Oy.
Last week was long on running around and short on running (or Crossfit, for that matter). Although the “plan” was to hit Crossfit on Wednesday, it didn’t happen – then Thursday was Book Club so I knew that I couldn’t go, but the “plan” was to do something – hike, run? – that afternoon. Unfortunately I went to visit a friend who was home from the hospital from having a heart attack, and what should have been an hour visit turned into an all-day visit. What are you going to do when someone wants you to stay, and you CAN stay?
We left for Tahoe on Friday, and on Saturday we did another “Gilligan’s Island” hike, this time in Olympic and Squaw Valley. The funniest thing is that I had to explain to what the whole ‘Gilligan’s Island’ reference was – because he’d never seen the TV show. I had of course used the “three hour tour” reference to him when we did the “hour long hike that turned into four hours” up Mt. Tam in September, but really hadn’t realized he didn’t have ANY idea what I was talking about.
It was a TOUGH hike. Up and over boulders most of the way from the bottom of Olympic Village to Shirley Lake – then instead of going back DOWN, we traversed, went up the Shirley Lake “run” (if the lift had been running, that would have been faboo, but, alas, no), all the way up to the “top” of the mountain (which was also closed), then we walked back down from there.
I was great in my hiking shoes until we started the long trek down – then my big toes were slamming against the front. H finally re-laced them to try to get my feet to stop sliding forward – but unfortunately I think that they may not be TAR-worthy. I really have to figure something out. I have my ENORMOUSLY heavy boots from when we hiked the Alps – they were fantastic, above the ankle, waterproof, etc. – but man, each boot is like 5 lbs! The lacing seemed to help, and I need to “hike them” around here to see if this will make them “work” for me.
Our hike was so exhausting, the next day (Sunday) we just went to Tahoe City, and then walked around a bit on the bike path. We drove down to the South to look at the scenery, and then went to a wonderful restaurant (a real “foodie” restaurant in Tahoe City? No! Yes!) and actually walked some again, there.
The snow reports were getting ominous, and so we ditched the room at 11 p.m. (wasting $200 – the room was 1/2 price because it was shoulder season, but that still hurts) and “bolted” for home. We only hit one small flurry, but we were back by 2:00 a.m. and I’m glad we did it. H was ambivalent, but I realized that if it was snowing from about midnight Sunday night all the way through Monday, all we’d be doing is sitting inside anyway. (We looked at the Weather Camera Monday morning and it looked completely passable – but it’s not like we would have gone out hiking – it was about 3″ on the ground up to about 8″ on Donner Summit.)
So Monday H said to “do things that I wanted to do, and pretend like it was still a vacation.” That meant (for him) pulling out and sorting the stones where he’s re-laying the slabs on our “martini porch” – for me, it meant going through 4 storage boxes that were in the closet in my office. I sorted them out into old pictures (some of which I need to scan for our TAR submission), and then another box for “miscellaneous” – leaving me with 2 free boxes. OMG the DUST! The real reason for doing this was that H wanted to get up into the attic to turn off the whole house fan – and the only way is in that closet, which is perpetually full of boxes, etc. I also sorted out everything IN the closet on the shelves, which felt good.
Next I “attacked” the fridge, freezer, and the lower pantry. H said that I spend too much time cooking and thought that I should try to do a “prep day” for food. So I did just that – chopped up veggies I had and putting them into ziplocks, re-organizing the freezer, etc. That was pretty satisfying.
I did the bulk of this while watching the new episode of TAR. So I wasn’t paying complete attention . . . and though the Baseball Bunnies went from being last to 4th (yay!) the Chico Boys were eliminated (boo!) I really liked them. They had such a great attitude – and they really only got eliminated because the Afghanimals U-Turned them (though they were themselves U-Turned by the E.R. Doctors – who did get the Express Pass for telling Pinkie and her ex how to get to the next clue when they were stuck).
They wound up in Poland, and 3 of the teams REALLY got messed up because the taxi drivers had NO IDEA where they were going. One funny thing, however, was that one of the “lost” teams’ drivers called up one of the other drivers – who knew where he was going – and the driver did NOT tell, because his “fares” (the affianced team) asked him not to. That was VERY funny.
I was interested that they are very much downplaying the Afghanimals/Ice Princesses this time around. I wonder if they got “flak” of some kind because of it, and if they’re trying to make it so that the Afghanimals aren’t so hated? I don’t know, just found that interesting.
Today I’ve been cleaning out email ALL DAY yes ALL DAY. Holy cow. And no, no paying work, either.
Tonight would be Crossfit, but Tom and Jan are leaving (sob!) and so there is a going away party for them at 6:30 – right when we would be going. This is bad. We signed up for the Membership and suddenly aren’t going!
I had to write my RVMC Magazine article which I just turned in – the subject was “Traditions.” It was pretty fun to write.
H is still feeling very unwell. He wonders if his ulcers are back. I want him to see my acupuncturist – she’s a genius at this stuff. I hope that he does it. And speaking of eating – since I (and one of the other gals) are gluten-free and I have to bring dessert, I guess I’d better jet to Flour Chylde to get something before they close! I REALLY hope that he’s willing to go to Crossfit tomorrow morning because we have to get back in the swing.
POSSIBLE LEARNING: I wonder if, the SECOND you jumped the cab and he seemed to be taking you to the wrong place, you could get him to take you to a hotel to get help? I’m trying to figure out a way to get help FAST. These cab drivers didn’t have SmartPhones (it was Poland), so there wasn’t a way go “Google” where they wanted to go. My supposition would be that going to a “big name” hotel would be your best bet, rather than just driving around. That, or a Tourist Agency…not sure about Poland, but in many countries there are “Tourist-related” businesses with “tours” etc. on just about every corner, especially in busy towns.
THIRTY-EIGHT DAYS TO DAY 100: I’d like to have something to celebrate on that day! It’s a month. Not sure what it would be – but it should be something! 1/3 of the way there!