We started the month celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary on the 8th by spending two idyllic nights at one of the octagonal "villas" at the top of Spirit Mountain overlooking Duluth & Lake Superior (www.mtvillas.com). Since I was in marathon taper mode, I could eat anything and everything, especially if it was full of carbs. This was fun.
Next, we drove to Bayfield where we stayed with Michelle, Tom & Isaac for the weekend. On Saturday the 11th, Steve & I rose early to get to the buses taking runners to the full & half Whistlestop Marathon starting lines (www.whistlestopmarathon.com). Steve ran the half - a great accomplishment considering he'd been hobbling around on crutches just 3 weeks prior (some kind of Achilles inflammation). I ran the full marathon and had a great race till the last 3 miles, when I wanted to die. But I sucked it up and ran those last 3 million miles anyway, finishing in 4:14:04. This is under 10 minute miles (9:42s). Considering I was hoping to finish in 4:25 at best, I kicked some serious butt. Mostly my own. But still. The next morning I could barely walk down the stairs. This pleased Tom, who said it was nice to see someone younger than he is feel the way he does every morning.
We got back home on the 12th, worked for a few days, then headed west to Seattle on the 17th to visit Rob & Kim and do a little road-tripping. After the traditional oyster feed at the Brooklyn, and accordian rhapsodies by Kim (with Steve on rhythm accordian), we bid farewell to Rob, who was heading out on yet another fishing trip for his job. Poor Rob. He gets paid to fish.
Monday morning we rolled bleary-eyed out of bed at 4:45 AM to drive up to Anacortes and catch the ferry to Sidney, BC, on Vancouver Island. We had, surprisingly, wound up renting a hot red Mustang (the other choice was a Crown Vic, which intrigued Steve for its cop car qualities, but which was about as long as the ferry). We expected to get at least one speeding ticket, but we must drive like old people now. We didn't even get pulled over.
From Sidney, we drove south to Victoria, where we had lunch above a dive shop & talked to the divemaster there for awhile (totally unpredictable vis, he said; totally teeming sea life). Our Vancouver Island destination was Nanaimo, where we were staying a night at the Pine & Picket, a B&B that had good verbiage on Trip Advisor (www.thepineandpicket.com). We weren't disappointed. Our hosts, Ania & Ingvar, were really nice. Ingvar shared a bottle of homemade wine with us, and Ania made the best eggs benny & scones I think I've ever had. Nanaimo was a little weird, though - can't really say why. It just had kind of a weird vibe. It might have been the bar we stopped into in the old part of town. An old guy came up to me and said, "Who do you work for? Who do you work for??" I said, "General Mills. We make cereal," all the while thinking, "I hope he likes cereal." (Note - I won't make a cereal killer reference here.) Then he scuttled away.
The next morning we boarded a cruise-line-like BC ferry for Horseshoe Bay, just north of Vancouver. An hour & a half later, we were cruising along the mountain road in our red Mustang, just like a car commercial. We took a little side trip up to the Cypress ski area, where some of the 2010 Olympic events will be held. Lots & lots of building and activity. Then we headed to our hotel, the Sylvia. What a great location! We were just south of Stanley Park, a beautiful, pristine park on the northern tip of the peninsula where Vancouver is. It reminded me of San Francisco. We explored Stanley Park on a couple morning runs, and rented bikes one afternoon to go around Stanley Park, False Creek & Granville Island.
Though Steve tried valiantly to find Cuban cigars at a reasonable price, he was thwarted in his efforts, and we crossed back into the US with no contraband in our hot red Mustang. We spent Thursday night with Bob Hal & Rebecca in Seattle - Steve & Bob went out to Connie's Rimrock (fave neighborhood haunt) and stayed up till, like, 3 AM, which didn't hurt Vacation Boy too much, but which I am sure caused poor Bob some pain when he had to get up at 7 for work.
On Friday we headed to the Hood Canal "cabin" of some friends of Kim's to meet up with Kim & her parents, Mike & Joni. It was a gorgeous place with a very cool beach, especially at low tide when Steve & I discovered that oysters & geoducks under the sand like to squirt water up like a mini geyser and get your jammy pants wet. Kim made us puffins, her new, accidental invention using Self Rising flour in the pancake mix. They were yummy.
The five of us headed up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics on Saturday afternoon - a stunning place with insanely spectacular views and a great hike to the top of a mountain. The path was all paved. Even Steve, who is terribly afraid of heights (except when skiing - go figure), was able to navigate the trip without barfing & screaming.
Saturday night brought us back to Seattle and one last dinner with Kim & her folks before all us midwesterners headed back home, Joni & Mike in the morning and Steve & I later in the afternoon. What a nice vacation! (Many ginormous thank-yous to all the people who put up with us, er, put us up during our ramblings!)
