tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77524681387794751432024-03-15T17:02:44.685-05:00Dreaming of Asia in TexasLynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.comBlogger458125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-32042741465693075172024-03-15T17:02:00.000-05:002024-03-15T17:02:06.752-05:00Meeting Emi - Palo Alto and La Jolla, California February 2024 Part II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheYE3C8fx47uRc1guOSWU2po0abwJPWIoQzdJtFv1eBTuab4GTvynqhZGuJb3emtuzQ4aIY__J4N0YTr0EVrxFexXWFXDC4XOrzegi_DSijzl3ERgkIU8U_U7YdZeTJO0Ju5CwN_dhtwqTpeuhKjBcq1jz3BIgI4CBzHLp6j7tKPM9tajkcfkLgy0M3o_a/s4032/IMG_6746.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheYE3C8fx47uRc1guOSWU2po0abwJPWIoQzdJtFv1eBTuab4GTvynqhZGuJb3emtuzQ4aIY__J4N0YTr0EVrxFexXWFXDC4XOrzegi_DSijzl3ERgkIU8U_U7YdZeTJO0Ju5CwN_dhtwqTpeuhKjBcq1jz3BIgI4CBzHLp6j7tKPM9tajkcfkLgy0M3o_a/s320/IMG_6746.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday February 21</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After my flurry of writing about that crazy flight I’ve gotten lazy again. On Saturday we relaxed, held Emi, hung out with Dan and Kelsey. A month later Emi is REALLY smiling and has better control over her arms and hands, although they still tend to wave around rather randomly. She can grab at a toy dangling in front of her more consistently and loves faces and when you talk and sing to her. She’s also sleeping through the night! Dan and Kelsey are venturing out more now that Emi has had her shots. Of course now that it’s been several days I’m not remembering what we did about food on Saturday. Wait, yes I do. For lunch Lee and Dan went to Piazza and got sandwiches at my suggestion. I got their Cubano, which was huge. I ate half of it. We went for a walk in the afternoon. It’s still raining a lot. What did we do for dinner? Oh yeah, went out to get Mexican. It was pouring but we made it. I got a chicken enchilada. This is the same place we got Mexican carryout from the last time I was here. The enchilada was good but I wasn’t crazy about the sauce; too tomatoey instead of salsa. But I ate most of the black beans, they were great!</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We were pretty tired, went to bed early, and woke up at a normal time. I went for a run. Then we met some friends of theirs, and tried to get Rossi and their dog to play, but neither dog is very into other dogs. They went for a walk together and so did Lee and I. For lunch we went to a pizza/burger place. I got a pizza, the others got burgers. Lee and Daniel got Piny the Younger beers which were very delicious; I kept sneaking sips of Lee’s.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We went to a few open houses too. One was right down the street from them. A little house built in the late 50’s, nicely staged, but structurally probably some problems, i.e. the floor sloped. Original (crappy) cabinets and no dishwasher. At some point the original design was modified to add another bedroom, and the master was enlarged by taking part of the garage, making it a one car, which is just not a big deal in CA. Asking price for a 2k sq ft house in Palo Alto? 3.2 mil. Crazy.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we went to look at another house, out in the Portolla hills. Beautiful, 3 acres, a pool, little houses for yoga, meditation, lol. Kind of an odd layout, but very pretty, lots of room. You’d have to make some changes for it to work for kids. 3.4 mil. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The thing is, you can’t tell how accurate these prices are. They might be listing low to provoke a bidding war. The housing market here is just madness. No wonder there are so many homeless.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We also went back to Stanford Mall. We found a hat for Lee at the Levi’s store, because he forgot to bring a ball cap. And I went into Vuori and bought some really nice cargo pant-like leggings. The material was just very soft, and they were very comfortable. Just don’t ask the price! It’s just stupid to buy clothes in CA with their 8% sales tax, when MN’s is zero. But I probably will go to Marine Layer at some point too because I want to go to their retail store and compare it to online.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That night we met Jean and Craig at a Japanese konkastu restaurant. I got their fried chicken, a spicy tuna seaweed taco and some rice with eel which was really good. It was POURING but we had a close parking spot and we didn’t melt.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXIV6oTFEcQvbiOGo3Uq4opxiIGWCMffVPbLmIsGcDvMsNp-gHp76-Z7j0FXvn-nPabnyFO8-g4jzJh8n39sRW_t6rADCz-k5dTC3hJVnZpoE-HTISNsXJeSH0DF_4oqvMwmUJXDnFRCHs-BHq9cu1qHdUs1OjasEWeZpVWcpTpL3Vk34Q6XEYK_y7Kvob/s3763/IMG_6764.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2822" data-original-width="3763" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXIV6oTFEcQvbiOGo3Uq4opxiIGWCMffVPbLmIsGcDvMsNp-gHp76-Z7j0FXvn-nPabnyFO8-g4jzJh8n39sRW_t6rADCz-k5dTC3hJVnZpoE-HTISNsXJeSH0DF_4oqvMwmUJXDnFRCHs-BHq9cu1qHdUs1OjasEWeZpVWcpTpL3Vk34Q6XEYK_y7Kvob/s320/IMG_6764.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday it was time to drive to La Jolla. Lee drove for the first part. We are renting a Rav 4. We got Car Play to work with his phone, which was nice, but each time we stopped we had a heck of a time finding it again! Also we couldn’t figure out how to charge our phones. We don’t know if it doesn’t like our cables because they’re off brand, not Apple, or what.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I drove from 10 until we stopped for lunch at an InandOut, and then drove again for about an hour. The InandOut was packed. Those places are popular! We stayed on I-5; it’s not very scenic, but mostly faster. There was a small detour due to flooding but considering the amount of rain they’ve had it could be worse. The weather continued bright and sunny until we hit LA. Then it started pouring and continued to do so most of the rest of the drive. I drove again from outside LA until we got to our Airbnb.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCF2qzbxASPZ9vFekZciuHS44IzPXHeyIH7BBfzypDZd0qNFKPGX-qPPttfs9uPKDkMx0vRP4ODPu2kBPtuGbfYy1zfC3C-wJDJUkMVAady7oQDG5O0N3nOhmMSyJtkD8Bzhawl37DbOEdGCKZVdA0zYX2zk7aLxxfc61AXdnlDuj6YcwNHALwRySoNUtq/s4032/IMG_6767.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCF2qzbxASPZ9vFekZciuHS44IzPXHeyIH7BBfzypDZd0qNFKPGX-qPPttfs9uPKDkMx0vRP4ODPu2kBPtuGbfYy1zfC3C-wJDJUkMVAady7oQDG5O0N3nOhmMSyJtkD8Bzhawl37DbOEdGCKZVdA0zYX2zk7aLxxfc61AXdnlDuj6YcwNHALwRySoNUtq/s320/IMG_6767.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This place is ok, mostly. Very small, kind of old. There’s a living room and a bedroom. The kitchenette is in the bedroom, don’t ask me! There’s a sink, a small fridge, a microwave and a hotplate. The only bathroom is off the bedroom. There is a very nice patio on a porch, but it had to stop raining before we could use it!</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We got ourselves settled and then walked to the grocery store and to pick up a salad for dinner. Then we fell into bed. We were very tired from that long drive.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtij2UTyob3wxBNMlFnvcYV7g-XBbUrBJDQVZkne1r_AqaM2nQgTe_fOxMZpuLa4HX1iImB6tJ7kz4w0HmJX-7LvXNJT69niNXT6UTCNChqmJ6DaE32EWUbujPX99GHU9P_PwRXFkvcmWRVIDq2-obvHn_-DDygknycywQrZ_ApSZnl9FPCZBWJ4T31XXl/s4032/IMG_6773.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtij2UTyob3wxBNMlFnvcYV7g-XBbUrBJDQVZkne1r_AqaM2nQgTe_fOxMZpuLa4HX1iImB6tJ7kz4w0HmJX-7LvXNJT69niNXT6UTCNChqmJ6DaE32EWUbujPX99GHU9P_PwRXFkvcmWRVIDq2-obvHn_-DDygknycywQrZ_ApSZnl9FPCZBWJ4T31XXl/s320/IMG_6773.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYeGGqXQ89Fy0iKQAbGK0UXhONdP-B0ffm84OzeMWQCe22Qw4A9QQd567CtjO6JoEIlW1Hz8vgcLZrW0eU4Grmh79e7zdfDLh0oZKcP-CDOqopCWciv1O6C6anuq_dpSqF2_Hp8M0yZQsbYDMPjGGbTl6GPuGCOWVxg3Cwect36LWKwvGBW78YUxsiE151/s4032/IMG_6769.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYeGGqXQ89Fy0iKQAbGK0UXhONdP-B0ffm84OzeMWQCe22Qw4A9QQd567CtjO6JoEIlW1Hz8vgcLZrW0eU4Grmh79e7zdfDLh0oZKcP-CDOqopCWciv1O6C6anuq_dpSqF2_Hp8M0yZQsbYDMPjGGbTl6GPuGCOWVxg3Cwect36LWKwvGBW78YUxsiE151/s320/IMG_6769.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday morning I went for a walk/run on the Coastal Walk along the ocean. For the first time it poured during my entire run. It was beautiful but I got very wet, and it’s so humid my running clothes have yet to dry! For lunch we went to Din Tai Fung! Dumplings, yum yum yum. And hot and sour soup, and their famous cucumber salad. And lots of jasmine tea.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Satiated we went back to the house and chilled for a while, then we drove over to the Scripps Aquarium. It was very busy because it was something people could do on a rainy day. Thank goodness we found a place to park! Of course it was not nearly as good as the Monterey Aquarium but I liked it, lots of colorful fish and good descriptions.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For dinner we went to El Piscador for fish sandwiches. Also got some oysters. Another delicious meal.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning I went to the Coggins Aquatic Center to swim some laps. It’s an outdoor pool frequented by serious swimmers. Lots of lap lanes. The air temp was in the 50’s but the water was 78-80 so it was ok. I was still a little chilly. I swam 850 laps, not as much because I’ve lost a little swim fitness since my second surgery and I think the water was less saline so I was not as buoyant! </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we walked down to a french patisserie and got croissants and cinnamon rolls and lattes. Now we’re sitting in the sunshine on our patio. Nice!</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSu7pUpiHlgd3aMTSsLXoPo7hO-qjGqVjjPrG9bl1envGC1Tiq4d60vvfob2B_uhncimGGEfVeIo0tacVYTMOKIlq7Gk5RBM1tGNxBi8ssRnKiUYhK02fvAphKGjDZsmqQfgiJtZ5C5LtqwR7JPZWt0TjokZzVr1kQSHXUb5kUBDPRzEOH7ulSRNOcWzQW/s4032/IMG_6778.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSu7pUpiHlgd3aMTSsLXoPo7hO-qjGqVjjPrG9bl1envGC1Tiq4d60vvfob2B_uhncimGGEfVeIo0tacVYTMOKIlq7Gk5RBM1tGNxBi8ssRnKiUYhK02fvAphKGjDZsmqQfgiJtZ5C5LtqwR7JPZWt0TjokZzVr1kQSHXUb5kUBDPRzEOH7ulSRNOcWzQW/s320/IMG_6778.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-80625172974536159222024-03-08T10:02:00.005-06:002024-03-08T10:02:56.403-06:00Meeting Emi - California February and March 2024 Part I<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRr6RXi0Ov0ESAGBNYtGZfsWf_JXw4KaVpnTSGRU4uav5nPRd9j1GhD2DIfJlnCTEmwZA8rjbwGgOpPTBdrSYFhaDonUrS8eemHwIYEtXCJ0gR4-uXUbgu_nebG9HIyXICmOKhIR9-3Jc2RokNAxN7hBEY6w3shOPOweVVbScLnFUl8-r4L4vg47B8DTc/s1792/IMG_6744.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1792" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRr6RXi0Ov0ESAGBNYtGZfsWf_JXw4KaVpnTSGRU4uav5nPRd9j1GhD2DIfJlnCTEmwZA8rjbwGgOpPTBdrSYFhaDonUrS8eemHwIYEtXCJ0gR4-uXUbgu_nebG9HIyXICmOKhIR9-3Jc2RokNAxN7hBEY6w3shOPOweVVbScLnFUl8-r4L4vg47B8DTc/s320/IMG_6744.PNG" width="148" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday February 17</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">On Friday, February 16th, we flew from Minneapolis to San Francisco. Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:15 pm. It’s always a little riskier flying later in the day; this United flight was a cheaper option so we decided to take the chance. Was what happened worth $200? Probably but it’s a close call!</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Right as we get to the airport we find out our flight is delayed. Sigh. Now it’s supposed to leave at 7:20 PM. Oh well. The delay is due to runway construction in San Francisco. Oh yeah, I remember hearing something about that.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We go hang out at a restaurant, have a drink and a burger. Lee forgot to bring a ball cap so we meander through some stores but he doesn’t want one with a blatant Minnesota theme so pretty soon we’re on our way to the gate.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We are delayed further. Our estimated departure time is now 7:48 PM. Ugh. We text Dan and tell him we’ll take an Uber from the airport. No need for them to stay up so late.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">United got hit hard by the 737 Max fiasco, so they’ve had to pull those planes and are using small regional jets instead until Boeing can guarantee the safety of the larger jets. Smaller planes get less priority for landing at SFO’s congested runways, so we keep getting bumped. Soon our estimated departure time is 8:15 PM. (The reason I remember all these delayed departure times is that United helpfully sent us a text every time our flight was delayed again. Very nice, in a depressing sort of way!)</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We finally board. But wait! We’re not finished with this delay stuff yet. The captain tells us that our route has changed so we need more fuel. The fuel guys are asleep or something and it takes forever for them to finally come and service us. THEN we have to be de-iced. But why, it’s not snowing or raining, but it is pretty cold. No other planes are being de-iced. Lee was so irritated by this that he looked it up. The big planes have heaters on their wings and don’t need to be de-iced as frequently. No such luck for little planes. I guess better safe than sorry.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Finally we’re on our way. A darling family with 3 little girls and a mom and dad occupy the seats behind us and across the aisle. The little girls (8,6 and 4 years old is my guess) have never been on a plane before and are VERY excited. They make the experience of taking off fun, since I found myself seeing it through their eyes and reminiscing about my first flight, way back in the early 60’s.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The flight itself wasn’t too bad, at least at first. I slept a lot in the first 2 hours. Then things got bumpy, I mean REALLY bumpy. Not so bad that we couldn’t stay in our seats, but kind of amusement ride-like. As we descended into San Francisco, it was pretty bad. The dad, and two of the little girls got airsick. We were surrounded by vomiting and crying as we landed. A perfect ending! But I felt sorry for that family. The mom kept telling the little girls that flying wasn’t normally like this! I hope they don’t have trouble getting those kids back on an airplane to fly back to Minneapolis. And I hope they all take some dramamine before they do!</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The rest of the night was uneventful, thank goodness. We got our checked bag in record time and had no trouble getting an Uber to Palo Alto (a Tesla, that was cool). We were at their house by midnight. Of course Rossi barked when we arrived but only Kelsey woke up. I think she’s a pretty light sleeper, kind of like me. </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Before too long we were in bed. Both Lee and I managed to sleep a decent amount, 6:30 am for me, 7:00 am for Lee. It’s nice to be here and see how much Emi has changed in a month. She’s got smiling down, that’s for sure!</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy4dwh0jy8aU_0fLlf7OCmMIZtSI52KpoC342A8NJjIwB2mFoxXW1XoqU-8m2Dgfnf1PdG4Khy8a5NbZRJHvemfZXpqD0wH7TAh4qLKweFHtD0uQdFHFtgG2ATw7fmKYoR5f8q5y1rT7uT_r8i8qUsILpMQrVzMRNZ0PwkjXKX2eZKU-YuOlEJea2Apc2m/s4032/IMG_6746.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy4dwh0jy8aU_0fLlf7OCmMIZtSI52KpoC342A8NJjIwB2mFoxXW1XoqU-8m2Dgfnf1PdG4Khy8a5NbZRJHvemfZXpqD0wH7TAh4qLKweFHtD0uQdFHFtgG2ATw7fmKYoR5f8q5y1rT7uT_r8i8qUsILpMQrVzMRNZ0PwkjXKX2eZKU-YuOlEJea2Apc2m/s320/IMG_6746.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;">Note: Dan and Kelsey don't want pictures that show Emi's face on social media so I will only use pictures that don't show her image. Sorry!</p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-65935373455163123272023-11-18T14:28:00.000-06:002023-11-18T14:28:46.187-06:00Voyaguers National Park<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplU9JiMx3nY7szRmzvEW8fdQm5gELIzmreNuE2-eGNh6lo7xEV6i42-PG0CQrzbWkM7B0x9Oo6SgwLx7ahEm00rrNqkS_-g2jVtrP3bjWwLgkdiOU_7nX5VhYoVZuX2hgbJ6LaIGF32syG01FUEUoXf1FL8e0jpRXXsQ7jiAi5RlKOq5xhIwinGToRHF9/s4032/IMG_6401.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplU9JiMx3nY7szRmzvEW8fdQm5gELIzmreNuE2-eGNh6lo7xEV6i42-PG0CQrzbWkM7B0x9Oo6SgwLx7ahEm00rrNqkS_-g2jVtrP3bjWwLgkdiOU_7nX5VhYoVZuX2hgbJ6LaIGF32syG01FUEUoXf1FL8e0jpRXXsQ7jiAi5RlKOq5xhIwinGToRHF9/s320/IMG_6401.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harper and Sophie on a Hike</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday September 24</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday night it rained, long and hard. We desperately needed the rain. We got over 3 inches, a month’s worth of rain in a single night.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We had the RV mostly packed and the rain stopped, letting us finish packing and get on the road by 10.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s a long drive to Voyageur's, way up north on the Iron Range, up by the Canadian border and International Falls, the “icebox of the lower 48”. It was overcast and drizzly, but the rain had stopped, mostly.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It took us about 6 hours with stops to get to our RV campground. Cathy and JA arrived at almost the same time. We are right on the shore of Lake Kabetagama, but not actually in the park. I took the dogs on a walk while Lee got things set up. It was wet but not too muddy. We walked up to an overlook and back down and then sat outside with Cathy and JA.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We put the dogs in the RV while we sat outside for dinner, but Sophie was really on a tear, getting into everything she shouldn’t, chewing up a rug and one of Lee’s eyeglass cases. Too much time in a car for a puppy going through another teething phase!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Cathy made Italian wedding soup for dinner, with my homemade bread and Lee’s fruit crisp for dessert. Delish, but I was so tired. The dogs went out one more time and then to bed.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The dogs get a treat and their meds before bed, but I mixed up Harper and Heather’s bowls, so Harper got Heather’s Rimadyl and Heather got Harper’s Pepcid. I give the dogs another treat when I get up to pee (so Harper’s acid stomach won’t act up) and I couldn’t wake her up! That’s when I realized I’d mixed up my dogs. And it was confirmed when Harper woke us up by throwing up at 4:45 am. Oh well. I’m focusing better now!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVNsgiyxoAE2pxiRQwp_wUUCXOge0MGsdyAy0y2u-i7XGJ99Wq2FUpSJ9jLnbeMJi8cspe-TKesFafAUzVBImCXryDnXs_aSNzn-7AxW16Jcbt42Opuk-aCeLreOV_SuIXzyk_gvfjLvqeBuG575PN3opBV7q-JJwZ7903bytGtte2mi3eALSEKuDCHcK6/s4032/IMG_6387.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVNsgiyxoAE2pxiRQwp_wUUCXOge0MGsdyAy0y2u-i7XGJ99Wq2FUpSJ9jLnbeMJi8cspe-TKesFafAUzVBImCXryDnXs_aSNzn-7AxW16Jcbt42Opuk-aCeLreOV_SuIXzyk_gvfjLvqeBuG575PN3opBV7q-JJwZ7903bytGtte2mi3eALSEKuDCHcK6/s320/IMG_6387.HEIC" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Views Along the Rainy Lake Bike Trail</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday Sept 25</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the morning we had a leisurely breakfast. Then I went for a short run while Lee took the dogs for a walk. This resort has its one hiking trail so I ran on that, two loops. That’s where Lee and JA walked the dogs as well.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We drove over to the Rainy Lake Visitors Center, explored the Center and then took the dogs on a hike on the paved bike trail. They’re not allowed on any of the other trails in the National Park. Lee took Heather back to the truck after a 1/2 mile; Cathy and I walked Harper and Sophie about 3 miles total. The bike trail is nice. I’m hoping to go back and ride the entire thing one day on this trip.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After lunch at the nearby Thunderbird Lodge, we headed back to the RV to relax. We are figuring out what else there is to do. We could rent a boat, check out other trails, go biking, go to International Falls. No more rain, and it’s supposed to clear up too. Stars and an outside chance of seeing the northern lights.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNEFPqa6BIsdunIYTO8_NPI_HLu3bWxU8sSnNRqs5P3pdfORyDg60bBba49Xqc98uOsW82Htou5lPpi65edG9IjSGXQmZH4x7RTVAqThv_RZ_y0t_N4f-HUY8HaTCNXMeZwjgeUQ5B8lnN01O3g7HAs9RFIqI-L16vpg_GZobwRGBpgAaw7eEhL9Er2mu/s2730/IMG_6405.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2730" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNEFPqa6BIsdunIYTO8_NPI_HLu3bWxU8sSnNRqs5P3pdfORyDg60bBba49Xqc98uOsW82Htou5lPpi65edG9IjSGXQmZH4x7RTVAqThv_RZ_y0t_N4f-HUY8HaTCNXMeZwjgeUQ5B8lnN01O3g7HAs9RFIqI-L16vpg_GZobwRGBpgAaw7eEhL9Er2mu/s320/IMG_6405.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday September 26</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was a little chilly last night so we ate dinner inside Cathy and JA’s RV. It’s a Scamp, smaller than ours but the dinette is pretty roomy. Lee made chicken satay with an Asian salad, rice, and watermelon. It was good! I was very tired so I didn’t stay up long. And I slept great, didn’t wake up until almost 6!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lee was still asleep so I drew the curtain that separates the sleeping area from the rest of the RV, got some coffee, and started my breakfast. He was up by 6:20 and he’s back to taking the dogs out first thing, for which I am grateful.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Today Cathy and I took our bikes and drove back to the park headquarters in International Falls to ride the Rainy trail to the visitors center and back. It was a great morning for a bike ride! I started out wearing a windbreaker but I got rid of it halfway through the ride.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s an interesting trail. Sometimes it was on the shoulder of the highway and sometimes it meandered off into the woods. I don’t know why it wasn’t a completely separate trail, but it probably has something to do with money. At about 6 miles Cathy decided to turn back. Her bike seat was bothering her. She wanted to explore the little town of Rainy and told me to go ahead.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Without Cathy I speeded up some. There was a headwind all the way to the visitors center, about 12 miles. I stopped at the visitor's center to use the restroom and eat the rest of my energy bar. Once I got going on the way back I really flew! I ended up averaging 12.2 mph for the entire ride, and a lot of the time on the way back I was going around 16 mph or more!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now it’s sunny and relatively warm. Time to relax!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz6cnXgNzOsfFW6-Q7MmUtThWw26jUoL9ADYab09_aCy91h9baK9Oz8loiFbSKGQ3hgKB3vkapQ4VTq8R72z4t1hFSJXSsilY40a6EjTk6WjrTiV4-YQw4WSrEjqPxTv01n5VWdk0nOT7io479bZU8isKGs2nyciU5NO3weao4Wi5EKf5b4Q0-5F7032Mk/s3088/IMG_6413.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz6cnXgNzOsfFW6-Q7MmUtThWw26jUoL9ADYab09_aCy91h9baK9Oz8loiFbSKGQ3hgKB3vkapQ4VTq8R72z4t1hFSJXSsilY40a6EjTk6WjrTiV4-YQw4WSrEjqPxTv01n5VWdk0nOT7io479bZU8isKGs2nyciU5NO3weao4Wi5EKf5b4Q0-5F7032Mk/s320/IMG_6413.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On Our Boating Adventure on Lake Kabetagama</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday September 27</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We had smoked pork chops from Green Machine Farm for dinner. Boy were they good! Once the sun started to go down it got chilly quickly. It’s been kind of hazy so not much in the way of stars, but the moon was beautiful last night, big, yellow and bright!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I went for another 3 mile run around the hiking trails at the RV park. Now Cathy and I are lazing around while Lee and JA go fishing. We have rented a boat for the day and when they get back, after lunch, we will all go out exploring.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5whIDUYpN1PgP73driE4TcVFeuaak5UO458coRE7VwL8sutUt37avK-DZPs_54IJIJ2ntVDLqVs6VgGwdzoZ7nxCrYQ-RX_GjbeZTLfM7Gx3Za-pjAh5Zbi46EfGj21j5PVkjOZt90QRagJbXEwALmui0-9_VAhKLppl1oxqoBdD9PKAyJMMIvqCtptvr/s4032/IMG_6422.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5whIDUYpN1PgP73driE4TcVFeuaak5UO458coRE7VwL8sutUt37avK-DZPs_54IJIJ2ntVDLqVs6VgGwdzoZ7nxCrYQ-RX_GjbeZTLfM7Gx3Za-pjAh5Zbi46EfGj21j5PVkjOZt90QRagJbXEwALmui0-9_VAhKLppl1oxqoBdD9PKAyJMMIvqCtptvr/s320/IMG_6422.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellsworth Rock Garden</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Thursday Sept 28</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Around 2:30 we all headed out in the boat. It was cloudy and grey, and pretty choppy. It was a small fishing boat with 3 seats, so I sat on the front. It was chilly and the chop made the ride pretty rough. We were trying to go across the lake to Ellsworth Rock Garden, but first we went the wrong way so it took awhile to get there. There are lots of islands and rocky outcroppings we needed to get around too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Finally we were on the right track. When we got close to the shore we could see the campgrounds on the lake in the National Park. They are only accessible by boat and they looked pretty cool. There were a few people camping but not a lot, it’s almost the end of the season.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The rocks gardens were really strange. From 1947-1965, Jack Ellsworth made this sculpture garden at their vacation cabin, with lots of flowers and weird little sculptures. When he died the property became part of the National Park. It fell into disrepair and was swallowed up by the forest. Gradually they are trying to restore it. It’s just really odd looking now, the sculptures are crumbling, and many of the flowers are gone.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The return trip in the boat was much better. We went the right direction right away, and the chop was gone. I swear, I should just get a prescription for Xanax for any time I’m on a small boat. I’m terrible.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We had gumbo for dinner, pretty wonderful. We were all hungry. Lee thought we would have leftovers but there was hardly any left.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Again the moon was bright and beautiful but hardly any stars and no northern lights. This morning we are heading home. Time to winterize the RV and put it away. We’re not taking it anywhere this winter.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This was a nice trip. It’s a beautiful area, but unless you have a boat you can’t really get to most of the national park and any camping in the park itself is strictly primitive. My days of doing that are long gone. There are houseboats you can rent however. Maybe!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ56DF1E_Nc_soJ8Mm4xtW0mPtUHoqaOCW1W0z4XTRXVRFQub5JTWF6YR3hAjZheKjakUejtb77lmBCbl3NKkVFf3kADcfcswW5P0EBUKl8tMX5qCplIXdsum6LWVR61WBzxd24ny-CNbuv0phAyp3yAcKM7_UgKY6NEdEbFVQ0tlc3KeUpQjoD3wr0gRy/s2048/IMG_1158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ56DF1E_Nc_soJ8Mm4xtW0mPtUHoqaOCW1W0z4XTRXVRFQub5JTWF6YR3hAjZheKjakUejtb77lmBCbl3NKkVFf3kADcfcswW5P0EBUKl8tMX5qCplIXdsum6LWVR61WBzxd24ny-CNbuv0phAyp3yAcKM7_UgKY6NEdEbFVQ0tlc3KeUpQjoD3wr0gRy/s320/IMG_1158.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We Travel Well Together!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-77250162173132018352023-11-06T13:58:00.000-06:002023-11-06T13:58:10.467-06:00The Big Woods of Nerstrand State Park
<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">This was back in mid September.</div><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiewJbLhh_vJqzC-GPE7mqlDpolUaQ-Kh1gIRc5xssc-Af8ykOiG7ZFQnXS0jdq9BrFTgdAMHk8v4ELdwWqcDA6ihqjUNUQBteuLtd1rpXyyiWDtGZFrOWXRipd5cmWJS0ccG5Ob-g68VBn1IwI8qtiMpy5yhisCP37ZELLe26JI6fjk0QR20YzVmEgZfk/s320/IMG_6360.JPG" /><span style="color: black; text-align: left;">.</span></div></div> We are hanging out in the RV for a few days at this state park. It’s very pretty. We drove down yesterday afternoon, only an hour and 20 minutes from our house. Parking the RV was a challenge but Lee got it done. The spots are narrow and there are a lot of trees. Once we were set up we took the dogs on a short walk to the Hidden Falls. Because of the drought there was only a trickle of water in the falls but it was still pretty. There were lots of steps to get to the falls and Heather struggled. We had to carry her down a few of them. We went back a different way, rocky and hilly but no steps. She was pooped by the end.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpeJTmtIo8luokqLzRoaYU4tDGeNMzXho56GPsJrLEMPz-9pdASbHIpVSvfHL6NO-FRRAUrrsYNdF0hjajT28fpFMGhpLXR52rr5alFjD_L2xbV65a5cbdxYvEw78JMgPvYZsxhZdoEhhAX2Qp9IPg_pA6YT69podtqpzmvZg9UjeJ5o-f91xBjERL9IJa/s4032/IMG_6358.HEIC" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpeJTmtIo8luokqLzRoaYU4tDGeNMzXho56GPsJrLEMPz-9pdASbHIpVSvfHL6NO-FRRAUrrsYNdF0hjajT28fpFMGhpLXR52rr5alFjD_L2xbV65a5cbdxYvEw78JMgPvYZsxhZdoEhhAX2Qp9IPg_pA6YT69podtqpzmvZg9UjeJ5o-f91xBjERL9IJa/s320/IMG_6358.HEIC" /></a></div>
In the morning we went on a hike after a very nice breakfast. Scrambled eggs with bacon, green onions and corn. Yummy! First we did a shorter loop, then came back and left Heather at the RV. Then we took the other two dogs and hiked a bigger loop through the woods. It’s really beautiful. The leaves are just starting to turn. We hiked about 4 miles total and even Sophie was tired by the end.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiafZxJBQbYa4TdM3yf8b38qCbhYeXrI3JiUUBbUVHiGHZYzd0Eyxo-1WVAX8qUzOJz_dPjNFe8Q3nQ5IuiMdXHxTVadukOhIk2pONoyH3rvEqsPlF3wOb2olysFK4aQxs7kJbDJQEj3__mqzRQwILD86I75tMS_7k0HU2q0Cmsgeggl33RBs5xFU8gStmt/s4032/IMG_6354.HEIC" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiafZxJBQbYa4TdM3yf8b38qCbhYeXrI3JiUUBbUVHiGHZYzd0Eyxo-1WVAX8qUzOJz_dPjNFe8Q3nQ5IuiMdXHxTVadukOhIk2pONoyH3rvEqsPlF3wOb2olysFK4aQxs7kJbDJQEj3__mqzRQwILD86I75tMS_7k0HU2q0Cmsgeggl33RBs5xFU8gStmt/s320/IMG_6354.HEIC" /></a></div>
The rest of the afternoon we just hung out. Lee did some mushroom hunting, while the dogs and I relaxed.
The next day I needed to do a longish run. It was supposed to be 8 miles but I figured about 7 on trails was probably equivalent. I’m much slower on trails, the grass and rocks and roots slow me down even if it’s not very hilly. I did part of the outer loop of trails, through woods and a prairie restoration which was very pretty.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIKk-qorHPW57-omGOBTmHBrE4Esk0vB7keIBo7prk3s3hnomxo4jwOml5oEk-woWDg1AYUsD7VspLUr6v1bRWouR5dphMKv-ybES1cG6BUYBB32IVEUj_vGvt3xCURGgXjlCsLzAdnwJHR7DpT4uEeXDpV8RWIymo9DZvf32fyT9wbOE9L0bvyQHY0nD/s4032/IMG_6365.HEIC" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIKk-qorHPW57-omGOBTmHBrE4Esk0vB7keIBo7prk3s3hnomxo4jwOml5oEk-woWDg1AYUsD7VspLUr6v1bRWouR5dphMKv-ybES1cG6BUYBB32IVEUj_vGvt3xCURGgXjlCsLzAdnwJHR7DpT4uEeXDpV8RWIymo9DZvf32fyT9wbOE9L0bvyQHY0nD/s320/IMG_6365.HEIC" /></a></div>
Then home we went. It’s so close, we were home before lunch.
It was a nice little trip. Next up, Voyageurs National Park, up by the Canadian border, wayyyy north.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtZLkqC3t4Gm65xGdskGk_52bCAg5g05mJtXuh3OEqL-v0juos5ywVbVLQJkibuuQjxVwI-Vboj4wCjclyS5X_zZ003bzasm21zdcNuWwD69rKu9A3_c5y6h9NMhRdjs8wTtldrqis7LssazitbFyeBsYFbDveJe3zBkUXvsF2EQeoojJYcik8dcIgvv3/s4032/IMG_6361.HEIC" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtZLkqC3t4Gm65xGdskGk_52bCAg5g05mJtXuh3OEqL-v0juos5ywVbVLQJkibuuQjxVwI-Vboj4wCjclyS5X_zZ003bzasm21zdcNuWwD69rKu9A3_c5y6h9NMhRdjs8wTtldrqis7LssazitbFyeBsYFbDveJe3zBkUXvsF2EQeoojJYcik8dcIgvv3/s320/IMG_6361.HEIC" /></a></div>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-21809780647956328482023-10-27T17:07:00.000-05:002023-10-27T17:07:05.739-05:00Oh Sophie!<p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A couple of days ago the dogs wanted to go out. It was around 5 pm, not dark yet, but approaching dusk. I usually go out with them because Sophie is an escape artist. She can still fit through the posts on our cast iron fence, and under them too. We put up netting, but she jumps on it and pushes it down, and then can get over it. We’ve staked the netting to the ground, but it tears, and then she gets through. We put up border fencing around the bottom of the fence and that keeps her from getting under it, mostly.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And recently she started eyeing the fireplace, wondering if she could jump on top of it , and then out to freedom. So we put a couple of chairs on top. That has thwarted that route, for now.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNndLw8iHOBvnoLwpM64jO792qawVpOO1FZLE5FbgZix1lwGB2AAaylAyMfMgQ5GexQArdVdk5x-U6NOXBbGKkZy_iLLhG9aK_JAw5F34z_SyW20rcicOS_KBWOBWgm1qtInX_NN0oZj80rL595pDX7AUgk_-OPbAA7JF8mGTiMJl0DUvumUauuYa8cXE/s4032/IMG_6506.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNndLw8iHOBvnoLwpM64jO792qawVpOO1FZLE5FbgZix1lwGB2AAaylAyMfMgQ5GexQArdVdk5x-U6NOXBbGKkZy_iLLhG9aK_JAw5F34z_SyW20rcicOS_KBWOBWgm1qtInX_NN0oZj80rL595pDX7AUgk_-OPbAA7JF8mGTiMJl0DUvumUauuYa8cXE/s320/IMG_6506.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fireplace Booby Trap</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, the dogs want to go out. But I’m tired, and busy, so I let them out without me. My rule for myself if I do this is to check on them every two minutes, without fail, because if she DOES get out, she can’t get far. Well, at least that has been the case, up until now.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I go out to check on them. Harper and Heather are nosing around. Sophie is nowhere to be found. I start calling. I look in the usual places, the field, the space between our house and the neighbors, our neighbor’s front yard, our front yard. No Sophie.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I run inside and tell Lee I can’t find her. “Come help me. NOW.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">My eyesight isn’t great. I’m having cataract surgery in January and at times like this it can’t come soon enough. I’m peering down the street in front of our house, trying not to think about Eureka Road, the busy street on the side of our house, the reason we have a fenced in yard for the dogs, instead of an invisible fence.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lee yells, “I see her!” “Where?”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I scream! “Behind the neighbor’s pool!” This is farther than she has ever gone before. I look over there and I see this little white speck, disappearing into the woods behind their house. Into the swamp.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0kqkt2HJVZRNbcNY4wbS__NKeneqZLsCkr1zTdP1v8Sjp1oYqdyJorCZPrYkcl5r9Gvu2VLPyRRtm8dHMgEvfnIfg-Km1JQaK85c9Ukyonyg7QuohyphenhyphenoC053w3ZtHf5h5GNV2jw_4eGQ-ahvNT82FEqQKiQ9ogqG-RDBNLuxqQ9vM44k2LdxynF_oeXqG/s4032/IMG_6508.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0kqkt2HJVZRNbcNY4wbS__NKeneqZLsCkr1zTdP1v8Sjp1oYqdyJorCZPrYkcl5r9Gvu2VLPyRRtm8dHMgEvfnIfg-Km1JQaK85c9Ukyonyg7QuohyphenhyphenoC053w3ZtHf5h5GNV2jw_4eGQ-ahvNT82FEqQKiQ9ogqG-RDBNLuxqQ9vM44k2LdxynF_oeXqG/s320/IMG_6508.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She was way back in those woods. Scary!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I take off at a run, but not a very fast one, since I’m wearing rubber clogs. I don’t give a shit that it’s been raining a lot and there are large puddles between me and Sophie. Into the swamp I go.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s more than a swamp, really. It’s a large wetland, and it covers acres of land between us and the new subdivision. There are lots of places for a little dog to get thoroughly lost, especially if it gets dark before I can get her.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I can still see her though. She’s no longer running in hot pursuit of something, but she’s not coming either. I briefly wish I had some treats, or cheese, or meat, or something. I start crooning sweetly to her, “Good girl Sophie, come on Sophie, come Sophie, come.” Never yell at a dog if you want them to come! She’s stopped now, sniffing. Pees, and then looks at me with her little smile. I scoop her up. Thank God! I pick my way out of the swamp, suddenly aware that my feet are rather wet.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m still pretty freaked out about this. I’m a little ashamed that we have let this get so out of hand. Lee has ordered some fencing that looks okay that we can put around the cast iron fence. It’s taller than the netting and it has a pattern that will prevent her from being able to get out.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For now I’ve taken the dog fencing from around the gardens in the backyard and put it around the fenced in yard again. I had wanted to wait until the ground was frozen so the dogs wouldn’t dig in the plant beds but at this point I don’t care. I just want Sophie to be safe.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This scared me pretty bad. What if Lee hadn’t been home? Would I have seen her disappearing into the woods? If she had gotten a little farther before he came outside she would have been gone. When we practice “come!” she’s really good, but that’s in an enclosed space, and with treats. We obviously need to work on this more.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I love little Sophie, desperately, hopelessly, the way you fall head over heels for a dog. But with this love comes fear too. She’s a smallish Westie, and she’s probably not going to get a lot bigger. She fits into little spaces, and she’s very very curious. She’s interested in the world outside in a way that Harper and Heather no longer are.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I think I’ve learned my lesson, at least for now. No more going out in the backyard without a person, at least until the new fence is up, especially when it’s getting dark. We need to work on “come!” some more. And we need to stay alert. She’s a mischievous, funny little dog. Who knows what she’ll try next? I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough!</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0A-FGGkbL91BWV8LZHINimxiyM2zK0z_yxbLrlFWYzQszlK61XLjF5a_wfJwijkfR6IF8ck19UIot8Nn3rJCUVUqJR2CyPJ5pWsQIG09rBqFJq8AQLFSqbzqGNzoiy5VIOCiKK4rY53Rd-1kyaitXJ-3jT189Cc4g6_HLfqF5u6XrKqBL2lLgPoOzsg3x/s4032/IMG_6507.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0A-FGGkbL91BWV8LZHINimxiyM2zK0z_yxbLrlFWYzQszlK61XLjF5a_wfJwijkfR6IF8ck19UIot8Nn3rJCUVUqJR2CyPJ5pWsQIG09rBqFJq8AQLFSqbzqGNzoiy5VIOCiKK4rY53Rd-1kyaitXJ-3jT189Cc4g6_HLfqF5u6XrKqBL2lLgPoOzsg3x/s320/IMG_6507.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dog Fencing is Back Up Around the Yard</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-5817397129544209532023-10-17T14:11:00.001-05:002023-10-17T14:11:31.729-05:00A Cabin in Wisconsin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiERV8cWnfc1HOE3yJVfYDzHopfR_z8I07P4h8z1zp2QIIgX7rlM9AaOZvBZ6IF5wfwiYieqDWZ3sFF_oJokhXkZzOeOHmiv7GtbN_SQsKwzvIT-MR_vrWj5jhPA9PaoLaGgsDpj9fuoGq6tuM4jXdyCjjYTNP4YyejgBKwxktuhXx46BQBcbWSb1757WdY/s3794/IMG_6193.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3794" data-original-width="2846" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiERV8cWnfc1HOE3yJVfYDzHopfR_z8I07P4h8z1zp2QIIgX7rlM9AaOZvBZ6IF5wfwiYieqDWZ3sFF_oJokhXkZzOeOHmiv7GtbN_SQsKwzvIT-MR_vrWj5jhPA9PaoLaGgsDpj9fuoGq6tuM4jXdyCjjYTNP4YyejgBKwxktuhXx46BQBcbWSb1757WdY/s320/IMG_6193.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday, August 28</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We are in a very nice cabin somewhere in Wisconsin on a lake called Peterenwell. We are out in the wilds, hardly any towns, cranberry bogs. There are plenty of houses but I think they are all seasonal cabins and almost nobody is home. Unusual for this part of the world this is not a natural lake; there’s a dam at one end.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We left yesterday (Sunday, August 27th). It took us about 3 and a half hours to get here. We brought the pontoon boat but didn’t put it in the water until this morning. We got here around 4, with Suzanne and Kris not far behind. Sarah and Erik and the boys went to a Loons game (soccer) so they didn’t get here until late.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This cabin is big! 6 bedrooms, 3 full baths. We have 5 dogs with us, our 3, plus Mika and Kris’s dog Otis. All the dogs are small and old except Sophie, who is small and young. It didn’t take long for Sophie and Otis to become new best friends. Kris hadn’t seen Otis play like that in a long time. She was a little worried that it was too much for him, but he did ok. And he sure was happy wrestling around with Sophie, playing doggie tag and hide and seek. I think Harper was glad to have another dog entertain Sophie for awhile, although sometimes she jumped in too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZusyEpoTDOgt76tsGM1bG5sxxRrCoYcvMkrvCeRhSBCEbqEFguTvoopuZRUR50j95GXbWlsGzICFvYi7R63m4sl_0GjIFZcaTbNMDlypll0P4p5QmhWefrlS7MUVDmIdhUaA9qN0_DM9oKKSH9dq2lCRDOxQ-f2BX9HcZIcOlEWYuwMF2dVWvWW384AWy/s4032/IMG_6194.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZusyEpoTDOgt76tsGM1bG5sxxRrCoYcvMkrvCeRhSBCEbqEFguTvoopuZRUR50j95GXbWlsGzICFvYi7R63m4sl_0GjIFZcaTbNMDlypll0P4p5QmhWefrlS7MUVDmIdhUaA9qN0_DM9oKKSH9dq2lCRDOxQ-f2BX9HcZIcOlEWYuwMF2dVWvWW384AWy/s320/IMG_6194.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"> </p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lee made dinner last night, mushrooms and Swiss chard and polenta. We are not going to run out of food, that’s for sure. Everyone brought enough food to feed an army.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The moon over the lake was beautiful last night.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the morning I went for a short run. Initially I was a little apprehensive since it’s so remote, but I didn’t see anything, only two cars, and one man walking his dog. No bears I’ve decided since there are just regular trash cans. Lots of deer, however!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then Lee and I launched the boat. There’s a boat ramp really close to the house but it’s really narrow; we barely fit. We are not at all sure we can get the boat back out there. There’s another ramp across the lake. A farther drive but maybe it will be better.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here’s a funny story for you. Kirby still wears a diaper at night but is getting really good at putting on his clothes. He can also take off his nighttime diaper by himself because they are pull-ups, and put on his underpants. This morning he and Leo got up before their parents, and Lee made them breakfast. When Sarah got up she asked Kirby what he did with his diaper. He didn’t know. Parents and grand parents looked around; no diaper. After breakfast Kirby had to go potty. When he pulled down his underpants he came running out of the bathroom. “I found my diaper!”</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Well Kirby where was it?</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“It was in my underpants!” He had put his underpants on over his diaper! I’m still laughing about this.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">August 29, Tuesday</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sarah made ribs for dinner and they were delicious. We ate outside on the screened porch.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we had a fire. Suzanne had these cool packets that you toss in the fire and it makes the flames turn different colors. Then the boys played with their new airplanes that have flashing lights. Lots of neat things to do if you can stay awake until it turns dark!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPdHJCq5gXthfJwyDKwrVUf4DDMLaJT0EdKBCWyMI2pM3AGS07ufsBNmMTLVekAq2F3wgC-bGeUAYX-Wt3WbSiVrcZXKpGPadOieC92Nv01k5HsVSplXuJkNN6RwlVOXByZtIuH6AHLIBct78Gw4D1TTsuTQTJkgxIOc0_VuV6hf3I-gAVQD4gPsyOgxk/s4032/IMG_6198.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPdHJCq5gXthfJwyDKwrVUf4DDMLaJT0EdKBCWyMI2pM3AGS07ufsBNmMTLVekAq2F3wgC-bGeUAYX-Wt3WbSiVrcZXKpGPadOieC92Nv01k5HsVSplXuJkNN6RwlVOXByZtIuH6AHLIBct78Gw4D1TTsuTQTJkgxIOc0_VuV6hf3I-gAVQD4gPsyOgxk/s320/IMG_6198.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning Lee, Suzanne and the boys took the pontoon and went fishing. They didn’t catch anything, and Lee said it was pretty windy. I didn’t run this morning, just did a little stretching. I’ll probably take Sophie on a walk later this afternoon.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This place is making me appreciate having a fenced in backyard. The first day I was putting everyone on a leash to go potty; with 5 dogs that was making me crazy. Then I realized that Heather and Mika don’t need to be on a leash; they’re not going anywhere! Sophie and Otis definitely do; even though Otis is old now he still has a strong streak of wanderlust. Sophie is not to be trusted, and Harper might be ok, but she can’t hear and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>she might see a squirrel or something so I don’t want to find out.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday August 30</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yesterday afternoon I took Sophie and Harper for a walk. Nowadays when I walk both of them Sophie is charging ahead and Harper is lagging behind. Such a change from only a few years ago. I love my old dogs, but they make me kind of sad too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At one point Sarah and Kris and the boys took out the kayaks and went paddling. They had a good time but getting back out of the kayaks onto the dock was a challenge. There’s no appropriate shoreline, just piled up rocks, so that was what we had to do. It took an extra person (me) to get the boys out and then steady the kayaks while the adults gingerly clambered out without tipping the kayaks over. We did it too!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One time when I took the dogs out to go potty Sophie grabbed something she found under a bush. It was a dead bird! Ewww! It was a warbler, just the right size for her to get almost entirely into her mouth but too big to swallow. Without thinking I wrenched her mouth open, grabbed the poor bird, and flung it into the lake! I was so disgusted! We really have to watch her every minute, she’ll put anything in her mouth.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yesterday was Taco Tuesday; Kris and Suzanne made wonderful vegan tacos with lots and lots of fixings, including fajita peppers and onions, guacamole, vegan taco meat, fried sweet potatoes and lots more. They also had two types of Mexican cookies, which of course I loved. AND margaritas, and strawberry lemonade for the boys. Then later we had another fire, this time with s’mores. The moon gets more beautiful every night. Tonight, our last night, we’re going on a moonlight cruise.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8OaW4wRHK_qx3356geO-6dIhoWR16cFHqssXKdhkezrp6TGpqFbxRmsfas-R8ZRIVyRysau6Ffn4Iu4CHYzLL7I6jRGO2BNCrTGKzWgAKGi9Vt3LXBL4jb_tZvHrwlYQG4h0sHE5D9kp-FYc5AJ0F6f9MGSalYTx6Ac16ZAq14b9VrGGWXDFFy30NQobQ/s4032/IMG_6209.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8OaW4wRHK_qx3356geO-6dIhoWR16cFHqssXKdhkezrp6TGpqFbxRmsfas-R8ZRIVyRysau6Ffn4Iu4CHYzLL7I6jRGO2BNCrTGKzWgAKGi9Vt3LXBL4jb_tZvHrwlYQG4h0sHE5D9kp-FYc5AJ0F6f9MGSalYTx6Ac16ZAq14b9VrGGWXDFFy30NQobQ/s320/IMG_6209.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSh7M9dw61lyhDVv6GqK5zx4yzR3rptqK71Hx_EFWkvTKTeOPFIhn8uxbxVOghtaACJEWn9wAio2SGI4aKiBewsnCzvD53HO-V16UtH9pCs4rdzXHgYNeY0isSOxRQJnYXDk1sHFlLlfPcSOpNix1M0EnqmY4TMlAr_cZulgN1a3ghIKx4N2FX5WBYWpcU/s4032/IMG_6219.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSh7M9dw61lyhDVv6GqK5zx4yzR3rptqK71Hx_EFWkvTKTeOPFIhn8uxbxVOghtaACJEWn9wAio2SGI4aKiBewsnCzvD53HO-V16UtH9pCs4rdzXHgYNeY0isSOxRQJnYXDk1sHFlLlfPcSOpNix1M0EnqmY4TMlAr_cZulgN1a3ghIKx4N2FX5WBYWpcU/s320/IMG_6219.HEIC" width="240" /></a></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">Thursday August 31</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning It was chilly, 45F! I went for a good run. The lower temps really helped. I ran a warmup mile and then did 8 400 meter repeats at 5k pace, recovered for a half mile and then did 4 200 meter repeats at mile pace. Every single repeat was on target, which hasn’t happened in a long time. Then I came back to the house and ate the last of the French toast that Sarah had made.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lee and Suzanne and the boys tried fishing again but no luck. There’s a lot of algae in this lake. Maybe it killed the fish.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve had a nice relaxing day. We sat outside for awhile, until it warmed up and the flies started biting again. Since then we’ve been hanging out inside.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Our moonlight cruise on the last night was great. It was a full super duper blue moon, very pretty. On one side of the lake the sun set then shortly after that the moon rose on the other side. We putt-putted around admiring the moon and then went back.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHmYHTDzobI4RdWhzqTQzcscZY_i9cKx4YBTgONLyiyf7THpqxijg6OsUc_K0rcxD6CRKtfE882ItWeOM-G2SSyVCoalNjWWYCyeW9wY0fQ3VdOh153QVc6NX002Msruyp9AkYM1so8feP3cnxP1uwWYbvVGPCvAdAS9FzTojuFvvEfC_JmvsB-jtp23jP/s4032/IMG_6225.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHmYHTDzobI4RdWhzqTQzcscZY_i9cKx4YBTgONLyiyf7THpqxijg6OsUc_K0rcxD6CRKtfE882ItWeOM-G2SSyVCoalNjWWYCyeW9wY0fQ3VdOh153QVc6NX002Msruyp9AkYM1so8feP3cnxP1uwWYbvVGPCvAdAS9FzTojuFvvEfC_JmvsB-jtp23jP/s320/IMG_6225.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwh2OLXcHQck1cbwzzIKACJtjntVgJ9SBBtnrUBTPMb7dyA_ZQ-oeUlnd6QpL_VMXgH9v2-RwBV-7W4XiHg-v1VtTFuihCxGCNBuXwOf29l3KTAFPcbFrvd1GFg2WS4NzSMW8xNahsSnpy1a4cVju6zoFXLSxmbutkDWYvWNsJXGQmDFXJFPPkFQgiwbk/s4032/IMG_6228.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwh2OLXcHQck1cbwzzIKACJtjntVgJ9SBBtnrUBTPMb7dyA_ZQ-oeUlnd6QpL_VMXgH9v2-RwBV-7W4XiHg-v1VtTFuihCxGCNBuXwOf29l3KTAFPcbFrvd1GFg2WS4NzSMW8xNahsSnpy1a4cVju6zoFXLSxmbutkDWYvWNsJXGQmDFXJFPPkFQgiwbk/s320/IMG_6228.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This was a nice, relaxing vacation. I think everyone had a good time. Kirby was tired, though. He’s right in-between needing a nap and giving them up. If he takes a nap he stays up too late at night so when he’s not at daycare he doesn’t take one. Sarah said he slept until 9:30 this morning! That’s late for a little boy!</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGfofI1vhUOOW_QGZN_yEemU7c1dCgjpzsYnD-9UaYUIpKruiLF5IP6UcgYtizM5FmWpO_E3H2O6ksv_39W9LYjvIhHmeswvbdEhl6ugAo5pR2bNopgU_QaIwig-QPn1O4JZBaXi8wCnSJ8wm7JVIu5wOHEsRkDl6Bnb-1xsXCmgBttSUee4Tehq1UISDd/s4032/IMG_6245.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGfofI1vhUOOW_QGZN_yEemU7c1dCgjpzsYnD-9UaYUIpKruiLF5IP6UcgYtizM5FmWpO_E3H2O6ksv_39W9LYjvIhHmeswvbdEhl6ugAo5pR2bNopgU_QaIwig-QPn1O4JZBaXi8wCnSJ8wm7JVIu5wOHEsRkDl6Bnb-1xsXCmgBttSUee4Tehq1UISDd/s320/IMG_6245.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-86814761465781833502023-10-09T13:38:00.007-05:002023-10-09T13:39:35.588-05:00Kirby and Leo Go RV Camping<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHsfPfKgd7Oh39_kV40kWdhq9PicickA6wrn_34FCpkSb1RPXY6_Ar4QgMVBGGKan6UwaBCkSoZFpOF-n4ymeMnEbFfZGJv00nB_NK8-7flP3kxT762golaNip7gZYH5LA2aprfusYzd5flFLLqTRwTlJeGj7b1IgV71w7rfDvhN9AaTMbP5HK19OQ89KC/s4032/IMG_6084.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHsfPfKgd7Oh39_kV40kWdhq9PicickA6wrn_34FCpkSb1RPXY6_Ar4QgMVBGGKan6UwaBCkSoZFpOF-n4ymeMnEbFfZGJv00nB_NK8-7flP3kxT762golaNip7gZYH5LA2aprfusYzd5flFLLqTRwTlJeGj7b1IgV71w7rfDvhN9AaTMbP5HK19OQ89KC/s320/IMG_6084.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In mid-August we took Leo and Kirby camping in the RV. We were going to try to go with the Johnmeyers like we did last year but the week we were going to go was horribly hot so we cancelled. We took them for a day of tubing on the pontoon boat instead and that was pretty fun. Leo and Kirby came too along with Henry, Owen, Ada, Arlo, Cathy and JA. Their grandkids are getting so big, Henry and Ada are 11!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Anyway, we still wanted to take Leo and Kirby so we went to Baker Park again, just for one night. It was Kirby’s first time so we thought one night would be enough. He’s potty trained and he was just fine!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We picked them up from summer camp (Leo) and daycare (Kirby) on a Monday and off we went. Well not exactly. Lee drove the RV to Baker Park and I took the car with our bikes and picked up the boys. First I picked up Leo. They were having an event that involved shaved ice and we had to wait until the shaved ice truck appeared. Leo let me have some bites and it was pretty good! But we didn’t have one for Kirby so Leo had to finish his before we could pick up Kirby.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">THEN we were finally on our way. It didn’t take long to get to BP. and Lee did have the RV mostly set up when we arrived so that was nice.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz6ehRjnpxY21ksBKsxSw8CjKwlYzDK9GExnirRV-ZJZTfe2Cni-1Lt0DUv4AS-ZVzTKXSzwLKHy6n-eh2V20ysRfYqGd9HSa_zei0_9KI9CMAOEHUQLtE2DCHN0Hbw8ujRkNwQa9tfAF7eIRtDfXcohuNtLNkGrg3DQUir9Y_zS1aeji-NBftoN_YT1kn/s4032/IMG_6137.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz6ehRjnpxY21ksBKsxSw8CjKwlYzDK9GExnirRV-ZJZTfe2Cni-1Lt0DUv4AS-ZVzTKXSzwLKHy6n-eh2V20ysRfYqGd9HSa_zei0_9KI9CMAOEHUQLtE2DCHN0Hbw8ujRkNwQa9tfAF7eIRtDfXcohuNtLNkGrg3DQUir9Y_zS1aeji-NBftoN_YT1kn/s320/IMG_6137.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">First up the boys wanted to go fishing. Lee took them down to the dock and I followed with the dogs. I brought Heather’s back pack because its a pretty steep hill back up from the lake. She walked down just fine but I think she was happy to have a ride on the way back up. The boys caught some fish too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After that it was time for dinner, a fire, and bed. Of course the big event was making the table into a bed for the boys after dinner. Its very ingenious but it sure gets a couple of little boys excited to sleep in a table bed! I finally put Kirby in bed with Lee and I got in bed with Leo. Then everyone settled down and went to sleep.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the morning I went for a run, one of those strange runs when it felt like I was going downhill one direction, but when I turned around I was going downhill the other direction too! Hmmm. Then Lee took the boys to the playground and the beach and I followed later with the dogs.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b3VUwOpI5LpTYIhYiiihYmIOrWZbPhjFWp2bw2a_fJisjavgYAotaMjaPQ982E_lpm6rqYnFY-ucxAmwDq_mcJgZ7eQh1b7954LHz5TWSZds1gNG4qtA7y7Z1MiS8ra1NOlYhdwTDv4AONpjpQUsDNzSnBlTi3If-cZD8Wvhz82by7OrfkCLl9WWnhh4/s4032/IMG_6140.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b3VUwOpI5LpTYIhYiiihYmIOrWZbPhjFWp2bw2a_fJisjavgYAotaMjaPQ982E_lpm6rqYnFY-ucxAmwDq_mcJgZ7eQh1b7954LHz5TWSZds1gNG4qtA7y7Z1MiS8ra1NOlYhdwTDv4AONpjpQUsDNzSnBlTi3If-cZD8Wvhz82by7OrfkCLl9WWnhh4/s320/IMG_6140.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">By the time I got there they were at the beach. We have these little toys for diving and they were having a great time with them. Leo was also making sandcastles. There was a yellow jacket buzzing around his head and I tried to shoo it away and it stung me! Boy did it hurt! I was very glad it stung me instead of Leo, but man. My hand swelled up and turned red. It was painful for several days.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">By then it was time to get ready to eat a little lunch and then pack up and go home. The boys fell asleep in the car on the way to our house. I tried to carry them inside without waking them. I plopped them on the couch and turned on Bluey. We were all pretty tired.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was a fun couple of days. It was nice to have both boys. Maybe next year we’ll do a two night trip.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_xO0L35f_Hjy22Yoijwp8O-Bw5-OXCZbXYyio1ryStzobO-0BI0Nht552LIulI4yMQBz_IfTJjuTBXgySX2FISi2MZhfzutEJRu8kYruq-OcovP9v1U2laCP7rgTWZLC6trFmfnjQbGcpDR86LPCFhxhEynBcnrBRiK3NkdQFl_Sfys_9oZsXqhQ6eIIB/s4032/IMG_6143.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_xO0L35f_Hjy22Yoijwp8O-Bw5-OXCZbXYyio1ryStzobO-0BI0Nht552LIulI4yMQBz_IfTJjuTBXgySX2FISi2MZhfzutEJRu8kYruq-OcovP9v1U2laCP7rgTWZLC6trFmfnjQbGcpDR86LPCFhxhEynBcnrBRiK3NkdQFl_Sfys_9oZsXqhQ6eIIB/s320/IMG_6143.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-66381041648981717342023-09-12T13:58:00.002-05:002023-09-12T13:58:54.521-05:00Tour de Tonka 2023<p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Note: The Tour de Tonka was on Saturday August 5th. Here's my report. Did I take pictures? Well no.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgShPeDlqO83JXLat2xLTUwfY3siAZaiO-amLN7eqojq1A0RiZnz4irO62hZDDkCwAeRWHmXDhnVZ34YypFXWdjXADQrr4z8esZIiMCpK_xfc4hcH0rCJ1KCGZvYSEKbWpbs_HABFJWocINb7okLioB24ppVDjKFOwSwxvT6dMOnLDGD6jqjH0cWT9qvFIT/s2048/IMG_1710.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgShPeDlqO83JXLat2xLTUwfY3siAZaiO-amLN7eqojq1A0RiZnz4irO62hZDDkCwAeRWHmXDhnVZ34YypFXWdjXADQrr4z8esZIiMCpK_xfc4hcH0rCJ1KCGZvYSEKbWpbs_HABFJWocINb7okLioB24ppVDjKFOwSwxvT6dMOnLDGD6jqjH0cWT9qvFIT/s320/IMG_1710.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I rode my bike 50 miles today. I did the Tour de Tonka 47 mile ride, and then rode 3 more miles around the Minnetonka High School so I could say I rode a half century. I can’t tell you how pleased and happy I am about this ride. To an experienced, younger rider this must seem like no big deal, but it was a big deal to me. I rode strongly, didn’t give up on the hills, averaged close to 13 mph, which is fast for me. I had fun, didn’t get tired until the very end, and chatted with my friends from the Minnetonka Bike Club at each rest stop.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I did the TdT 2 years ago but I did the 36 mile ride then, and I had my old bike. The 47 mile ride is much much prettier. It starts at the Minnetonka High School, goes through Deephaven up to Wayzata, out in the country north of Mound, down through Mound, through Navarre to Excelsior and back to the High School. It wanders all around Lake Minnetonka and the surrounding countryside. Some of the route was new to me but when we got to Mound we were riding on roads and trails that I ride on all the time, so that was nice! It took me not quite 4 hours, and that’s with hanging out at each of 3 rest stops for a little while.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There were some really big hills, but I didn’t quit. I used my full pedal stroke like I’ve been practicing and stayed steady throughout. Lots of people zoomed passed me of course, but there were plenty of people behind me and I never felt like I was being left behind. The 47 mile course intersected with the 71 mile and the 100 mile courses so sometimes there were really good riders around you. And at the end all the routes converge so there were little kids riding with their families too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The rest stops had so much food! I told Lee it would have been easy to gain weight on this ride. That’s a nice thing about cycling, I don’t have to be concerned about what I eat, I’m not going to get sick from food bouncing around in my gut!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">All in all it was just a great experience. Next up, the Looney Challenge. Time to get serious about running for 2 months so I can do well in in the 10k and conquer those 19.3 miles!</p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-39868257534346535122023-09-02T15:14:00.001-05:002023-09-02T15:14:51.806-05:00Biking <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6RJP3GiD0IE0o91-oJOCe1nkz2NRCZC0sj4CUuiyIaFLsNnYfkFpoqkUIOqcAOJJEM4Z_7qcqP3wrwdY02sUh_YyRccFK03z8rq1xdEmY948RHxEzWiFKM-AFAJsh7f0_OocJ-oqqNtlcJitDbTlR40i065ZieMR_YBwg8whinr5q7D0r8O6krl7-mH6/s3088/IMG_5928.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2316" data-original-width="3088" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6RJP3GiD0IE0o91-oJOCe1nkz2NRCZC0sj4CUuiyIaFLsNnYfkFpoqkUIOqcAOJJEM4Z_7qcqP3wrwdY02sUh_YyRccFK03z8rq1xdEmY948RHxEzWiFKM-AFAJsh7f0_OocJ-oqqNtlcJitDbTlR40i065ZieMR_YBwg8whinr5q7D0r8O6krl7-mH6/s320/IMG_5928.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is my new thing this year. I signed up for the 47 mile Tour de Tonka Ride so I’ve been working on making sure I’m ready for that. And I joined the Minnetonka Bike Club, a riding club for older riders in the Western suburbs of Minneapolis. They have 3 different levels of rides and 3 rides a week. I started out riding with the middle group, the Explorers. They ride on Tuesdays, usually 12-20 miles, at a 10-12 mph pace. I like riding with them but they are a little slow for me. So I started riding with the more advanced group too. The Ramblers ride on Thursdays, usually 20-30 miles, at a 12-14 mph pace. Sometimes they are a little fast for me so I have to work to keep up. But there’s always a sweeper; nobody gets left behind.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I love riding around my area of the Western suburbs and discovering all the trails. But I REALLY love riding with the groups and trying out trails and roads all over Minneapolis! I’m getting to know areas that I didn’t even know existed!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivRlZA9zVGrOQMaYiuYScu1z3Fn5grRa1xkjoH3d1KkRgm6Tl8ihmIxtZ-q0HMhAgzt87uBg6BYmRtQs01HJ2zNGk73Qp-rJik9omZy7tsQvf0JtQc9RVcTzl8-N4pMdW0BZEXfdbitZbHdk4WE_Ld2-R72oBhzuH1u_RwdKCusdP9LxH1ELCb0c0qwZJY/s3088/IMG_6021.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivRlZA9zVGrOQMaYiuYScu1z3Fn5grRa1xkjoH3d1KkRgm6Tl8ihmIxtZ-q0HMhAgzt87uBg6BYmRtQs01HJ2zNGk73Qp-rJik9omZy7tsQvf0JtQc9RVcTzl8-N4pMdW0BZEXfdbitZbHdk4WE_Ld2-R72oBhzuH1u_RwdKCusdP9LxH1ELCb0c0qwZJY/s320/IMG_6021.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Biking is different than running in one major respect. Running races are for all levels of runners. It doesn’t matter if you are an elite or a back of the packer, at almost all races everyone is welcome. Bike races are different. If you don’t like to go really fast, don’t have the appropriate bike for the race, then bike racing is not for you. But organized rides are for everyone! There aren’t as many of them as there are races, but there are some, and that seems to be enough.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6kZielf4cdqaknevYu8PuVeEOnXLVOlxO7KfzFghbUpN-JY29a6RE26U2t0RoFQgcui0Gr5JnvqeO0bsvtCJ9mTacEgua7dO7I-M9sL-QgOFSdex5w80EXUTKIhR-Xv54Wmp5ZAZmSKK1nVSNCMyNvPPl285f3igvxePwMSfcUBGKvhcPCpH00RhCMPHN/s3088/IMG_6096.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6kZielf4cdqaknevYu8PuVeEOnXLVOlxO7KfzFghbUpN-JY29a6RE26U2t0RoFQgcui0Gr5JnvqeO0bsvtCJ9mTacEgua7dO7I-M9sL-QgOFSdex5w80EXUTKIhR-Xv54Wmp5ZAZmSKK1nVSNCMyNvPPl285f3igvxePwMSfcUBGKvhcPCpH00RhCMPHN/s320/IMG_6096.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve done the Tour de Tonka before, and the Fall de Tonka too. This year I did the Tour of Saints, up in St. Joseph, Minnesota, about an hour and 15 minutes from my house. It was 35 miles of rolling hills, out in the country. It was a beautiful ride, challenging but not TOO challenging. I even found myself thinking at the cut off for the 50 mile route that I could do 50 miles if I wanted to.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m still running some, but not very much right now. I’ll step up my running after the TdT is over, so that I’m ready for the TCM Looney Challenge and the other races I’ve signed up for this fall. There’s the complication of cataract surgery to consider too. After the surgery consult (that keeps getting rescheduled) I’ll have a better idea of what kind of surgery I’m getting, and when. I depends on $$’s and what the recovery is like. I’m guessing I won’t schedule the surgery until January so I can use HSA $$ but we’ll see.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m also planning on adding swimming to my exercise mix. Not a lot at first, just occasionally to see if I actually remember how to swim freestyle! But later this winter I’ll get more serious about it and maybe next year I’ll sign up for a triathlon!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Its fun doing a variety of workouts. My body has fewer aches and pains, but I’ve been gaining a little weight, cause nothing burns calories like marathon training! But so far at least I don’t miss it. I’m not sure if I’m finished with marathons or not. I’m certainly keeping that door open!</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMzvLMAFylyoaOvIBfdHaJ80AT_QSj1g3ZrP-KyoPfETW4pCIhdbst4S0_oksiZZr8TUq1XosH-5VushVg60kzYP0TZg2GWiNVrdoTIdlmcBbh8ZfsyHOIwPDKtNU6dS_vZPg9QSwwjbTiLqB3UX6ISSIhjCu_XlDhNe75fDEGHU8ef_ojzsqlv5GyON2W/s4032/IMG_6126.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMzvLMAFylyoaOvIBfdHaJ80AT_QSj1g3ZrP-KyoPfETW4pCIhdbst4S0_oksiZZr8TUq1XosH-5VushVg60kzYP0TZg2GWiNVrdoTIdlmcBbh8ZfsyHOIwPDKtNU6dS_vZPg9QSwwjbTiLqB3UX6ISSIhjCu_XlDhNe75fDEGHU8ef_ojzsqlv5GyON2W/s320/IMG_6126.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-11025206179301970122023-05-29T13:29:00.002-05:002023-05-29T16:12:39.312-05:00Sophie at 6 Months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUsIXWL8oDWFh1-ruqPM-rJLoEGGVTctTku0waDAkJARCJ03veypjQHxUJ0DosuvTzdjOKTctx_OGmUbEyhXf38kKeSi81qrgvRqquY1eE2LOZ5DSNq7-4edRhaK6b4APe4pj94nJ5a5RqtDfB1QbifrCK0qmBapZk8F7bT6NQTuehsSjbqlIGQAFaQ/s4032/IMG_5810.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUsIXWL8oDWFh1-ruqPM-rJLoEGGVTctTku0waDAkJARCJ03veypjQHxUJ0DosuvTzdjOKTctx_OGmUbEyhXf38kKeSi81qrgvRqquY1eE2LOZ5DSNq7-4edRhaK6b4APe4pj94nJ5a5RqtDfB1QbifrCK0qmBapZk8F7bT6NQTuehsSjbqlIGQAFaQ/s320/IMG_5810.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sophie will be 6 months old on June 3rd. Then on the 6th she’s getting spayed. I’m a little nervous for her; she seems so little, but it's not too early according to the vet and of course we don’t want to take a chance on her going into heat!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She is almost completely potty trained but we still have occasional accidents. It’s seems that now they happen when we have visitors and there is a lot going on. With the nice weather we have the back door open a lot so often she can go in and out as she pleases but she still may get distracted and forget to go outside, and then OOPS! Not unlike a human toddler. But we’re getting there.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHeDcLQEpF0331oYNfZSiGVJhigbwauxE8e6etxnqC56wy07MngUKVPdcpr6yZ9xFoTHZtFzP9DQ4KFTr6Dn1Oar8MqF6IECG9qZs36oQGtTbw5XKwjsVfuA26uxOGAyVH1lAltr5h9O9KSLc9_QPlsvaUEGgh7r041NMxiOeUEL9d7V_1ayR9opcgaQ/s2111/IMG_5823.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2111" data-original-width="2069" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHeDcLQEpF0331oYNfZSiGVJhigbwauxE8e6etxnqC56wy07MngUKVPdcpr6yZ9xFoTHZtFzP9DQ4KFTr6Dn1Oar8MqF6IECG9qZs36oQGtTbw5XKwjsVfuA26uxOGAyVH1lAltr5h9O9KSLc9_QPlsvaUEGgh7r041NMxiOeUEL9d7V_1ayR9opcgaQ/s320/IMG_5823.HEIC" width="314" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She’s IS growing because she can reach things she couldn’t reach a couple of weeks ago. I’ll think I have things safe from her curious little puppy teeth and then, surprise! I’ll find a crochet hook on the floor, or some yarn where it shouldn’t be.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUY64CSHbnwZMySsvgE_86CgJbGDOIXmQfgGiHtYF0dazKPyJ5Jv4lO7MROgZKNPd9nDMISRU8Tpkc-gIHOUBgryaTy01nW8h1uE8EXM7n7yzylq8GYpYjggKCXdoiVWXfMjX3qUaGD5eIAAwov-wVN7gpMyvtjH9msgENfS2NICjKA6IiFFtKM1dHJQ/s4032/IMG_5900.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUY64CSHbnwZMySsvgE_86CgJbGDOIXmQfgGiHtYF0dazKPyJ5Jv4lO7MROgZKNPd9nDMISRU8Tpkc-gIHOUBgryaTy01nW8h1uE8EXM7n7yzylq8GYpYjggKCXdoiVWXfMjX3qUaGD5eIAAwov-wVN7gpMyvtjH9msgENfS2NICjKA6IiFFtKM1dHJQ/s320/IMG_5900.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She’s a little thief, just like her mother, apparently. She really likes shoes, my underwear and socks, wash cloths, and toilet paper. Unlike Stella she doesn’t just pile her treasures on the couch, she drags them through the house and chews on them!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We still have to watch her in our little backyard and check on her frequently. She will dig if given a chance (she’s a Westie after all), and she is still very little, only 10 pounds so far. She will gain another 2 to 8 pounds before she is fully grown, and will fill out a lot. She still looks like a puppy.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She needs to fill out some because she keeps getting through the cast iron fence. All winter we had dog fencing around the yard, but now the dog fencing is around the flower gardens so we have had to figure out something else.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We put up nylon netting, but she can get under that. So we used stakes to make that impossible, but we can’t put the stakes at the gate so she was still getting out there. Now we’ve got garden fencing where the gate is and so far that seems to be working.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZvWwEuCdz8TSVSIqztiMtCJsQf45qgN8uULnL1El0tgP4R6tuSFGiVdE-zexIMUhbwJTc9OZi5p7zygdS8IX60HQW1yPZJCHiKi9thTZCSuM2rWdKRhmP6s4tCbG79QSJw-c0iDe88JbaCJjldBe9IniJkYANLN7ArZiMZOuAZit5DopfofyAkRBsg/s4032/IMG_5898.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZvWwEuCdz8TSVSIqztiMtCJsQf45qgN8uULnL1El0tgP4R6tuSFGiVdE-zexIMUhbwJTc9OZi5p7zygdS8IX60HQW1yPZJCHiKi9thTZCSuM2rWdKRhmP6s4tCbG79QSJw-c0iDe88JbaCJjldBe9IniJkYANLN7ArZiMZOuAZit5DopfofyAkRBsg/s320/IMG_5898.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7_5ouFmiaxjShJul0LzV9uduzZu_vgpi3pTwvA1WvtpeQdRxZMGFHA6nZjNNwP0FuFDcrpxI8Ee77NfHCpLXetll6ndmNxpA1tL3qrfXjSDPi1w824QCLiBZM7rvdDW98UgwM9wfZ3ffn_QfbIztPpCPP_bQ1lfRIBriJ9FHOliUiPBLrApq7R50fxQ/s4032/IMG_5899.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7_5ouFmiaxjShJul0LzV9uduzZu_vgpi3pTwvA1WvtpeQdRxZMGFHA6nZjNNwP0FuFDcrpxI8Ee77NfHCpLXetll6ndmNxpA1tL3qrfXjSDPi1w824QCLiBZM7rvdDW98UgwM9wfZ3ffn_QfbIztPpCPP_bQ1lfRIBriJ9FHOliUiPBLrApq7R50fxQ/s320/IMG_5899.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She’s not really trying to escape, she’s just curious. When she gets out she doesn’t go anywhere, she’s just sniffing around. We have realized that she’s escaped within a minute or two but it’s still scary. It’s a good thing she’s not a determined escapee because if she was we would have to do something else to thwart her. She just needs to grow a little more!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The two older dogs are playing with her a lot more. It’s so much fun to watch them play. They never play as long as she would like but it’s great while it lasts. Tag, wrestling, chase the ball, zoomies. They don’t play tug of war, at least not yet, maybe because she is so much smaller than the other two. I think they would just yank her off her feet!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvihfRHn5Rg85UbDwuXTlYT_nZUnb6rA-0thotcnd8KoPYS0oyqvM1hFr-_dK1Ijjwxj9l-W1Prw7t7WWvlVSrPjGVArxzix_4tLk10XaPqkmYXJMVjjd8yVkXEutel1zKfR0uqHM9Nxz40yFlSRi_YJiWsEmQ2HQh1uveVnBSXhWaztZWiLXPOOXEg/s4032/IMG_5897.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvihfRHn5Rg85UbDwuXTlYT_nZUnb6rA-0thotcnd8KoPYS0oyqvM1hFr-_dK1Ijjwxj9l-W1Prw7t7WWvlVSrPjGVArxzix_4tLk10XaPqkmYXJMVjjd8yVkXEutel1zKfR0uqHM9Nxz40yFlSRi_YJiWsEmQ2HQh1uveVnBSXhWaztZWiLXPOOXEg/s320/IMG_5897.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When Harper was young we went on long walks and hikes too, but the older dogs can’t handle that anymore. I feel kind of bad for Sophie in that respect. We’re all older and so far she’s not getting to have adventures like the other dogs did when they were younger. She did go out to breakfast with us the other morning for the first time. She behaved herself, mostly. And soon she’ll get to go out on the pontoon boat too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGry6eQpvPu5W8kvC7oEChlYy8qacXphEiHclHOsdkD6vRiFr5ekdmld-DJReSBSSikWoptkjh2_AAXUJ6QRjt2LEKR2JzMthswy9FOj2OdpS7ZHfhTAs7riUPhgAxcCV-_T77frv0ttvVnnx2Mdq2RS8F8e6fSRIdnJwoY2hqL2RndB_DJ3qLweg2bg/s4032/IMG_5878.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGry6eQpvPu5W8kvC7oEChlYy8qacXphEiHclHOsdkD6vRiFr5ekdmld-DJReSBSSikWoptkjh2_AAXUJ6QRjt2LEKR2JzMthswy9FOj2OdpS7ZHfhTAs7riUPhgAxcCV-_T77frv0ttvVnnx2Mdq2RS8F8e6fSRIdnJwoY2hqL2RndB_DJ3qLweg2bg/s320/IMG_5878.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One thing I really like about Sophie is her fearlessness. If something alarms her, a child’s toy, a vacuum, she may just shy away at first but then she comes right back and investigates. She taught herself to use the dog door. She does bark but it’s not too bad. Again, she’s a Westie!</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Y1aEvNImtYuDxQAxisV0CRwZw0ZJ-5MyLXSBqmwy5f6ZusuuYub0m2Mdo17ClP4_r0jmBZVWSNbzbCrAPj4uamdf_2ytb-_M_6Sd3gyvM2-vgGzbZJOBHJO1_qCVGh-2lERzMF8cLE-wZaFg1iZAipqI4ViEkNGefT4pTc8nS-u5STKisHTuoG2DtQ/s3840/B7A0305F-9A33-4232-BBC4-B7E3E76C80DE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="2160" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Y1aEvNImtYuDxQAxisV0CRwZw0ZJ-5MyLXSBqmwy5f6ZusuuYub0m2Mdo17ClP4_r0jmBZVWSNbzbCrAPj4uamdf_2ytb-_M_6Sd3gyvM2-vgGzbZJOBHJO1_qCVGh-2lERzMF8cLE-wZaFg1iZAipqI4ViEkNGefT4pTc8nS-u5STKisHTuoG2DtQ/s320/B7A0305F-9A33-4232-BBC4-B7E3E76C80DE.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-27252493535603304892023-04-14T15:53:00.000-05:002023-04-14T15:53:09.603-05:00Harper Gives Us a Scare<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzOQm4iBVHv1zJunKriShgiKJAP_tQxTtVIXwRwfE0FKkhcqk0eBQNsmlgyEcLsExK8yOAQPw_rABnwhgDaEK2qURLC5WuwQ95GpZiMSMdcL949ZziSiSioYWjyiBDYwTEyUv1o67-p0HCe5qhFDbsEB8K4zJiuDQlwhd70tRVyEIm6Nfz_vSqyYJhg/s4032/IMG_5775.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzOQm4iBVHv1zJunKriShgiKJAP_tQxTtVIXwRwfE0FKkhcqk0eBQNsmlgyEcLsExK8yOAQPw_rABnwhgDaEK2qURLC5WuwQ95GpZiMSMdcL949ZziSiSioYWjyiBDYwTEyUv1o67-p0HCe5qhFDbsEB8K4zJiuDQlwhd70tRVyEIm6Nfz_vSqyYJhg/s320/IMG_5775.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">Harper has pancreatitis. She is Improving and should make a full recovery but it was still scary. On Tuesday she started vomiting intermittently. The vomit contained some chunks of food and a lot of white foamy stuff. We put her on a bland chicken and rice diet but she didn’t improve. She would keep one meal down and then vomit again. I called the vet Wednesday afternoon and thank God they were able to see her Thursday morning.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">When the vet palpated her intestines she growled, which is highly unusual. Normally she loves going to the vet, she’s such a social little dog. X-rays confirmed the diagnosis. Her intestines and pancreas were very inflamed. She must have been in a lot of pain.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">So yesterday she stayed at the vet getting IV fluids, pain and nausea meds and a new treatment from Japan that has just been approved for use in the US. It consists of 1-3 infusions of a drug that rapidly reduces the inflammation. She had one infusion yesterday, came home last night, and will go back again today for a second one. She is already showing improvement so we are feeling quite hopeful that we caught it early and that she will be fine.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Going forward she will be on a special diet that is low in fat to avoid the possibility of a recurrence. So far she really likes her new food, which is a relief because she is so picky. Some of her favorite treats such as peanut butter and cheese will be a no-no going forward but we will adjust.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">After I left her at the vet yesterday I just sat in the truck and sobbed. Not Harper, nonono, not yet, not now. Because of her insulinoma we have been mentally preparing ourselves to lose Heather sometime in the next year or so, although she has been doing great. But not Harper. I am NOT ready to lose this dog! She was our first, our gateway Westie, lol. We love her madly and whenever she does finally leave this earth it will hurt, a lot. But not yet. NOT YET.</span></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-59835918205830653502023-03-29T08:25:00.001-05:002023-03-29T08:25:37.274-05:00San Francisco and A Bike Trip 2023 - Back in SF<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWhxchUQgkN4n4tldOaU-xFXXicyQerc9ufCRFWA9TS8uJn3tX8OxE-3ek3ORJwqzVIz6gyH5TNvTzVJUPnO_VDWt8Wgwhxh2mo7R-phJcPiuf_AOaQRnsQtu5OzfJ49tqasZPZeaJmAqsL3krna53xaOxkNF08HN1B7vl1ycpIjLh2ygzcLaPUojF7g/s3679/IMG_5617.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3679" data-original-width="2759" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWhxchUQgkN4n4tldOaU-xFXXicyQerc9ufCRFWA9TS8uJn3tX8OxE-3ek3ORJwqzVIz6gyH5TNvTzVJUPnO_VDWt8Wgwhxh2mo7R-phJcPiuf_AOaQRnsQtu5OzfJ49tqasZPZeaJmAqsL3krna53xaOxkNF08HN1B7vl1ycpIjLh2ygzcLaPUojF7g/s320/IMG_5617.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday March 4.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Last night we ordered Chinese carry out from a place Dan and Kelsey hadn’t tried before <a href="https://www.zandyrestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Z & Y Restaurant.</a> We all agreed that it was amazing, some of the best Chinese we have ever had. We ordered a lot different dishes and tried our best to do them justice. The spicy ma pa tofu was really good, the mo gu Gai pan was delish. The beef noodles, the scallion pancakes, it was all great.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the morning I went for a run. I went north and ran down a long dock just for variety. Then I miscalculated the distance so I ended up running a little longer than the 4 miles I had scheduled.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgynAqiGOxaRorzOVfFdvpYbsKORa3ntAxvQ51s4xrPlWcoUqRou6rpjOis2mfRY-BNxSE3AZO4-OBpRI2hMJsYNrFzHy3gkSrlaPeiMYainV8C5xFJECMSVnV8zh_Neew6qHk6LY1OdHJv702mraXsQrUthUnOnj0dc5YylVGRbyd4E2ud1AOAL3yIgw/s4032/IMG_5624.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgynAqiGOxaRorzOVfFdvpYbsKORa3ntAxvQ51s4xrPlWcoUqRou6rpjOis2mfRY-BNxSE3AZO4-OBpRI2hMJsYNrFzHy3gkSrlaPeiMYainV8C5xFJECMSVnV8zh_Neew6qHk6LY1OdHJv702mraXsQrUthUnOnj0dc5YylVGRbyd4E2ud1AOAL3yIgw/s320/IMG_5624.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We decided to try the Dim Sum place right across the street from Dan and Kelsey’s apartment, <a href="https://yanksing.com/" target="_blank">Yang Sing</a>. It was fancy, even had a Michelin star! We were a little early and could walk right in (they don’t take reservations) but 20 minutes later the place was packed. It was very good and not as crazy expensive as they thought it might be. We got dumplings, Bbq’d pork buns, egg rolls, fried garlic tofu, egg tarts. Their egg tarts were amazing!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now we’re sitting around their apartment, watching basketball on TV, and the bands of rain blow by.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3xeItxB37fCj2vXXMOF40Umckqd_XEgzfcm0GAufoIFdzCDEGSGCeX1Upng1-SPpWH60TkqkjjjoWDLbFRhLaKe4xK6UB8OIcJbV6hV3AAr9Hh96OfhL-lemK3cWptmFjrZ5tWAFsvAO6Q24lO84K--8z1X7M_xXwqygLe-tgEMHkdER4oyhTHYyK1w/s3941/IMG_5621.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3941" data-original-width="2956" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3xeItxB37fCj2vXXMOF40Umckqd_XEgzfcm0GAufoIFdzCDEGSGCeX1Upng1-SPpWH60TkqkjjjoWDLbFRhLaKe4xK6UB8OIcJbV6hV3AAr9Hh96OfhL-lemK3cWptmFjrZ5tWAFsvAO6Q24lO84K--8z1X7M_xXwqygLe-tgEMHkdER4oyhTHYyK1w/s320/IMG_5621.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday March 5</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After the basketball game (Mizzou won btw) we decided to go to Ballast, a new brewery in Dogpatch. It had only been open for the previous weekend so it really was pretty new. All ordering was done by QR code. The code at our table was kind of worn and I had trouble getting my phone to recognize it, but Dan’s phone could do it. We ordered several different beers and a couple apps. The apps came promptly but no beers. Finally Lee went up to the bar and asked and then a waitress realized that something was wrong and sorted it out. I have no problem with QR codes unless something goes wrong. We think that maybe there was some confusion about who’s table we were, but no matter.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We all got a few 4 Oz pours so we could try a few different things. Since I don't like hops I got a lager called Wahoo and then a Porter. The porter was good, it tasted like coffee and vanilla, just like the description. The lager was ok but very bland. I guess I think if you’re going to be trying fancy beers they should taste like something!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHYsepIsJIncNeH_3zTcbVazD7QJbzBYx8LxiBwsZ-ycNLq9V4BXfE4y76ATcZZuRaURvOqvROBwOviSRpWBQdiCKMxljzciZbcq7oVWEHpnlL6nOBudeXmL87JuIawFiWTrgVKJmUDWPKgPUlzarvLWcd2BEdEPTPNLQ_MvQBqmwd_Oq28sGAuEffw/s4032/IMG_5627.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHYsepIsJIncNeH_3zTcbVazD7QJbzBYx8LxiBwsZ-ycNLq9V4BXfE4y76ATcZZuRaURvOqvROBwOviSRpWBQdiCKMxljzciZbcq7oVWEHpnlL6nOBudeXmL87JuIawFiWTrgVKJmUDWPKgPUlzarvLWcd2BEdEPTPNLQ_MvQBqmwd_Oq28sGAuEffw/s320/IMG_5627.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we drove over to a Greek place nearby called Souvla . They served various types of Greek salads, or you could get your salad as a sandwich on pita bread. Most of the salads included meat but they also had a veggie salad with potatoes and that’s what I got. It was really good! Daniel got some frozen yogurt for dessert. I took a bite, and then another, and then another. It was really good too!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning I went for my last SF run. It was a beautiful morning. It had rained during the night but when the sun came up the sky cleared and everything was bright. I ran toward Oracle stadium and back, 5 miles total.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrTkAxADJE-E-Zo9r1Yx1m1fX6ihW1FPzg5Jm1_YiC7uKciVqzsSyCnSROANn3NNJi_74v8RIoKz1L047GI25WaEKy6kr5TnHqu53tLWKzcw4ZKmp2SKlPPkvu9FC87rAMd4JfbAp9wqCeIGWPf7Tfop0kEb4WMFLnlrsWJxnqbYZPEOq4RXp_CPGXg/s4032/IMG_5632.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrTkAxADJE-E-Zo9r1Yx1m1fX6ihW1FPzg5Jm1_YiC7uKciVqzsSyCnSROANn3NNJi_74v8RIoKz1L047GI25WaEKy6kr5TnHqu53tLWKzcw4ZKmp2SKlPPkvu9FC87rAMd4JfbAp9wqCeIGWPf7Tfop0kEb4WMFLnlrsWJxnqbYZPEOq4RXp_CPGXg/s320/IMG_5632.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We took the trolley to Fisherman’s Wharf and ate lunch at In-and-Out. Then we walked over to the Musee de Mechanic, basically a penny arcade with all sorts of old fashioned games, everything from Pac-Man to mechanical pianos, to peep shows. Most things cost a quarter or fifty cents. It was silly, and fun.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday March 7</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We flew home yesterday. We were delighted to land in Minnesota and even though they got 4 inches of wet heavy snow Sunday night, the Parknfly lot was clear and the truck was easy to get out. And our neighbors had plowed our driveway before we got home!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was a great trip. In spite of my initial doubts about our bike trip I had a great time riding and would ride with them again. I have a little advice for them but I’ll save that for another post.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now today, big doings as Sophie’s flight lands at 1:30 and our lives are going to change big time. A puppy! Well you know I’ll be writing about THAT! (and have once already. More to come of course!)</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76j7Of3pSPCmUENyQAq3Bb2yuFfsdQ1sxib7f8EvB0AiVIzziK-QlrYoE8XUskZoeORRfF98RTVIH1Si4bw0-Zd9f3Y4RmgNunezHr5PMjpv32cXuIbHjQMecX80BvZgHw70fidpcdq1GzJtU4RsLeO7bJE1847mu_Y1pIFWQuMpThQaKBiUtNXJCig/s2048/IMG_0545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76j7Of3pSPCmUENyQAq3Bb2yuFfsdQ1sxib7f8EvB0AiVIzziK-QlrYoE8XUskZoeORRfF98RTVIH1Si4bw0-Zd9f3Y4RmgNunezHr5PMjpv32cXuIbHjQMecX80BvZgHw70fidpcdq1GzJtU4RsLeO7bJE1847mu_Y1pIFWQuMpThQaKBiUtNXJCig/s320/IMG_0545.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-60172332517260750212023-03-22T16:36:00.000-05:002023-03-22T16:36:16.654-05:00San Francisco and a Bike Trip - The Biking Trip Part II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDjpeT-as16EE9fKbp4g0JpGSUtnMAMiUYnwobPWrGa2XecRHi9cZ5OAKstXOsei8rdksP-wNgBUzWmJ1xGPhq-O-0Iw-D6JXcojHvGtTj2UdYuY2RCtQ6wyFsKO0cw_IaKZFKtnogh0RxR6SWgK8QNs-abu2IrW5WJmiu8RImjzeH_aXsVsOxbxa6zg/s4032/IMG_5598.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDjpeT-as16EE9fKbp4g0JpGSUtnMAMiUYnwobPWrGa2XecRHi9cZ5OAKstXOsei8rdksP-wNgBUzWmJ1xGPhq-O-0Iw-D6JXcojHvGtTj2UdYuY2RCtQ6wyFsKO0cw_IaKZFKtnogh0RxR6SWgK8QNs-abu2IrW5WJmiu8RImjzeH_aXsVsOxbxa6zg/s320/IMG_5598.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Thursday March 2</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Back at the b&b I actually fell asleep for awhile. I really was tired. We went down to happy hour and then walked to our dinner reservation at Dry Creek Kitchen. This was a very nice, fancy restaurant with a prix fixe meal and wine pairing too. We got the 3 course dinner, we didn’t think we could handle the 5 course tasting menu. As it was I could barely handle the dinner so that was a good call. They let us get one wine pairing and split it, which was nice. They even brought us both the pairings that went with whatever we had ordered, which was VERY nice! That way we actually got to taste 6 different wines!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Let’s see. For the first course Lee got the octopus and I got the hamachi. The hamachi was very nice, lots of interesting flavors. I didn’t think the octopus was that great but Lee liked it. It was roasted, and big. For our main course I got swordfish, which was wrapped in prosciutto and served on polenta and pine nuts. It was very good. Lee got a pork chop. Then for dessert they had ice cream so Lee got that of course! He ate a massive amount of it but couldn’t finish it all, there were 6 scoops! I got the dirty chai latte cake. It was good, not incredible but I shouldn’t talk since I ate it all!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was stupidly full after that. It was good we had to walk back to the b&b, and I stayed up for a little bit just to help things digest.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I slept until almost 7. Yay! How nice to wake up and not have to wait for coffee!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Again we took our time and didn’t start on our bike ride until 10, just to let things warm up.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMe24hj7NhBwvTFJbEUsuTPc6jn3BJmmLLjUzZ29aVoSbCJGZNYqdHEMve8UbtX4skEMCNs7N-T9Fes9cMJnJsOkVFv3gVZLNpIcGBsPNzKjneueK4SZEGBY5sQsaIy3TiavfsjjdyXvWx6IvCBCFgB8hyhnkohmV0aFYDkDSjsBr7KcpH-EISOSas9A/s4032/IMG_5587.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMe24hj7NhBwvTFJbEUsuTPc6jn3BJmmLLjUzZ29aVoSbCJGZNYqdHEMve8UbtX4skEMCNs7N-T9Fes9cMJnJsOkVFv3gVZLNpIcGBsPNzKjneueK4SZEGBY5sQsaIy3TiavfsjjdyXvWx6IvCBCFgB8hyhnkohmV0aFYDkDSjsBr7KcpH-EISOSas9A/s320/IMG_5587.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Today was sunny and beautiful with not much wind. We did the shorter Russian River loop, about 23 miles total. We rode to this one lane bridge over the Russian River and ate lunch by a redwood grove right by the bridge. I felt so much better without all that wind, even though today was even hillier than yesterday. I slowly removed almost all of my layers. First my ear warmers, then my gloves, then my windbreaker, and finally after lunch my windpants. It felt great to have my legs bare!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj0Z5pqV4TvLemtOkGjCmtHutfN5wJaE6k5DiftQAWpFE8bygz-OCvPk0gDc3JcAHZWBJNcSpADoKfFXXx26rWFToezSxzHhAH_4dLucIq-dIldn8GYhB8_pGIshgFI78g4YxWmC1B0Fm8oSr98JZ-plNIn1p5Q72guWrTtj3N3Drv5fe9UzvUshtkCg/s3088/IMG_5589.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj0Z5pqV4TvLemtOkGjCmtHutfN5wJaE6k5DiftQAWpFE8bygz-OCvPk0gDc3JcAHZWBJNcSpADoKfFXXx26rWFToezSxzHhAH_4dLucIq-dIldn8GYhB8_pGIshgFI78g4YxWmC1B0Fm8oSr98JZ-plNIn1p5Q72guWrTtj3N3Drv5fe9UzvUshtkCg/s320/IMG_5589.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>After lunch we rode a few miles and then stopped at a winery for a tasting, Landmark Winery at Hop Kiln. <p></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwkqR6Xfq6YziuljexR41guxMUbDcsGNoMFmV8iztRgAHnnDuLZojHXmolBHEVfTe9SdpoLv8qIcKEE_up0mpFAcZbp76LsXM9oea8tlRDNNofPtmfeMEabSygJrdJPQJ8DW-wbgbLGa4Q45nPCjvXQ1kB6Q9bDJqPAux8rv1bggLinLn86ebqhDIhQ/s4032/IMG_5599.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwkqR6Xfq6YziuljexR41guxMUbDcsGNoMFmV8iztRgAHnnDuLZojHXmolBHEVfTe9SdpoLv8qIcKEE_up0mpFAcZbp76LsXM9oea8tlRDNNofPtmfeMEabSygJrdJPQJ8DW-wbgbLGa4Q45nPCjvXQ1kB6Q9bDJqPAux8rv1bggLinLn86ebqhDIhQ/s320/IMG_5599.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They had some very nice wines! We bought a Pinot and a Chardonnay that was like a French Chardonnay. We now have 4 bottles of wine so tomorrow before we leave Healdsberg we’re going to ship them.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friday March 3</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So continuing: yesterday we rode the remaining 3.5 miles to Healdsberg, and went to the coffee shop. We were a little later than we have been and it was almost closing time (3 pm). They came around with their leftover pastries and asked us if we wanted any. “Take 2! Take more!” Lol. I took a chocolate croissant and a blueberry scone. Thanks! I saved them for later.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For dinner we walked into town again and went to a Japanese place, Taste of Tea. It was ok. The tea was good anyway!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Got a mint/hibiscus/lavender variety. I got a mini rice bowl with unagi which was good, and some gyoza which were fine but shaped like wontons which was kind of weird. Lee got ramen and the broth tasted like tea. He liked it but I thought it was odd.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was so tired, I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 8:30. I knew I would be up early but it wasn’t too bad, I made it to 5:45. With all that tea I had to get up and pee quite a few times.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After breakfast we drove to Petaluma and bought some sandwiches for lunch and then went to Point Reyes and took a short hike. We went up the Bear Creek trail to a meadow, ate our sandwiches, and walked back, about 4 miles total.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHkjnRHB5Q96lu_1CQ7Q6GLG_wnWuXENyCyjXvvXQOIh5w10-4K9qsm81wwQH9vaXSXf84RQg2DbyZesOcWkYxAYi-PUW-7SQL_R77RtTQFvbvCphH0OhO0-lrZyF7JfPe3jPfetLWb1_-zd9E8vG80kH3kaf-vNzC2Vbi2ODe3ItiOUgrf7nnGfZrA/s4032/IMG_5605.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHkjnRHB5Q96lu_1CQ7Q6GLG_wnWuXENyCyjXvvXQOIh5w10-4K9qsm81wwQH9vaXSXf84RQg2DbyZesOcWkYxAYi-PUW-7SQL_R77RtTQFvbvCphH0OhO0-lrZyF7JfPe3jPfetLWb1_-zd9E8vG80kH3kaf-vNzC2Vbi2ODe3ItiOUgrf7nnGfZrA/s320/IMG_5605.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now we’re back in San Francisco for the weekend.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-57242711157996375442023-03-15T12:52:00.001-05:002023-03-15T12:52:22.674-05:00San Francisco and A Bike Trip: The Biking Trip Part I<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgeRF5C-7k94McXOfKLvOpUEd8ZEnyWF57iSlYb5ICyFWVuMhzwfiDXPXxJz-ld-I4u1m1h3qo09k_L8F8e3gdzxqjHOOMKdUbAfc0ba9YYt4YV21Dx8D2LvxnsPhzfHVSNKLTwL5uZWtnF8fRv6g-vDtVBrbJgOrx0lXpZYIS20CWyS9N5Xo9Js5YA/s2386/IMG_5579.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2386" data-original-width="1874" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkgeRF5C-7k94McXOfKLvOpUEd8ZEnyWF57iSlYb5ICyFWVuMhzwfiDXPXxJz-ld-I4u1m1h3qo09k_L8F8e3gdzxqjHOOMKdUbAfc0ba9YYt4YV21Dx8D2LvxnsPhzfHVSNKLTwL5uZWtnF8fRv6g-vDtVBrbJgOrx0lXpZYIS20CWyS9N5Xo9Js5YA/s320/IMG_5579.HEIC" width="251" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday February 27</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was a rainy morning in San Francisco. I finished Rossi’s sweater. It came out cute and she enjoyed wearing it. We tried to take her for a walk when the rain let up for a minute but it started raining again so we had to cut it short.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Daniel drove us to the rental car place at 11. It was pouring, but it stopped just long enough for us to get our rental car. Whew! We headed north on 101 to San Rafael. We ate lunch at a Peruvian place called Sol Kitchen. Their specialty was roasted chicken and it was delicious! Instead of fries I tried their plantains. I got both the garlic and the sweet ones. I liked the sweet ones better. I got a cafe con leche too, which was fabulous!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXVYE_gu0lEO7fjaxL5ZauUgh0qYQhtDMk5Sl3jc_aeX6oCF_N5tfS55Suzw0CxeLmXFoXbVVrXtzbmFix_94XEakRdC3xyAaVqyEOqTR9ZBa2G4SH6xtMIBLqQ305QG8cdy3Ty_6VcRjR2i93F-QGKUVBNl7UYxVoVEL8-ohPRD3x0Ixyqjc-JfCOoA/s4032/IMG_5580.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXVYE_gu0lEO7fjaxL5ZauUgh0qYQhtDMk5Sl3jc_aeX6oCF_N5tfS55Suzw0CxeLmXFoXbVVrXtzbmFix_94XEakRdC3xyAaVqyEOqTR9ZBa2G4SH6xtMIBLqQ305QG8cdy3Ty_6VcRjR2i93F-QGKUVBNl7UYxVoVEL8-ohPRD3x0Ixyqjc-JfCOoA/s320/IMG_5580.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sol Kitchen Lunch<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we drove the rest of the way to Healdsberg. Such a cute little town in the Russian River Valley. We stopped at Getaway Adventures to check in and get oriented. So far I am not impressed, although my bike is nice. They are kind of freewheeling, which some people might enjoy but I like structure, especially when I’m biking around an unfamiliar area. He showed us in a general sense where to go and suggested some wineries. We had trouble getting the directions into Google maps, but finally got that figured out.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tomorrow morning is probably going to be rainy so we’re not planning on starting until the rain lets up around noon. Unclear if we will eat lunch along the way or before. They gave us water bottles for tomorrow but no snacks. And their itinerary says we have a guide the first day but there was no mention of that today.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know I need an attitude adjustment. I wasn’t in charge of organizing this, so I really should try to chill. Maybe after tomorrow I will have a completely different feeling about it. I hope so.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After that we checked into our b&b, The River Belle, right on the Russian River. It’s nice. Our room has a beautiful view, even if it’s small. Breakfast is included but the earliest we can get coffee is 7 am. Ugh. Maybe I’ll sleep til 6. We can hope!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday February 28</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The b&b has a happy hour every afternoon at 5:30, so before dinner we went to that for a bit. There was a nice plate of snacks and I had a small glass of wine.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we walked the 1/2 mile to dinner at Lo and Behold Kitchen and Wine Bar. They have an eclectic menu. We got a few small plates and then split an order of their noodles with kimchi. The hostess here at the b&b recommended it. Sounds weird but it was really good! The noodles were perfect, the kimchi was fresh and tangy and the water chestnuts added a nice crunch. We got their eggs rolls and a pea shoot salad for the small plates and they were very good too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the morning I almost made it to 6, 5:45 anyway. Then I patiently waited until they brought coffee to our room at 7. At 8 we went downstairs for breakfast which was delicious. It was raining off and on, but Lee looked at the radar and said we’d have a window with less rain between 10 and 1 so around 9:30 we went over to the bike shop, got on our bikes, and off we went.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">First we stopped at Oakville Grocery and got sandwiches and other snacks for lunch. Then we rode about 12 miles up Dry Creek West to Bella Winery. It was a very pretty drive, but hardly flat, as the bike tour said! I guess maybe by local standards it was flat, I don’t know. It rained off and on, briefly fairly hard, but never a real downpour.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We reached the winery around 11. They let us sit inside their wine cave and eat our lunch and then we did a leisurely wine tasting, about 8 wines. I bought 2 bottles. All day it rained, off and on. By 1:30 we were ready to head back into town. We could have gone a different way but we were wet and kind of cold and didn’t want to risk getting lost, so we just rode back the way we came.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We stopped in town for a coffee and then went back to the b&b. A hot shower felt really great!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Now we’re relaxing until it’s time for happy hour and then dinner with George and Lori.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday March 1</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At happy hour yesterday we chatted with a couple from Europe that were also doing a bike tour but they were going from one place to another, spending each night in a different inn. That would be fun too, more like what we did in Italy.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We met George and Lori at Sweet T’s in Windsor, a little town about 10 minutes away. It was still raining when we got there. It was so nice to visit and catch up. The restaurant is known for their bbq.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Got a small plate with smoked brisket and Mac and cheese. Very good. I didn’t have any alcohol, I had enough thank you! But that meant I got to drive back to the b&b. It was dark but at least the rain had stopped. It’s getting harder and harder to drive at night. Sigh.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning I managed to sleep til almost 6. The coffee came at 7 and I had an energy bar too. Then we went to breakfast at 8 and I had a Belgian waffle.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We waited to get started riding til almost 10. It was pretty cold, but sunny and bright! And windy. Like really really windy. The wind was out of the north and all morning we rode straight into it. It was very tiring. I felt like an old woman. It was a beautiful route, not very hilly, with lots of flowers and snow capped peaks in the distance.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUtVt60uFfa1Yi-GxnnXWkih5CXyluHAN12FZR3QVBWkgPQW_IUnWzjZtt2j3dcs6DIhlRx0ABhmMq82GmHtC0pw9glTIYr4Oeh3yeLibtm5CQ1WA_y5RvLhKbsrnkcgz0VVV1UgzadmtHoy5lvyzoNa20jEVmuamfkhPN_twCN0nzMttyQAnNPBPTg/s4032/IMG_5582.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUtVt60uFfa1Yi-GxnnXWkih5CXyluHAN12FZR3QVBWkgPQW_IUnWzjZtt2j3dcs6DIhlRx0ABhmMq82GmHtC0pw9glTIYr4Oeh3yeLibtm5CQ1WA_y5RvLhKbsrnkcgz0VVV1UgzadmtHoy5lvyzoNa20jEVmuamfkhPN_twCN0nzMttyQAnNPBPTg/s320/IMG_5582.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">By the time we got to Geyserville for lunch I was hungry and worn out. We got a pizza and a beet salad and then I felt much better!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was about 15 miles to Geyserville but only 10 miles back and we were riding with the wind. It probably took half as long! We got ourselves another coffee and then headed back to the b&b to rest.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxE6kxLB8eITl57vxUZd8s-fCq--U27auc3_b6Xqx8718OCwOhlRIvm8ZQQ_R8u3zOf_-Ar6Ue67Qyt55UIn6_dC2W9f7K6IQxS3ph1jO92m-Teo1GFzaF8Ekxy6CcFLd47hUWHZtR_qsm0-ZczNUN_Uwx-HhZBUd47EQpk4vVeNCHXdmap1ER3z8HQ/s4032/IMG_5581.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxE6kxLB8eITl57vxUZd8s-fCq--U27auc3_b6Xqx8718OCwOhlRIvm8ZQQ_R8u3zOf_-Ar6Ue67Qyt55UIn6_dC2W9f7K6IQxS3ph1jO92m-Teo1GFzaF8Ekxy6CcFLd47hUWHZtR_qsm0-ZczNUN_Uwx-HhZBUd47EQpk4vVeNCHXdmap1ER3z8HQ/w240-h320/IMG_5581.HEIC" title="View From Our B&B Window" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View From Our B&B Window<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-55132567776704621322023-03-12T16:38:00.002-05:002023-03-15T12:38:54.090-05:00A New Westie Pack at the Nills<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vIYm7WkRVSAfX9-mT1UOFnZ15DG6tpowDDchVICRKr4zPDP19SsC2JntqaEchdRlZHEKNvHaq3x78pcbK89xkNIeq7-L0MN10T_ZfL4ifxfmO6OslWvxD0QZpl_FL9CTJGTr_KkSn7xSlYQ9E1X7Qh3a2xp_q4ge1Khe-Xe813nZWhsxznsVYfF_bg/s3088/IMG_5641.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vIYm7WkRVSAfX9-mT1UOFnZ15DG6tpowDDchVICRKr4zPDP19SsC2JntqaEchdRlZHEKNvHaq3x78pcbK89xkNIeq7-L0MN10T_ZfL4ifxfmO6OslWvxD0QZpl_FL9CTJGTr_KkSn7xSlYQ9E1X7Qh3a2xp_q4ge1Khe-Xe813nZWhsxznsVYfF_bg/s320/IMG_5641.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I thought I would be writing my next blog post all about Sophie, our new puppy. So this is partly about Sophie, but also a lot about our two other old ladies, Harper and Heather.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sophie came to live with us on Tuesday. After a few days of major adjustment it dawned on us that she was not going to potty train herself so we buckled down, got on a schedule and started to really focus. She’s doing really well now, or we are anyway! Outside about every hour, and after meals, and after naps, and before bed.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We are learning to make sure she is restricted to a crate when we can’t watch her. We are starting to work on basic commands, mainly sit. She is a cute little thing, 14 weeks old, and full of it. It will be fun to watch her grow.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD--QWgnNd1wPtg5iI3UoiRC_hSL7BOj6EZEbSsmPuVi6OIW5MFyN46TFJK9CAUkt6Q0_NdCGl7g50Kw0lneAtdn2ipVStVUkIyRVMITc31AqQNUUztG8E-xmQkgSSEi0cCY3jx6JmfiutYKla0iEbcpsWhpx13foL-Kf0cz7zDPvkvrp_V8q0alhDzw/s4032/IMG_5658.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD--QWgnNd1wPtg5iI3UoiRC_hSL7BOj6EZEbSsmPuVi6OIW5MFyN46TFJK9CAUkt6Q0_NdCGl7g50Kw0lneAtdn2ipVStVUkIyRVMITc31AqQNUUztG8E-xmQkgSSEi0cCY3jx6JmfiutYKla0iEbcpsWhpx13foL-Kf0cz7zDPvkvrp_V8q0alhDzw/s320/IMG_5658.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I had my ideas about how the other two dogs would react. I thought Harper would be delighted, and for the most part she is. They are playing and snuggling together on a regular basis, and have from day one. She is also making sure that Sophie knows she is the Queen, but not in a mean way. And she is a teeny bit jealous of us paying so much attention to Sophie, so we have to make sure we give Harper lots of attention too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9i7_Gm9RhLpM5sgLL09c7W4ofDkWSvfXFD805F4lRO5VDB8wbkfPzpezYRL0Z7HEChMXJHe67Mkh_Mvoarzmh4Mnl9dMa7RWkwEmZJ-nIvPA6llSlXchjrhUDKjZCfL4OWker9E6bB6rk1h_0w0JqmjBvpH29VuVYjc1ZEoHxsrWae5qlPqR2ob_pw/s4032/IMG_5646.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9i7_Gm9RhLpM5sgLL09c7W4ofDkWSvfXFD805F4lRO5VDB8wbkfPzpezYRL0Z7HEChMXJHe67Mkh_Mvoarzmh4Mnl9dMa7RWkwEmZJ-nIvPA6llSlXchjrhUDKjZCfL4OWker9E6bB6rk1h_0w0JqmjBvpH29VuVYjc1ZEoHxsrWae5qlPqR2ob_pw/s320/IMG_5646.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then there’s Heather. I thought Heather would be like, “oooo a puppy to take care of!” but it hasn’t been like that. It’s been more like, “crap a puppy to take care of! I’m too old for this shit!” For the first couple of days Heather wouldn’t have anything to do with Sophie, either ignoring her or rejecting her. But the last few days she has been warming up to her, playing with her a little, and even snuggling with her a little last night.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhonhXIOmr19mRmNF9dzo16G9ToAX0-dxQu8Tf8o5EHjbX8IYDGGZqv1zpL4HAg5BxNJejysTG_-ZsEEZLqzRx6WiqA2KwSFmm7NK70EQux26qFc0SnOfOH-rD2Cw6rWSPBHRnJ5dWUiXKdMQ1fgf3OHOZQwUPOyA-PLnCwvHzTlC3GOfIp5XpVSlklA/s4032/IMG_5677.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhonhXIOmr19mRmNF9dzo16G9ToAX0-dxQu8Tf8o5EHjbX8IYDGGZqv1zpL4HAg5BxNJejysTG_-ZsEEZLqzRx6WiqA2KwSFmm7NK70EQux26qFc0SnOfOH-rD2Cw6rWSPBHRnJ5dWUiXKdMQ1fgf3OHOZQwUPOyA-PLnCwvHzTlC3GOfIp5XpVSlklA/s320/IMG_5677.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">All good, right? Well so I thought. Last night we went to bed around 9:30. Shortly after that Heather went to the foot of the bed next to Sophie’s little crate where she is sleeping right now and started whining. I thought maybe she needed to go outside again. So I took her out but she didn’t do anything.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Back inside, the whining resumed, again next to Sophie’s crate. Well maybe she’s trying to tell me that Sophie needs to go out, so this time I took Sophie outside as well, and they both pooped. Okay I thought, that must have been it.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But no. Inside Heather ran anxiously around the house, and when I tried to put everyone to bed again she started whining louder, and louder until she was flat out crying. At this point I woke up Lee and I called the emergency vet.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">All sorts of things were flying through my head. Heather has a tumor on her pancreas but she’s been doing great for over a year. Was this it? Had something happened with the tumor? Or was it something else. Some cancer, or some other disease.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As we drove to Blue Pearl, Heather cried louder and louder. At one point I joined her, crying “oh God! Oh God!” as Heather screamed. It was truly horrific. Suddenly things were quiet. I turned around to look at the next stoplight and Heather had thrown up. She looked a little confused, but mostly relieved and peaceful.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The vomit was a lot of white foamy stuff and remnants of her dinner and bedtime treats. It didn’t smell.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At BP I rushed her inside. The vet tech had heard her crying on the phone and he was very concerned, and as confused as I was that she suddenly seemed ok. They admitted her for observation and said they would call me once the doctor had a chance to look at her.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Back home I slept fitfully. On top of everything it was the start of daylight savings time so everyone’s internal clocks were messed up too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Once I talked to the doctor in the morning we decided to test for the most likely causes of what seemed like a bout of very intense pain. The results? Not kidney stones. Not a gall bladder attack. Not her heart. Not pancreatitis. Her blood sugar was normal. Heather was fine!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We were puzzled, but also relieved. I brought her home and she is sleeping peacefully on the couch. I know we will lose Heather someday but I’m really not ready right now, and the last thing I want is her dying in agony. I sent a text to Diane, our Westie breeder, and this is what she said:</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“Penta [one of her mamas] does this when I have puppies whether they're hers or not hers. She does this, she eats her breakfast then she runs around the house crying and crying and crying and pacing and pacing and crying and and then all of a sudden she'll throw up just dog food for the puppies to eat so it could be that Heather's motherly instincts could be kicking in and she feels like she has to feed the puppy.”</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Bingo! This is exactly what Heather was doing! I’m sure Diane is right. The timing is a little off, but Heather is old, and deaf, and sometimes a little confused.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I sure hope this was a one time thing. It was really nerve wracking. I love Heather and seeing her in what seemed like intense pain was awful. I’ve been telling her she doesn’t need to take care of Sophie. I hope she is listening!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So now we have a pack again. It’s nice, but it does make me miss Cosmo again, seeing three little white dogs on the couch. Some day in the not too distant future there will be only one little dog lying there. But not today, and not tomorrow. Not yet.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKa2JzCWHvtIBsY73lg1kfwWRLkdlSmFvhA4ott84L5fgJDSxfDzvf_ADYrfN_SCHWkec_89YbbG4-R8oKoGxaOVBSrrC0TWAx-2nIICVHJdbMuO4hAeIrJnwwIdcVrTRFGvI5D7yRESmP9AnqRMKCnGW_29-geYeRfPxtApOcaQfyXHK5drMp76a7EA/s4032/IMG_5657.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKa2JzCWHvtIBsY73lg1kfwWRLkdlSmFvhA4ott84L5fgJDSxfDzvf_ADYrfN_SCHWkec_89YbbG4-R8oKoGxaOVBSrrC0TWAx-2nIICVHJdbMuO4hAeIrJnwwIdcVrTRFGvI5D7yRESmP9AnqRMKCnGW_29-geYeRfPxtApOcaQfyXHK5drMp76a7EA/s320/IMG_5657.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span><p></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-89516979819693431012023-03-08T16:23:00.004-06:002023-03-13T16:06:15.136-05:00San Francisco and a Bike Trip 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7EIaY1YHpZCWiDuOyFw2pDV2o5S4STA7SMq_MuI_dsIcxANdpWmm1E_Nx5Zwj-zB4PyYXVyf-RnTMnV9MYYMVqcljOHOwk8z3P1BGAOwsJ3GKNweNa9ZWKjRAsDcMfcEfCvkb7718na1Uio0qQrggLOzdtC6XJqn9YnieVD3z0lr7ZFwBJAEuXL79sg/s4032/IMG_5563.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7EIaY1YHpZCWiDuOyFw2pDV2o5S4STA7SMq_MuI_dsIcxANdpWmm1E_Nx5Zwj-zB4PyYXVyf-RnTMnV9MYYMVqcljOHOwk8z3P1BGAOwsJ3GKNweNa9ZWKjRAsDcMfcEfCvkb7718na1Uio0qQrggLOzdtC6XJqn9YnieVD3z0lr7ZFwBJAEuXL79sg/s320/IMG_5563.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday February 21</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’re not leaving until Thursday, that is IF our flight doesn’t get canceled, and our plane can get here. There’s a huge snow storm, beginning this afternoon, and not ending until sometime on Thursday. Hopefully Thursday morning. We could get upwards of 20 inches which is a LOT of snow for Minnesota. We’ve already gotten over 50” this winter. Nothing to rival 2015 in New Hampshire, but that’s OK! I don’t want to ever experience something like that again!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Right now the weather in California doesn’t look great either. Cold and rainy. Darn it! I think next year we’re going to go to San Diego. And maybe a short trip to Austin too.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I bought clipless pedals for my bike, and shoes to match. It's on the trainer, so I can spend the next couple of months getting used to them so I won’t kill myself when I go outside.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>So far I have no trouble clipping out, but clipping in is a challenge cause I have no idea where on my shoe the cleat is! Once I find the cleat it goes in easily but I need to figure out how to find it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve started Sophie’s Universe, a massive, complex crochet afghan. Its beautiful and I’ve been eyeing it for at least a year now. I’m really enjoying the pattern. I hate to have to leave it behind when we go to Cally, but even though right now it's small enough, it's just too complicated to bring along on a trip! The instructions are a BOOK. So instead I’m making a few dog sweaters. Sophie (the new puppy) will need a few in different sizes. I made her one but I think it's a little big, so I’m going to make her another that is smaller. And one for Rossi too.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizB6pkXmuSU2upB6H7AqL5UzF2-Zj6GYoUyuloNSsWsjwRBczNGaUy19AOk-TPorPMiTO2inJQz1G5axf110_5XiHol_r2NhLdqhL5MF1AUpoFAfo438AQD34oRjDg33osBzD6HgquE_Ndneg1aTbIV1nIZvyE58wvgZCCjtGpm_VSEbx5iIJpgH45Aw/s2386/IMG_5579.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2386" data-original-width="1874" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizB6pkXmuSU2upB6H7AqL5UzF2-Zj6GYoUyuloNSsWsjwRBczNGaUy19AOk-TPorPMiTO2inJQz1G5axf110_5XiHol_r2NhLdqhL5MF1AUpoFAfo438AQD34oRjDg33osBzD6HgquE_Ndneg1aTbIV1nIZvyE58wvgZCCjtGpm_VSEbx5iIJpgH45Aw/s320/IMG_5579.HEIC" width="251" /></a> </p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friday February 24 San Francisco<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Well we made it! We were so very lucky. The giant snowstorm started Tuesday night. We got 3.5 inches, not too bad, but there was a lot more coming. It started up again Wednesday afternoon and all we could do was watch the weather, keep checking the airport and our flights, and keep our fingers crossed. About 350 flights were cancelled out of MSP on Wednesday, but our plane was staying out west and made it to San Francisco Wednesday night. It wasn’t supposed to fly to MSP and land until after 1 so hopefully it would be ok.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There was a lot more snow Thursday morning, and it was still snowing. At 7 we had another 9.5 inches. We probably got another inch or two after that for a total close to 15. That’s the most snow we’ve seen since we moved here. Nothing will ever match 2015 in New Hampshire, but that’s ok by me!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lee plowed the driveway. I dug the path in the backyard for the dogs. I fed the birds one more time. They’ve been being little pigs! At 11 I loaded up the truck and took the dogs over to Rita, our dog sitter. She lives right around the corner but when I got there her long driveway wasn’t plowed! So I drove on to the next side street, pulled over and called her. “I’m so sorry! My husband works for Delta and because of the snowstorm they won’t let him come home so we couldn’t plow the driveway!” We agreed that she and her daughter would tromp out to the end of their drive and grab the dogs and their supplies there. They had to carry both dogs; that snow was WAY over their heads!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Off we went to the airport. The roads were ok, not great, not terrible. We parked in Park n Ride, an economical alternative to airport parking or Uber. Their parking lot was cleared, barely. It was a little dicey finding a spot for the truck but we did. Everyone on the shuttle was a little giddy at our good luck. The airport had just opened back up.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve never seen an airport so empty, except in the middle of the night. It certainly made things easy to navigate. Our plane arrived without incident, we boarded, and off we went, us and the St. Thomas baseball team, off to play a series of games in Sacramento.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s rainy and chilly in San Francisco but we don’t care. We ate Fresh Green salads for dinner with Dan and Kelsey and chatted until Lee and I couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore. We made it to 9 pm, which was our goal. Of course here I am up bright and early as usual. I made it to 5:30, more or less. Maybe I’ll go run in their fitness center in a bit. It’s pretty wet out there right now.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It stopped raining so I went for a run outside. It was nice, low 40’s, sunny. We went to Japantown and had ramen for lunch. I was stuffed. We bought cream puffs to have for a snack later. We took Rossi for a nice long walk. She was very happy! She kept checking to make sure all her people were still coming.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWxA1kfU4g7CRrzxi16YYEBEkCGqmzDEUbS95F8fbHlpWjoi0RSHHT2mCRtxeLvhtiPg0q9ebhLb43heEe_iuAOAX7Ig01UIiZkh23LfsS8dYeDFDZ6xuwdnAoXWPeQuUwmSQcY0uUz1OAZeksuvBHzofybFUU2fgc7NPllPXKs6rdEU3VP9DezVFoZA/s4032/IMG_5564.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWxA1kfU4g7CRrzxi16YYEBEkCGqmzDEUbS95F8fbHlpWjoi0RSHHT2mCRtxeLvhtiPg0q9ebhLb43heEe_iuAOAX7Ig01UIiZkh23LfsS8dYeDFDZ6xuwdnAoXWPeQuUwmSQcY0uUz1OAZeksuvBHzofybFUU2fgc7NPllPXKs6rdEU3VP9DezVFoZA/s320/IMG_5564.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I got a Blue Bottle coffee at the end of our walk and took it back to the apartment to drink with my cream puff. We sat around the rest of the afternoon. I crocheted and played around with my iPad but I was so tired . I finally laid down for a nap at around 3:45 and Lee had to wake me up at 5:15! Yikes.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We went to a Jazz Club for dinner. Mr. Tipple’s. It was great! They had a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>really good female singer. We had cocktails and ordered dim sum. I was able to just eat a little, have a Manhattan, and enjoy the music. It was a perfect way to end the day.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw0x_ZOaplr5m4GAU9ilRA8_Ov8G1Z3LGdzkLI767KxZEMquBM6rkE806TACSgcUROQZOjKXpj8sIVCkjLWh_ckmYf_STPQ2OKqt_saxGlkXAB7UtFUB-NQv64ifNTw2h_DrjbbNduUyrX1TakvrG-EK2IEZe8lWtTXrjYEWcj9jFjGF6OTPWnqremmw/s4032/IMG_0487.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw0x_ZOaplr5m4GAU9ilRA8_Ov8G1Z3LGdzkLI767KxZEMquBM6rkE806TACSgcUROQZOjKXpj8sIVCkjLWh_ckmYf_STPQ2OKqt_saxGlkXAB7UtFUB-NQv64ifNTw2h_DrjbbNduUyrX1TakvrG-EK2IEZe8lWtTXrjYEWcj9jFjGF6OTPWnqremmw/s320/IMG_0487.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday February 25</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunny and cool. No running, just some PT exercises. Around 11 we walked very to the ferry building to the farmer’s market. We got lunch from the Mexican place and brought it back to the apartment to eat. We watched Mizzou play Georgia, and beat them.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Just enjoying their sunny apartment<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and hanging out. This evening we’re going to a Vietnamese restaurant in Sunset that is famous for its garlic noodles and roasted clams. ThanhLong.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday February 26</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">ThanhLong was good but imo not great. It’s out in Sunset, so a fairly long drive for us, through downtown, through Golden Gate park, almost to the ocean. I like that drive though, the houses and apartments are so interesting to look at. This really is an amazing city. Sure it has problems with housing and homelessness, but it has also managed to preserve some beautiful and unique living spaces. I hope they find a solution that doesn’t destroy that.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When we got there we discovered that they no longer had valet parking. Trying to park in San Francisco is sometimes a real challenge and if we had known we might have taken Uber instead. But Dan found a spot not too far away. Lucky!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">ThanhLong is famous for their garlic noodles, and their noodles are great.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They are also famous for their roast clam. Daniel ordered a clam and shared some of it with Lee and I. It was ok, not amazing, but I almost always think clam is more work than it’s worth. I got prawns with my noodles. They again were ok. I thought they were a little tough. That’s it.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We decided to go get ice cream after. We went to a place called Hometown Creamery. <a href="https://www.sfhometowncreamery.com/flagship"><span class="s1" style="color: #e4af0a;">https://www.sfhometowncreamery.com/flagship</span></a> It was really good! I got the bread pudding ice cream. Wonderful.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning I went for a run. I headed toward Oracle Park, as far as Crane Cove Park and back, about 5 miles. It was 45F, but no wind, and even thought it was cloudy it felt a lot warmer than Friday. I ended up removing layers, taking off my buff, my ear warmer, my gloves. Good thing I had spacious pockets!</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW9eIAZKm7N-fO70tRxK21LZm8l1T1XBTpK-l0yQp0cBPS5D6yPYoA50YBcJufT_9zwwFlg7bRGIVVOYMLILxKcnm8qoANot8EwzSUTLHRf5HuCAdFP90xrDez7xjCiYr6bP_r84bn1PEY5bmmg47rOPOFc8AVpGSYG6-KDp8Lqmy_SqZrIqeMCvi9A/s3088/IMG_5567.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2316" data-original-width="3088" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW9eIAZKm7N-fO70tRxK21LZm8l1T1XBTpK-l0yQp0cBPS5D6yPYoA50YBcJufT_9zwwFlg7bRGIVVOYMLILxKcnm8qoANot8EwzSUTLHRf5HuCAdFP90xrDez7xjCiYr6bP_r84bn1PEY5bmmg47rOPOFc8AVpGSYG6-KDp8Lqmy_SqZrIqeMCvi9A/s320/IMG_5567.HEIC" width="320" /></a></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-6565508213577517082023-02-21T15:42:00.002-06:002023-02-21T15:43:40.328-06:00Florida 2023 Sunday January 22 - Sunday January 29: Miramar Beach-Birmingham-Nashville-St. Louis-Cedar Rapids-Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjkk1_gzmDUw5iQWybhRQ4YDbTUCesYnk25AI8QyD9Y9FH8oXMGXjsPVYAVMnJ3JCKE1JUndcTmg4EVrPPXjGE0FybfC5JQHsJLJWrnZYBWEitd5K7iuNUSmksvlMzkHiUQEhrZha3mWGSrGNbvzC3feHPDhIjgBRz-zKSjiDIIK9DHwglOG6QvwpHeA/s3028/IMG_5472.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3028" data-original-width="2845" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjkk1_gzmDUw5iQWybhRQ4YDbTUCesYnk25AI8QyD9Y9FH8oXMGXjsPVYAVMnJ3JCKE1JUndcTmg4EVrPPXjGE0FybfC5JQHsJLJWrnZYBWEitd5K7iuNUSmksvlMzkHiUQEhrZha3mWGSrGNbvzC3feHPDhIjgBRz-zKSjiDIIK9DHwglOG6QvwpHeA/s320/IMG_5472.HEIC" width="301" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday January 22</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Italian place last night was great. Fat Clamenza’s. The food was good and waiter was friendly and knowledgeable. We split an arugula salad, then Lee got a mushroom pizza and I got linguini with baby clams. I took a bread pudding home for later.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Around 4 am it started to rain. Hard, very hard! Thunder and lightening too. We had a small leak but it’s not surprising considering how hard it rained. Eventually it stopped. It was actually warm outside. I was able to go for a run in shorts and a T-shirt, the way you’re supposed to in Florida!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then I did laundry. It was a decent laundromat, relatively cheap, and I had it all to myself. As I was drying things it started POURING! Lee came and got me in the truck but I still got soaked. The laundry stayed dry though because I had it in trash bags. Now we should be set until we get home.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";">It’s been raining all afternoon. It paused just long enough to take the dogs out </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue;">to go potty, then it started up again. So we’re just lazing around again.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday January 23</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the evening we went to Acme, a New Orleans style restaurant. It was fine but not incredible. We split the charbroiled oysters. I never like oysters much that have stuff done to them. I like them fresh and raw. Then Lee got the New Orleans medley. He said the rice and beans and the gumbo were good but the jambalaya was mediocre. He makes great jambalaya, it’s something I would never order in a restaurant for that very reason. I got the seafood etouffee with crawfish tails and it was good. Then I got the pecan crumble which came in a martini glass with ice cream and caramel sauce. He brought me a to go container for it but it never made it that far. Decadent!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning it was sunny, cold and beautiful. We took it easy until after lunch when it had warmed up a little and then got out our bikes and rode along the coast to Destin and back. We rode to the end of the road and then turned around. Destin is fancier than Miramar, more grandiose resorts. On the way back I sped up a little and my bike was flying. Lee texted me that he had stopped for coffee so I rode back and had some too, at a place called Bad Ass Coffee. I had on my sweatshirt and windbreaker on the bike but as soon as I stopped and sat in the sun I was HOT! I had to get back on the bike to cool off.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEtXNN3eQ_Odgxium8F9lU4Mo_W54k1mcTclH-4bwpx0FZhApQCONziPtIwUOsXViOK8Ca8N4VpKNR8Lv8zgGmcHRf50ToEzG-MWtFKm73jSsSdH44HvkL8AkxT1KgLjxZoPEifJCjmwh_x8vlQYAxvf5gJeFPOq0tSziKuyqDJ9C1SZ0n5wrjP4g50w/s3088/IMG_5477.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2316" data-original-width="3088" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEtXNN3eQ_Odgxium8F9lU4Mo_W54k1mcTclH-4bwpx0FZhApQCONziPtIwUOsXViOK8Ca8N4VpKNR8Lv8zgGmcHRf50ToEzG-MWtFKm73jSsSdH44HvkL8AkxT1KgLjxZoPEifJCjmwh_x8vlQYAxvf5gJeFPOq0tSziKuyqDJ9C1SZ0n5wrjP4g50w/s320/IMG_5477.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Back at the RV I set up the dog fence and sat outside with the dogs for awhile, until the sun started to set and it got cold again.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This RV park is near an Air Force base and all day fighter jets have been flying overhead. I tried to get a picture but could never get my phone up quickly enough. The sound trailed behind them so by the time you heard them they were already gone. Also some guy in the park is traveling with a falcon. Strange!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday January 24</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">First driving day in awhile. Lee fixed dinner last night. Pasta with pine nuts and parmesan, garlic bread and a salad. Delicious!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We took our time in the morning but we were on the road by 10. Google routed us through the wilds of southern Alabama to get us to I-65 by the most direct route. MAGA signs and Confederate flags. Creepy! I just didn’t feel comfortable at all. We only stopped once though, for lunch and gas. Lee had made his famous tuna sandwiches. We let the dogs have some of the tuna and they were beside themselves.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgksKEwTZhOv-KnFNRKwaH5QQnzlvJCHO3-CRZuZgUUdQTF5jhrzr4Zs8DkW1n57EB-TvnEpue9VD2_DF96LpzCy9lw7JHYmBGNIfDbFL1zYPOQ233NhmYOt-cUou_ZffigHAErt8Iic_QS8d0zq0rYxygsBEElaJ6RFGg8n4sihP_2ymwpMnFFuv8pVg/s4032/IMG_5482.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgksKEwTZhOv-KnFNRKwaH5QQnzlvJCHO3-CRZuZgUUdQTF5jhrzr4Zs8DkW1n57EB-TvnEpue9VD2_DF96LpzCy9lw7JHYmBGNIfDbFL1zYPOQ233NhmYOt-cUou_ZffigHAErt8Iic_QS8d0zq0rYxygsBEElaJ6RFGg8n4sihP_2ymwpMnFFuv8pVg/s320/IMG_5482.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">While I drove after lunch we started listening to songs that reminded us of this area of the country. Angel from Mongmery, John Prine and Bonnie Raitt. Rednecks, Birmingham, Randy Newman. Texas Trilogy, Lyle Lovett.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now here we are in Pelham, Alabama, outside Birmingham. Thursday night in Nashville the low will be 26. That’s right on the edge, but we should be ok. We’ll winterize when we get to St. Louis and stay in hotels the last two nights.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday January 25</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Cold and windy today. It rained all night but stopped before we got up. We slept later too. It was after six! I ran this morning so we don’t have to wait until I’m finished running before we go see Gail and Michael tomorrow.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The drive was uneventful. It was windy but we just drove a little slower and it wasn’t too bad.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We stopped for lunch at a place called Buc-ee’s, which is apparently an Alabama institution. A crazy huge roadside gas station, convenience store, tourist attraction. They are famous for their bbq brisket sandwiches, and they were pretty good. It was the biggest gas station I’ve ever seen in my life, at LEAST 60 pumps, maybe more. Insane.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The weather for today was for scattered showers and they did scatter, all day long. It’s nice to be settled for the day. It’s cold though. We’re going to need the down quilt tomorrow night.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friday January 27</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We spent yesterday visiting with Gail and Michael. It was a very pleasant day. We mostly sat around and talked, with a little eating thrown in for good measure. We had a lot of catching up to do! We hadn’t seen each other since before Covid, January of 2020.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWqke0KN52fxk5h76qpZB75QX4koEsOgwKt4dFvvcSSWYlR1KVu5vsdBhZ7H9ZBEKqHRjQIs4_wyfdoVWIZKx_w1OjSeXng0I7YpVnS-7ODCVw584vIk-NRngljdETkZ2MGQjRXMdUaZgY0jxZ7rPRGpmmdTi1cUAK0BaY9x3t3_lLDgb7VKPCsVHWQg/s4032/587269DE-2DFA-4E40-9066-558D5DDF4E59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWqke0KN52fxk5h76qpZB75QX4koEsOgwKt4dFvvcSSWYlR1KVu5vsdBhZ7H9ZBEKqHRjQIs4_wyfdoVWIZKx_w1OjSeXng0I7YpVnS-7ODCVw584vIk-NRngljdETkZ2MGQjRXMdUaZgY0jxZ7rPRGpmmdTi1cUAK0BaY9x3t3_lLDgb7VKPCsVHWQg/s320/587269DE-2DFA-4E40-9066-558D5DDF4E59.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was cold last night. It dropped into the 20’s, so we turned off our water. I was cold during the night, should have used our down quilt. In the morning we tried to turn our water back on but the hose was frozen. We should know better; we used to bring our hose in at night when it was this cold; I don’t know why we didn’t last night. The RV campground said to leave our water dripping but Lee thought that was risky. But we’ve got the hose inside now in the shower with the electric heater aimed at it so it should thaw up pretty soon.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’re heading for St. Louis today, and Cedar Rapids the day after, then home. No more nights in the RV, it will just be too cold. We’re staying in motels the last two nights. Lee will winterize the RV today and that will be that for RVing until summer. It will be 0 tomorrow night in Cedar Rapids. Yikes!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friday January 27</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Well as it turned out the water pipe stand was frozen as well so no amount of hose thawing was going to do us any good. So we packed up and left. It was super windy today, and the roads in Kentucky were terrible! All that bouncing is just not good for an RV so it makes you very conscious of them. Plus it’s hard to crochet!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZ20a8X9S-G6AxBmZrbILWwUACObHomlqyT8WuTEo3f6D_KGmZFtr9rLo1Pp41axwagCk5T6nvAJyqsa_jURxxOFvUHsXd8Ue9mWAef5lS12vYOdKlhj_Q0YFsTypJ3-iScvqLpoPpMoATNZywURRm4qB58YvFqNsasBgoXZwH_jFHJzA5fUvuo9lwA/s4032/IMG_5490.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZ20a8X9S-G6AxBmZrbILWwUACObHomlqyT8WuTEo3f6D_KGmZFtr9rLo1Pp41axwagCk5T6nvAJyqsa_jURxxOFvUHsXd8Ue9mWAef5lS12vYOdKlhj_Q0YFsTypJ3-iScvqLpoPpMoATNZywURRm4qB58YvFqNsasBgoXZwH_jFHJzA5fUvuo9lwA/s320/IMG_5490.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It warmed up quickly and was in the 50's all day. We stopped for gas and lunch and Lee wanted to go ahead and winterize the RV, but he couldn’t get the water pump to work so he could get the RV antifreeze into the system. So we had to stop at a Camper World and buy a little hand held water pump. That worked great and we were able to winterize the RV with it no problem. And it’s a good thing too. It’s going to get really cold tomorrow. We are so not ready!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We pulled into this Fairfield Inn around 4:30. It wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be, figuring out what I needed to bring inside the motel from the RV. We nuked a Rao lasagna for dinner and spread out on the big bed. Ahhhh!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday January 28</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was in the 40’s when we left Wentzville, but as we drove north the temperature started to drop. By the time we hit the Iowa border it was 30, and by the time we arrived at our hotel it was 20, and still dropping.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It had already snowed a little in Cedar Rapids. We unloaded our stuff and I took the dogs for a short walk. What is this stuff?? They were a little preplexed. After all 3 days ago it was in the 50’s! And it’s going to be much much colder tomorrow. Zero here, and -15 by the time we get home.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday January 29</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Brrrr it was cold this morning! We didn’t get more snow, which is good. The dogs scampered outside, did their business, and scampered right back in. The snow and salt hurt their feet poor things. I just wasn’t prepared for the extreme cold since when we left it was relatively warm.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We were all set to go, but guess what? The truck wouldn’t start! The battery was very very dead. We had the heat on in the RV and it drained the truck battery. It took awhile to find someone that could give us a jump on a cold Sunday morning in Cedqr Rapids, but we finally did. It really only delayed us about an hour. Then off we went.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We needed gas though. We definitely did NOT want to turn off the truck yet, so we did something you’re not supposed to do (after googling to see just how dangerous it really is). We filled it up with the engine running. In fact we left the engine running all day, until we got home.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We were home before 3. I went inside, turned up the heat, turned on the fireplace, and shoveled a path in the backyard for the dogs. Then I let them inside and let them go outside. Yippee! They were very excited!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then I helped Lee unload the RV. Usually we do it in an orderly fashion but it was so cold we just got everything out of it as quickly as we could and dumped it all in the middle of the great room! Then we took our time putting things away. It’s always such a big job, it just wears us out.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I put it off as long as I could but I finally went upstairs to see how bad off the plants were. Two of them were dead, but the succulents, the palm, and the dracenas survived the drought! I was astonished. I gave them all nice big drinks.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday January 31</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve been home now for a day. Yeah it’s very cold, but it’s great to be home. We both think this may have been our last really long RV trip. It’s hard, and it exhausts us. We’ll still do shorter trips for sure, but it’s doubtful that we’ll go cross country again.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Some parts of this trip were disappointing. The weather in Florida was colder than we would have liked. I struggled in the marathon and didn’t think it was as much fun as it had been in 2017. St. Augustine was more of a tourist trap than we expected. And the traffic around Tampa Bay was awful.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But you know what the best part was? People! Seeing Amy, and Rich, at Disney. Spending time with Nicole and Tom and Harrison and August. Meeting our puppy and spending a day with Diane and Dennis. And finally, FINALLY spending a wonderful day with Gail and Michael after 3 years. The people made it all worthwhile.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s it for Florida 2023. I’m ready to hang around our house for awhile before we head to California and another break from cold weather.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjThqIdTkvHTNWyKa5eenMyd1Z_MQ7-NFBK_-w3bKZMTDco35YXcwjPHADCtFf81SrK-f7mbABYWfgL1WbfAi64HX9vlk5k2TUaMO4HUu_wrWkzlOl4K9K7mGXJoLPDLMm6cUkH4XQG3Xfo4krQIL0rfpEIEcrHt9-1lN4X0xvsiItzFE6sjLSpE-MBwg/s4032/IMG_5495.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjThqIdTkvHTNWyKa5eenMyd1Z_MQ7-NFBK_-w3bKZMTDco35YXcwjPHADCtFf81SrK-f7mbABYWfgL1WbfAi64HX9vlk5k2TUaMO4HUu_wrWkzlOl4K9K7mGXJoLPDLMm6cUkH4XQG3Xfo4krQIL0rfpEIEcrHt9-1lN4X0xvsiItzFE6sjLSpE-MBwg/s320/IMG_5495.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-11209853964691799912023-02-15T08:16:00.004-06:002023-02-15T08:16:38.065-06:00Florida 2023 January 15-21: Apopka-Clearwater-Miramar Beach<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGQ58lmM2oM9O4ZhjCGo7A3HURiQVoU3HUq9LM6xEcevpTg_L2mu6zlOrND-PG4gS-DbTKBSrNIyfe8fDCJDRRoFNEObydDIvRs0XeWYx2ijgkqA_iaTuiUq7sELpCNGCl1kSnTP6GgWWYvqCH9wI1g8YuKzUfFAFbNZpPXrM9lZqNtHXCfj9dJB81sA/s4032/IMG_5416.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGQ58lmM2oM9O4ZhjCGo7A3HURiQVoU3HUq9LM6xEcevpTg_L2mu6zlOrND-PG4gS-DbTKBSrNIyfe8fDCJDRRoFNEObydDIvRs0XeWYx2ijgkqA_iaTuiUq7sELpCNGCl1kSnTP6GgWWYvqCH9wI1g8YuKzUfFAFbNZpPXrM9lZqNtHXCfj9dJB81sA/s320/IMG_5416.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday January 15</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday night we went over to Nicole and Tom’s apartment for dinner. It’s just nice catching up, seeing how their kids have grown. Nicole made vegetarian lasagna and a salad. We brought wine. The lasagna was very good, and they gave us some to take back to the RV too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DkUjYRRBnI3iftsFuzWV5EelRw3tqZUtGpbxjaNePRXy-4IQkbtAmCrvDIGKonEwGCBngyfg2asPtMsG7SaooOLin6eoJLrX1XNQP1N02m2yCI-cowtWJ1OddZvF77MAOOATGO-n6gk3zCseDtaR5pP42-MIDJC3CVBvDKOG8V-JY3s_UpOTatXbDQ/s4032/IMG_5415.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DkUjYRRBnI3iftsFuzWV5EelRw3tqZUtGpbxjaNePRXy-4IQkbtAmCrvDIGKonEwGCBngyfg2asPtMsG7SaooOLin6eoJLrX1XNQP1N02m2yCI-cowtWJ1OddZvF77MAOOATGO-n6gk3zCseDtaR5pP42-MIDJC3CVBvDKOG8V-JY3s_UpOTatXbDQ/s320/IMG_5415.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the middle of the night Harper had to pee. And then again at 5. And again an hour later. Uh-oh. Each time she’d squat for longer and longer. Looks like a uti. She’s actually never had one before but Heather has had plenty so we knew exactly what to do. We found an emergency vet 25 minutes away and Harper and I hopped in the truck and off we went.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They were very busy. They put us in a room at 8:15 AM. By then Harper was peeing blood on the floor. This was good, in a way, because we were able to get a urine sample and get a definitive diagnosis. We had to wait almost 2 hours to see the doctor though. When we finally saw her she prescribed an antibiotic shot and then pills to take for the next 14 days. It was after 10:30 AM before we finally got out of there. I was feeling shaky cause I hadn’t eaten anything since 5:30. The vet had Dum Dums on their counter and I had one of them and it immediately made me feel better. Pre-diabetic woes!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When we got back to the RV Harper ate her lunch and so did I. Lee went to the grocery store. Then the campground called. “You’re supposed to be leaving and I have someone here that wants your spot.” “I AM??? Oh rats! I’m sorry, but my husband isn’t here and I can’t move our rig, not to mention it doesn’t go anywhere without the truck!”</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They had another space, but first I had to call Clearwater. Clearwater was fine with us coming in a day late. Lee came back and we moved everything as soon as we could. Alls well but I feel pretty stupid! I have the itinerary all typed up but it doesn’t do anyone any good if I don’t look at it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday January 16</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After we moved the camper we drove to Winter Garden to meet Tom and Nicole and the boys for a late lunch/early dinner. Winter Garden is a cute little town, on the south shore of Lake Apopka. It’s been nicely restored and is very walkable. We sat outside at a french cafe and had sandwiches and salads. The boys had French toast and it looked great. I wanted some!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we drove to Newton Park on the lake. We walked along the shore, watched the sunset. As we were walking back to the truck we saw the Spacex rocket launch! Wow!!’we saw the booster detach, and then the rockets falling back to earth. So amazing!!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi08alm6CGJbK2HRLPYLPT2-WthBYkJOIaRZwj6Kv0yrjzqGOsph83wLooTMyMfeB8IM8oKIIjsyY5WiAVEdHV_zpJsvCS5j0ZyE8O6cthxPnHrHb-UjCoAS9lEahjU32Pm_BlEZXy_AOYZ8DGnnudVBZcN65QRRtZ3YcnZWsIvgwajmMGaVGKoVp6UmQ/s3241/IMG_5421.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3241" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi08alm6CGJbK2HRLPYLPT2-WthBYkJOIaRZwj6Kv0yrjzqGOsph83wLooTMyMfeB8IM8oKIIjsyY5WiAVEdHV_zpJsvCS5j0ZyE8O6cthxPnHrHb-UjCoAS9lEahjU32Pm_BlEZXy_AOYZ8DGnnudVBZcN65QRRtZ3YcnZWsIvgwajmMGaVGKoVp6UmQ/s320/IMG_5421.HEIC" width="299" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We bought some pill pockets to give Harper her antibiotics. She loves them! I don’t know why I never tried them before. By lunch she had been on the drugs for 24 hours and was doing much better. She’s still peeing fairly frequently but not squatting endlessly and the blood is gone.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the morning I went for a short run, the first time since the marathon. Running felt just fine, but I still have a slight cough and my chest hurt a little. Not too bad though. I was happy to be out running.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Before too long we were out on the road, headed to Clearwater. The traffic was TERRIBLE! Lee drove and I was glad. Nice to be here, finally. And it’s warming up too. Highs in the 70’s the next few days.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday January 17.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I decided to get laundry over with this morning. 4 washers, 4 dryers, but 2 of the dryers were broken so it ended up taking all morning. Oh well. I sat in the sun next to the pool and crocheted and talked to other people trying to do laundry so it wasn’t too bad. Lee got us burgers and hoagies at a nearby place for lunch. It was very good!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we drove over to Safety Harbor. Not much has changed. We walked down Main Street to the Harbor, through the park on the bay behind the resort, and along the boardwalk.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mid afternoon so no birds. Warmish (75]. It felt nice but Heather was trashed.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">On the way back we stopped at the place where we used to get our afternoon coffees. We like them because they make their lattes with coffee ice cubes. I got a mixed berry oat bar too.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now we’re back at the RV. Everyone is tired!</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghuPI_zaco044q2jxZ0_W931qFQWuS_tShf3OejOL-AIui1wtLMkPXvxYIMv5JIhMcPmPl-vZAoAUDm2UPG1GL088Qgz2sxMT3C2-vw5v3V6bsINLuj0-rMa-PU4g4kPs3H1nVR9sGejiqlfLTwYjTc_iZGLSVNx9bvoxu87in14pIgMQj6gByhGL0kQ/s4032/IMG_5423.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghuPI_zaco044q2jxZ0_W931qFQWuS_tShf3OejOL-AIui1wtLMkPXvxYIMv5JIhMcPmPl-vZAoAUDm2UPG1GL088Qgz2sxMT3C2-vw5v3V6bsINLuj0-rMa-PU4g4kPs3H1nVR9sGejiqlfLTwYjTc_iZGLSVNx9bvoxu87in14pIgMQj6gByhGL0kQ/s320/IMG_5423.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday January 17</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Today we went to visit Diane and Dennis, and pick out our new puppy. It was great! We spent a fun day together, playing with the dogs, watching the puppies. I thought my dogs would be overjoyed to see them. They were happy, but not beside themselves like they were when we went to New England last year. They were mostly just happy to be hanging out in a big backyard in the sunshine.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The puppies are just so cute. It was hard to decide which girl we wanted but orange collar edged out pink collar by a hair. And we’ve got a name now too. Sophie!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSmVXRvNDHckvAJUsNXMFXspJ6mkOQCiw7q6dYOC7nME8rPZFrMZjy2EKgqJ69sSqbDlCwtTXt49INlL6SshARuRtwQ1mQcEYj7H1slgMdEdgoc8jpnTMTzpSBqibJZbU05OIpwQP3VR6W-Ep7f2kdRzg3f5spg-rvUHJKSKTRgnbsW0uH46lzOAZ9Cw/s4032/IMG_5427.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSmVXRvNDHckvAJUsNXMFXspJ6mkOQCiw7q6dYOC7nME8rPZFrMZjy2EKgqJ69sSqbDlCwtTXt49INlL6SshARuRtwQ1mQcEYj7H1slgMdEdgoc8jpnTMTzpSBqibJZbU05OIpwQP3VR6W-Ep7f2kdRzg3f5spg-rvUHJKSKTRgnbsW0uH46lzOAZ9Cw/s320/IMG_5427.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We went to lunch at a seafood restaurant on the Gulf. Casters. The food was good. We just got a bunch of apps and shared. Even gator! And we shared a bunch of desserts too. It was all delicious!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sophie won’t be coming home until March because we are going to California in February and we don’t want to have to board her so soon. It’s hard to wait!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Thursday January 19</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was warm this morning so I wore shorts and a short sleeved shirt on our drive to Tallahassee. We’re actually in a KOA in Perry FL, a little town in the middle of nowhere. It was only about 3 hours to get here. We were able to set up camp and take the dogs for a walk before a little rain storm blew through. Now it’s cooler and we’re just lazing around. Tomorrow we drive to Destin.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friday January 20</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was about a 4 hour drive to Destin. We are back on Central Time so we regained the hour we lost. This is a very small RV park only a couple blocks from the beach, actually south of Destin in Miramar Beach. They have a lot of pet rules; where you can walk your dog; you must close the windows to your RV if you leave your pets inside, etc etc. We’re going out for seafood tonight and will check out the beach and ride our bikes if it doesn’t rain tomorrow.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday January 21</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We went to Surfhut for dinner last night, a short walk from the RV park and right on the beach. The food was good. Lee got peel and eat shrimp, very fresh so hard to peel and gumbo. I got grouper with little blackened shrimp. The drinks were fine. We both got margaritas, Lee got a frozen one I got a tropical.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> His had salt on the rim. Mine didn't but mine had pineapple in it.</span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi73ohOOFb3Jw_9xlVrOKLXwfchta-XRoByGmDtPQ1ItqFZ9e7zhOmfZDc5-KpNsr7VUzEP2LAHMbjKBsYWzHJnwpk5JlT0OJgClgMPk8f9bCmpvpcMjH7Ecyucxj-WHvSuMikKkcSuQAYt_KRK-W6m_Ow2A_rxA2PM5P5EIJl3PndWr1mVMDjX0K--pQ/s3780/614719A4-92C5-4771-8B4E-AE309EDC3A67.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3780" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi73ohOOFb3Jw_9xlVrOKLXwfchta-XRoByGmDtPQ1ItqFZ9e7zhOmfZDc5-KpNsr7VUzEP2LAHMbjKBsYWzHJnwpk5JlT0OJgClgMPk8f9bCmpvpcMjH7Ecyucxj-WHvSuMikKkcSuQAYt_KRK-W6m_Ow2A_rxA2PM5P5EIJl3PndWr1mVMDjX0K--pQ/s320/614719A4-92C5-4771-8B4E-AE309EDC3A67.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the morning we took the dogs and walked along the boardwalk in Miramar Beach. The rain held off, but it was chilly. We walked about a mile and then went back to the RV for lunch. </p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowmVcztdHlbJd7pqayETnxVGMY3IxlXSilFln7xA5obbFmdU7qkndKpkCE014ke1SD89bHdmWj97zDX4sg775eb0Whs56A9ZTDYdUD-0D7p6DDwZlI1PiY-rQi6WwuAnIMTzD7LArzg6a3CdiMeQXtKG7O3u_YOPSWk2r0YKcR9iWL6y8g3Is-NjwPA/s3974/IMG_5445.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3974" data-original-width="2980" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowmVcztdHlbJd7pqayETnxVGMY3IxlXSilFln7xA5obbFmdU7qkndKpkCE014ke1SD89bHdmWj97zDX4sg775eb0Whs56A9ZTDYdUD-0D7p6DDwZlI1PiY-rQi6WwuAnIMTzD7LArzg6a3CdiMeQXtKG7O3u_YOPSWk2r0YKcR9iWL6y8g3Is-NjwPA/s320/IMG_5445.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then I felt the need for more exercise so I took a walk along the beach. I started out with a lot of layers. It was very windy, and the clouds looked threatening. It rained a tiny bit, but I was fine. I walked about 3 miles total.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHIImHGMLzCQs-BUtwvSYIIpfvstG_tgX43Tdyz6k9v9QwToxBPIe1VWybxmVPqUCQXVzNVdNIbsKVe9X4aFVewtKITMnQ_vfjEsx20l2R0MWwzoLPdOsiXtrJ54tqp5R_CDTl5Aq2LdCQLxPD1SYRDdGRl1-I47zN8RzOUCSQxLIxvk_4FiQX4edHw/s3088/IMG_5467.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHIImHGMLzCQs-BUtwvSYIIpfvstG_tgX43Tdyz6k9v9QwToxBPIe1VWybxmVPqUCQXVzNVdNIbsKVe9X4aFVewtKITMnQ_vfjEsx20l2R0MWwzoLPdOsiXtrJ54tqp5R_CDTl5Aq2LdCQLxPD1SYRDdGRl1-I47zN8RzOUCSQxLIxvk_4FiQX4edHw/s320/IMG_5467.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve been mostly lazing around. There’s a nice bike trail but it’s too windy, rainy and chilly. Oh well! We’re going to try Italian tonight.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJmC5S51jWXdDXM1QbgsOyBvlgaAdqPSZPKGca0qCv4PtqADjNA4UG1rGYe_kzQyg_Dlg9puWMly0bXQ440zw6Qa4TYCDku4sp-eSL2gX_qytF_Xld2-VFOgAnapJxYfbDCNQo3rjcFKUxHrW80EDSn6wrL9DChnzvSpYUOgnWHpIYVYX2FxCm-aQHg/s4032/IMG_5430.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJmC5S51jWXdDXM1QbgsOyBvlgaAdqPSZPKGca0qCv4PtqADjNA4UG1rGYe_kzQyg_Dlg9puWMly0bXQ440zw6Qa4TYCDku4sp-eSL2gX_qytF_Xld2-VFOgAnapJxYfbDCNQo3rjcFKUxHrW80EDSn6wrL9DChnzvSpYUOgnWHpIYVYX2FxCm-aQHg/s320/IMG_5430.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-32714049723288888042023-02-08T12:58:00.000-06:002023-02-08T12:58:33.710-06:00Florida 2023 January 8-14: WDW marathon-St. Augustine-Apopka<p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdeCKvaZOarph331D0rek4hW1EP9Z0vmwzNE_twUsO_pSGJlAGkmvwiJETzyX4gkSBCmaKSaOZZjiF08iptd214zDBAnM14m21KJ5ssfYe4eylOB_yxmRIa3_HSmUc7liTa3izfrmEIFOnUhmioIhOI2rWJEYkxjCVZvV_aIOUiStrzs_7H-xKvcs1Q/s3088/IMG_5364.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdeCKvaZOarph331D0rek4hW1EP9Z0vmwzNE_twUsO_pSGJlAGkmvwiJETzyX4gkSBCmaKSaOZZjiF08iptd214zDBAnM14m21KJ5ssfYe4eylOB_yxmRIa3_HSmUc7liTa3izfrmEIFOnUhmioIhOI2rWJEYkxjCVZvV_aIOUiStrzs_7H-xKvcs1Q/s320/IMG_5364.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday Jan 8 WDW Marathon<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Up at 2 and ready before 3. Nerves. I feel ok, but truth be told, I’m sick,again, with a runny nose and a cough.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lee drives me to the Fort Wilderness buses, even though it’s not a long walk. He’s worried about me, although he doesn’t want to say it. Probably doesn’t want me wandering around in the dark either. It’s awfully nice of him to get up at 3 am.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m to the start by 3:30. A lot of time to kill. I go over to the stage to try to find Paula and her group of friends but it’s hopeless. The music is very loud and there are so many people, many decked out in Dopey green and purple. Oh well! I grab some water, visit a portapotty, and slowly make my way to my corral.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s cold but I have on an extra shirt and a heat blanket. The race starts at 5 but it’s 5:30 before my corral finally starts. That’s not that bad for a race with 20,000 people!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s fun that they set off fireworks for each wave. It’s not so fun that’s it’s very very congested. It’s always crowded throughout the entire race. And because I’m not trying for a time I decide I don’t need to bother to put my watch on manual laps. Dumb mistake!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It takes me a long time to warm up. My arms sleeves stay on until way after the sun comes up. And my hands stay cold even after people around me are starting to sweat. Maybe because I’m sick? I don’t know but it was strange.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m using a run/walk interval of 45/30 seconds. I haven’t used this particular interval for a marathon in several years, but I’m so undertrained that I know attempting 1 min/30 sec wasn’t going to fly.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I do stop for a couple character stops. One with this green thing from A Nightmare Before Christmas, Oogie Boogie. </p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCBSEbUTeo8hFh7ZGbVy5ZZ-MbgKROLyxLw7QPqZHt3i7lkcHvYusQeY3cV4-VP--6Q9Jkm85YDNRoS_THWWSlzzxFe4nXPRi2JjSPYD9Lm1JtRdArZUUoj8OAxQxEYUs9XGP4zeq8F_QhkjZoPeX2svmcxAzA0Vii-tyA56nvWHpHEm7_HYx-dTD_Mg/s4032/IMG_5361.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCBSEbUTeo8hFh7ZGbVy5ZZ-MbgKROLyxLw7QPqZHt3i7lkcHvYusQeY3cV4-VP--6Q9Jkm85YDNRoS_THWWSlzzxFe4nXPRi2JjSPYD9Lm1JtRdArZUUoj8OAxQxEYUs9XGP4zeq8F_QhkjZoPeX2svmcxAzA0Vii-tyA56nvWHpHEm7_HYx-dTD_Mg/s320/IMG_5361.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One with Mickey and Goofy. </p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvL5rOsc1RFkT5BxQok7IUrUNtQ91TT-pdL4f0fZBp4dQHTxnpIDxaUGIm4UWFWuaJvSus6X9jNUTutNpMKQ6wppF0Vmf-Z1kJH6Vlfg1zFdkjRzRgWQPXpKY5I_jt9hc6l74dFrGg_jB0oPayhkbFjQfklDMdbU5P-J_lmTwwoV58AzuPKg37Pvjmng/s4032/IMG_5374.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvL5rOsc1RFkT5BxQok7IUrUNtQ91TT-pdL4f0fZBp4dQHTxnpIDxaUGIm4UWFWuaJvSus6X9jNUTutNpMKQ6wppF0Vmf-Z1kJH6Vlfg1zFdkjRzRgWQPXpKY5I_jt9hc6l74dFrGg_jB0oPayhkbFjQfklDMdbU5P-J_lmTwwoV58AzuPKg37Pvjmng/s320/IMG_5374.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And of course I stopped at the castle! </p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiix_H0CdgXys695iX6ZVe-aVsixl9uVaplrwwvhDTg8k4mhH5pkrYscOrRlM2q3TsdKJYZakNEZ7VcmoAPdaIfbLS-km2IBtB2UJ4odmSbSRTdue8xK1OJpOnMnSNX_Akjzbgve9IOMXa3BRS57uyrl9op72zovbPxVt20dnmZNCv63cbXm1E9QLCjzA/s4032/IMG_5366.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiix_H0CdgXys695iX6ZVe-aVsixl9uVaplrwwvhDTg8k4mhH5pkrYscOrRlM2q3TsdKJYZakNEZ7VcmoAPdaIfbLS-km2IBtB2UJ4odmSbSRTdue8xK1OJpOnMnSNX_Akjzbgve9IOMXa3BRS57uyrl9op72zovbPxVt20dnmZNCv63cbXm1E9QLCjzA/s320/IMG_5366.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I wasn’t pushing it at all, and maybe started to get a little too relaxed, because at one point someone said that the balloon ladies were only 10 minutes behind us. The balloon ladies are these women that run at the very end of a Disney race, because Disney is very strict about time. They don't let you finish if you run too slowly. Fall behind the balloon ladies and you get swept off the course! That scared me, so I decided to focus and not stop anymore.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I really felt pretty good until around mile 20. Classic marathon woes. At that point my lack of training caught up with me. I could no longer speed up and I wasn’t running much faster than I was walking. It was here that my experience got me through the rest of the race. I changed to 30/30 run/walk intervals to conserve energy. I kept running when I was supposed to run because even though it was really slow it used different muscles, another way to conserve energy. And I used my mental training too. I would not let myself think about how far I had left to go, except to think “less than a 10k!” And eventually “less than a 5k!” I concentrated on the mile I was in, running from one landmark to the next.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was so tired though. I didn’t stop for a beverage in Epcot because by then I just wanted to be done. Running around Epcot was truly endless. Right before the end Amy and her friend Laura saw me and yelled as loud as they could. But did I see them? No. Classic Lynn!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I have never been so glad to see a finish line in my life! I walked very very slowly to get my darling medal, then water, a Powerade, a cooling towel, and finally the famous Disney post race snack box. And a good thing too because almost immediately after I crossed the finish line I was ravenously hungry. I actually sat down on the ground and tore open the snack box, ate part of a honey stinger waffle and some pretzels. Then I staggered to my feet and headed to the Fort Wilderness bus.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When I got back to the RV I took a shower, ate a sandwich, and laid down on the bed. Before too long I was asleep. I slept most of the afternoon, until it was time to get ready to go to our dinner reservation At Flying Fish on the Disney Boardwalk. This was great because I was awake and could enjoy myself.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was so nice to see Amy one more time, meet her friend Laura, and see Rich! No Paula, alas. She had other obligations.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Flying Fish was yummy. I had the shrimp cocktail and then the filet. Amy had the pork belly appetizer and shared bites with us, and it was great too. And Rich shared his dessert, a molten lava chocolate cake. We talked talked talked, so much catching up to do! I would have loved to stay longer but it was all catching up with me. Time to go back the RV and go to bed.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday January 9</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I slept until almost 7. Boy I needed that! I ate some oatmeal to tide me over until our breakfast at the Fort Wilderness Lodge Whispering Pines restaurant. Google couldn’t figure out how to get there so we ended up being a little late but it worked out. The usual Fort Wilderness vibe, with a little interval where they invited all the kids in the restaurant to ride a stick horse around in a circle. Pretty funny!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lee got the avocado toast with Jackfruit. It was interesting….. I got a Belgian Waffle with bacon and strawberries. It wasn’t shaped like Mickey but it was really delicious!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After breakfast we packed up and headed to St. Augustine. Only a 2 hour drive to a nice KOA. We’re just hanging out today but in the next few days we’ll explore St Augustine and the surrounding area.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday January 10</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Around 10 am we drove to St Augustine and parked at the Visitor's Center. We downloaded an app called Florida Stories and took the walking tour but it was way too talky for our tastes. We did get to see a nice slice of the historic old town. </p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIlSaNqiSus4Eaz69VtgkiGHGe5A_NY5AvecJ2T7kDcaQkXq6kBfvxsEz5Pi6jPlZNcm6YE0Nz7QRH83l5PenRS1MSt5JM1i2sxU7poFn0M8mMdB9F6uHJPLzeOpAoY5IXveuG93BvWz5kkz1ZXF62eSj7QYaS32t6rWPRNT40x5miIHzY--zcyi8fQ/s4032/IMG_5377.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIlSaNqiSus4Eaz69VtgkiGHGe5A_NY5AvecJ2T7kDcaQkXq6kBfvxsEz5Pi6jPlZNcm6YE0Nz7QRH83l5PenRS1MSt5JM1i2sxU7poFn0M8mMdB9F6uHJPLzeOpAoY5IXveuG93BvWz5kkz1ZXF62eSj7QYaS32t6rWPRNT40x5miIHzY--zcyi8fQ/s320/IMG_5377.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We ate lunch at the Roosevelt Room. Lee got a brisket thing. I got the fried chicken and biscuit which was massive and delicious. I could barely eat half of it and took the rest of it in a box.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6aN9NAE9rjdLToUoHZr8HoabfOi2C9LxYPcNQVTe_LXESk6eYoyk1Y_B85logpRqIe9nBpIBzQk488k9AKD3SIdAhcceHwz9J0265U3Ss4DFKUZG2wI7aAKEaAQLQCISaypmCJ6ikyef5xmvO8wwIv5V-Xmxww1MhJ57MHh8o6f039kV3hxu-FqHoWg/s4032/IMG_5378.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6aN9NAE9rjdLToUoHZr8HoabfOi2C9LxYPcNQVTe_LXESk6eYoyk1Y_B85logpRqIe9nBpIBzQk488k9AKD3SIdAhcceHwz9J0265U3Ss4DFKUZG2wI7aAKEaAQLQCISaypmCJ6ikyef5xmvO8wwIv5V-Xmxww1MhJ57MHh8o6f039kV3hxu-FqHoWg/s320/IMG_5378.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We went to look at the Fort but by then we were too tired and it was getting close to 1 pm. We might come back and tour it on Thursday. Tomorrow we’re going to ride our bikes to the State Park, go see the lighthouse and the beach.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’re spending the the afternoon relaxing. It’s pretty cool today. We’re sitting outside and it was warm in the sun so I put on shorts and a short sleeved shirt but now the sun is getting lower and pretty soon I’m going to have to change back into jeans.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday January 11</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Last night Lee fixed the red snapper he bought at a nearby fish market. It was awesome, fresh and tender. I miss good seafood!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was very chilly last night, the low was 47, cold by Florida standards. Harper has an upset stomach and threw up in bed last night. UGH! So I decided to go ahead and do laundry this morning, since it was too cold to ride our bikes comfortably anyway. It wasn’t as fancy as the Disney laundromat but it was perfectly acceptable and cost half as much.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lee went over to a nearby French bakery and bought pastries and croissants, which I devoured as a mid morning snack. They were soooo good!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After lunch we hopped on our bikes and rode to the nearby state park. It was kind of disappointing. Just a single straight road that led to the beach. It might be a good place to hike, or hang out on the beach. But I was hoping for a nice place to ride bikes. And although supposedly you could ride your bikes on the beach, it was anything but flat and not solid enough for the our tires. You needed a mountain bike or a fat bike. It was very pretty though.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWmTRu6JQovjpSJyL49Wgm5-TlyIPyY4FtTVZ6bMf5oMZHuMjF-si5w6u2i8tHrfdC1BYaGUtyT1ZNxvceYah4QoOXTTyG2Fw7wsUUTi5zbwxfblYrQARZ6eLKpi8ZC82Mj9lzsabFmXoQivsFWoc1-etIiXerLaFS4ALE4Xo2y96x1zKJ2a9eIGbKQ/s3088/IMG_5384.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWmTRu6JQovjpSJyL49Wgm5-TlyIPyY4FtTVZ6bMf5oMZHuMjF-si5w6u2i8tHrfdC1BYaGUtyT1ZNxvceYah4QoOXTTyG2Fw7wsUUTi5zbwxfblYrQARZ6eLKpi8ZC82Mj9lzsabFmXoQivsFWoc1-etIiXerLaFS4ALE4Xo2y96x1zKJ2a9eIGbKQ/s320/IMG_5384.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So we decided to go see the lighthouse. In New England there are so many lighthouses up and down the coast. You can visit them and climb them if you want, no big deal. But the St. Augustine lighthouse was part of a museum and charged admission. Humph! It’s very distinctive, with its black and white spiral, so maybe that’s why.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So we decided to go get coffee. Starbucks it is! We had to ride several miles on Hwy A1A to get there. It has a bike lane, but it’s not protected and that really makes me nervous.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Thursday January 12</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Last night we went to a Japanese restaurant, Ginger Spice. It was very good. I got the small omokase. The fish was very fresh, thinly sliced, with potent wasabi and perfect rice. Tuna, yellowtail, salmon, shrimp. Nothing fancy but delicious. Lee got their ramen which was pretty wonderful. I had a taste, wow.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We took it easy this morning, but after lunch we went into town and toured the Castillo. We got in for free with our senior National park passes. It was very interesting, lots of exhibits and explanations about how the fort was used over the hundreds of years of its existence. Then an afternoon coffee on the porch of City Perks.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimw9LTht-Fasvlx5isSmKGADwKggRQsZR9VhGoYunDfl5uw6tksBfZF1at12ozP5pLhNtRJ3Qz5ffHDMdVn7XO0YIq6QYG1o_ZufpW5izxoqKZsbwbFC88Nf1OpBZMxIo3qZVkGWwJd4P88aniWwJPsCXxmWJ5n4jReGYpZB-42eXlNXeemTImMBFFNA/s4032/IMG_5396.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimw9LTht-Fasvlx5isSmKGADwKggRQsZR9VhGoYunDfl5uw6tksBfZF1at12ozP5pLhNtRJ3Qz5ffHDMdVn7XO0YIq6QYG1o_ZufpW5izxoqKZsbwbFC88Nf1OpBZMxIo3qZVkGWwJd4P88aniWwJPsCXxmWJ5n4jReGYpZB-42eXlNXeemTImMBFFNA/s320/IMG_5396.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">St. Augustine has been a little disappointing. I was hoping it was more like Savannah where the historic places are historic and the touristy stuff is separate. The buildings are very well preserved but are as likely to hold a tourist shop as a museum. And doing a walking tour, of architecture, or history, was hard to find. The Florida stories app I downloaded didn’t cover much and was way too talky for my taste. Maybe I should have looked for a Rick Steves tour. Maybe I should have planned ahead more. Maybe we’re just getting old!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday January 14</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Thursday night we went to a Peruvian restaurant in St Augustine named <a href="http://llamarestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Llama</a>. It was wonderful. We decided it’s probably one of the best places we have eaten in years, maybe since Bo Innovations in Hong Kong. We got the grilled beef hearts and the octopus as apps and then we shared the hangar steak entree. The beef hearts were supposed to be reminiscent of Peruvian street food. They were served in a glass dome that was raised at the table to let the snoke out just like it was fresh from a food truck! It was served with potatoes and an aioli sauce. The octopus was tender and served with a sauce made from a special olive that was wonderful. Lee said he wanted to lick the plate, but he restrained himself. The entree was very flavorful, served with tagliatelle and a mushroom sauce. So good! I got a dessert too, chocolate mousse.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYAMDgSrLdO1DZHvv-ZXTeSUl-39DENyeGjYv_VB1na16JFESz9zC8FoFr8bGLVZzAr7_gFT7Jmd-JufktXhmWVgifzlJHlt_NsJp2LcpIKJ58E-_QbEeM5H6H4MAOUrWr8As34FiLrVLckVbm9Mpmam2JN9APep_zfTbv5WJANqjEQ9vpy47R93G1zw/s4032/IMG_0480.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYAMDgSrLdO1DZHvv-ZXTeSUl-39DENyeGjYv_VB1na16JFESz9zC8FoFr8bGLVZzAr7_gFT7Jmd-JufktXhmWVgifzlJHlt_NsJp2LcpIKJ58E-_QbEeM5H6H4MAOUrWr8As34FiLrVLckVbm9Mpmam2JN9APep_zfTbv5WJANqjEQ9vpy47R93G1zw/s320/IMG_0480.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friday morning we got more pastries and then made our way to Apopka, FL, near where Tom and Nicole live. We met them at the Crooked Thumb brewery in Winter Garden. We sat outside near a heater but it was really cold for Florida, 50's and dropping and windy. We talked a bunch, caught up on things, on their plans. Nicole graduates in May and then they will be on to their next adventure. Their kids are growing up too, August is almost three, and Harrison is 5 1/2!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It dropped into the 30’s last night and it’s going to do it again tonight. We run a little electric space heater to save on propane, but the RV heater kicked on too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After lunch we drove along the Lake Apopka Wildlife reserve drive. We saw lots and lots and lots of birds, and alligators too. Egrets, heron, eagles, hawks and ducks. Lee’s friend Dan recommended it to us and I’m very glad he did!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9OOvWBt68QGU2hCBk4npuf6BpAAqTvcsMMN9R6OuAT5_NKm86JK5_4JIdQZJaj4-IFEU7IdMURzoKTo4sKLHSKkNpjQEaHhKqczNCph3j5VPidrDz2UVG0bZRU2eysH9r09-GZl2mx5ddsnoOgczCYP8wP6Fy-6Qfcwm3KIdD1mp7m5M8qor7PxwMug/s4032/IMG_5410.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9OOvWBt68QGU2hCBk4npuf6BpAAqTvcsMMN9R6OuAT5_NKm86JK5_4JIdQZJaj4-IFEU7IdMURzoKTo4sKLHSKkNpjQEaHhKqczNCph3j5VPidrDz2UVG0bZRU2eysH9r09-GZl2mx5ddsnoOgczCYP8wP6Fy-6Qfcwm3KIdD1mp7m5M8qor7PxwMug/s320/IMG_5410.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-60905230833062300852023-02-01T16:04:00.000-06:002023-02-01T16:04:11.157-06:00Florida 2023 January 1-7: Columbia-Nashville-Georgia-Disney<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZYE-5qfsh8FHzB8v2Jy9bo3923hJnr6So6Cuix0uV_D5S0cormNjB1gbkpHWgV-ZErwJgBBXdyY4HDzDtR_AWMoj1fbjgQwwLWBij-QOS8e4sEo5OTGKQP3t9YpqhUsoGqKg8nLY3N4rgvpTpVmdBkb34jmhfa5MzeQ3oZCKe-nD6eQEEw8BCP7qoPg/s4032/IMG_5332.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZYE-5qfsh8FHzB8v2Jy9bo3923hJnr6So6Cuix0uV_D5S0cormNjB1gbkpHWgV-ZErwJgBBXdyY4HDzDtR_AWMoj1fbjgQwwLWBij-QOS8e4sEo5OTGKQP3t9YpqhUsoGqKg8nLY3N4rgvpTpVmdBkb34jmhfa5MzeQ3oZCKe-nD6eQEEw8BCP7qoPg/s320/IMG_5332.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday January 1</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lee and I have both been sick, me with some cold/flu/gastrointestinal thing; Lee with 24 hours of what was probably a norovirus. All day Saturday we tough it out getting packed and the RV loaded. By Sunday, New Years Day, we are better, and ready to go.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We shorten our driving sessions to give ourselves more rest, even though it means taking more time. Minnesota is cold and snowy, but as we drive through Iowa and then Missouri the snow disappears and it gets warmer, almost 50F by the time we get to Columbia!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is a long day of driving, close to 9 hours with all the stops. We won’t do another day this long. We park the RV in front of Joanne’s old house even though she has moved out. We use her electricity and borrow a hose from Mark and Mary so we have water too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Harper starts doing her shaking and shivering act, but I take them on a walk and then put CBD in her dinner and she does eventually calm down. It would be great if she would get over this RV phobia. We are all tired. We eat some leftovers and fall into bed</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday Jan 2</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We are spending the day in Columbia. I actually feel well enough to run for the first time in almost a week. I ran almost 5 miles and feel good. Still a little shaky though. Then we go visit Joanne at her new apartment. It’s really nice and she has decorated it beautifully. I’m impressed by how she managed she select some of her things for a much smaller space. Unfortunately she is having an episode with her horrible headaches. They are not migraines but something much worse. We saw her have 3 episodes while we were visiting and it was pretty awful. I feel really bad for her, especially since doctors don’t seem to know what to do to help her.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We had Subshop for lunch and then went out to visit Mary in the afternoon. It was nice just sitting around talking for awhile. We don’t get to visit nearly often enough. This evening we’re having carryout from Murry’s for dinner. No Shakespeare’s this time.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday January 3</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Long uneventful day except for one thing. The housekeepers came today. Erika calls me, “Lynn the door to the house is locked”. Omg! I’m so stupid! I was trying to be safe but totally forgot that they would have no way to get in. And Melissa can’t water the plants either. What a mess. Lee insists that Sarah has a key but Sarah can’t find it and has no memory of getting one either. There’s nothing we can do about it. The housekeepers come again the day after we get home, and I watered the plants right before I left. Ugh though, so dumb.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Illinois, Kentucky Tennessee. I couldn’t help but think about the last time we passed this way, going home with Covid nipping at our heels. It was mid March of 2020 and we were just beginning to realize how bad this was. I’m sure we would have been shocked to find out that Covid would still be around in 2023 and we would be learning to live with it.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday January 4</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I ran up and down the roads in the RV park this morning for a little over 4 miles. I’m feeling almost back to normal but it’s anyone’s guess what the marathon will be like. The weather looks great. Cold at the start, warmer toward the end, so I shouldn’t dilly dally on the course too long. I’ll just jog along and enjoy the fun!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Another uneventful drive, until the very end. We were at a gas station and as Lee was turning to pull next to a pump the awning on the RV caught on some ladders that were sticking out behind a truck. It ripped the awning and tore the entire mechanism off the RV! I was in the bathroom when it happened and when I came out it was just hanging off the RV with Lee trying to remove it completely so we could continue on. He managed to get it off, and we’ll be fine without the awning for a month but it’s going to be an expensive repair. Thank goodness for insurance! He was upset to say the least.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Another nice RV park in the wilds of Georgia south of Atlanta. Atlanta traffic is always terrible. This time it wasn’t too bad, no accidents at least, just rush hour traffic. Florida tomorrow!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfn4YO9w39JnQhWygWsTsK0paOQ8V0kfAJdPii_3hf46pjRvqEs4-pmGRKrw7jUEb31lPc2HDuVM4fMHDs_vaq0uD6ufcjAFXXZJQo19F0pdtUwxPjOqaehhODxSKFNnks9rkLJUVfNYAqKUXlaHUp3q_7hiJ8blX8S2K-KQ8UF5tcotTREfluF_PTIg/s3264/69466018738__B8D5601A-56C3-4786-A3BE-032DF6A321F4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfn4YO9w39JnQhWygWsTsK0paOQ8V0kfAJdPii_3hf46pjRvqEs4-pmGRKrw7jUEb31lPc2HDuVM4fMHDs_vaq0uD6ufcjAFXXZJQo19F0pdtUwxPjOqaehhODxSKFNnks9rkLJUVfNYAqKUXlaHUp3q_7hiJ8blX8S2K-KQ8UF5tcotTREfluF_PTIg/s320/69466018738__B8D5601A-56C3-4786-A3BE-032DF6A321F4.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday Jan 7</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Fort Wilderness campsites are very nice. Lee was happy. Concrete slab, very level, easy setup. It’s been relatively chilly for Florida, 50’s and 60’s. The Floridians think it’s cold, ha, but it was really nice for going to the parks yesterday. As soon as the truck was disconnected I drove over to the Expo to get my bib and race shirt. I looked around but didn’t see anything I had to have. No pint glasses so they saved me from myself. I need sunscreen but I’ll just stop at a medical tent during the race.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsREVFwsLToGgxZiPvho4T1UDZU5AsBd3_tcbDxKTr7RXX7haGDJG0YHK0tzkib1i9hi_V0SGHztEp49X8l5tL6yU1qgOSx2wBnH9ndMp-Rlq9FDqCdevCudIIvo5gHlZC5ML5x3jURon_e1DcBR9kk3uAhaBV91jmaXwdviNMIRtkHTmFYW_iDDCsrw/s4032/IMG_5352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsREVFwsLToGgxZiPvho4T1UDZU5AsBd3_tcbDxKTr7RXX7haGDJG0YHK0tzkib1i9hi_V0SGHztEp49X8l5tL6yU1qgOSx2wBnH9ndMp-Rlq9FDqCdevCudIIvo5gHlZC5ML5x3jURon_e1DcBR9kk3uAhaBV91jmaXwdviNMIRtkHTmFYW_iDDCsrw/s320/IMG_5352.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yesterday we went to Animal Kingdom in the morning. We met Amy D there. It was so wonderful to see her! Big hugs and smiles! We had to take the dogs to daycare first so couldn’t get there as early as we would have hoped and couldn’t get on Avatar, or even the Pandora River ride. But we could do the Safari and Lee really liked it. Then we walked through Gorilla Falls and saw more animals. The gorillas were great. Then we rode Dinosaur, which is as close to a roller coaster as Lee will get!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmrTO4Nr0xasvQknh4xD_X0E8UJpAUhOk81RMsPx_xquqV9d_HfuPA8yhjIF4ZYQl0W8ais7cn4Bk0kFh6BWFec2iZtVGLxyd15w-DeSCPIPvaLKmnO-FJTJ-Pc0pTH71FTnlVqNunC1B4qbPMryg_I01aKMw2OyzDX9Fx8ISdi9HdlaZalsaoCVMrdA/s4032/IMG_5350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmrTO4Nr0xasvQknh4xD_X0E8UJpAUhOk81RMsPx_xquqV9d_HfuPA8yhjIF4ZYQl0W8ais7cn4Bk0kFh6BWFec2iZtVGLxyd15w-DeSCPIPvaLKmnO-FJTJ-Pc0pTH71FTnlVqNunC1B4qbPMryg_I01aKMw2OyzDX9Fx8ISdi9HdlaZalsaoCVMrdA/s320/IMG_5350.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then it was time for lunch at Tuskers. It wasn’t nearly as good as I remembered, but it was fine, and the characters were adorable.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zLyQbef4VXP2tbCslkSFX6bpzqtZZZcPQHljsuaf1ZfG4xRYJ9n7LE7MW-aaNB40vQIkXp2TQOm_zpZSo-jxB05vdIVARh0JGGbd3PfxHiiN54oP__mWQo7cVFvvicZZcxLVb01bavOX-hwX-BGsnfLgIqkQ7Nh44D9wgN8Zv0qh4VibxQu0DN723Q/s4032/IMG_0471.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zLyQbef4VXP2tbCslkSFX6bpzqtZZZcPQHljsuaf1ZfG4xRYJ9n7LE7MW-aaNB40vQIkXp2TQOm_zpZSo-jxB05vdIVARh0JGGbd3PfxHiiN54oP__mWQo7cVFvvicZZcxLVb01bavOX-hwX-BGsnfLgIqkQ7Nh44D9wgN8Zv0qh4VibxQu0DN723Q/s320/IMG_0471.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then Lee was fighting a cold and feeling tired so he went back to the RV and Amy and I went to Magic Kingdom. A very different vibe from AK, more open, less frenetic. We had lightening passes for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, my two nostalgic favorites. There are both funny and entertaining and bring back memories of 90’s Disney.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we took the boat across the lake back to Fort Wilderness. That in itself was really nice. Lee met us as the Fort Wilderness dock and took us back to the RV and Amy hung out with us for awhile.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve caught Lee’s cold which sucks. I still went for a shakeout run. I felt ok, not terrible, not amazing. It was supposed to be 3 miles but I got lost. At one point a Disney employee, er I mean cast member, stopped me and asked me what I was doing and told me I was in a restricted area. I told him I was lost but he didn’t seem capable of telling where I needed to go. He mostly wanted to yell at me and make sure I was properly remorseful for missing the sign. I eventually had to call Lee to get directions back. I ended up doing 4 miles, but that’s ok.Then I did laundry at the very high tech laundromat. Pay by credit card, start electronically and use an app to monitor your machines! They sent me a text when they were finished.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve taken it easy all afternoon. I took about a 45 minute nap. Lee is making me pasta for dinner. I’ll probably be in bed by 7:30. Up at 2 tomorrow morning!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGJ1MYHM_uz8ZnBQU-SaoKnMyLmhzTUoC-ykeBm2fHjTkI4foTRoAsYavVbl838Rnit5abKehbWSkI4WgF-37yl-MqeBaGZaWbgMqdu9IOu-mGEA26Rk4lWZgjavekrW2_BC1Y-dMSKQy931OQjwfE7gU8EdJ1xY2Y2T80R0br5Q04BsjoGFqNHXhzg/s4032/69480011382__40357A74-6CF6-4288-8E99-3EF99C8D74EF.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGJ1MYHM_uz8ZnBQU-SaoKnMyLmhzTUoC-ykeBm2fHjTkI4foTRoAsYavVbl838Rnit5abKehbWSkI4WgF-37yl-MqeBaGZaWbgMqdu9IOu-mGEA26Rk4lWZgjavekrW2_BC1Y-dMSKQy931OQjwfE7gU8EdJ1xY2Y2T80R0br5Q04BsjoGFqNHXhzg/s320/69480011382__40357A74-6CF6-4288-8E99-3EF99C8D74EF.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-13069698959553348702022-10-31T15:21:00.000-05:002022-10-31T15:21:32.905-05:00Grand Marias October 2022<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKleQPVVxdqrwZDPe0NlD9Aw29pFL2xphFT1OVkaOEZZaR09NrtUUhKpffVnjcg3eBd52eTSyJa_XvIEC6Uv4qG6f4glZlxg8ZgTnWLUC_8eOaIRzrDtTI-R2QpotS2lUbIoZutGsk-UIzknsISXQrzMj4Emat_66OpXCddcO3QpLWYqc4sTvVGIGYw/s4032/IMG_5003.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKleQPVVxdqrwZDPe0NlD9Aw29pFL2xphFT1OVkaOEZZaR09NrtUUhKpffVnjcg3eBd52eTSyJa_XvIEC6Uv4qG6f4glZlxg8ZgTnWLUC_8eOaIRzrDtTI-R2QpotS2lUbIoZutGsk-UIzknsISXQrzMj4Emat_66OpXCddcO3QpLWYqc4sTvVGIGYw/s320/IMG_5003.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We drove up yesterday afternoon and got here around 5. Cathy and JA were already here. They brought Gus, their beagle, with them. Cathy, JA and I took the dogs for a walk, while Lee set up camp. The leaves are still fairly green this year. When we were here 2 years ago they were past peak. It’s been unusually warm.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We walked into town for dinner and ate at the Voyager Brewery. Another difference from last time. We were in the thick of Covid then, pre vaccine. Everyone was wearing masks, everywhere, and we avoided going inside public places as much as possible.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The brewery had some nice beers, as beers go. JA got a beer flight. I liked the one I got, but I avoid hops if I can. Lee said it was like Budweiser, but nicer. It had a nice flavor. Lee and JA got tacos, Cathy got an arugula salad, I got the pork sliders. The food was good, nothing special.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It went down in the 50’s last night, chilly but nothing like how cold it was last time.I was very comfortable with the heater and our down quilt.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning everyone except me went on a hike to climb Eagle Mountain, the highest point in Minnesota. Don’t get all excited; that’s only 2,300 ft! I decided to stay back with the dogs. It was 6 miles round trip, so Heather would have been in the backpack for most of that, and even Harper hasn’t hiked that far in a long time, plus the trail description said in was very rocky.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlUlSZlA7FsvwXzXESAhFNS45VzUANBUE8QjmhjtSdkQ1iLlpoMgbTbn-U-7zdq4JgzYMuRTncYF9H8Z1W3gptimIc614U1qynPR4bAPeXjYr4QUX8i7fx5LxX-U_RWKgcgFV0cv8E3nrICaT5b23MGcIn3UXitlwn2cdoJnqmnbHtTdHBgmPTCC1bQ/s1800/1BB2D231-2B1B-4AC0-B311-C9EE34E9C1B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlUlSZlA7FsvwXzXESAhFNS45VzUANBUE8QjmhjtSdkQ1iLlpoMgbTbn-U-7zdq4JgzYMuRTncYF9H8Z1W3gptimIc614U1qynPR4bAPeXjYr4QUX8i7fx5LxX-U_RWKgcgFV0cv8E3nrICaT5b23MGcIn3UXitlwn2cdoJnqmnbHtTdHBgmPTCC1bQ/s320/1BB2D231-2B1B-4AC0-B311-C9EE34E9C1B2.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Instead first I took the dogs on a nice walk along the shore, into town and back. We walked around 1.25 miles, and as long as I stopped frequently Heather was fine. Then I hopped on the bike and rode the new section of the Gitchi Gami State Bike Trail, about 10 miles round trip. It’s a beautiful trail along Lake Superior, with long inclines and declines, that my new bike handled with ease. I even hit 20 mph on one of the declines! I still only averaged 11 mph though. Just need to get stronger on those hills.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXVaedwad8saixM_wkRbAGe0_i4eonkztLsIIBm-wO-_ueceTY_NmCvZhksDKuR5N8L-DKJEQDUKvDJaw5ayKT-Ban43VPanDOX768gDXPU_t24p4gn0Hppff9kEIeoFniQu27huBPfodkNBwi-SYy3n37oOz_1wqbTFkwSmu2tvX4ySljaObAYYBxpw/s4032/IMG_5001.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXVaedwad8saixM_wkRbAGe0_i4eonkztLsIIBm-wO-_ueceTY_NmCvZhksDKuR5N8L-DKJEQDUKvDJaw5ayKT-Ban43VPanDOX768gDXPU_t24p4gn0Hppff9kEIeoFniQu27huBPfodkNBwi-SYy3n37oOz_1wqbTFkwSmu2tvX4ySljaObAYYBxpw/s320/IMG_5001.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Thursday October 6</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I tried to wait for them to eat lunch but when they still weren’t back I went ahead and ate a little after noon. They didn’t get back until around 1. They said it was a tough hike because it was so rocky. Lee didn’t do the whole thing, he turned around after about 2.5 miles. I’m glad I didn’t go. It would have been really hard on the dogs, and it would have been hard on us to carry Heather in the backpack that far with so many rocks.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was a beautiful sunny afternoon. l sat outside at the picnic table while they ate a very late lunch. After that we walked into town because I wanted some coffee. We walked over to the path to the lighthouse but I was ready to take the dogs back to the RV. Heather had already walked a lot for her today.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisySxtpS30FKCzmRtOkXygDHa1O6RL7oUek1Am5Of83Y9tgqRVSm0rAyYgRlOduhVNiiSH2td9koK5vdjcHIwTnXmDyZ0XvUyx8Dq_JV0I_IOS66aJbIZlEw0fzeou5UZhGrXgUJxC366LiAKeEI0pNB2anVB22lDIqrFfZQlmkNrGGtofdwVIGF31Rg/s4032/IMG_4994.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisySxtpS30FKCzmRtOkXygDHa1O6RL7oUek1Am5Of83Y9tgqRVSm0rAyYgRlOduhVNiiSH2td9koK5vdjcHIwTnXmDyZ0XvUyx8Dq_JV0I_IOS66aJbIZlEw0fzeou5UZhGrXgUJxC366LiAKeEI0pNB2anVB22lDIqrFfZQlmkNrGGtofdwVIGF31Rg/s320/IMG_4994.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When we got back I set up the dog fence and a chair and sat in the sunshine with the dogs and crocheted and chatted. I actually wore my sunglasses while I was crocheting! JA had taken Gus and walked to the lighthouse, and when we got back Cathy realized she was locked out of their RV so she hung out with us until he got back.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The sun dipped behind a pine tree at around 4 pm and it suddenly got chilly so we retreated inside until it was time to go to dinner. This time we decided to try The Angry Trout, right down the road from the campsite. We had to wait a little while for a table but that was ok. The food was good. I had the fish of the day, which was herring. Not the usual herring you get from the ocean, this was a fresh caught fish that was a lot like whitefish. I thought it was good. Everyone’s dinner came with a side salad that was huge.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We walked back to the RV and started getting ready for bed right as it started to rain. Good timing! We fell asleep to the sound of rain against the RV.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We woke in the morning to sunshine and much colder temps. After<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>ate my breakfast I decided to take the dogs for their morning walk. I started out and then went back to get my phone so I could take a picture of the sunrise. I’d been having trouble opening the door to the RV and this time it was really stuck. Lee had to open it from the inside. I went ahead and took the dogs on a little stroll. When I returned Lee was outside. He had been trying to figure out what was wrong with the door and had locked us out.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was a bummer. All the keys were inside the RV, including the keys to the truck. Fortunately the truck bed wasn’t locked so he had access to his tools. JA came over to help and I started calling locksmiths,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> m</span>ost of whom either didn’t work on campers or weren’t yet answering their phones, or lived an hour away from where we were. We tried to find another camper with the same keys, no luck. We tried to get in via the emergency exit, but it’s made to allow you to get out, not in. They tried to pick the lock, nope. Finally they drove to the hardware store to get the right sized bit, and drilled out the lock. That worked. All in all it took about an hour and a half to get back into the RV. The dogs were mightily confused, but they didn’t mind eating some of Gus’s food for breakfast.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At first I was going to skip my run because now we were running behind but I decided I should go ahead because I was feeling pretty agitated. I’m glad I did. It was a beautiful chilly run, up and down the Gitchi Gami.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’re on our way home now. Final trip of the season; I’m glad we went. Now the RV gets a break until January when we will head to Florida for a month, and hope that our RV campgrounds weren’t destroyed by Hurricane Ian.</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgM2BKonyNSOrIMOkyLhQWwknj9wjmMO3mD8ThzHEA1OvU_AbE31Fq_kefnvamooH5WRYSqwFnRv01FswYBYtE9udqHjjT-QlSNW0V7Muuap8ZMeAGSQgx3XGYBtQsHw6vBJfn6sFgLxVQJoP861qomHF2IpTPGV6rOPadIxQ36F7c3RURhoS1o4NDw/s4032/IMG_5007.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgM2BKonyNSOrIMOkyLhQWwknj9wjmMO3mD8ThzHEA1OvU_AbE31Fq_kefnvamooH5WRYSqwFnRv01FswYBYtE9udqHjjT-QlSNW0V7Muuap8ZMeAGSQgx3XGYBtQsHw6vBJfn6sFgLxVQJoP861qomHF2IpTPGV6rOPadIxQ36F7c3RURhoS1o4NDw/s320/IMG_5007.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-12806932929225052392022-10-17T13:22:00.000-05:002022-10-17T13:22:25.432-05:00Banff - The Rest of the Way Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtF2BkuocbM6JCrX__2VD03V-tmRx8SZHVsnKOkFVDdHeBmWWzDnFsj8a6DKqgaS41PfQZAtTTmdMOmjkRfrd9aVeY3RFfbVfYBubOmVTFmAG8_gBvuU9mSF5BKt3mOO2dkLbLtd9SpIJ1aRENH1BCrsduAkQr2-tpKHrtJ59Dn1rTM_J020DuOE3EVQ/s3929/IMG_4801.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2946" data-original-width="3929" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtF2BkuocbM6JCrX__2VD03V-tmRx8SZHVsnKOkFVDdHeBmWWzDnFsj8a6DKqgaS41PfQZAtTTmdMOmjkRfrd9aVeY3RFfbVfYBubOmVTFmAG8_gBvuU9mSF5BKt3mOO2dkLbLtd9SpIJ1aRENH1BCrsduAkQr2-tpKHrtJ59Dn1rTM_J020DuOE3EVQ/s320/IMG_4801.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sunday August 28</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Duchess AB to Swift Current SA. Back on the plains. Today and tomorrow are short days, then two long days and we’ll be home. This morning Lee had to turn on the aircon and Harper started panting. Of course. Now here on Kilton Hill it’s breezy and coolish so absolutely no need for the air to be on, but Harper is panting and shivering. I just gave her half a CBD chew and she stopped. Such a crazy dog!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuL7hH4cWL-cFf5IX24umCA1pDeg_L2v2xdJ5AQEyT7OabiebOYWA9BJBawr3VZoqpX86PnxbkH3PUFJSe1YqPsPmJ9h2FQpFrnmM0kdLwojuz83gZKSfQPjC2lTQIuJSXdJQOKu5NxYsju1FuyV72vw_CSK67LsdIwZ6qhFCLcK3HB-5qUCUvZ3x4A/s4032/IMG_4809.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuL7hH4cWL-cFf5IX24umCA1pDeg_L2v2xdJ5AQEyT7OabiebOYWA9BJBawr3VZoqpX86PnxbkH3PUFJSe1YqPsPmJ9h2FQpFrnmM0kdLwojuz83gZKSfQPjC2lTQIuJSXdJQOKu5NxYsju1FuyV72vw_CSK67LsdIwZ6qhFCLcK3HB-5qUCUvZ3x4A/s320/IMG_4809.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Monday August 29th</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning I did a quick 39 minute run on Kilton Hill. Breezy and chilly (48F!) but the sun was warm. Then back on the road. We ate lunch in a park in Moose Jaw, SA and had to drive thru downtown to get there. Their town motto is “Canada’s most notorious city”. Apparently there are tunnels underneath the town that were used by bootleggers during prohibition, and at some point Al Capone used it as a hideout. I had no idea that Canada had prohibition too!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We are staying in a regional park campground. Very quiet, only a few other campers. The weather is perfect, 70’s and sunny, so we are sitting outside with the dogs and enjoying it while we can. Tomorrow we’ll be back in the US, Jamestown ND.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday August 30</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I thought today would be just a boring day, drive drive drive, and it was, mostly, until the last hour or so, or what should have been the last hour. We got out of Oungre early for us, around 8:45, but we had a long drive, and would go back on Central Time, so we would lose an hour too. Crossing the border was easy. I highly recommend crossing at remote, seldom used crossings! No other traffic and except for a few questions they basically wave you through!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Most of the day was uneventful. Lee drove before lunch, I drove after, then Lee took over for the last stretch. Things were going just fine until we hit road construction. On a two lane road, the kind where you had to wait for a pilot car to guide you through. The first time we had to wait about 5 minutes. Nbd, right? But then there was another one. The second time we had to wait close to 10 minutes. Sigh. Then there was a 3rd one, and a 4th, each one involving a longer wait than the one before. It was ridiculous. We probably lost at least 45 minutes, just waiting for the pilot car to come get us. It would have been nice if Google had known about this and warned us, but nope!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpwqy7nBHZwbY3kEq7sZg7fGFbNqverjM9J2Ya3eqGgjJDWqLD290c2Ew27rNvjqgGj_jHjjKg-s08L4Femnu1CUyZBXAEIirx6QQXvIlgUORk5ofQiQc5ygfgXIFXrBj9mViVQPuhBc-7qihYDj7ZIgLMtRsDqSGXHTQMRfd85aFZNfExPfkSLbJPg/s4032/IMG_4812.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpwqy7nBHZwbY3kEq7sZg7fGFbNqverjM9J2Ya3eqGgjJDWqLD290c2Ew27rNvjqgGj_jHjjKg-s08L4Femnu1CUyZBXAEIirx6QQXvIlgUORk5ofQiQc5ygfgXIFXrBj9mViVQPuhBc-7qihYDj7ZIgLMtRsDqSGXHTQMRfd85aFZNfExPfkSLbJPg/s320/IMG_4812.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We finally got to Jamestown around 5. It’s 91F here, quite a change from just a day ago! Of course we have to run the aircon, and Harper is stressed out, again. Oh well Harper, one more night! Tomorrow we’ll be home.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday August 31</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Last night someone’s rig was emitting an awful stench. It was sewer gas. And it was bad! The temp had dropped so we had opened the windows and turned on the fan, and it was pretty awful. Fortunately it dissipated after a while. Lee sent the managers an email about it and they refunded that night’s fee. It really is a great campground and I don’t think it was their fault, just someone that didn’t have their sewer line hooked up correctly. I would stay there again in a minute, if we ever pass that way again, which isn’t too likely!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The drive home was uneventful, thank goodness. We ate lunch at an old fashioned drive in, Dee’s, in Barnsville MN. Their hamburgers were really good, and I got a small hot fudge shake too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There was a truck on fire on I-94 right before were hit the cities. By the time we passed it the fire was out, but the truck was a charred wreck.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s great to be home, the RV unloaded, a humongous pile of laundry waiting for me. But first we’re going to take the boys on a boat ride tomorrow morning. I can’t wait to see them!</p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-76636225111397031212022-10-08T15:11:00.001-05:002022-10-08T15:13:02.227-05:00Banff Part III - Lake Louise and Lake Moraine - Not What We Were Expecting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7MhItxlUgYnKko_GXBP8OS7rWFdeUwTVd_SJwzQJeXC54Dac5W5W2gzVEd3fMMSFoGZIWPUjpllvjV5Y6a-2s9YeIDa6LBusgJbneBT0za-ZsloAawgCor4rTodP-2LrWNzfT1uzaazrBhMB6AoT6hj_KlLkMIbDq4qtKmfIuJVV5ZY-bz4FUAQGRg/s4032/IMG_4757.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7MhItxlUgYnKko_GXBP8OS7rWFdeUwTVd_SJwzQJeXC54Dac5W5W2gzVEd3fMMSFoGZIWPUjpllvjV5Y6a-2s9YeIDa6LBusgJbneBT0za-ZsloAawgCor4rTodP-2LrWNzfT1uzaazrBhMB6AoT6hj_KlLkMIbDq4qtKmfIuJVV5ZY-bz4FUAQGRg/s320/IMG_4757.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Thursday August 25</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Well today was a crazy day. Things did not go as planned, but they worked out anyway.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Our thought was we would drive up to Lake Louise in the morning, maybe see Lake Moraine as well, have a picnic lunch, drive back. Well we drive up to the lake around 9 am. It’s a nice drive on the Trans Canada Hwy, around 45 minutes from Banff. The wildlife crossings on the Hwy are pretty cool too.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia5AHIXr8UabrSQd33F9XB1FptEujZd4vJVlpVjSQR2DY7TXDyXl00xHZxMPraLiZ9hTC7uQ55H-6Lx9ISmCSt5GaYmxvF00U8ELC4toU_IWvUwBodLWwun0Nnr8CK5yGPcT0uG-CnLbdlIQti5MwMEB-FuVUrBPNmyX3lXgjZlzjMmHvRNG4RaogxFg/s4032/IMG_4711.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia5AHIXr8UabrSQd33F9XB1FptEujZd4vJVlpVjSQR2DY7TXDyXl00xHZxMPraLiZ9hTC7uQ55H-6Lx9ISmCSt5GaYmxvF00U8ELC4toU_IWvUwBodLWwun0Nnr8CK5yGPcT0uG-CnLbdlIQti5MwMEB-FuVUrBPNmyX3lXgjZlzjMmHvRNG4RaogxFg/s320/IMG_4711.HEIC" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trans Canada Hwy Wildlife Crossing</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we get there. Lake Moraine, parking lot full. Lake Louise, parking lot full. Oh well we think, we’ll have to take the shuttle from the parknride. Ha, all shuttles booked for the day. Well pooh.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We drive back on the Bow River Parkway, Hwy 1a, to at least get something positive out of the drive. We stop at a day use area for our picnic lunch, a very pretty spot, and drive the rest of the way back to Banff.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4rAFJaqwYcPZZjtZzCq9mOikKDxiFqcmQlURry7HHDdGdxUcoMPeAZOY9pAhsfg_Mq0a10rGHILm-X7Wd0eZmg0kHLw_oiTzwvMzlK9aHEHtSOtClpMPacgbQCY70Y86o-IrS6tRiNkTL5DGhZ1LA-k-uGh-h9aOTUK9sOsjoNhFMAlbwaagFhUBcw/s4032/IMG_4717.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4rAFJaqwYcPZZjtZzCq9mOikKDxiFqcmQlURry7HHDdGdxUcoMPeAZOY9pAhsfg_Mq0a10rGHILm-X7Wd0eZmg0kHLw_oiTzwvMzlK9aHEHtSOtClpMPacgbQCY70Y86o-IrS6tRiNkTL5DGhZ1LA-k-uGh-h9aOTUK9sOsjoNhFMAlbwaagFhUBcw/s320/IMG_4717.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bow River</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We decide to go on a 1 hour raft trip on the Bow River. We deposit the dogs in the camper and off we go again. This turns out to be fun and relaxing and very pretty. We found out what the Hoodoos are, and saw the sleeping Buffalo on the mountain. We even saw some rock climbers high up on Tunnel mountain. Yikes!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1o4CHLD3QDWknMzW9vkWCeqf1CCJb0K_s7y6LYVX8NRw6K3ynDOlx6a41xb0KZnqSGpvI34wVUTHV2rJFeyNjZ0WzAH4Q3rNG9V0WQQ75-QfctcH8l8_FmaUHqPZ9ejyWISksZs32PwPYUobgQocmHME2Jo1O0F9qlljqStfbwlny_XEqWHm54ZOcA/s4032/IMG_4747.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1o4CHLD3QDWknMzW9vkWCeqf1CCJb0K_s7y6LYVX8NRw6K3ynDOlx6a41xb0KZnqSGpvI34wVUTHV2rJFeyNjZ0WzAH4Q3rNG9V0WQQ75-QfctcH8l8_FmaUHqPZ9ejyWISksZs32PwPYUobgQocmHME2Jo1O0F9qlljqStfbwlny_XEqWHm54ZOcA/s320/IMG_4747.HEIC" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hoodoos</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvQSMx5gv3f_sVWUAuZLC41NrJQTjDW-W6D-GHh1l1CcdNaZlhhxiI1aiHHkIuKLTD1ToMoqHFC4XgjZgFjq2kF7T-YDymcmwHps1IEM3UsqvcfIVIy-aEO6bhHzAr-U0RhIv5rvXygYg1hCh8S2IcvIMGLcj7CUNsaaPS4q_a_hk4nTaBEUVa-00zw/s2100/IMG_4740.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1574" data-original-width="2100" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvQSMx5gv3f_sVWUAuZLC41NrJQTjDW-W6D-GHh1l1CcdNaZlhhxiI1aiHHkIuKLTD1ToMoqHFC4XgjZgFjq2kF7T-YDymcmwHps1IEM3UsqvcfIVIy-aEO6bhHzAr-U0RhIv5rvXygYg1hCh8S2IcvIMGLcj7CUNsaaPS4q_a_hk4nTaBEUVa-00zw/s320/IMG_4740.HEIC" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sleeping Buffalo</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2gJ08ataGSgIXvC3optvjVyCGwoCO2WAeEHTcQiCMjXep8sItqYS95jmRljQDRk33EGiVVfvc-BXrX4HSCLZdnN5d3eonYujc45L7DgjE8ya9plJIlaRMSOztoF14XAhosZvtGeC5G4v6EHxvki77nMVbt2yBmXCHZQc4wtv2MLq999bTl20r8IYqDA/s4032/IMG_4738.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2gJ08ataGSgIXvC3optvjVyCGwoCO2WAeEHTcQiCMjXep8sItqYS95jmRljQDRk33EGiVVfvc-BXrX4HSCLZdnN5d3eonYujc45L7DgjE8ya9plJIlaRMSOztoF14XAhosZvtGeC5G4v6EHxvki77nMVbt2yBmXCHZQc4wtv2MLq999bTl20r8IYqDA/s320/IMG_4738.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bow River Rafting</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When we got back to the camper Lee called the Lake Louise Shuttle and got us a reservation at 2 pm tomorrow. It was all they had. That or according to some people we talked to on the float trip, sleep in the truck in the Lake Moraine parking lot tonight. Uh no, we’re way too old for that!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friday August 26</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After the float trip we went back to the RV for awhile. I sat outside in the screen tent, crocheted and read. Very nice! Then I took the dogs for a walk, fed them, and changed clothes. We had a reservation in town at an Italian-Swiss restaurant called Ticino’s. It was really good! Lee’s gin martini was well made, which is always a good sign. I had a vodka lemonade which was refreshing and delicious. Then I had the gnocchi as an appetizer and we shared a salad. The gnocchi was awesome, but I got the smaller option because I wanted to try the fondue as well.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I had the cheese fondue as my main course, and Lee got a veal, mushroom, and potato dish which was amazing. He shared some of it with me. The fondue was delicious. We ate all of Lee's entree and as much of the fondue as we could. We were stuffed and happy, a good conclusion to a day that could have been a disaster, but we definitely made lemonade out of lemons this time!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saturday August 27</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Well yesterday was “interesting “ as the Minnesotans say. We saw both Lakes, and they were beautiful, as everyone has said. BUT!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We had a leisurely morning. I ran the trail that goes all the way around the Tunnel Mountain campgrounds, around 4.25 miles. It was a very pretty trail. It’s the longest I’ve run since the marathon.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I need to practice some trail running before I do the arboretum trail 10k again at the end of September.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPSVLCtiV-j6AT-qRs_OeJI7AHlf6pmmgeNrizNmMCa6l5C5imvwQlrVca7WDz4Q7pK5MexxxmFRf5ozazufneZjmma6CdAw89d_MUiW-Swkcsw00j-uZovrfoFFQx3_K6QIkYgfbKRHDpdyrDM0Vho6QJoK2yhlLtxRbZViljMStZGOZDqXIHPg84JQ/s4032/IMG_4762.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPSVLCtiV-j6AT-qRs_OeJI7AHlf6pmmgeNrizNmMCa6l5C5imvwQlrVca7WDz4Q7pK5MexxxmFRf5ozazufneZjmma6CdAw89d_MUiW-Swkcsw00j-uZovrfoFFQx3_K6QIkYgfbKRHDpdyrDM0Vho6QJoK2yhlLtxRbZViljMStZGOZDqXIHPg84JQ/s320/IMG_4762.HEIC" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tunnel Mountain Trail</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At around 1 we said goodbye to the dogs and drove back to Lake Louise. The shuttle parking lot was almost full but there were still spots. We walked to the bus stop for Lake Moraine. We would go there first, then take the shuttle to Lake Louise and then go back.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We waited around 20 minutes for the shuttle. The bus was warm, and packed full. Dark clouds were gathering over the mountains. Just as we pulled into the parking lot it began to rain, just lightly at first.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lake Moraine is beautiful just like people said. Very blue! You could rent canoes, or hike along the shore, except for one thing. It started to thunder, and lightening, and rain harder.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>After 15 minutes we decided we had better head to Lake Louise.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_HB4SDm5xRIpsg5P95_NJmwRRybJFXT535oSh6mX4tmHnk_Xx5mgLjJLYLsbdJtkTWAQl6oXiXlGlU7wcExw7N66IHEE9TQnWBaxSG9f2lXgThYxoE3fA4Uq6_7zuShOzgNS3ruxe4iSalg2E5KwG5pB4iLSE4X80j0IfzhA-zOoPTX-YBThQQkFRA/s4032/IMG_4768.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_HB4SDm5xRIpsg5P95_NJmwRRybJFXT535oSh6mX4tmHnk_Xx5mgLjJLYLsbdJtkTWAQl6oXiXlGlU7wcExw7N66IHEE9TQnWBaxSG9f2lXgThYxoE3fA4Uq6_7zuShOzgNS3ruxe4iSalg2E5KwG5pB4iLSE4X80j0IfzhA-zOoPTX-YBThQQkFRA/s320/IMG_4768.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Moraine</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So did a lot of other people. We waited about a half hour in the pouring rain, and got pretty soaked in spite of our rain parkas. It was cold too. Finally we got on the bus and before very long we were at Lake Louise. It’s pretty spectacular! But sooooo crowded. At least it had stopped raining. We walked up to the shore, took some requisite pictures and that was that.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_0_dUcwMs1UuXZ27OphXgL565t8abzXcVcharmBlR5ls6M88qYM0hN7WQ4mA-bjIRGnOwJrV9M9uQskZ9-_P1-CdSzfmG6z92MAk6BtHR-nRPbNAHXOI88-__m1Rp4W0hkzdnchwrwnkpiOAAHsXuWXn2q2O8FtOHasEZ0WngoWLcWd_8wtuYqG3bg/s4032/IMG_4772.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_0_dUcwMs1UuXZ27OphXgL565t8abzXcVcharmBlR5ls6M88qYM0hN7WQ4mA-bjIRGnOwJrV9M9uQskZ9-_P1-CdSzfmG6z92MAk6BtHR-nRPbNAHXOI88-__m1Rp4W0hkzdnchwrwnkpiOAAHsXuWXn2q2O8FtOHasEZ0WngoWLcWd_8wtuYqG3bg/s320/IMG_4772.HEIC" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Louise</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">By now with all the waiting in line for shuttles it was 4:30. We figured it would be close to 6 by the time we got back to the RV. Time to go.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The line for the shuttle back to the park and ride was huge. One bus came, filled up quickly, and left. They finally took pity on us and got another bus to help out. Back to the park and ride, walk to the truck, drive the 45 minutes back to Banff.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We got Popeye’s for dinner. Not healthy but quick and easy. The dogs were very happy to see us. After a chance to pee, and another longer walk after dinner, they were content.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So. Obviously there’s got to be a better way to do this. A tour? Maybe. They got priority and it would reduce the hassle. Go and sleep in the parking lot? Sure, if we were 30 years younger. Ha. Or, plan ahead and stay in one of the hotels or campgrounds up by the lakes. There weren’t RV campgrounds that I saw, and it’s always a question whether hotels or cabins will allow dogs.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So I don’t know. I’m glad we saw the lakes, but it wasn’t worth the insanity.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This morning we drove to Canmore, about 20 minutes from Banff, and right on our way. It’s very nice, a much lower energy version of Banff, with some nice mountains of its own. We parked the RV in free parking, and walked down 8th street, a pedestrian street in the heart of town. Lots of shops and stuff but it was early and they weren’t open yet. No matter. We found a popular looking bagel shop. Lee got a bagel and orange juice. I got a cinnamon roll and a cappuccino. Then we walked back to the truck and went on our way. We are on our way home.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcj-A_7F76TsRVjhIVxg9L4BpdR1m7e7kwThq3r428qpFj9GWKwPCTPaL5HCzpprJUdKE8yeE6aDmQiO4vgOYJ5Dab7JMob6pJ_1wc6bznXaVYFRsqqZUXKBuaQcrtJrkKnr8Y6wsIZ5rdZPsAIoFWwKZ4vRwibK2qZEZgWgyhU1s8Ci2GSJcp5FoTrw/s4032/IMG_4777.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcj-A_7F76TsRVjhIVxg9L4BpdR1m7e7kwThq3r428qpFj9GWKwPCTPaL5HCzpprJUdKE8yeE6aDmQiO4vgOYJ5Dab7JMob6pJ_1wc6bznXaVYFRsqqZUXKBuaQcrtJrkKnr8Y6wsIZ5rdZPsAIoFWwKZ4vRwibK2qZEZgWgyhU1s8Ci2GSJcp5FoTrw/s320/IMG_4777.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cranmore</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">On our way to Banff we saw these strange tents out in the fields outside of Duchess, AB. We had to look up what they were. They are for bees! Apparently if you grow canola for seed you need bees to pollinate the plants and beekeepers bring their bees to your fields in portable hives for that reason. On the way back we stopped and took pictures of the bee tents. There’s definitely more to learn about this!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We were at our campsite a little after two. We got everything set up and then enjoyed a real internet connection for the first time in a week. I was going to go sit outside with the dogs but a big storm with a LOT of wind started blowing through so I’m staying put. We can see the storm off to the north; we are just on the edge of it. The RV is shaking in the wind, but I think we’re ok. You wouldn’t want to be in one of these in a tornado, however!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-56180727616559765072022-09-25T08:25:00.001-05:002022-09-25T08:25:17.698-05:00Banff Part II - Tunnel Mountain, Lake Minnewanka and the Banff Gondola<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-a7RtZj8Rz7n-TaYXYX6lozgY8PLSAqE_VW-a8-TkWpK35CQ6e9hHEtmSQa61CPOulr3tOeayR0-tewtqnK0lqAPVQ4hMV3P2Maq2dhIweSvg9HCjRI8C_lOoAJRG8SRpLL7pXS5dXpZZn8u-PMYVQpg0Cj7EBpIJ2oqw_DFzkR9URNxjFhFuD4vpw/s3088/IMG_4670.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-a7RtZj8Rz7n-TaYXYX6lozgY8PLSAqE_VW-a8-TkWpK35CQ6e9hHEtmSQa61CPOulr3tOeayR0-tewtqnK0lqAPVQ4hMV3P2Maq2dhIweSvg9HCjRI8C_lOoAJRG8SRpLL7pXS5dXpZZn8u-PMYVQpg0Cj7EBpIJ2oqw_DFzkR9URNxjFhFuD4vpw/s320/IMG_4670.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Back to my report on our trip to Banff:</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday August 22nd, Banff</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Daniel is 36 today! My baby….</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m very glad we don’t have to drive long distances for the next 5 days. We only had to drive 3 and a half hours today, but that was enough. It was mostly prairie except for the last 30 minutes or so, the mountains rise up out of nowhere and then there’s Cranmore and then the National park and here you are.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW3Mihyd3H9I-k4-QgQrvsNm7I_NXBbePfCCUmpwi1OIwVqutQCyiGmCYKT1aXjov9bi_zYYc-oRBU0zs-09oDzEc2XnfCANmQXR-v1zghP92pVOmwYpDIBINDZbdTS5o0_cpoL8pmT5p3kUm-nLgQehzL3c3I0Pgfrfv22vD8q7cGOPxdkTxfJU7IwQ/s4032/IMG_4658.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW3Mihyd3H9I-k4-QgQrvsNm7I_NXBbePfCCUmpwi1OIwVqutQCyiGmCYKT1aXjov9bi_zYYc-oRBU0zs-09oDzEc2XnfCANmQXR-v1zghP92pVOmwYpDIBINDZbdTS5o0_cpoL8pmT5p3kUm-nLgQehzL3c3I0Pgfrfv22vD8q7cGOPxdkTxfJU7IwQ/s320/IMG_4658.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We are in Tunnel Mountain RV park, in the park itself. It’s huge but there really aren’t that many people, considering. We got set up and I took the dogs on a short walk. There is almost no connectivity here, no WiFi, hardly any cell service either. We called Dan to wish him a happy birthday and the call was dropped.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So we decided to go into town, get some coffee, find some wifi. We left the dogs in the RV and off we went.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Banff is a busy mountain tourist town, but nice. We figured out where to park and found some coffee. Even in town the connectivity wasn’t great but I was at least able to check my email and figure out where to do laundry tomorrow. And Google routed us back to the campsite in a way that’s much shorter than how we got here.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now we’re back at the RV for the evening. We’ve got the screen tent up and I’m sitting outside keeping the dogs company for awhile. It’s cooled off enough that we can turn off the aircon, which might make Harper less anxious inside the RV. Maybe.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tuesday August 23</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5QUM9FxDW4gCgRnHn4u40xjVz5GmxGNC9oL-KHgnJuTRJ-8j94bpCndQiEvvCT4kZcVn1HQkgRD1rQB7Sopdl4-VHzEM9yO0rxDqaqoINzPh4tZM9t5LeipVgq6kermufRUKDs4RwRib7LIKEHXZ7wH89MkTTGsA8BGCuBCrVl14KRGdshaeBByqGkg/s3088/IMG_4664.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5QUM9FxDW4gCgRnHn4u40xjVz5GmxGNC9oL-KHgnJuTRJ-8j94bpCndQiEvvCT4kZcVn1HQkgRD1rQB7Sopdl4-VHzEM9yO0rxDqaqoINzPh4tZM9t5LeipVgq6kermufRUKDs4RwRib7LIKEHXZ7wH89MkTTGsA8BGCuBCrVl14KRGdshaeBByqGkg/s320/IMG_4664.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I ran around the campground this morning. I ran for 40 minutes. The altitude isn’t bothering me, that’s a relief. It’s so big, I only ran around part of it. Just up and down the rows, looking at the different campers.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After my shower it was time to go into town and do laundry. The laundromat was in the basement of a shopping centre. I had to carry the laundry about 2 blocks, plus the soap, etc. It wasn’t too bad. Good thing I’m strong, lol.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When I got there is wasn’t too busy. The attendant gave me 22 Canadian dollars in coins for my 20 dollar US. I needed most of it to get my 2 loads washed and mostly dried. While I was waiting I finished the Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich. What a great book! It’s about the movement in the 1950’s to terminate the Indian Reservation system. Her grandfather was one of the tribal elders that fought against it and she made his story into a novel. It was fascinating. There was a lot of stuff about Indian culture and belief systems in it. In some ways it reminded me of the Magical Realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude, except that the spiritual/fantastical portions of the book are presented matter of factly, as if they were not unusual occurrences if you were a traditional Indian. Anyway, I loved it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After lunch we decided to drive to Lake Minnawanka, do a little hiking, a little driving. We tried out Heather’s new backpack. She wasn’t thrilled with it, but we hiked almost 2 miles around Lake Johnson and she just can’t walk that much anymore. Harper was full of vim and vigor however! I walked behind Lee so Heather could see me, and so I could see her too and make sure she was ok. Harper kept trying to catch up with Lee. Such a little booger!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQrm8avDgplphml8nREay7OUaW7lSHfYccGMv0GjDNsZZyCfa6R3Y9892l7VwPSyc0bfy-t7JetdUUBPZ5SI9IOgXotMGZnwF75cXIbH55UBW0y3QVhWJJ0LTqzvJwo4yS02zXCICD-IkEQ6-rMTzi2b-lhpz11yEwhwo5Kj-204JvUT4iEiOY0WCuBw/s4032/IMG_4668.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQrm8avDgplphml8nREay7OUaW7lSHfYccGMv0GjDNsZZyCfa6R3Y9892l7VwPSyc0bfy-t7JetdUUBPZ5SI9IOgXotMGZnwF75cXIbH55UBW0y3QVhWJJ0LTqzvJwo4yS02zXCICD-IkEQ6-rMTzi2b-lhpz11yEwhwo5Kj-204JvUT4iEiOY0WCuBw/s320/IMG_4668.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgctnyf8X8Zqdr4WsrY69XLZ1d4g11hjQNQDhAIHH1JpwK1n1mniRx67Zj9ewMZdxD8Yuy4VI1o0rPfNXU0lBaa-19ApTsf6_Sxi1qZ4n0Gd9E5diVdUOqLPOLJqKYvhx8SOQS_BDLwm1OdganbegF3PE3GccqhiKuVieQSq7DFIo9ddre-fdto-x8Rag/s4032/IMG_4675.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgctnyf8X8Zqdr4WsrY69XLZ1d4g11hjQNQDhAIHH1JpwK1n1mniRx67Zj9ewMZdxD8Yuy4VI1o0rPfNXU0lBaa-19ApTsf6_Sxi1qZ4n0Gd9E5diVdUOqLPOLJqKYvhx8SOQS_BDLwm1OdganbegF3PE3GccqhiKuVieQSq7DFIo9ddre-fdto-x8Rag/s320/IMG_4675.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then we drove around the lake loop road. We were tired so just stopped a couple of times to take in the views and then went into town for coffee and a few groceries. Then Heather got to walk a little.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYljrZDwT5x_wcdqfj8YeuItv8H4rSYK-EkypKMB9j_w8HYYYKOKZxmasyRlq1AwjlsZykiTNHpqmvswuDzvrybXn_6MEElIaYt-G-_Z_nz9sEnwPJzxQODKfdUEhSrH0n5UjsNQtTXSGrNNputOM4IBs8bHwz8bbj-Mmo7E8TMo5XlVVnY4G8ic9Rg/s4032/IMG_4678.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYljrZDwT5x_wcdqfj8YeuItv8H4rSYK-EkypKMB9j_w8HYYYKOKZxmasyRlq1AwjlsZykiTNHpqmvswuDzvrybXn_6MEElIaYt-G-_Z_nz9sEnwPJzxQODKfdUEhSrH0n5UjsNQtTXSGrNNputOM4IBs8bHwz8bbj-Mmo7E8TMo5XlVVnY4G8ic9Rg/w240-h320/IMG_4678.HEIC" title="And We Saw a Moose! Just Strolling Through Town" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And We Saw a Moose! Just Strolling Through Town...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wednesday August 24th</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Today we rode the Banff Gondola. There’s not a lot of parking at the gondola so they recommend that you take a shuttle. No problem, I bought tickets for 1:10 pm, and looked up the shuttle schedule. We could catch one at 12:30 in front of a hotel downtown.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We went into town early, parked at the train station, and walked to a restaurant that Lee had found which sounded like it would be good for brunch. Only problem was there was a 45 minute wait. Oh well. We walked around a bit and decided on another place, right by the shuttle stop.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After brunch we still had some time to kill so we decided to go buy me some socks. For some reason I only brought 3 pairs. I got some colorful Pink Floyd themed socks.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We went back to the shuttle stop and waited, and waited. No shuttle. Finally one of the other people that was waiting went into the hotel and asked them what was going on. The girl at the front desk told them the next shuttle didn’t come until 2! This in spite of the schedule on the website and what some of the people waiting had been told at the ticket office when they bought their tickets. Grrrr</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fortunately the Banff Roam mass transit buses also go to the gondola, and we could ride for free if we showed them our gondola tickets. But we were going to miss our boarding time! Would this be a problem?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As it turns out, no. We got there around 1:20, got in line, and hopped right on a gondola carriage. You can’t board early, but they don’t care if you board late!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQqehhe3T40ZVa2AKXxo2Ilxk268PEJ_7XtqcOBoB6due1396sjkBYSXs1mv1TxlvtrM4ZB2XcSGj1R9JMV9-balw5d_syyZDYy88suw4L1GPtV6tX9U8uWppeWT-GXD5LD_3ZYh7_Kw3JFr_USO5OIGOpJe1tIENAJcp4wNxcsNMDyDBoOkfTHjupA/s4032/IMG_4688.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQqehhe3T40ZVa2AKXxo2Ilxk268PEJ_7XtqcOBoB6due1396sjkBYSXs1mv1TxlvtrM4ZB2XcSGj1R9JMV9-balw5d_syyZDYy88suw4L1GPtV6tX9U8uWppeWT-GXD5LD_3ZYh7_Kw3JFr_USO5OIGOpJe1tIENAJcp4wNxcsNMDyDBoOkfTHjupA/s320/IMG_4688.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s a steep breathtaking 8 minute climb to the top of Sulphur Mountain, named after the hot springs at its base. Looking up the mountain gave me vertigo, looking out at the vistas was ok.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At the top there’s a 1k boardwalk that climbs to an old weather station at the peak of the mountain. We were at 7500 feet, so it seemed farther. it was nice up there, cool but not cold, breezy, but not windy. It was a lot more pleasant than Mount Washington!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQadPXArFyNT_B5nhzRFXGdS_S5XjLNAon3MMD6h4OAEHcOm7kIDInFPxIs5ffDrEhZZGZ-wey2sc7tGG2QcU6SKdNWhF291Ro2RFb2Ml7_B1-2vBxyhhaVlboy_t5tYn0OYvTd6Y5oWoDjoD8jz52oJRRHsGlK0CllFSO_zm9_yaBG8B1G06Sap3QQ/s16382/IMG_4698.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3854" data-original-width="16382" height="94" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQadPXArFyNT_B5nhzRFXGdS_S5XjLNAon3MMD6h4OAEHcOm7kIDInFPxIs5ffDrEhZZGZ-wey2sc7tGG2QcU6SKdNWhF291Ro2RFb2Ml7_B1-2vBxyhhaVlboy_t5tYn0OYvTd6Y5oWoDjoD8jz52oJRRHsGlK0CllFSO_zm9_yaBG8B1G06Sap3QQ/w400-h94/IMG_4698.HEIC" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Going back down didn’t take any time at all. We boarded the carriage and swooped down the steep part of the hill. It was a little bit like the first part of a roller coaster. But then it calmed down and before we knew it we were back at the base of the mountain. And just as we got there a Roam bus pulled up. Lucky!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Once back in town we walked to the train station to get the truck. We were going to stop at the wine shop, but made a wrong turn and ended up way out of our way. There’s a beautiful river that flows through Banff. We drove along that. Then we ended up on Tunnel Mountain Drive, high above Tunnel Mountain Rd, which is the road back to our campsite. So Lee took me back to the campground. Then I took the dogs for a walk, and Lee went back into town for wine.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Btw, Harper has been fine the last few evenings. She is not crazy about Lee using the stove, but we haven’t run the aircon or the fan and she doesn’t care if we run the heater. Crazy dog!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXAYDJKFgXhVJOsFM-50tDQr00FremWB8pxRwDcfU7vOQfEarnj0gkEhnuUXJbWOKVSfY8lLdMfJI4qgEVM58oWJPVu14yI2Vim9ZcEytRrEa-FknHro-AJzTnxDDoG23eCzuGqE94zV7UM-i1wZy2ww4Ot3XYQY49UGcatzD_iDVE2Vk-jcoNcfHDkQ/s4032/IMG_4706.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXAYDJKFgXhVJOsFM-50tDQr00FremWB8pxRwDcfU7vOQfEarnj0gkEhnuUXJbWOKVSfY8lLdMfJI4qgEVM58oWJPVu14yI2Vim9ZcEytRrEa-FknHro-AJzTnxDDoG23eCzuGqE94zV7UM-i1wZy2ww4Ot3XYQY49UGcatzD_iDVE2Vk-jcoNcfHDkQ/s320/IMG_4706.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752468138779475143.post-164899413841235742022-09-18T13:50:00.000-05:002022-09-18T13:50:04.420-05:00We Interupt This Regularly Scheduled Program - RVing with Leo and the Johnmeyers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIk1Cn2v_4Y01bAPc5yK5Jec9CZ9fz-hvuxP0eiu0CTVumBRd9ylEawf7rlEf5FW-awc3fgfY7dkJflh8G2b9bog4u9FTfBYxR5X7A67Nd8cyU5v2bZBBxJGhIQwqF0m_5gCM4KYIPucu5edMGBTw_sWIpuJ8jxykOOk6kVUUajICqSs0fClvk6oxIoA/s4032/IMG_4596.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIk1Cn2v_4Y01bAPc5yK5Jec9CZ9fz-hvuxP0eiu0CTVumBRd9ylEawf7rlEf5FW-awc3fgfY7dkJflh8G2b9bog4u9FTfBYxR5X7A67Nd8cyU5v2bZBBxJGhIQwqF0m_5gCM4KYIPucu5edMGBTw_sWIpuJ8jxykOOk6kVUUajICqSs0fClvk6oxIoA/s320/IMG_4596.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Sorry, I know I started posting about Banff, but then I realized that I had forgotten to post about our camping trip with the Johnmeyer's earlier in August. So here's that post, and I'll get back to Banff after this one!</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Last year we took Leo to Baker Park to go RV camping for a few nights. We had such a good time we decided to go back. So when Cathy and JA said that they wanted to go RVing, we suggested they bring a couple grandkids and join us.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">On Wednesday we picked Leo up from daycare after nap and drove to Baker Park. That’s one of the great things about it, it’s very close. We set up the RV, the screen tent, and the dog fence for Heather and Harper. It was pretty warm so when the Johnmeyer’s showed up the kids and Lee put on their bathing suits and went down to the beach. JA stayed behind to get things set up and Cathy and I walked the dogs down.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I let them get close to the water. Harper walked in up to her knees, but Heather didn’t even get wet. Then we sat on a picnic table and watched the kids swim. The big kids watched Leo, but we had to keep an eye out too. He can almost swim, but not well enough for us to be confident about him being in the water without an adult.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When we took my bike off the bike rack the front tire was deflated. Somehow the little cap had come off. JA tried to inflate it but the tube got pinched between the tire and the rim and exploded with a very loud POP! Oops!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was getting late and time to start on supper so we walked back to the campsite. It was Cathy’s turn to cook dinner. Lee would cook tomorrow night. We had steak, grilled veggies, quinoa salad, and ice cream for dessert. They tried to make a fire but were only partially successful. It was too late for s’mores anyway.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We all went straight to sleep. In the morning Leo and I had oatmeal and then I went for a short run. Then Lee made pancakes (frozen ones) and blueberries for everyone so that was breakfast number two.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM_09IKqXENZiqrMceaLicUFaxcax2xBiLuUcDv9Eb5mkinq8tgtlo8dxQ-vOvO9sYDYKPTKDGxE_5MH0hVWP3gdHE1JJMon5o795VQBT1a2YWmcjRTPwU_cAsJ-oJjGi_RPDU7g8n74hymjbsZDgHs-k7G2eEyy_FAfZgXIxmV7Z_EFTD_RYyS6vmLA/s2049/IMG_0296.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2049" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM_09IKqXENZiqrMceaLicUFaxcax2xBiLuUcDv9Eb5mkinq8tgtlo8dxQ-vOvO9sYDYKPTKDGxE_5MH0hVWP3gdHE1JJMon5o795VQBT1a2YWmcjRTPwU_cAsJ-oJjGi_RPDU7g8n74hymjbsZDgHs-k7G2eEyy_FAfZgXIxmV7Z_EFTD_RYyS6vmLA/s320/IMG_0296.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">This was breakfast the next morning</div><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">JA and I went into town to get me a new tube for my tire. Gear West wasn’t far away, so that was easy. We had to go to two different grocery stores to find the tonic water that Cathy wanted, however. Oh well!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We spent the rest of the day biking, hanging out, talking, and generally having a good time. After Leo’s nap Lee took all the kids down to the fishing dock to fish. They had a great time and Leo caught 6 fish! He loves fishing!</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That evening the kids played soccer and practiced casting. We kept telling them to stay away from the trees, but we “fished” quite a few lines out of the the trees anyway. And Leo playing soccer with the big kids was awesome. He was very into it, “hey guys, pass it to me!” He wasn’t that bad either. You could tell Erik has been working with him.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwAByW1WAAwrUsmW4K7YzzSkmV7HQW_kgeZC58xjYE7rD7TFH-fv6tw1ttwTtF4Qog8E29qLlFTEGPuZyDCzw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That evening Lee made pork burgers, potato salad and watermelon. Once again there was ice cream for dessert.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">During the night it began to rain. The Johnmeyer kids were in a tent because their RV is too small to hold 2 adults and 4 children. So they all ended up in the Johnmeyer RV, but not until early in the morning. We just hung out in ours until the rain tapered off. I decided to go for a bike ride and explore the 6 mile park loop. I did that, plus a couple of miles on the Luce line to get to 10 miles for the day.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLS79q9YfSqwjYHXtjDELd6U6vOK7XIxTe4nN5eWnKAnRcdmZufO7ZUiPpaD-twmOOW2DT0O--_R4AdMvLHZZawSjGFpIEhvjfM0nJhC6YO1oDXOUutoAjdXcHbvQBbDIQxFX7-sbw73vyjEZJzSSygKDSfhHjUScLgaGA9RCYjXG4l8WgB2Mei4u-w/s4032/IMG_4600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNLS79q9YfSqwjYHXtjDELd6U6vOK7XIxTe4nN5eWnKAnRcdmZufO7ZUiPpaD-twmOOW2DT0O--_R4AdMvLHZZawSjGFpIEhvjfM0nJhC6YO1oDXOUutoAjdXcHbvQBbDIQxFX7-sbw73vyjEZJzSSygKDSfhHjUScLgaGA9RCYjXG4l8WgB2Mei4u-w/s320/IMG_4600.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The kids were having so much fun we decided to wait until after lunch to leave. When we put Leo in the truck he fell asleep almost instantly. It took us about 30 minutes to get home. Then we just kept the truck running and let him sleep while we unloaded the RV. He got a really good nap!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The only trouble with that was that he was full of energy, and we were trashed. He was spending the night with us, so we started a movie (Paddington, funny), made some popcorn, and curled up on the couch. When the movie was over the grownups couldn’t keep their eyes open so we all went to bed. I heard a few bumps upstairs and then it got quiet, and he slept until 7, so he was very well rested.</p><p class="p2" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We had a great time all around. It took my mind off the sadness about Cosmo for a few days, and it was a delight to see Leo playing with his cousins. They are really nice kids and we want to do this again. Next year Kirby can come too!</p><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWELFbH-KUk-HZC_DWYmOWyIKP1fGEOiyHAvoV9BEtsGYdjGETiGJZvbL13JgpUN6lgrpgvowGAN8bLayuiM22Vtk5uEiI04hOTsXH8svHo40Oe-hb6z2-XqKqQvV9u0dfaNH9-pMK8LikVr2e_MQMSc7O06wIgtoqGSBh8iy5dclSpiAZQuShQTpheA/s4032/IMG_4598.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWELFbH-KUk-HZC_DWYmOWyIKP1fGEOiyHAvoV9BEtsGYdjGETiGJZvbL13JgpUN6lgrpgvowGAN8bLayuiM22Vtk5uEiI04hOTsXH8svHo40Oe-hb6z2-XqKqQvV9u0dfaNH9-pMK8LikVr2e_MQMSc7O06wIgtoqGSBh8iy5dclSpiAZQuShQTpheA/s320/IMG_4598.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Lynn Nillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02889149260448218282noreply@blogger.com1