Daily Lake 5/1/2021

 

Thorofare Trip Day 1

It was unfortunately a night of little sleep, but I had loaded up Heidi's car the night before and was able to be at her place by 6am. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed; at least in pictures.

Very little traffic but lots of animals. Just past Canyon, there was a little black bear digging just off the road. Not even a bear jam yet! Heidi didn't even blink. But when we got to the end of Hayden, we had to pull over. Pelicans, blue herons, and little floating ducks made for a good reason to stop.

We got to Bridge Bay by 7:30 and then hung around. And hung around... Apparently we were supposed to call not only the person who schedules the boats, but the driver as well! It was okay, we amused ourselves.

 And then, we were off! A short hour and 15 minute trip across a fairly smooth lake later we were unloading ourselves at Terrace Point and helping to load up Julianne and Diane who had been kayaking and doing campsite checks.

Yes, I had to try Tree on the boat (see my trip from August 2013)

And talked Heidi into doing it too.

First stream crossing

I love the river!

Lunch at the Cabin Creek Cabin

Pausing for a mid-afternoon break

 We made it to the campsite right around 7ish. 8 miles for the day. My feet were already starting to hurt. But I knocked it out of the park and got the carabiner/rope over the Bear Pole on the 8th or 9th try. Yay me!

 Then we settled in for a 15 minute session of my surprise, Yoga! Started boiling up some water for dinner. Jane had her Jet Boil going. Jeff started his up, but had brought a homemade wind guard. Somehow, it created enough heat that his stove, with the small propane tank attached, caught fire. That got put out, but Heidi kept hearing noise. I wasn't close by and didn't hear anything, but they finally figured out that the little camping tank was leaking! So it got chucked far into the field, well away from us and the fire. Luckily, Heidi had packed in a small Nalgene of Whiskey Manhattans so we could settle down a little.

 And Heidi made the first radio check-in of the trip.

 And she broke out her surprise, S'mores! We had already visited the creek and filtered water, so we were able to sit down and enjoy the graham, marshmallows, and chili (!) chocolate until the sun went down.

Bike ride up Mount Washburn

Yeah. I walked, like half the way up. But me and my bike made it.

Mel Tillis at Music Ranch

What a gorgeous evening! I had never been to Music Ranch and am regretting the lack. While the music may not have been to my taste and I only knew one song, it was a lovely evening with two great friends and an awesome chance to see some live music.

Some good food

a toast to the evening

View behind us

Me and the band

Groovin'

Park to Paradise

I've been very bad about posting lately. It's been busy. I've been subbing in for some classes (pilates, yoga, body sculpt) as well as helping to get ready for the local Park to Paradise Triathlon. A triathlon I also participated in. As a soloist. It was an interesting experience. I've been saying I would do that for almost four years now and finally bit the bullet to do it. I can't say it was fun, but I did cross something off my bucket list. And, allowing for exit time and then having to towel off and change from skin out (yes, I dumped my kayak, but I kept going!), this was one of my best runs ever. Under twelve minute miles. Woot woot!

Before the race

Can't tell it's my second time out on a kayak (ever!), can you?

Yes, that is a mixture of rain and snow, thank you for asking

One of my besties showing me the way

And then helping me change my shoes, again

Another friend helping me by opening a peanut butter pack

Eating peanut better, setting out, not realizing that 17 miles ahead are muddy, gross, and going to make me want to cry.

Run to the PUb

Ran my first 10K today! And my first race not in my home town. It was pretty fun. Just over six miles in 1:16 and some change. It was a cold day that warmed up as we ran. I definitely had too many layers on but it's always easy to take those off.
I carpooled up to the big town with four of my friends. It was... a long ride. Last night around 11, we had a major snow/wind storm so the roads were covered with snow-covered ice. When we got to town, some of our other friends had already grabbed our bags and IDs so we got bibbed up and ready to go. Then, came the loading of the buses. We got on (with about 2,500 people) and went out to the start line where there were... two port-a-potties set up. TWO? For over two thousand people? Well, there were eight more further down the way but quite a few people ended up peeing against a fence or behind a tree.
I can't believe I ran almost the whole thing. I walked probably less than half a mile. And this was without any running for about a month and at the tail end of wicked cold! It's not the world's best time but I was not the last in my age group and it was fun.

A night out with friends

Which was supposed to be Trudy, Emily, and I going up to Rosie's Roost and having dinner from the Tumbleweed extension. Instead, we ended up doing some bar hopping. Well, not really. A drink at Rosie's, some pizza at the Yellowstone Pizza Company, and some appetizers at the Raven. A thoroughly wonderful evening. (Yes, planking was involved #in30)