Oh Canada....

The wedding was awesome! I can't say enough great things about seeing all my swimming friends from Arkansas. I miss them all and love seeing everyone, and it is even better that we all come together for a big party at a wedding.

Congrats to Susie Q and Mark, you guys rock and threw a great party. Here are a few pictures from the trip and the wedding!!


Port Dehlusie before the wedding


Chillin before the dancing


Mo, Lisa and Tyler before the drinking began


Genny having a great time on the dance floor


The beautiful bride and groom


All us Arkansas girls (and Grant)

Sunday night Eric and I went down to the Harbor in Buffalo and took a few pictures:

Madison, WI

I am here for the nerd alert conference know to all as Mathfest...yes there really is such a thing.

I want to live here! It is absolutely amazing! I have run the past two mornings along the lake and it seems like everyone here rides a bike and commutes to work. I have even seen a group of triathletes swimming in the lake both mornings. Had I brought a swim suit I could have joined in (but they did have wetsuits on-so it might be super cold).

I would imagine though once school gets back in session, things get a little crazy here but the downtown area is just gorgeous and friendly and neat restaurants and shops. I even got sucked in to try an east African restaurant-and it was interesting.

Alright, off to listen to some great talks about all things math. :)

Another Triathlon

I actually had a pretty good race this past weekend!

After not doing so hot last weekend I went into this one with the goal to really push myself as hard as I could. I have read a lot of blogs lately about others who are always talking to themselves during the race...focus, push harder, keep your head down, etc... and after talking with Eric, I thought I would give it a try.

To be honest-we had this discussion about how I don't really think about anything when I am racing. I just swim, ride and then run and think about having fun or how much it hurts. :) So I tried a different approach.

The format is quite different-still a sprint tri but split up at 375m swim, 1.5 mile run, 20K bike, 1.5mile run, 375m swim. I took the first swim out hard and fast determined to get on Duncan's feet (he beat me by a minute last week out of the water). I ran into him at the first buoy and I was like sweet, I just need to hang on, and I did. Came out of the water with him and maybe 3 or 4th overall.

Note: As posted before-I was still the ONLY women racing in the open wave-so I was in a wave with all the boys. All of the women started 8 min behind me.

I pushed really hard on the first run and the bike. It was pretty hilly and I manage to pass 2 men!! I was SOOOOO excited about this and I don't know if I have ever passed another guy on the bike (since I usually come out of the water in the front). The second run hurt like hell and I got into the water for my last swim and had left nothing for it. This was the longest 375m EVER! I had no feeling in my arms and couldn't even get my body going. It took me until about half way through to start coming back around and get my head back into it to push hard the last little bit.

I finished and then watched the clock. Three of the women that started 8 min back came in before 8 min had gone by, one only beat me by a few seconds. But the lady that won beat me by 4 min last week managed only 2 minutes this weekend-so I must say that is quite the improvement. And Sarah-who I usually am really close with and who beat me by 2 min back a month ago...I managed to beat her by a minute this time. The power of positive thinking might make a world of difference!

Again-no good pictures. Eric needs to learn how to take some pics at these events.

In other news...we have finally settled on a dining room color and have decided to go with a coffered ceiling and a chair rail but no paneling or beadboard. The painting will be getting done this coming weekend and then I will post a picture!!

The Other Boleyn Girl

I recently read The Other Boleyn Girl for our book club in the neighborhood. Well, I really listened to it on CD (23 hours of the same monotone lady), but it was amazing. Our book club had decided to pick a book that had been turned into a movie and we read the book and then watched the movie together.

I would highly recommend the book. It is the story of Anne Boleyn's (the one who got beheaded by King Henry VIII) other sister Mary. It is in a sense historically pretty accurate in turns of what was going on at the time and how Henry VIII was breaking from Rome, but it was more a story about the lives of the Boleyn's and I found it extremely fascinating. I would highly recommend the book.

However, the movie was a disaster. It was far from the book and left out a lot of things which if I had not read the book would have been confused. Some of our book club members though hadn't read the book and did like the movie, but I must say the book is 100x better than what they created on film.

For this month, everyone is choosing whatever book they want to read. I am halfway through At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks, but have decided to also read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I actually watched the lecture the other day on You Tube and it was pretty good and have heard great things about the book.

Triangle Triathlon

Bri and I before the start:

A few thoughts about yesterday's events...

(1) How I was 2 min slower on the bike than 2 years ago is beyond me. I didn't think I was that unfit and I thought I pushed the hills pretty hard.

(2) How I was 20 second faster on the run from 2 years ago is even crazier...I know I was running decent back then and I was running slow a month ago. This means I had to admit defeat to eric and tell him that maybe his new run plan is working. (Or maybe that since my bike was slower, I was able to run faster).

(3) For sure, my lack of swimming fitness directly correlates to my feeling terrible on the bike. I need to swim more, even though I hate that I have to. But really-swimming more just means swimming 2x a week and having them be good workouts. We'll see if I can fit that in with ez's new run every day plan. Finding the place to do them is the hard part. But I emailed two swim coaches today about some stuff. We'll see...

(4) I had a terrible swim-probably my worst since starting tri's 4 years ago. This is my own fault having not been swimming hardly at all in the past few weeks.

(4) I suprisingly was only 2nd last elite female. I think the other person though didn't sign up correctly. That is 2 for 2 this year. :) Still-Alysia and I are the only ones to be able to fight for last elite Bri.

(5) I race again on Saturday...yikes. But right now I am the only elite female. If this stays the same, this would me I would win (my category right-I could and probably will still get beat by a few age groupers)...and as Eric pointed out, I would also still be last. :)

(6) Bri knows waaaaaaay to much about Ninja Warriors. Alysia knows how to through a great party-with a fully stocked bar, she was the mixing drink queen.

Pictures from Shenendoah

Here we are hiking away...





One of the most humorous events: watching Eric and Erik hang the food bags, which I think took at least 30 minutes.





Day 2: Aren't Ashley and I super strong!!!


The stop at the waterfall...(the Eric's are intensely watching a snake)


Since we seriously hiked in the woods with no overlooks the entire time, on our drive to Charlottesville that evening we stopped at an overlook to take a picture. We were freezing from being soaking wet from the rain:

Humidity

I got home from my run this morning and turned on the tv. The weather was on, it was 7:15am and this is what it said.

Temp: 75
Dew Point: 67
Humidity: 92

92% at 7:15am. Seriously?

Hiking in Shenandoah Valley

The Plan:
Friday July 4th:
Drive up and meet our friends EriK and Ashley in the middle of Shenandoah National Park around 1:00. Hike 4 miles to campsite...set up camp and have some fun.

Saturday July 5th:
Enjoy a nice breakfast in the woods and hike 8-ish miles viewing some waterfalls along the way, then set up camp and enjoy the evening.

Sunday July 6th:
Hike 6ish miles rounding out our loop after some breakfast then drive back home.

What actually happened:
Friday July 4th:
Got delayed a little at the house and meet up with Erik and Ashley at 2:00. Got ready to go and it downpoured. We hung out under the information center where we were starting our hike for 10 minutes and then headed out when it stopped raining. We hiked 5+ miles and finally found a campsite. Set up camp, ate some great freeze dried dinner and homemade brownies, hung out, watched the two Eric's hang our food (which took like 30 minutes) and went to bed.

Overnight...it poured down rain, leaving EriK's shoes soaking wet since he had left them outside the tent fly.

Saturday July 5th:
Got up late and ate some poptarts and an apple. Everything was pretty wet but it wasn't raining anymore. Packed up and left at 10:20am for our hike. We climbed a mountain that lasted 1.7 (or 1.2) miles where we stopped numerous times. Hiked a few more miles and stopped for lunch and a road crossing of Skyline Dr. We probably stayed here for an hour. Hiked a little on the AT and down the mountain and stopped at a nice waterfall for a little break. We got to what was suppose to be campsite #2 around 3:00pm and decided to hike a little further to find another campsite.

This hiking a little further meant climbing up another mountain along the river with no campsite to be found for us. I think we climbed up for at least 2 miles. Close to 6:30 EriK decided to OK a spot that was almost like a campsite. And we were less than a mile to a campground. We started to unpack and the bugs were out of control. I voted to hike to the campground and everyone else ended up agreeing. When we got to the campground, we were in a cloud and 5 minutes later it downpoured.

I think it downpoured for maybe 30 minutes. We all walked in the pouring rain for 5 min to the ranger station and got under it to stay somewhat dry while we debated what to do. We were freezing at this point and our car was a mile down the road. Hmmmm.....

Maybe 10 minutes later, the ranger drove Eric down to the car and we packed it up. :)
Drove to Charlottesville, VA and ate some pizza at almost 10pm and drove to one of EriK and Ashley's family friends house and went to bed.

Sunday July 6th:
Woke up and showered and left Dan's house around 9am, stopped at a local bagel shop and had breakfast and coffee before driving home.

I will post some pics soon once Ashley sends me a few (I only took a couple). My hamstrings and glutes are still sore. But one lesson we all learned: campsites are not that common in Shenandoah, so plan accordingly.

MONDAY July 7th:
Eric convinced me to go for a long ride yesterday to Chapel Hill and then he would ride home. I took the hilly route (WHAT WAS I THINKING). Called ez twice thinking I wouldn't make it not knowing how far/close I was since I was taking a new route. The last time I called, he told me 7 miles. OK, I can make it...but it wasn't 7, it was 10. Those last 3 miles were torture.

I get to the car and pack my bike in and start driving home, not the quick way but the long way, past the creamery I have been dying to try. As I get closer I pass Eric on his way riding home and way. He ends up pulling in the ice cream store telling me he knew I was headed there when I passed him, and tells me he doesn't think he is going to make it home. We agree that he will ride a little while and i will pick him up down the road after I eat my homemade, straight from the cows ice cream (one scoop vanilla lavender, once scoop carolina crunch-which were both excellent).

So I rode 50 and suffer like there is no tomorrow because he tells me I can make it, and he rides 23 and drive him home. The race this weekend might be painful.

Summer School...

Monica, I wish I were you today. I have had the luxury of sitting around and doing nothing for over a month now, and I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I got in a lot more training than I imagined. Maybe only a few days off in a month, with lot and lots of running, which I according to the running god EZ will make me faster. :)

Monday, I had to drive myself back to HPU for a month of summer school. After a fun mini tri-camp with the Nick and Jen over the weekend (lots and lots of wii with some minimal training), I barely managed to drive home on Monday without falling asleep. Monday's day off from training didn't do much good, as yesterday I only managed to run in the morning and again had to nap yesterday when i got home. This morning...nothing. Eric even decided to take a sick day and is busy staining our deck while I sit in my office. The goal tonight: the hammerfest ride tonight followed by most likely a terrible 20 min run-we'll see how fun that is.

Summer school is no fun...but someone has to pay for the new bike EZ wants. :)

I went from going back and forth to doing an Ironman next year, to not doing an Ironman, but doing a half this September, to not even doing the half this Semptember in a matter of 3 days. But you know me, that might all change tomorrow.

Voting

I was running some errands and listening to the radio the other morning. The group on the radio was talking about what really gets them pumped up, and one of the guys said politics.

He then proceeded to talk about how he isn't going to vote this coming fall because his candidate isn't one of the presidential nominees. He was talking about Mitt Romney, and this guy just happens to be Mormon. He then went on to say, well, he might vote if McCain picks him as his running mate. Now, there is nothing against his religion, but it really drives me mad that people actually think this way.

So are all the people that voted for Hillary in the primary not going to vote because Obama is the democratic nominee? This is just absurd...isn't this what living in the US is all about, exercising your right to vote? Or are you saying that because you have the right, then you can choose not to vote. Even if YOUR candidate isn't the nominee, everyone should vote for the direction you want the country to go.

OK...no more politics.

Sales People...

Sorry Dad...I don't mean get down on your profession but.....

After my swim today, I stopped by at The Rush, a new gym that is opening up here in Burlington. Now, this could be great news because I had heard that they might put a pool in. Since we moved here the pool situation has been slim. Is was great in Raleigh but you know, the options just aren't the same in a small town. To top it off, HPU has a pool that has extremely limited hours and they don't put in lane lines or anything.

Then I thought I could use our community pool this summer...brand new 25meters, but you know what, they don't put lane lines in either, and with a neighborhood of a bunch of kids, you can go do a workout. So once a week or every other week I pay to go use the aquatic center here. It isn't terrible, but like today they had ONE lane line in, ONE! And hardly anyone else in the pool. When I asked if they could put in another lane, the guy (who I know does triathlons) tells me that they can't because swim lessons are coming in. So WTF...what is my $3 getting me??? More swimming without lane lines, I can do that in my pool I pay my HOA dues for.

Turns out as I am getting ready to do my main set, the ONE guy using the ONE lane (yes old guy doing breastroke on his back) tells me he is getting out so I can use it, yeah! So at least I felt I got something out of my $3.

So why is this all about Sales people???? OK, since I am so mad after leaving the aquatic center, I stop by The Rush Gym to see if they are going to have a pool. And yes they will!!! An actually lap pool not for kids! And what is great is that they have a few gyms out by where I work and HPU has some deal with them that you can use any of the gyms you want! So yeah, I think to myself, this could be great. So I tell the guy I just want to know when the gym/pool will open. He beats around the bush to tell me how much I would have to pay for this membership and that. And again, I tell him, I am not going to get a membership today, what do I need it for?? I have a gym where I live that my HOA dues are paying for. And yet again, well I can offer you this rate for this many months....

Again, I tell him I am not going to buy a membership of any kind because YOUR POOL IS NOT OPEN YET. All you have is a small room with some cardio and weight equipment which is what my clubhouse has in my neighborhood. And yet again, well this is what HPU can offer you (because I tell him HPU has some sort of deal with The Rush-and that I would like to look into it a little further). OK, at this point, I am mad. I haven't eaten breakfast and I did a hard swim workout and need to get home to eat and this guy is trying to sell me a membership I DON'T WANT! I just tell him I am leaving. :)

This reminds me of Marty's post on his blog a few weeks ago about the car...

Now I am home, full with food and getting ready to lay on the couch and read...and much happier after venting about this guy at the gym.

A day of triumph and trials

Two of my dearest ladybacks competed yesterday in some amazing events.

Congrats to Mandy, who competed at the Canadian Olympic diving trials yesterday in 3 Meter and placed 3rd. You rock and did amazing. I am sure some of you watched her live on the internet and if you did saw her score some amazing 9's on her last dive!!!


And congrats to Sara who competed in her first Ironman yesterday in Coeur D'Alane (Idaho) and was in 3rd place in her age group after the swim (of course) and rocked the bike in 6:47 and ran a steady marathon in just over 5 hours. Total time: 13:00:42, almost breaking 13 hours!!

You two are both inspirations to all of us and I hope you both enjoy some rest from some hard training up to yesterday!

A Ride from Hell...

ML told me about this group (of mostly roadies) that ride pretty fast on Wednesday nights. Two weeks ago, EZ and I joined the group and it was a bit chaotic. It really wasn't that fast except for the last 8 or so miles (of a 30 mile ride). There was lots of attacking too which I just don't care for all that much.

We didn't go last week because of the race, thinking I didn't want to tire my legs out too much (even though it wasn't that hard of a ride). But we went again last night.

Now, my legs are not at all feeling good as a result from: (1) The race on Saturday, (2) plyometrics on Monday including lots of lunges and (3) running 3 days in a row (with the third day being yesterday, the day of the ride).

Last nights ride was well...fast and long and miserable. Everyone started hammering after 4 miles of warmup and we went 37...with a couple miles cool down...so I would say 30+ miles of hard, fast cycling on a day where my legs/body had nothing. I was only dropped a few times which I consider pretty good for myself. Probably the fastest I have ever ridden since starting triathlons, cycling anywhere between 20-35 mph depending on hills, most of the time around 25 mph. And yes, I averaged 20.4 mph in the race on Saturday, which was only 17 miles, which I know had I had my bike computer on, I would have gone faster.

If this is how it will be, EZ and I will go back. It is good to get out there and really push yourself hard past what you thought wasn't possible...I didn't know I could push 25 mph pulling in the front...which means I can do it in a race! (with much more training of course) :)

A Weekend of Sports

How can you not be happy when Dale Jr wins his first race in forever and the US Open is so great that they add one more day!!

If you are interested in how my triathlon went, you can read my race report at our tri team site here.

By the way...Happy Fathers Day!!! Hope you had a safe trip back to MI, and you will even get to watch the "final round" of the US Open!

New Look

I don't know why (maybe because I was just feeling like a change)...but I decided to try and change the look of the blog and add some stuff. It might go through some changes over the next few weeks of me messing around with it. Hope it isn't too painful for you.

We are off to Charlotte tomorrow for my first tri since the half last May. I am not at all in fast shape nor do I feel fit at all. Should be fun. I haven't even taken a day off since we got back from Peru. And I am tired.

The book list on the side is almost all the books that I have recently checked out or am in the middle of reading. I have never before tried to read multiple books, but am currently in the middle of At First Sight (for fun), Millenials Go to College (not for fun but for work) and am starting The Other Boleyn Girl (for book club).

The Infamous Ironman

Some of you may know or may not that I have thought about doing an ironman for a while. It is one of those things that to me is a goal that puts me out of my comfort zone and seems like a challenge. Just like the marathon or the half ironman I did last year. They were things I wanted to do to say I have done one.

The ironman is a little different. I think because when I tell people I do triathlons, all anyone knows is the ironman so they always bring that up and I have to tell them "No, I haven't done one" as if that makes me something less of a triathlete. So over the past year or so I have brought it up again and again to Eric. Could I do one? Would I be able to put in all the training and not want to kill myself? Now, I know I could finish, but I would want to be respectable, so I would need to train, and train a lot. Every time I bring it up with EZ, I also bring up how much I would hate the training. So is this something I really should do?

I was out riding with ML the other weekend and was talking to her about it and she told me, I don't have to commit to it now. How many more years ahead of me do I have? Then again, once there are little Zack's running around, will I really want to spend a Saturday riding for 7 hours instead of being a mom? Anyway, I digress...

I actually had kind of convinced myself that maybe I will do the new one in Wilmington next November, and I have until Jan 1 to decide since that is when sign up is. Then my friend and team mate Bri posted this on her blog:

"My longest bike ever in my life is 75 miles. I just don’t like sitting on that thing for that long. I think that it’s easy to get caught up in the 70.3/ironman following. Hawaii is like the holy grail of triathlon, but it doesn’t have to be and I’m not sure it ever will be for me. I read a lot of blogs and get excited for the long stuff and then of course how can you not get excited when you watch the broadcast? I truly think that if I had a lot of time and really trained very meticulously I could do well – but for the most part I am happiest doing sprints and Olympics. And right now I would be happy just to be out there competing for the entire time!"

Maybe I don't need to do one. Just be happy with where I am and what I enjoy doing. The sprints. :)

The Heat

I know it can't be as bad as the people in the midwest with the rain/flooding/tornados, but the weather here is unreal. It started getting really hot last Wednesday with temperatures about 95 and just went up from there with added humidity, the heat index has been around 110 for the past couple days.

Saturday morning Eric and I went out for a bike ride at 9am and the heat had killed me by 11. We then had a canoe and dinner planned for the afternoon. So we paddled down a river in the heat. Yesterday, since we had spent almost all of Saturday outside, we hung out at Barnes and Noble reading up on some different stuff including maybe going not to Costa Rica, but maybe China or Japan (so Monica, we will have to chat).

The heat is suppose to stay here for another couple days and then we will be back into the 80's-a little more manageable especially since I have my first triathlon in over a year this coming weekend.

The worse thing about the heat...no rain. Already being in a drought, not having rain (only 1 inch in the last 30 days) along with the hot sun make for dying bushes and grass.

The Couch Part 2

This morning our new bedroom furniture was delivered and the guys that were setting it up noticed the couch sitting in the hall and asked what it was doing there. So I explained that we could get it through the door to the bonus room. He looked at me and looked at the door and said "We can do it." So after they put the bedroom together they took the door off the bonus room and in about 10 seconds got the couch through the door. :) I called Eric at work and told him and he says "Well I feel stupid now".

Guess we won't be selling the couch and chair (too bad!). :)

The Couch

Our couch finally arrived yesterday and when Eric got home we worked on moving our old couch upstairs into the bonus room. Hmmmmmmm.... even with the door off, it won't fit into the room. :) Right now it is sitting in our hall upstairs. Guess that will be going up on craigs list or ebay sooner than we thought.

Recession...what Recession?

We got a call that our couch we ordered finally arrived!!! On top of that, our new mattress was delivered this week. Well, we put it in our existing bed frame (the one I had growing up) and now that we got the pillowtop it is way too big for the frame. You can hardly see the headboard anymore! :) So we decided we best go out and look for a new bedroom set...

Saturday we were at one furniture store we have been to many times, and everything on the floor you could buy for 50% off. Well, the dining room table and chairs we looked at previously were still there, so we ended up finally buying a table and chairs for our empty room! Sunday we headed out again looking for more deals and low and behold found a new bedroom set and bought that plus an armoire!

So the table and chairs will be delivered this week, the bedroom set and couch to be delivered next week! Our house is finally coming together...not too much more to buy now thank goodness! We surely are keeping people in business right now!

By the way, we celebrated 6 years of marriage by buying said furniture above, along with a bike ride (in which I received another flat tire...time to get a new tire, not just a tube), a game and a half of bocchi ball (in which I won both), plus smores, nascar and hockey. What more could you ask for! :)

Congrats Moomers!

For winning best ice cream in America (on Good Morning America)!!! If you ever visit Traverse City, Michigan be sure to stop in and get a scoop (or multiple scoops if you are me) of the best ice cream there is!!!

Pictures

Ok, so obviously I can't post all the pictures, we took between 300-400 pictures. Here is a sample of some of my favorites, or just of the area:


The Cathedral in Lima, Peru


Traditional Peru meal: (large kernel) corn with cheese


Cliffs/Beach in Lima (like the soccer court on the beach)


View of Cusco, Peru from our hostel


Eric with the llama and girl who told him "No, Uno Sole" after he gave her only 50 cents.


More traditional food: Guinea Pig (doesn't it look good)


Main square in Cusco


The Andes on our way to Ollyambtambo


Arriving in Aqua Calientes (base of mountain where Machu Picchu is)


Obviously, you know where we are now...we are going to hike up the mountain in the backgroud


This is the view once we hiked up the mountain

Here are a few pics around Machu Picchu:










Here is Eric riding a horse for the first time on our trip around more ruins outside the city of Cusco (and then some of the ruins:




Here I am drinking the most popular soda in Peru-Inca Cola-after a long train ride and bus ride back to Cusco after Machu Picchu (it tastes like bubblegum):


Alright, I think I am done posting pictures :)

Back from Peru

Well...a little update about our trip. We were suppose to head out on our 4 day hike Monday morning, but Sunday night about 2am, I came down with a serious stomach bug. It was not altitude sickness, it was a stomach bug that took its course in a matter of only a couple hours to empty out my entire insides. Needless to say there was no way I could hike, so we ended up not being able to go.

We were extremely disappointed since this is what we planned our entire trip around but oh well, what can you do. I spend all of Monday in bed while Eric ran around the town getting everything situated to get to Machu Picchu.

Tuesday we just walked around the city a little and took a short tour on a trolley. I still wasn't feeling great. Wednesday we went out for an American breakfast and had pancakes with bananas and carmel sauce before taking our taxi out to Ollyamtambo where we would catch our train to Machu Picchu. We took a more expensive train that had windows on the ceiling to we could see as much as possible and it was an awesome train ride. Only 6 people were on the train and so we were able to move around to both sides taking pictures.

We got to Aquas Calientes (20 min bus ride to Machu Picchu) and walked around the town. It is really small, bascially geared just for tourists, so just shops and restaurants. There are some hot springs there, but they didn't look very appealing-lots of dirty people trying to get clean in what they turned into little pools. We ate an awesome dinner at a little french/peruvian restaurant before heading to bed.

We woke up at 4:30am to a wake up call we didn't order but thought that maybe the treking place had made it. We ate a little breakfast and took the first bus up to Machu Picchu at 5:30. We were suppose to meet our treking group at the entrence (they had our tickets) but they didn't arrive until almost 8:00am. So we just sat around for 2 hours. But once we headed in, our whole trip turned around. Machu Picchu really was amazing. Much larger than I imagined. It was pretty amazing. We took a two hour tour of the ruins and then went over to hike up Wanyu Picchu, the mountain that is commonly seen in the backdrop of the ruins.

They only allow 400 people to hike up it, we of course didn't know how it all worked. Turns out they let 200 people in at 8:00 and 200 more in at 10:00. We got over there around 10:30 and there was a little line, turns out that we were 390 and 391 into the mountain. It was about an hour or so up the mountain that included some steep parts and really narrow stairs, but it was way worth it. The ruins were neat up there as well, hiked in part of a cave and it is just amazing how they built these ruins on the side of a mountain.

We came back and ate a little lunch before going back out on part of the Inca trail hike up to whats called the sun gate, where if we had done the hike we would have seen the ruins for the first time. It wasn't up like the other mountain, but it was a nice hike. Then came back and walked around the ruins some more before heading back down the mountain at 5pm.

The next day, I had wanted to climb another mountain that is across from the ruins, so we headed out around 9am. This hike was about an hour up, maybe 1000 feet of climbing, and parts of the hike are just ladders made of logs and nailed into the rocks. There were 250 ladder steps on the hike, and going up wasn't that bad, but come down was scary for me, just going down and seeing all the way down the mountain. It was a nice hike, hardly anyone on the train, and we spend about 45 min at the top by ourselves just enjoying the scenery. I enjoyed this part the most, just more secluded and peaceful than the chaos at Machu Picchu.

We took a train and bus back to Cusco and go back around 10pm Friday night. We had wanted to go white water rafting, but the river was low and so it wasn't recommended. Instead, Saturday we got horses and toured some ruins just outside the city with a small group of nice people and a great guide. And Sunday we took a day long tour of what is known as the Sacred Valley. We got back around 7pm and had reservations at the "best restaurant" in Cusco (which only costs like $15-20 a plate) and packed up.

It was a fun trip besides getting sick and it is disappointing not to have hiked the trail. We talked about whether we would want to go back and do the hike, but part of it was going to be seeing Machu Picchu for the first time from the trail and so we kind of ruined the ending. So we ultimately said we need to go somewhere else. We met some great people and had a great time, especially the last 4-5 days where packed and amazing. No pictures today, Eric took the camera to work, but I will post some of them tomorrow.

Here is the few of the places we are thinking about going next year: Costa Rica, Italy, Greece, Galapagos Islands

Taxis and Altitude

Ok, so we found an internet cafe that seemed nice enough to use and really cheap. We leave tomorrow for our hike and won´t be back in a town until Friday, but here is a little update.

The flights here were fine. The overnight flight was ok, didn´t sleep all that well but alright. We got in and got through customs fine. And made our first of several scary taxi rides to our hotel which was like 30 minutes. Lima is extremely large city and not really all that nice. I was glad we didn´t stay there but 1 1/2 days. Seriously, some roads don´t have lines, some do, but if they do and say there are 3 lanes, that really means they make 4 or 5 on the road and it is just complete nonsense. That was my biggest fear any time we got in a cab was getting in an accident. There is basically no rules on the road.

Our hotel was nice and we were a close enough walk to the beach, but the beach isn´t really nice, lots of rocks. The city sits up on the cliffs and then you can look over the ocean. That was probably the nicest part. We tried a few local foods...the classic corn with cheese and a pisca sour (cocktail drink that is pure liquor). We tried going to the museum that was recommended but when we got there (after a lovely taxi ride) it was closed until June. :)

Yesterday afternoon we flew up to Cusco, now at something like 13000-14000ft. Our taxi driver was better but we hit a car trying to squeeze two lanes into one. I wouldn´t say hi, but basically rubbed sides. Quite nice. Our hotel here sits way up above the city and the first thing we were offered is the local Coca Tea which is made from coca leaves (leaves that make cocain). Basically the tea is a bunch of the leaves with hot water and is suppose to help with altitude sickness. We got settled in and walked down to the main square and walked around and made our way to dinner.

Eric after a sip of his drink felt sick and said he was going to go outside. I didn´t know that when he went out there he fainted and hit the ground. I stayed inside the restaurant for a while never knowing this till he came back in. The altitude really hit him hard and he still isn´t feeling great. I feel fine though, so I guess that is good. We were able to try a few more local things'some Andean soup and Alpaca (which we thought was llama but are unsure right now). The Alpaca was actually really good.

We took another taxi to a town 20 miles away called Pisca today where they have a lcoal market on Sundays. I bought the standard beanie hat with llamas on it and a cool handwoven belt. And we got some salt and pepper shakers. It was really neat to see the locals and see some of the women weaving their stuff. We are going to take it easy for the rest of the day since we leave at 5:30am tomorrow morning to head out for the hike.

So far we are getting by ok with the limited spanish we know. Most people speak a little english too so that helps, but at the market today most people spoke spanish or quachan (which is the native indian language, and it has no resemblence of spanish).

Hope all is well in the US.

The Trip is coming!

Well now, it is only a short day away before we are off in a foreign land where hopefully all of Eric's listening to the spanish station here has helped. I just stopped trying to learn, and will just rely on him. :)

I am done with school and now just using the few days of doing nothing to get some odds and ends errands accomplished. Still have more things to tie up and get done before we go. We have been on a crazy shopping spree lately...finished doing the front/side landscaping and got rockers for the porch, finished painting our bathroom and got towels to go with the room and just bought a new mattress that we will have delivered after our trip. Next up is the bedroom furniture and our couch will maybe be in sometime when we get back.

I will leave you with a couple pictures of our new bathroom color and towels and the front yard. Although, you can't really tell the color of the bathroom, and I tried to take a pic of the toilet area since we painted it a deeper purple.









Last but not least, here is one of Killer in one of his new sleeping spots (our closet).

The dreaded Flat tire

So yesterday I head out for a ride, and was planning on just 25 miles with a 3x 1 mile workout in the middle after a 10 mile warmup. I was at mile 8 and I hear this pssssssssssss.... I of course don't know what it is at first because I have my ipod on and I think for a second I have a leaf or bag or something stuck in my wheel so I look around and don't see anything.

A few seconds later I realize my back tire is flat. Yikes. So up until now, I have been riding for 3-4 years and haven't had to actually change my tire out on the road. The first flat I got was just a leak and I made it home, the second one was also a leak racking at White Lake Half last year and I didn't even know it until after the race. I got another flat a week after than but I was only a couple miles from home and called Eric who came and picked me up.

So I call him because I am freaking out, it is my rear tire and I am clueless as to how the whole gears and stuff work back there with the wheel. He talks me through getting the wheel off and I manage to change the tire after like 5 calls to Eric to make sure I was doing it right.

Too bad the CO2 cartridge hardly had any stuff in it. I rode home because my tire was still really soft and when I got home, I checked it and the cartridge only gave 30 psi's. Yikes! My wheels require 130 psi's.

Eric said he had only given me 50-50 odds on whether I could do it while his co-worker gave me 75-25. Thanks Mike!

Juno

What an excellent movie...

My favorite line:

"That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be undid, homeskillet."

House Stuff...

We spent the weekend doing what seemed like a million different things. We managed to dig up some sod and plants a few plants as part of our front yard makeover. Maybe we will finish that this weekend...I am really sore though from diging and planting though.

Then I decided I wanted to finish painting our bathroom. I had picked a different color for the small room where the actually toilet is, a deep purple to complement the gray lightish purple bathroom part. So it is a really small space and so I decided we didn't need a gallon , so I bought a quart. Well, we are painting away and Eric asks me if I think the walls seems strange and I do....turns out, the builders never actually painted the room, just sprayed on the paint (1 coat-flat) over the drywall so it is just dry. Well, that meant it just soaked up the quart. Couldn't even finish one coat with it. So I had to go out and buy another. Stupid little cans...the two cans are costing me more then it would have cost to buy the gallon to begin with. :)

I am also testing a different color for the main part of the house, a more green then gold color. But that project will come at a much later time.

If we finish the yard this weekend, I will post pictures...and maybe we will get some chairs for the porch too!!! We only bought ones for the deck so far.

The Games

A few weeks ago, Eric and I were extremely fortunate to get some tickets (Thanks Tyler) to the first round NCAA tourny. Of course, we were excited since Arkansas was playing and so was UNC. The first games of UNC vs Mount St. Mary's was a blowout and not very exciting but the Indiana vs Arkansas game was great and we ended up winning! Unfortunately, that meant playing UNC in the next round. Yeah. The first game that day was the Davidson vs Georgetown game and wow, that was amazing. The entire arena in powder blue was rooting for Davidson (since they are in Carolina), and the student section was great. And then I watched Arkansas get blown out by UNC which was embarrasing. Just terrible.

Anyway, here are a few pics!










And here is us at the game after it was over...

Allergies...

I was driving in to work yesterday morning and heard a report on the radio for the worst cities this year for allergies and here is the list:

1. Lexington, Ky.
2. Greensboro, N.C.
3. Johnson City, Tenn.
4. Augusta, Ga.
5. Jackson, Miss.


Hmmm.... for those of you that don't know we basically living in Greensboro, and this is basically where I work too. Yeah for allergy season!!!

Pictures

So, we got the camera cord back and here are a few pictures of the rooms we have "done". The guest room and the guest bathroom:







We painted our bathroom this past weekend a nice lavender shade. I had picked out a more lavender/gray but it definitely looks more lavender on the wall. After we get some towels to match (I am thinking dark plum) I will post a couple more pics.

Our goal has been to do some landscaping but the weather has not quite cooperated. Maybe this weekend, we'll see. We have also tested out a few rocking chairs for the porch but haven't found ones we like. So our porch is still bare. We might end up with comfy wicker chairs instead, who knows.

Our couch is suppose to come in sometime in April, and we think we have picked a color for the downstairs-a really light yellow/green/tan color. Maybe I will get to that this summer when I have some more time. :)

The Camera Cord...

Has been found!!! Granted it has been found in Michigan, but it has been located. :)

I am in Charleston for another math conference for the next two days and I just talked to Eric who said he came home today to see a package from Ethan. Couldn't figure out what it was since it was much heavier than just the cord. Turned out to be an extra present of a knife sharpener! Thanks guys!!! (We did buy another wine opener a couple weeks ago too).

Now that the cord has returned to its home, I can post pictures when I get back!! Yeah!

Its Been a While...

Well...I know it has been awhile and we still haven't found the cord that connects our camera to our computer, so we might have to go buy another one. :(

Things have just been moving along. School is keeping me quite busy. I am working a lot on making my classes better and hopefully more interesting for the students, but in turn have gotten a little behind in the syllabus in hopes for better understanding.

As for the house, we haven't painted any more rooms, but have paint chips up in the master bath (in the purple shade) and in our family/living room (in the green/yellow shade). We bought a couch that is suppose to come in in mid April and our entertainment center finally came in last week. So now our nice big tv has a nice home. :)

My sister and Ethan and little Amelia came to visit for a little bit a couple weeks ago and we had a lot of fun. We didn't take any pictures but one when she left:



The only reason I have a picture is because she took it and I got it off her blog. :)

We have a busy 3 day weekend starting today with NCAA games. I got lucky that one of my friends was able to get Eric and I tickets for this weekends games. Normally, I wouldn't care so much about 1st and 2nd rounds, but Arkansas got selected and is playing here in Raleigh so we had to attempt to get tickets. So tonights games feature UNC vs Mount St. Mary's and Ark vs Indiana. And if all goes well, Sunday we will be watching UNC vs Arkansas!!!

We also have been working on beautifying our front porch/yard. We bought planters and planted flowers and hung the wind chimes and now just need to get the rocking chairs and make the end table. We have an appointment tomorrow with a landscaper who is going to help design the front of our house and yard and then as we can, we buy the plants and implement the plan. So maybe next year, our yard will look really nice!

I hope everyone has a relaxed Easter weekend!

Pictures

Well...I actually had a little time tonight to do some stuff I have been putting off. I took some pictures of the two rooms we painted and was going to upload them (along with the xmas decorations that I hadn't gotten around to). So after I took the pictures, I spent the next 20 minutes looking for the cord that connect the camera to the computer and haven't found it yet. :)

One of these days, I might get around to posting some pictures of the house...I almost took one of the big tv, but it looks a little out of place on top of the small tv stand (the new one we ordered hasn't arrived yet).

The plans were to go out to a big furniture mall (yes, seriously, a mall of furniture stores...only in the furniture capital of the country can you find it) on Saturday, but Eric might have to work, and Sunday it is only open for 4 hours...I mean come on, can we make it through the whole place in 4 hours. :)

I think we are getting close though, our plan was that if we didn't find anything here, we were going back to another store and order the sofa and loveseat...yeah!!!

Slowly but surely...

We took the 46 inch tv back and got the 40 and it looks so much better in the room. We spent all of Saturday furniture shopping and ordered an entertainment center for the tv. We also managed to find a table we think we really like and a sofa and love seat too. But didn't order them. I think we managed to hit 6 furniture stores on Saturday. I think we are on the right track though, finally finding things we both like and think would look good.

Eric managed to hang some more blinds up and we only have a few left to hang! He also got the two mountain bikes up off the garage floor, hanging from the ceiling now to open up some more space and bought a miter saw and a bunch of lumber to build some shelves in the garage.

It was so nice yesterday, I convinced Eric to go out on a 20mile ride outside. I think I got spoiled living in Apex, as most loops I did leaving my house were downhill/rolling the first 8+ miles, and now leaving our neighborhood we hit a monstrous hill 2.5 miles out, which I am not warmed up and ready to get out of the saddle to hurt. Not fun. Maybe it will make me better on the hills though! :)