the final outcome on as many internet review sites as we can. Debi and I go tour growlers filled up again after check in, and before check in we finally got to go to the fast line (pre check) and did not have to take shoes off, or anything out of our bags. It was great…

All in all another awesome trip! Summery would be: Mt. Hood, hiking, 100acer ranch/bunk house, Carder Lake, Highest point at carder lake, lowest point at carder lake, swimming in carder lake, running around carder lake in the marathon, Debi falling, hiking, waterfalls, horrible car rental place and need death experience, highway 101, Florence, Ocean side beach home, rocks, shells, beach, beauty, fun, seal lions, fresh fish, souvenirs, sea creatures, whales, devil's churn, newport, coffee, seals, picnics, beer, biking, waterfalls, fresh fruit, fresh air, good times.

Running through a life change (JOB) 2015

When I ran Catalina island race I had a steady desk job with 3 weeks payed vacation. I hated it and had no where to move up, no hope for advancement... but it was stable, easy, I was good at it, I got free beer & tickets to concerts/sporting events, payed vacation, when I went home the rest of the day was mine, work stayed at work, the stress level at work was low, and it did not effect my home life. It was depressing that it was a dead end and not challenging, but I think thats one of the reasons I picked up ultra running - for the challenge that was lacking elsewhere...

In May 2014 I no longer had said office job. I spend on week looking for work before I decided to get my realtor license and start getting business for my husbands fathers painting business Fenske Painting. Fenske painting had been around for 2 generations, starting with my husbands grandfather I believe who went to Moose Heart in Aurora because his parents died from small pox in MN. He, and some of his siblings I believe choose the profession "painting & decorating" My father in-law learned the trade & shared the business with his twin brother. in December of 2012 his twin brother passed away. My father in law continued on, but his twin was the partner in the business that worked on the business side of things as well as painting - he got jobs, worked on taxes, handled payments & things like that more than my father in law. So in May of 2014 as I was searching Craigs list, I had an idea to post an add for painting in the service section. I didn't think much of it, but that night I got a call from a guy that wanted us to paint a whole house. It was a forclosure in Sandwich, needed drywall repair, and to have all the walls and ceilings painted the same color. SO that's what we did. I didn't know painting was so hard - starting out with a house that was same color ceiling and walls was a good place to start - much more easy than anything else.

We did more houses after that - quoted a lot of them. I got better, and we got better (my husband, sister in law, father in law) working together.
We had some things to figure out - the company we were working for needed us to get workers comp. insurance, so we had to form a LLC - Limited Liability Company. Fenske Painting And Decorating LLC - so that our personal assets were protected & we could separate the income that was made from the painting jobs.

 This all took a lot of reading and was actually really stressful. Sure I could have used legal zoom and have them charge me $600 extra just to set it up for me, but after reading a lot, and doing some research I found out it was pretty easy to do myself. All I had to do was check the name to make sure it was not already taken, then file an online, pay a fee and boom, LLC. Then goto another site to get a Tax ID number. The only problem is I didn't understand everything at that time, so now I need to fix things. If we are taxed as a LLC every thing is split evenly between owners (my husband and myself) If we change to be taxed as an S Corp, we can pay ourselves what ever we decide to out of the company and only be taxed for that. THEN, I can ad my father in law to the company, and be able to pay him with out paying the workers comp premium (thats 18% OUCH)
And about this workers comp insurance deal. It's a pain. So we pay $1000 + for it then we can opt out of it and not have to pay the 18% but still pay the $1000. SO, if we pay anyone that does not have the insurance, and list them as a subcontractor (lots of rules about this too) then we have to pay the premium, however if I add them to the company and they opt out of it after the company has been changed to an S Corp then we avoid the fees.  Another thing - once you choose to be taxed as a LLC (partnership) you have to wait till the next tax year to change... So eventually we will have it the way we want it.
Tax year will be interesting.

Anyway with painting full time - a very active job, finding new business, quoting jobs, and trying to start a career as a retailer my running habits have changed. I do not have to run quite as much I find to stay conditioned because of all time I spend on my feet, and climbing up and down ladders, but I also find it harder to be motivated to get out in the morning, knowing that i'll be painting all day, then maybe cleaning up quickly and showing houses in the evening. This is a new chapter in life, and I know it will be a great adventure, and even though it's not as comfortable as my last job, the opportunity, flexibility and much higher earning potential will be well worth the extra effort and the initial discomfort of change. I'm learning to adapt and overcome these new obstacles and adjust my life to my new jobs so I can learn, suceed and also have a personal life with friends and hobbies to enjoy. Its not an easy balancing act.

So yesterday I ran 50 miles. Why?

My sister and I trained for about 6 months - all winter for this Ice Age 50 Mile race. We hit every long run, pretty much followed the schedule she found online for us to a T.. The longest weeks we ran around 70 miles. the 2 longest weeks were Tuesday 4 miles, Wednesday 12 Miles, Thursday 6 miles, Saturday 35 Miles (One of the weeks we did 35 on the road, the other week we did a 50k on trails, The Earth Day 50k) followed by a 12 mile run on Sunday. It was challenging. Knowing however that 35 was the longest run we had done at one time and we would still have 15 more miles to go all on trails on race day was disturbing.  I tried to push those thoughts out of my head though, knowing that for my first marathon I ran 20 miles and still had 6 to go, and knowing that our schedule had worked for many others. Race day was getting close, a week before the race during taper period I was feeling pretty fat and grumpy... My sister was checking the weather every day, I didn't actually know where the race was till about 2 days before race day, I kind of relied on her for all that since the race was her idea... She said that the weather said rain the whole week of the race and on race day. This was not good news, mud is not my friend, especially for 50 miles. Thankfully the weather changed. We headed out Friday around 3:30 to get our Packets at White Water Fishery. We had never been to a Fishery... It was cool. We got our shirts and were pleased that they only said 50 miles, not 50 miles/50k... Then we waited for a table at the Fishery, had a awesome Wisconsin Coffee Stout while we waited, then dined on amazing fresh Salmon, pasta and french bread. It was very good.

 


We headed 20 minuets to the hotel (Hampton in) checked in, got our gear ready and were asleep by 9:30 (too late I think since we had to be up at 4:15 at the latest). It was hard to fall asleep, it was like being a kid again on Christmas eve... but no presents... Finally I did fall asleep but woke up around 3:45 pretty much wide awake. I went down for coffee and some annoying guys were sitting around the breakfast table - they had been up all night drinking and were clearly annoying the desk lady for the hotel... They kept trying to talk to the racers as they walked by... it was kinda stupid, they should have gone back to their room.. A bunch of serious athletes who had been training for 5-6 months for this day and a group of drunk guys who had never gone to sleep the night before was not a good combination.

My sisters Cosine Stormy picked us up at 4:40 and we headed to the start, both my sister and I scanning our brains trying to think of something we forgot... Stormy had wanted to get to the race an hour early because they said "parking was limited". It was true, lots of people were already their, and the first lot was almost full at 5am, we got a great spot, and enjoyed having the car so close to everything, although I was pretty grumpy about having to go so early to start with, in the end it was a good call.

At the start we got our drop bags in the proper piles and milled around, getting ready... I ate a 200 calorie breakfast bar and part of a half rotten banana (complements of my sister). Anticipation was building, I studied the map a little... waited... finally it was time to line up, I had my camel back about 3/4 way full, 5 gels, wireless head phones... Run keeper was started and paused ready for me to move. They recognized the runners who had run the race 20+ years in a row (wow), sang the national anthem and we were off. The trails were beautiful. No mud, soft dirt, great temperature... perfect. The first 10ish mile look was pretty easy (compared to was was to come) We walked up the hills, and had a decent pace. We crossed the finish heading the other direction, and I tried to push the thoughts I was having about having to run 40 more miles before I got to cross this again away. The next section of trails was 10 miles out, and 10 miles back. It was rough and rocky and full of "mountains". We continued to walk up the hills and push forward. I started feeling tired at mile 15 and mentally threw rocks at the little devil in my head telling me I had 35 miles to go. He left and I continued trotting down the trail after taking 3 ibprofins. The aid stations and volunteers were awesome. I ate a lot of food. PB&J squares, chips, oreo cookies, mt. dew, coke, ginger-ale, water, sports drinks, gummy bears, boiled potatoes and salt.. stuff like that. I think I fueled pretty well, and hydrated well for the whole race. I fell twice, the first time I of course landed right on my previously fractured wrist, that kept my mind off my other aches and pains for a while, the other time I rolled, and when I stopped rolling my calf rewarded me with a major cramp... My sister fell once, It's un usual that i fall more than her... The 20 miles of trails were very technical, but also very beautiful. One section that was pretty rock and hill free was a long stretch with pine trees, the kind that only have branches near the top, providing us a canopy above, and a pine needle cushioned worn path below, it was awesome. Other parts of the trails had hills with switch backs, rough down hill stretches with many rocks to pick our way around or over. We talked to a lot of people along the way, thats always one of the fun parts of races. No ones watches were working properly, mine was about 2 miles off, so many hills and turns the GPS could not keep track of us.
The views on the top of the hills were awesome, some with lakes, barns, trees... Some of the valleys with meadows and lakes, some forest with sparkling ponds. They really were some of the most beautiful trails I have run through (Not counting mountain trails of course). At the end of the 10 miles we headed back, it seemed like we had not just run those trails, It was hard to see even a quarter of the trails we were running on because most of the time I was watching for rocks and roots, so going back the way we came was like running down a compleatly new train pretty much.

The second out and back was similar to the 1st, maybe a little easer, i'm not really sure. I had been looking forward to getting to mile 35 because after that it would be my farthest. After mile 30 it seemed to take hours to get to mile 35. I can't say much of what I saw after mile 35, it's kind of a blur, I ran, I walked, I ate, I drank - repeat. I almost cried a few times over I don't know what. I had some people entourage me along the way which helped a lot. One guy that I had talked to perviously caught up to me and said I was doing great, I said thanks, and he said Seriously, I mean it, I have been in your shoes before (first 50m) and this is the best part (we were 5ish miles from the finish) He broke the last 5 miles of the race down for me, said that I was not running with my legs anymore, but with my heart.... I was focussing on the Prize (the finish) and the mini prizes (the aid stations) all I had to do was run and push myself forward during the flat parts, walk up the hills, and get to that next aid station to refuel. the 3rd to last aid station was at a horse trail place, one of the guys I had been running with for a while caught up to me their, and we ran for a while together after that, he was having IT band problems, and talked me out of thinking we had a long way to go (seeing the mile marker 43.3 seemed awful, but a little over 6 miles to the end was not so bad... it was 4 miles to the next aid station, the longest 4 miles of my life. Finally I arrived, and after that station it was only .9 miles to the next. At that aid station I was all alone one guy at the station said "Only 1.5 miles left, thats no problem" I promptly sat down and said "no, that is a problem" He tried not to laugh and said that it was only 6 laps around the track... I don't know what i said but i feel like it didn't make much sense... I thanked them, and headed out again. I heard a couple people arrive at the aid station after me, which spurred me on, I didn't want anyone else to pass me on the last 1.5. One girl did pass me, but thats ok, the 2 guys behind me kept me going, they were close and no way would I walk now. I ran the last 1 mile up all the hills, people were waiting here and their to cheer us on, that helped me keep moving. When I saw the start I took off, one heavy tight leg after the other, but 2 guys close on my heals. I crossed the finish line in under 11 hours 10 hours 55 minuets or something like that - I guess if you finish in under 11 its like qualifying for Boston in the trail runners world because that means that you can enter in the Western Trails 100 mile race... so I would have had 1 hours and 5 minuets still to do that. My sister and Stormy had gone to get their protein shakes, and were walking to the finish as I stood looking around in bewilderment after getting my belt buckle. I did not feel well, running 50 miles was not agreeable to my body. The pain was not so bad, but I just felt sick. Very sick and could not eat....  I was sad I didn't even want a beer.

After about 40 minuets we headed back the hotel with every intention of staying up and swimming.. that didn't happen, I was asleep pretty much before my sister got out of the shower. We woke up a few times, I was still feeling sick, we discussed getting food around 8pm or so, but kept falling back asleep so didn't get anything till 10:30pm all that was open was Mcdonalds... everything tasted like card board, but I ate and did feel better. We slept again from 11pm - 7am..

I feel much better now. Had a great breakfast, oatmeal, seasoned potatoes, eggs, bisket and gravy... and it didn't taste like card board. Debi hurt her foot, she can barley walk, so I"m driving home because her car is stick shift...

Thats it. I made it. It was a cool race, a tough goal, but all in all a good experience.

Catalina Island Marathon Trip

This winter was a rough winter to train  for a spring marathon in CA - that's for sure. It has been the coldest winter I can remember - and we have had more snow than all but 7 winters since the weather in Illinois started being recorded (rumor has it anyway...). I made the race schedule thinking that the weather would be like previous years & had no idea what was in store for us.

Lots of COLD runs!!!

We ran through -20 degree days for this race... Through a lot of snow, and a lot of wind for this race...Our water froze, our legs were numb & red and I got cold induced hives after finishing most of the training runs for this race.... My feet were numb for miles for this race, I sacrificed sleeping in many Saturdays and Sundays for this race... Came home early from social events for this race... I also had a great time with friends running those training miles through the cold.... saw Eagles flying high in the sky, beautiful snow clinging to the trees, had good conversations as we ran mile after mile....and really.. what else would I have done all winter? ...I though of all those things as I sat on the airplane only one hour after take off, boiling hot, sweating, and sick to my stomach I had already passed out twice (I had never passed out before in my life), and thrown up my breakfast. Every time I opened my eyes it looked as if I was seeing through a frosty windshield and when people talked they sounded far away - I could barley comprehend what they were saying. All that work and there I sat, wondering how I could possibly run the race with something so horribly wrong with me.

Before I got sick

Before things really went down hill on the plain we had already had a rough start. We had to book a hotel by the air port because a snow storm was predicted to come  in that. The hotel's electricity had gone off during the night, so we woke up cold, with no lights and no hot breakfast (I had really been looking forward to the breakfast because the internet reviews said it was really good - Cinnamon rolls! I wanted cinnamon rolls!)  I was also really looking forward to coffee that morning, and till we were on our way out the door to hop on the trolly they only had decaf and I was more interested in the assistance waking up, than a hot beverage. Of course, as we were leaving we passed a hotel employee who was bringing coffee from the dunki'n doughnuts near by - I wanted some so bad - but or course they were just one minute too late.

At the air port we had gotten through security really easily -we were chosen for  a random special line that didn't make you do as much stuff as the other lines - I did however get my hands swiped randomly of course for what ever it is they check for... Then as my bag went through the machine they saw that I had a knife and a quark screw... I did not recall having any of those items in my bag, but sure enough - they were their. My favorite pocked knife at that... it must have fallen in before I left - or perhaps my furry friend Matilda (trusty dog) had planted it there in hopes they would not allow me to travel that day....Ether way they dug through and emptied my carefully packed bag to find them... I was escorted back and power walked all the way underground to a Hilton hotel that had a UPS to mail my forbidden items back to myself - then back I went about as fast as I could walk, thinking we had limited  time. When I got to the line I was of course not randomly chosen for the easy line again - then when I finally got up to the medal detector of course that line closed and the ex ray line opened. I HATE the Ex Ray machine. And of course they found some imaginary weapon on my shoulder - so I was prodded till they found nothing - then finally reunited with my mother and sister who had repacked my bag as best they could and gotten me coffee (finally coffee!!!) We found our gate and I found a place to charge my phone that had not charted the night before because of the power outage. Of course all my rushing was for nothing because of course our flight was delayed an hour...could have been worse though!

I felt just fine as we sailed off into the sky - read my book for a while, then suddenly felt a little of what I though was motion sickness - then I was very very sleepy, and the next time I opened my eyes everyone was staring at me and some guy was saying he was a Doctor. I of course was confused, and didn't know why I was seeing frosty snow flakes all over and said "whats wrong? I just fell asleep..." my mom said, "no! you passed out! your were drooling!" Apparently my mother has not seen me sleep too recently because I am not a beautiful sleeper - my husband may not have had any idea that I had passed out if he were sitting beside me.... But my mom had, and my sister had told a flight attendant that I had passed out, the doctor had heard and then I was shaken awake....or into consciousness... or what ever that is called. The Dr said I should drink water and maybe try to take a nap when I finally started feeling better. So I drank a little water and fell asleep under the watchful eye of my sister and mother & the last thing I heard was my sister saying "just make sure she's still breathing".
I woke up an hour later feeling ok - I talked to my mom a little.... then I was sick again, passed out, and again everyone was watching me when I regained consciousness - major deja vu - the worst one ever . The Doctor came over and sat with me, Out came the blueberry muffin that in all honesty had way too many calories in it anyway.... It had originally been in a nice clear bag with flashy graphics on the packaging - now it was all mush and smelly in the paper bag that had been tucked in the seat pouch in front of me. I never though I would use one of those bags - but was happy I got it out in time. The Dr. took my blood pressure - it was 30/something. VERY low.... He said I needed water. I drank as much as I could with out feeling sick again - the total amount in about 2 hours was 2 liters and I still didn't need to use the bathroom... How I could have been so dehydrated I still do not know. Towards the end of the flight after all that water I started feeling pretty ok - The Dr. took my blood pressure again and it was back to 70/something - pretty normal he said. He said they should call the paramedics to meet us when we landed - and they came in, walked me out of the plane to a waiting wheel chair . I was wheeled away for the first time since I broke my collar bone at age 18.... They checked everything again, blood pressure, blood sugar, attached those sticky things to my chest and legs to check stuff... They though I was fine now, but recommended going to a clinic or they would take me to a hospitable. I didn't want to do that endless I REALLY needed to - so after being cautioned not to drive or do anything strenuous that day we were off to get the rental car as I continued to drink water.

I was very thankful to have my mom and sister with me, and for the Doctor, helpful flight crew & passengers. I hope I never feel that way again & I hope that it was just a combination of dehydration, altitude & my RLS medicine which has a long list of side effects that I had never experanced.

We got into a  shuttle to get the car - A silver Hyundai - with very good breaks that took some getting use to. I had planned on driving and had more experience then my mom and sister with busy traffic, so we decided that since I felt ok I we would go ahead with the plan. I stayed in the right lane for a while - just in case I started feeling sick, but I did not, not yet anyway. We had lunch and headed to our Beverly hills hotel. It was  a Ramada hotel  in west holly wood & was nice enough - no free breakfast, but for a decent price on Hot Wire - and I got $25 off because I down loaded the app. We did have to pay $30 for parking but the convenience of having the car right there with us was worth it, rather than walk a half mile for a $13 parking place.

After we settled in we headed to the hollywood sign walk. It was supposed to be a easy hike.We parked in a gated lot that closed at sunset thinking we had plenty of time for a easy 3 mile

Hiking to Hollywood sign

hike. It of course turned into a very hilly rather tough 5-6 miles hike that we somehow took a wrong turn on the way back and because it was getting late ended in me running down the "mountain" to save the car from getting locked in....
Of course as I came sweating and puffing down the hill to the lot a CA Policeman was there writing us a ticket. My please of "wait! I'm right here" as I ran up were ignored and the ticket continued to be written even after I explained that I ran all the way down, we got lost, were from out of town... etc... etc.. He said since he started writing the ticket there was nothing he could do. Lucky for the guy with the scooter parked next to me that I had held up the officer with my pleas so that he had time to get his scooter out ticket free...But of course my good deed went unrecognized as the scooter guy sped away.

Day one and we had already gotten a ticket - thankfully it was a 68 dollar ticket and not a 200 dollar ticket like the last one my sister and I had gotten in CA 2 years ago.... By the time I squeezed back through the locked gate to look for my sister and mom it was very dark and the coyotes were howling. I was worried because they had called me and had not said anything I could understand, I had heard foot steps and talking in the distance, my imagination got away with me a little as I headed back down the trail, thinking someone had taken them and they had just been able to press call before the phone was knocked down out of their hands... That was not the case though - they were just a little ways down the trail and their only fear had been a coyote that had followed them. 

Our dinner

After that we headed back through the traffic to the hotel - then to trader joe's for some food & drinks... We had no utensils however so we made do with what we had - our hands and pita chips -  tore the bread apart and spread hummus on it with the pita chips. Desperate times... So that was day one. It was a little rough I must say.

Day 2 - Beverly Hills run, Angeles  National Forest hike & Long Beach.

Jackie and I on the hike

We got up around 7am I think and my sister and I headed out for a 4 mile run. It was nice to wear shorts!!! I liked getting used to the weather a little before the race - the bad thing was that I was sore from my hill decent the day before.... So much for resting before the race...
After that we had some more of the sandwich stuff for breakfast, went to a CVS for some stuff & headed to see my old room mate Jackie. After a tour of her house, seeing her cute dog Blueberry,

Beautiful view

 her Boyfriend who writes music, the Avocado tree in the back yard, and her home business JackMac, we headed out- up the foot hills to the mountains in Angeles National forest - about a 45 minute drive from her town -  At Water. We hiked across the creek a bunch of times, then up a big climb to some really pretty views, then

Mom & Debs hiking

back down to a water fall and more creek crossings. A very pretty hike. We headed back up the mountain and it was my moms turn to be sick. She did not look well at all, and I started to think about what we would do if she was not able to walk out of those hills... It would not have been good, however she was able to -

The Tinniest Pinecone

with a few more walk breaks and some water. Once we got to the shade and down hill she was just fine again. We had a nice lunch at a little sandwich place in At Water - they had AWESOME fries... YUM -  and said our good byes to Jackie. We fought the traffic on "the 10" so they call it. Of course our exit to Long beach was closed and we had to go past it through bumper to bumper traffic only to turn around to get the exit on the other side.... took about 45 minutes to get 5 miles - "could have ran faster" my sister and I were thinking the whole time.

The Queen Mary Boat

We got to the Holiday inn down town Long beach - it was nice
 - we got free parking because of this IHG reward card I had used, and 2 breakfast coupons. The free trolley that goes anywhere within three miles from the hotel took us to some shops and we had dinner at a Mexican place and walked along the pier. When we called for the trolley the woman who was driving that night was covering for someones lunch break, so we ended up having to wait out there for 45 minutes.... We were pretty tired when we got back and of course the pool was closed....

 Day 3 - Long Beach to Avalon. Friday. We got up and had a nice breakfast - I had an omelet with Avocados under it! potatoes, toast and coffee. We got packed up and headed out - I mentioned - while checking out of the hotel - about our long wait the 

Sunset Beach

Seal Beach

night before - and got us 3  free coffees... Of course they were all out of coffee and had to make us some fresh coffee - so we had to wait... but it was nice to get more coffee.... We headed off to find Highway One - and then to Sunset beach & seal beach. Then back to Long beach to the Catalina Express! I dropped my mom and sister off at the entrance - and headed to drop the car off. Of course google gave me the wrong address and as I drove around a busy block a couple times, I found the number for the Avis car place in Long beach, and they gave me directions to their actual address. Thankfully it was not far, but was on the top of a parking garage. I drove into the garage and started going around and around - making my way to the top all the time noticing that the clock was ticking faster than I had though it would and if I didn't get a ride back to the ferry FAST I was going to miss my boat! I got to the top and someone met me to look at the car - all was well and I told him my predicament - he replied with "well jump in then!" and off we went. He did inform me on the way to the boat that normally they didn't do drop offs - but since I was a "cute Chicago girl" he would help me out... Good thing I happened to put some make up on that morning and some short shorts! otherwise.. maybe I would have missed the boat, but I doubt it.... Running there was my plan B...

Seal Beach - ready to leave

I walked up right as the end of the line was filing onto the boat, my sister and mother were very relieved as I ran up to the dock. Since we got on so late we did not get window seats - we just left our stuff in the boat though, and headed outside to the front.  It was fun to float by the  Queen Mary boat, and head out to sea. We met a guy named Chris that was running the marathon - it was his 5th time and his favorite marathon to run. We got to see dolphins and whales on the ride to Avalon! it was really cool. I got in trouble for drinking one of my beers that I had stashed in my bag - but it was all good because I had already finished it by the time they noticed :). The 22 mile trip took about one hour and five minutes. When we arrived to Avalon someone from our hotel, Seaside Inn, was waiting in a van for us. We headed to the room - it was small but I knew it would be because when I booked it we had not though of inviting my mom - after we did and she said she would go it was too late to cancel - I suppose I could have changed the room.. but what can I say? I'm cheap. so one bed and an air mattress it was.

Avalan!

The "Casino"

After we settled in we headed off to find the race expo - it was a little tricky to find, but we did eventually find it.... That night we ate at Antonio's Pizzeria.  it was about a half mile from our room and right on the water. We sat outside in one of the booths that were arranged in a single line on the narrow patio next to the water. I got some sort of Fettichini Alfredo with chicken and shrimp, it was really good and came with garlic bread. It was rather pricey - but hey... it' was  vacation! Debi got a white pizza - when it arrived she found the "white"  really just meant that it did not have sauce on it - she actually happens to really like sauce on her pizza and ended up using most of my mom's sauce that she got for her calzone... They were happy with their food, but liked mine better - finally something was going good for me... I got the best food.... We helped each other finish everything and nothing was leftover. After that we walked around a little bit and headed to the room for a glass of wine and to rest up for the race.

Start of the race!

That morning we got up around 4am - I wore my Brooks trail shoes that actually have WAY too many miles on them - but I did not get a chance to break in my new shoes because of my groin injury I got 3 weeks before the race. I spend most of my time biking and water running those last three weeks... SO old brooks 

running up

with 500+ miles on them it was... I figured that it was all nice soft dirt out there to run on so they would not be bad, plus they were proven marathon running shoes since I had already run 2-3 marathon with them. I got a couple bananas and granola bars that were left out for the runners in the kitchen/eating area, gulped down some coffee and we headed down to the boat for our voyage to Two Harbors. My mom saw us off and in a hour or so we made it to the start of the race. 3 buffalo were eating in a pasture by the start - we were wondering if we would see any of the 300 heard during the race, and these 3 were all we saw. 
Someone on the boat had said the year before he had had to jump over a HUGE snake - so we were kinda hoping to see a huge 
snake.... I was feeling just fine so far - not super tired, certainly not ready to faint... All was good and at 7am we got to start. 4 miles... pretty much all up. Debi and I were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.... It was beautiful at least though... most people were walking up the biggest steepest of the hills so we followed suit - not sure how our Illinois legs would handle all the hills and not sure how our winter body's would handle all the heat, so we decided to be safe and conserve energy as much as possible. the terrain we ran on  was all on nice dirt winding trails 
- up up up - down down down.... a lot of that, from one side of the island to the other. at about mile 13 they started having food available at the aid stations - gummy bares, pretzels, m&m's.... Later a few 
stations had cookies - that was a major pick me up. I drank mostly gator aid at the stations, and kept drinking water from my pack. We had a major case of lead legs right at 
the same time for a while, the heat was beating down on us, and we were wondering if we would even finish in the 8 hour cut of the way we were feeling. We got some Advil at one aid station, and some sun screen at another, and even better - a cookie at another and were feeling MUCH better. after mile 22 I knew we had it and even though I was hurting a bit, I knew how to run the hills better and the hills were more down than up, I also knew that the 
last 3 were all down. We passed a lot of people in the last 4 miles... it was pretty cool. We had a 9 min mile, then a 8:30 mile, then a 8:00 - 
our last mile from 25-26 was a 7:28 mile... our finish time of 5:10 
was certinally not my fastest time, but my last mile was by far my fastest LAST mile of a race - so i'll take it! It was really cool finishing so strong and crossing the line together.... Our "medals" were really cool too - clay  and designed by a local on the island... Very unique. We saw more of her work in shops for sale around the island. After the race we cleaned up had a glass of wine and headed down to find my mom who had just finished a bus tour of the island. She was sad she didn't get to see us finish - but we had no idea we would finish so soon... Our last CA 50k race was 8:01 (for me anyway) but that was a really bad race... 

   We had pizza that night at the Antonios pizza (same owners as the one on the water I think, but smaller and more of a carry out place)- it was delicious. After that we went to shops, and later to Coyote Joe's for some Mexican food. I also had a Guinness - it was St. Patrick's day weekend afterall. My sister and I went out after that for a long island hoping to find some other race finishers - but really didn't have any luck, so we headed back to the hotel.


The next morning we got up to see the sun rise then had a good breakfast at the hotel - oranges, potatoes, eggs & salsa on top (not on the oranges though...) Kayaking was next, and it took a while to persuaded my mom to go - she had never kayaked before, but was glad she decided to go. Ended up being really good, however I would have had more fun if I had not started to feel sick again. I drank 2 16oz waters and felt better, but was still not 100% I was afraid I would faint again or something - and a

kayak would be a bad place for that. We did go pretty far though - we were out for 2 hours and saw lots of fish, dolphins jumping in the distance, a couple of seals pretty close up & leopard sharks swimming around in shallow water near a beach. I also managed to get my mom a free hour for her kayak because it was her birthday in a couple days - and I'm not ashamed to ask for discounts.... I like discounts...

For lunch we had coffee and ice cream at Dessert Island - they had coffee for 50 cents - and it was good coffee too - the ice cream was reasonable too - it was less than $10 for the three of us to all have coffee and a good sized ice cream cone...

Later we went on a submarine boat ride - it was expensive, but cool. They had fish torpedoes you could buy, when you pressed the button the food came out and the fish swarmed around to eat it. Pretty expensive fish food, but not as expensive as my dinner that night.

After that we went into the ocean, and by we, I mean I went into the ocean. My mom sat on a bench and Debi went in about knee high and looked for rocks and shells... It was awfully cold, but I was determined to go in, and after counting to 10 about 10 times I finally told Debi to count to three and down I sunk to my shoulders. It was actually very refreshing.... Glad I went in. I found some shells and rocks too after that and we got out to show them to our mom, realizing we probably had not done that since we were 7 or 8 years old...

For dinner we went to The Lobster Trap - I really wanted some fish! Of course it was pricey as I expected.. but a great experience. My sister got chicken, and my mom got a steak... I got mahi mahi - it was wonderful. It was pan breaded with some sort of really good breading - and topped with a mango salsa. You pick what fish you want then pick how you want it prepared - I asked the server what his favorite was, and was not disappointed. Some of the other preparations were blackened, grilled and several more... I got extra crispy french fries and steamed veggies with it and my sister and I split a bottle of wine. It was a small bottle however... and after dinner we headed to the store for a bigger bottle because our box was sadly gone. We went to Von's Express - I heard that it was really expensive there - but it was not - I just asked what I needed to do for a member's card and the guy at the register said: "well, you could fill our an application, or I could just give you one... " So we got one... a double bottle of wine for $8.99 - at home it's $10.99... so get that... Works for me though. My mom got ice cream bars (she does not like wine YET) and after grabbing our laundry we had drying at the laundry mat, we headed to the hotel again to hang out in the little court yard and drink wine, eat ice cream and talk. It was a beautiful night.

The next day was our last. We saw the sun rise again because that's what my mom likes to do on vacation. Walking down the hill from the hotel was still very painful ... marathon legs :(. We had breakfast, the same as the day before minus the oranges then  we checked out of our room and left our luggage in the office.  We headed down for about a 2 mile walk to pebbly beach. It was not much for a beach, but pretty and we met a guy that had run the first Catalina marathon. He had a cute dog.

After that we toured the Casino - the wriggles had built it when they had purchased the island - it was a really cool old building with a lot of history. I wish we had watched a movie in the theater and if I ever return to Avalon, I will. It was not a gambling casino - it was a social gathering place - that's what casino used to mean before gambling took them over.
After the tour It was about time to get on the boat, so we got our stuff, got a ride to the boat back to Long beach. Our plan was to get a cab from there to the hotel, but we ended up running into a guy that had a shuttle van, and took us for a better price (yay, more discounts!) We got to the hotel, and were so happy to have 2 beds and so much more space! We all showered and cleaned up then Debi and I headed down to the bar for a couple glasses of wine in the hotels bar (it was happy hour and Illinois does not have happy hours). After that we all headed to subway for dinner - it was fast and easy.... The next morning we headed to the air port and had no trouble except my mom got in trouble for trying to take our left over jar of peanut butter in her bag... That's a no - no.. We flew United, and I got to watch the new movie Frozen which was not even for sale at Walmart till the next day - that was fun. Before I knew it we were back - and I didn't even pass out.