Travel

Union Square Tree in SF

Today is Black Friday, which is the day when most retail stores generate enough sales for the year to move from the red (unprofitable) to the black (profitable) side of their cash flow reports.  Some stores had specials that started at midnight and many others opened at 5am.  I'm happy to report that I was very content in a warm bed at 5am.  I managed to end Thanksgiving with family and successfully avoid stuffing myself into a coma.  I just didn't want to ruin the good trend, so I happily woke up after sunrise this morning to go to the city with my mom.

As expected, it was pretty crowded in the city.  One of the things I love about the Bay Area is the BART train.  I really wished we had the equivalent in Seattle because it's so nice to take a train that travels 70 mph and avoid traffic and parking hassels.  Taking the train downtown is wonderful.  The stations are underground, so they don't add to traffic congestion.  Each train had several cars and ran frequently.  Going into the city, we had to wait 10 minutes and coming back home we had to wait 4 minutes for a train.  But, I can go on about this topic for a while.  All in all, the sales were okay and I'm just not into the shopping frenzy, so we stayed a few hours, had lunch, then came back home.

Brian & Jennifer

Brian, Tyson & me

Jordan

I did get to visit my brother, Brian; and my sister-in-law, Jennifer; and their dog, Tyson.  It was a nice, short visit and I head back tomorrow morning. 

Sunday is the Seattle Marathon and I have to go!

I'm at my parents' house in the Bay Area and I must say it's nice being in the sun.  I couldn't believe the storm we ran in last night at the Greenlake track.  A few steps out of my car, I stepped into a huge puddle.  Oh, you know that feeling when you thoroughly soak through your shoes and socks?  At that point I felt committed and might as well get a workout in.  So, Cindy and I braved the wind, rain and darkness to get a solid run in.  The track was flooded, so we did what we could and ran the lake.  We figured that we got bonus points just for showing up last night.  Yes, it was that miserable last night, that I felt the need to write it in my blog and get some kind of "tough guy" credit from my friends.

I was bummed to find out that my team entry into the Hood to Coast Relay didn't get chosen in the lottery.  The race is 197 miles and starts at the top of Mt. Hood and ends in Seaside, OR.  Teams consist of 12 runners in two vans and they run the relay non-stop until they hit the finish line.  Yes, I'm sad that I don't get to run three legs in two days and live in a van with five other smelly runners.  And no, I'm not willing to admit that I have a problem...I didn't get in, so that makes my schedule next year lighter, right?  As long as I have friends that do Ironmans, which I think is totally nuts, I look sane by comparison.

Despite being the heaviest travel day of the year, the trip over was extremely easy.  I think most people have figured out the 3 oz liquid restrictions in the airport.  On a side note, I wonder how many women will be wearing less makeup because of it?  I know that I, personally, had to make some tough decisions when I was packing since I didn't want to deal with checking my bags this holiday weekend.  I had to prioritize whether chapped lips, frizzy hair, or cracked cuticles warranted precious space in my quart-size plastic bag for the plane.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of the family tomorrow (my extended family is so large, that it's pretty difficult to get us all in one place at the same time).  Dad is making a SF specialty, Cioppino, which is a fish stew.  The fisherman in the area would throw a mix of different seafood into a tomato-based broth and serve it with sourdough bread.  I have to confess that I like it better than Turkey.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Me & Heidi

Bethany & Heidi at the Village

There is nothing like a girls weekend.  Mel, Maureen, Bethany, Heidi and I went up to Whistler last Friday and came back last night.  Think about it, how often do you get to spend a large chunk of time with your friends?  We talk, but it's different if you spend the weekend together...you have time to open up and get into topics that normally don't come up.  It's also nice to know that we're all human and we're not alone.  I'm so thankful that I have such positive, supportive, and funny friends around me.

Heidi & Bethany, Automotive Divas

Of course, the adventure started well before we reached the Canadian border.  Heidi and I geared up at REI that afternoon, which left me minutes to pack before Bethany picked us up for the long journey north.  We were all scrambling to get things done at work and other personal errands, so we could leave at a decent hour.  Bethany even bought windshield wiper replacements AND blades (just in case one didn't work), so we can get on the road ASAP.  The plan was to get to Bellingham to eat, gas up and change the wiper blades.  Sounds like a pretty efficient plan, right?  It almost sounds like the beginning of a joke... how many professional women does it take to change windshield wiper blades?  We spent a huge amount of time trying to figure it out while the gas attendant lady was smoking and laughing at us.  Then she finally felt generous and tried to help.  She stopped laughing when she couldn't do it either.  We had the wrong replacements.   And we couldn't neatly get the old blades onto the windshield wipers.  This is why the autoparts stores recommend replacing the wiper, and not just the blades.  Needless to say, this is when I decided that I wasn't contributing much and the least I could do it take photos to document our automotive prowess. :)  It was raining, the stores were closed at this hour, and the best solution we (Heidi) could come up with was to duct tape (oh yes, I'm having flash backs to college) the edge of the wipers so they wouldn't scrape the windshield.

Heidi can fix anything w/duct tape

Although we left only an hour behind Mel & Maureen, we arrived four hours after them (not all of it was spent on the car, we had a nice Greek dinner, too).  We stayed at the Pan Pacific Mountainside in Whistler, which I highly recommend and was fabulous!  When we walked in, they knew my name (probably because we were one of the last ones to check in).  They tried hard and were successful at making checkin extremely easy and quick.  Also, the hotel is in the village and only a few meters away from the gondolas.  The next morning, some of us went skiing and boarding since the snow was coming down.  Bethany and I hit the spa for my birthday gift. Then we all met up for a soak in the hot tub.  There were a couple hot tubs in the pool area, so we had one hot tub to ourselves.  Honestly, we were so silly that my stomach started to hurt from laughing so hard.  After dinner, we ended up in the Irish Pub in the hotel.  The guitarist was singing songs and we were dancing the night away. 

Heidi Swing Dancing w/Stranger

No, I didn't get to go boarding or snow shoeing, but it was nice

Bethany, Maureen, & Heidi

having some quality time with the girls.  We'll have to go up again

Heidi ready for the snow

during the winter so we can play in the snow more. 

We learned our lesson on the way back and asked the lady at the autoparts store to help us with the windshield wipers.  It took a little muscle, but she quickly replaced the part and we could actually see during the drive back.  As a safety precaution, Bethany & I had Heidi in our vehicle...we recruited her for her Alaskan experience.  Since we grew up in sunny parts of the country, we thought we could use the extra help.

By the way, I think it's strange that Mel avoided all the photos.  That was very crafty, Mel.  You're lucky that I didn't bring my camera down to the jacuzzi.  Actually, we're all pretty lucky that there wasn't a camera since Mel was the only one with a nice bikini on.  Our "version" of bathing suits was creative, but wasn't going to win us any fashion contests.  WMD?

Maureen

Heidi

Heidi being a ski nerd

Heidi getting caught again

Walk around VA neighborhood

I'm here in Virgina, visiting my old college roomate, Megan, and her husband, Kiril. We all went to college together and in true dorky tradition, we have the same # of computers on as people in the house.  Yesterday, we visited the Spy Museum in Washington DC.  We were able to see different equipment used by spies from World War I through the mid-90's from the US, Britain and former Soviet Union.  We even climbed through a ventilation duct to spy on the other visitors in the museum.

Megan & Kiril, aka Peaches & Skully

I got to catch up with my cousin, McKenzie, and we all tried the DC version of Mexican food in Shirlington.  Believe it or not, it's warm and sunny here.  It feels like a summer day and we even took a walk around the neighborhood in shorts.  I didn't realize how much I missed seeing the sun until I came here to visit.

Me & Kenzie

 

Megan's first daughter is due on March 14th