Pic 1: Montana de Ore State Park - Pic 2: Going for a walk
Pic 1: Ocean - Pic 2: Our shadows
Monday is our last day together. Boo! We got up, packed up and went for a walk on the beach. Then we headed for the LAX airport. I am sure you will be surprised to hear we got pulled over by airport security and searched. Ever seen anyone else drive their RV through the airport? They wanted to make sure we weren't housing a bunch of Osama Bin Laden's crew. They actually said that! Their dog even took a spin through our home. We passed inspection and I had to say good-bye to Anthony. So sad! Luckily I will be seeing him in a little less than three weeks! After dropping him off I headed to Belbis' house to stay. I found a quaint street to park on and hung out until the Bassik-Belbis occupants got home. :) I got to hang out with Belb and Eric a bit, but we were all tired and went to bed around midnight.
I have to work the rest of the week. Coming back from vacation from being gone two weeks is tough. Especially when you plan to be gone the next week too! Tuesday night Belb and I got some time together. We walked around her neighborhood. I can't believe her and Eric are homeowners. It's so grown-up. :) We talked for a long time and then made a smorgasbord of a dinner. It was nice to spend time with her. Her life is SO busy. Recently married, new job, first home, Grad school - I am not sure how she does it all.
Thursday, 1-May thru Sunday, 4-May: San Luis Obispo, CA
We got in late Thursday night. It was a long drive and we had troubles parking the RV. It tested our patience, but with Anthony's genius we got it worked out. Then we jumped into bed.
Pic 1: Nicole (from Power Bar) and Anthony
Friday we got to explore that which is known as Wildflower. :) It was awesome. We started with a jog around the park. We scouted out the grounds, making our way down to the lake. After we got the lay of the land, we ran back and switched are running shoes for bike shoes. We tooled around and then went for a swim. The day passed quickly and soon we were heading to a Power Bar Happy Hour for the Elite Team. Anthony is a part of Power Bar's Elite Team. He is a PB fanatic and promoter so it was a great fit. At the HH, we met lots of really cool people, especially Nicole and Dave. They actually work for Power Bar. How cool is that!? Dave did his first Half Ironman at Wildflower (hello, crazy!) and Nicole smoked the Olympic. Seriously, that girl is fast.
Pic 1: Transition - Pic 2: Heading into transition
Pic 1: Coming out of the water - Pic 2: All done!
Saturday Anthony raced the Half Ironman. It was super fun to spectate. I saw him in and out of the swim and off onto the bike. I went back to the RV for a quick nap and some reading. Then I hit the run course to track him down. As I was tooling around on my mountain bike I saw David Thompson go by. I am pretty loud, so I think I embarrassed him. I then went over to the other side (a few miles later) to catch David there. I screamed again just to make sure he heard me. ;) Knowing where David was gave me good bearings on Anthony, so I tracked him down on a part of the course no one goes by foot because it is too far out. It was sweet to see him out there. It seemed sort of lonely, so I bugged him for the next 3 miles or so until we hit cheering fans. I was at the finisher's shoot for a high five before he crossed the line. That night Anthony partied with the other MN boys, Nate, Carl and Paul. Marta and I went to bed early since we were racing in the morning.
Pic 1: Robin and Jorg our Switz friends - Pic 2: Before the start of the race
Pic 1: MN Crew
Sunday morning was the Olympic race. My wave didn't go off until 10:25! It's weird not getting up early for a race. I rolled into transition at 9:30ish. It was so crazy because as I was setting up my transition area I sort of half talking to myself/ half mumbling to the person next to me said "I suppose I could take my helmet off". I made eye contact with the person I was mumbling to to give a "I am dork" grin and then all of the sudden her and I were screaming and hugging! It was Robin, our friend from Switzerland. She and her husband Jorg had moved to San Diego in 2006, I believe. Anyway, we hadn't really corresponded in a while and so seeing her there was a complete surprise! Our bikes were a mere 5 apart! It was so joyous! Unfortunately we had to get ready to race, but she was napping in transition after the race so I did get to catch up with her a bit, but not nearly enough! The race itself was a blast. I gave it what I had (which isn't much given my training on this trip) and enjoyed every step. BTW - Robin came in 5th in our age group and Marta 5th in hers. How is it I am surrounding by such fast people!?! Anthony was an incredible spectator. We had even made some friends from the Golden Gate Tri Club and they cheered me on too (thanks Julie!!). When it was all over, we were one of the last people to leave (because of our tiny trailer). It was sad to be there without all the craziness occurring. I don't want this trip to end! We took off heading towards LA to visit Jen and Eric, but Anthony and I soon realized we were exhausted so we stopped in Montana de Ore State Park. We almost got mauled by three raccoons (which we took to be a large lion of some sort until we saw them saunter across the street), managed to set-up in the dark and get some good sleep.
Wednesday, 30-April: Joshua Tree, CA (not Santa Barbara, CA)
Pic 1: A record? $4.40 per gallon -- Pic 2: A Joshua Tree
Wednesday was a travel day. On our way to Wildflower we spent the night at Joshua Tree park. We found ourselves in desperate need of gas. We paid an outrageous $4.40 per gallon. It's sickening. Joshua Tree was rad. The boulder/rock formations were amazing. The map says Santa Barbara, but I am just to lazy to fix it. Bear with! :)
Friday, 25-April thru Tuesday, 29-Apr: Grand Canyon, AZ
Pic 1: Bye Flagstaff! -- Pic 2: Welcome to the Grand Canyon!
We went to Yoga in the morning, then headed to the Grand Canyon. We stopped at the Visitors Center to make sure we got all the important details for our 4-day hiking adventure down into the canyon. We also went grocery shopping and got all the necessary sustenance for our trip: instant potatoes, mac & cheese, rice a roni, oatmeal, poptarts, bars, apples, beef jerky, trail mix, gatorade, chex mix and dried mangos!
Pic 1: Hermit Trailhead -- Pic 2: A cool part of the trail created LONG ago
Pic 1: Hike -- Pic 2: Cactus flower
Pic 1: The campsite -- Pic 2: The bath
Pic 1: View from campsite -- Pic 2: Rocks
We left on the 6 AM shuttle for the Hermit Trailhead. The road is under construction and closed to visitors. There is a 5 AM and 6 AM shuttle for hikers. If you miss it, poor you. We met Steve, Steve and Carla on the bus. They were the only other peeps on it. They were hiking to the same campsite as us. Our first day was around 8 miles of hiking downhill. We are novices in the world of hiking but thought it would be no problem given our endurance background. HA! is what I say to that. I thought 8 miles of downhill would be ridiculously easy. After 5 miles I could hardly feel my legs. I was delirious by mile 7ish. We passed a couple who were in there 70s. They soon passed us back and beat us to the Hermit Creek campground. They were rad. We quickly learned this was a different beast. With 30 pound packs and no hiking poles, our legs fatigued quickly - especially the calves (and my quads). When we finally arrived, we set-up camp, filtered some water, washed off and then took a LONG nap. We made dinner then hit the sack. Staying up reading. It's so peaceful out here.
Pic 1: The trail -- Pic 2: The view
Pic 1: Our pet -- Pic 2: Camp area
Pic 1 & 2: Pushing over the monument
Pic 1: Above the tent -- Pic 2: View from our campsite
Waking with the sun is sweet. We stiffly got up and had breakfast. Our next campsite at Monument Creek campground was merely 4ish miles away. I wanted to groan the whole way. There was a bit more of downhill then it leveled out. As soon as we got there we laid out our thermarests and took a nap. Then we went exploring. Life down here is so simple. We hike, nap, explore, eat, eat more, read and sleep. It's wonderful.
Pic 1 & 2: Colorado River
Pic 1: Our camp friends (Tom, Brian, Steve, Carla and Steve) -- Pic 2: View from campsite
We were supposed to hike to Salt Creek campground, but that was only 4ish miles away. Knowing that Tuesday was going to be a long day as it was, we followed our new friends Brian and ?? to Horn Creek campground. The water is supposedly radioactive - but we still took a quick dip in it to wash off. We were surprised how fast this day went. Our protesting muscles dealt with the 8ish mile hike well. We went to bed early to prepare for 3600 feet of climb the next day.
Pic 1: We made it! Steve found me that cool walking stick at Monument Creek. It was a life-saver!
The Bright Angel is a very well traveled trail. There are even mules that take people down. So our last 4 miles were quite different from the rest of our trip. There were people in loafers strolling up and down the hill. I kept smelling people. They were so clean!! I could only imagined how we smelled! We finally made it to the top (it was way easier than going down). We parked it at the RV village in the park and celebrated our marathon (27 mile) hike! Here we come Appalachian trail. ;)
Click here to view previous blog entries!