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Hollywood
08.17.16 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Hollywood
Today is Donnie Wahlberg’s birthday. My first major crush turned a yummy 47 distinguished years of age today so I just flew on down to Hollywood to canoodle with the NKOTB star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I curled up next to it, marveled at the star, maybe sang a quiet little ditty then moved on. But do you ever do one of those ‘just right’ things that makes you alarmingly happy in a fairly subtle kind of way? It just makes me so happy to do things for the 14 year old who lives within me, and she really wanted to say happy birthday to D-Dub today!
After Donnie and I had our meeting of the minds on the hot and dirty Hollywood Boulevard, I got up, dusted off and went to see Robin Williams, Julie Andrews and all the other sights- weird and frightening to beautiful and sparky- we returned to our expensively, parking-ticketed car and headed to La Brea Tar Pits. We had planned on the Getty, too, but HA! By the time we were done looking at Dino bones it was 5:00 and time to drive in the traffic home to hotel. It’s no surprise that I hit my steps and even pushed past. Something tells me that this California vacay is going to be a busy one! I’m certain to get my steps in! It’s DISNEYLAND after all!
But now? Today is long, starting at 3:45 and my droopy eyelids are sliding down… Harry Potter, tomorrow!
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Ten Miles & Three ConversationsÂ
08.14.16 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Ten Miles & Three ConversationsÂ
- Mommy? How much longer?
- We are 2/10 of the way! You’re amazing!
- Wow!
- …
- Mommy? How far is 2/10? Can you just tell me?
- Gigi! You know it’s… I meant to say 2/5. You’ve gone 4 miles. I was trying to be clever for my seventh grader.
- Just tell me next time. Your brain is not functioning properly right now.
Oh how true. Then:
- I’m done, Mom. Done, done, DONE!
- Well…
- Seriously. How much longer?
- We’ve gone 7 mi…
- Oh good! 7 miles! Just three more to go! We can do that, it’s just a 5 K or three times around the smallest block…
- …
- MOMMY! How much longer now?
- We’ve gone 7.1 miles. Stop asking.
- I’m so over this run.
Finally:
- Are we there yet?
- Seriously, Gi, does it look like we are there? No car! No parking lot!
- I know, but how much longer! I’M DONE!
- Well, we have a few choices: I can baby you, coach you or bully you. Which do you choose? I can call Daddy to come get you, we can walk and review how amazing this has been so far or I can turn into your drill sergeant and tell you that you have to get back to the car, one way or another, so hustle! Help me help you.
- You don’t have to do any of that.
- No?
- No. It’s just fun to complain a little. I’m having a great time. I mean, I’m over it, but I am running ten miles today no matter what.
And we did.
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Bridal Veil Falls
08.02.16 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Bridal Veil FallsWe FINALLY got our first ‘outside of St. Edwards Park’ hike in today! Yayyyyy!
I always read about hikes and fall in love with pretty much every single one, so I posted on Facebook to get some suggestions beyond what we’ve already accomplished and got a short list in return that are going to be gorgeous! Today we started out with a shorter hike and realized how very nice it is to get back on the trail!
Bridal Veil Falls is on the way out to Steven’s Pass, right outside of Index. If you’re not from Seattle, that’s about 90 minutes northeast of Seattle ;). If you’re interested, you’re welcome to take advantage of our state’s relaxed ganja laws by stopping at the ‘Legal Weed’ store along the way to buy more marijuana than could ever be toked on the way to the trail by, say, a random selection of four 20-something dudes in a tiny, hotbox of a Honda, in an hour, but that’s what the trail is for! Blaze on, hike up and blaze some more! It seriously felt like we were walking through Hempfest 2016. The smell of dank never left the air. It was not an issue for me – I think weed is better smelling than cigarettes and you can try to fool yourself that it’s skunk cabbage- but it did make us giggle quite a bit. Those college boys thought they were being so sneaky. Tee hee! Oh, to be so young and ‘daring’. It’s funny, how you really think you’re breaking rules back then and now, when you watch all those ‘kids’ being silly like that from your forty-something perspective, you’re really just laughing along with them. Silently laughing and without expression, but it’s there. Any sense of disapproval, really, is for the sake of a potential teachable moment for any littles in the area, but is generally nonexistent and imagined. Anyhow, that was kind of entertaining and cute. And, as the top area at the falls is a decidedly smallish, shared space, the little copse of trees they went behind to light up one more time before they headed back down the hill did little to disguise what was happening. Like I said- precious and cute, like naughty little puppies or toddlers.
Other than the MMJ aromatics, the hike was blessedly uneventful. The scenery was beautiful in that very typical, Western Washington kind of landscape of lots of water features, beautiful plants and interesting trail path. Lots of vine maples and deciduous trees, some old growth logging evidence from the olden days, greenery like crazy. It could be a nice autumnal hike. I always am fascinated at the diversity of terrain on trail- from perfectly flat to climbing over boulders to bridges to millions of roots- it’s all there.
The waterfalls were gorgeous, but if I’m perfectly honest, the bathrooms at the base of the trail were so bad that I really couldn’t use them at the start of the trail and I ended up compromising my experience. Peeing has become a ‘thing’ for me lately- I just go to the bathroom and within 15-25 minutes my bladder is full again. It’s really put a crimp on my running and hiking-SERIOUSLY! Anyhow… I’m not kidding when I say that I could smell the toilet from 25 paces and the flies that were swarming the toilet left me with the feeling that I would also be leaving with fly larvae embedded in rather sensitive places… So I started the trail with a full bladder and by the time I got to the top I had to do it all, 1,2 and everything else- it’s also shark week! I practically ran down the hill after hoovering down my sandwich next to the waterfall just to jump in the car that, and I’m not kidding, Bradley ran ahead to open up and start becasue things were that desperate. We stopped at the nearest grocery store for another disgusting bathroom, but without the flies, at least it was palatable! So, word to the wise, when you stop for your weed, also use the toilet! Kidding, of course. There’s a McDonald’s on the way out- stop there and use it. It’s the last nice toilet. Seriously.
It was a beautiful, fun, adventurous day with a few funny stories thrown in to boot!My review on the WTA Bridal Veil Falls Site.
Future hikes planned:
***And let me just say that all the stoner talk was just for silliness. I’m certainly NOT encouraging anyone to get high and hike or even just get high. Getting used to the new laws regarding marijuana is just interesting to observe, and this is the first time I’ve really seen it out and about so publicly that it simply became a big part of our adventure. 😉
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Ready Freddie
07.15.16 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Ready FreddieWe’ve been going for a run every day since I was cleared by the doctor, on Monday. While we take Freddie with us, she’s been totally babied on all of our adventures. Understandably- I mean, she is still just 13 weeks old! In my books, that’s a baby! So as we’ve been running and walking here, there, around this or that, we’ve picked her up to carry her, allowed her to meander across the trail, let he jump up and, essentially, just have bad leash/walk manners. Again, it’s understandable. She’s just a puppy! We’ve just been happy that she doesn’t chew on the leash or try to run away. Our philosophy is kindness, always, with a dose of dominance when challenged, and we’ve always had pets that’s we love and who love us in return. We train them, respect them, reward them and love them deeply so they don’t run away and when they do run, upon their return we cover them with attention and love, making them question why they would ever run to begin with!
It’s worked, so far, but Freddie is different. She’s willful, protective, has a self-perception of being tough and she’s overly attracted to gross stuff (meaning she will make a deaf beeline to rotten stuff, scarfing it up as fast as possible before I can get there). Martha was so engaged with BALL or STICK that she stayed right with us, unless she had a fetch mission, but then she was right back with us. The one thing that we’ve realized works is me. If I stay in front of her, she is relentless. When she’s on leash, Gigi has to stay far enough behind me that the dog doesn’t get tangled in my feet but close enough that she doesn’t get scared and freak out. After running like that for three days or so she’s gotten into kind of a ‘heel’ practice that allowed me to trust her to try out off-leash running today AND SHE WAS AWESOME! She was able to run with me for three times around the track off leash. She stayed right behind me, never jumped up, never wove herself between my legs! When she saw another runner whiz by me she got really excited, but otherwise she stayed right on heel. I’m so proud of my little runner pupper! We are going to be great partners!!!
(I took three minutes off my time for the extensive selfie taking. Taking selfies with a dog is not easy!)Otherwise, it was a lazy day. I folded laundry, Gigi learned to play and sing a song on her guitar, Freddie slept and the boys invented a new game. Perfecto summer day!! I’m feeling very happy about my exercise and nutrition progress this week. 🙂
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Hiawatha Bike Trail
06.28.16 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Hiawatha Bike Trail
We did the most amazing thing today- we rode our bikes down the Hiawatha Trail in Idaho and Montana! If I’m totally truthful, I have to give all the credit to my mama and my Aunt Ree for the idea. My auntie has ridden the trail a number of times and planted the seed in my mom’s head that this was a ‘Must Do Event’ when in the Idaho panhandle area. I was like, “Ok. That sounds fine.” I was willing to go but I wasn’t turning cartwheels or anything. I was so absent-minded about it, in combo with the school year ending, that I didn’t even remember to bring our helmets or headlamps, but my dear mom was undeterred! She rented bikes, helmets, lamps, transportation and pretty much anything else we needed! It was like Christmas in July, let me tell you, because it was breathtaking!!! (I know it’s June, picky picky😋)
{The picture of Jude and me cracked me up. He was telling me to just drive! Don’t take the picture!!! His little face says it all. The other kids are my niece and nephew, and of course, my Gigi. :)}The trail starts out just five miles past the Idaho/Montana border on I-90 east. After winding through some dusty, gravely roads, you reach the trailhead and park. Prior to this, hopefully you stopped at the pass, like we did, to pay for the trail pass and shuttle, because what you get to do is ride your bike on an old railroad down a mountainside for 15 miles! The entire trail was downhill and a shuttle picks you up at the bottom to take you and your gear back up to the trailhead. You can ride your bike back up the mountain, but in the 95 degree weather, to me, that sounds unsavory.
We stood around getting our gear ready until we were nice and sweaty, then took off and were immediately plunged into a freezing cold, underground tunnel that was 1.68 miles long! We were prepared with headlamps, but sadly, I was not prepared with batteries and they forgot to give Jude, on the tag along, a headlamp. No light, in combination with the rapid shift from blazing sun and pitch dark, made for an unnerving transition. Well, unnerving is putting it lightly. We were freaked out. I had a wobbly eight year old and no light. Water was dripping. The walls were creepy. People were heading towards us in the opposite direction, blinding us… It was intense. I was glad to reach the end of that and so happy to emerge into the beautiful sunshine and sweeping views. There were several more tunnels after that one but they were all short and didn’t require as much reliance on the headlamps. I marveled, the whole time, at what I was able to partake in. The bridges were high, historical and incredible, riding alongside the sheer cliffs was terrifying in a deeply satisfying way and chatting and singing along with my boy as we rode was magical. Our shuttle driver entertained us on the way back up with historical stories along the way of the railroad, the great fire of 1910 that, incidentally, burned through a Rhode Island swath of forest in 48 hours, and learned about the local wildlife.
I seriously had the best time, and I was extra proud because I was the adult in charge who lead the expedition with confidence. It was great. I can’t wait to take Bradley next year and strongly suggest it to anyone who happens to be crossing through the panhandle. It took us a total of about three hours of riding and being shuttled back up to the top, total. Thanks Mom. Today we created something that will last a lifetime and it was way better than anything I could ever find under a Christmas tree during any month of the year.
I give five stars to the trail- beautiful & well maintained!
2 stars to the customer service because they were snarky, forgot to give us the headlamps we paid for, were rude and allowed a family with the same sized party to cut us in front of us on the shuttle despite my loud protests, and we ended up having to wait 90 minutes for the next shuttle. But hey- at least we didn’t have to ride back up the hill!
4 stars to the shuttle driver who distracted us from the sheer cliffs with potential moose sightings and yelled over the top of ye olde school bus engine to teach us the local history. 🙂
If you go, bring a water bottle to refill at the water stations along the way, sunscreen, a sweatshirt for the freezing-cold tunnels, a headlamp/flashlight, a small snack for the bottom of the hill, sunglasses, some riding gloves and your camera. Your back will get a rooster tail of mud but you won’t care, your butt will fall asleep from the vibration of the gravel under your tires and your hands may get sore for the same reason, but you won’t care. It’s an awesome experience!
