The rest of the weekend in southwest Michigan

I mentioned in my race report post that I spent the weekend in southwest Michigan visiting my college roommate Jess and her BFF Kim. It was a pretty chill "girls" weekend - Jess brought her niece, and we stayed with Kim, who has two little girls. Saturday night was girls night out with one of Jess and Kim's friends, and Kim's husband had his own "girls night" at home with the younger girls.

Jess's niece

Most of the weekend revolved around the race - as I mentioned, it was put on by Kim's family. Friday night, we made baked goods (OK, I watched) to bring to the race, Saturday morning was the race and then the afternoon was spent at Kim's parents' house as they finalized post-race details - posting race results online, reconciling the money, etc. (And hanging out - Kim's family is really nice!)

Kim and her giant dog

Saturday night we went out in Kalamazoo, which is a cute town. We started at the Wine Loft and then Casa Bolero. (My not-a-foodie review of both: Good. Recommended.) Dinner ended around 9:45pm and we all admitted that we just wanted to go home and go to bed. We reminisced on how much of a change that was from our college days. (How many years post-college can we get away that? We graduated almost eight years ago.) But I pointed out that back then we slept until noon and then didn't get going on our night until 9 or 10pm. Whereas on Saturday we were out the door by 7:30am for the race and had a pretty busy, but fun, day, regardless of our bedtime.

So we went to bed early and "slept in" until almost 8am on Sunday before Jess and I got moving to head home (in opposite directions - she lives in Detroit). On the way home, I made a slight detour to Warren Dunes for a peek at Lake Michigan.

Frosty beach

More frost (in the shade)

Lake Michigan

Then I remembered that it's February and it gets a little chilly standing right next to a great lake and continued home. And another trip to Michigan is over. I love that state!

But it is nice to be home

Meanwhile, in honor of super expensive Super Bowl commercials, I cracked open a super fancy beer. My not-a-beer-runner-blog review: It was good. (For actual an beer runner blog, and some sweet MS Paint pictures, check out Eat Drink Run.)

New England trip! Lots of photos!

I just got back from a week in New England. My friend Scott and I visited our friend Vera. I've known Vera since kindergarten and we've known Scott since junior high. In high school we became a besties trio. After high school, Vera moved out of state (for college and then for work) and every so often Scott and I take a trip to visit her (which was much easier when she lived in Indiana, and then Cincinnati).

Now she lives in Boston. We were there from Wednesday - Tuesday and tried to pack in as much of New England as we could ... photo time!!

The day we got there, we took a drive to Marblehead and had lunch/dinner at The Barnacle, right on the harbor.



While in Marblehead, we spent a lot of time sitting here, staring at the ocean.



On Thursday, Vera had to work. I went for a 5.25 mile run around Boston. Ran to (and over) the Charles River, past M.I.T., back over the river, through Beacon Hill, wound up by the Cheers sign, went through the Public Garden and back to her place. Such a pretty town.



That evening we met up with two of my cousins who live in Boston (one is a sophomore at BU, the other lives here with his wife and two daughters). Sadly, I forgot to take a picture! It was really great to see my cousins though. I have such awesome relatives.

On Friday, we went to Newport, RI. Had lunch by the water:



Then toured two of the Newport Mansions. First was The Breakers, summer home of the Vanderbilts.



Next was The Elms, summer home of some other rich family. The house was smaller but had awesome grounds with gardens and fountains:



On Saturday, Vera and I ran the Applefest Half Marathon in Hollis, NH. We finished in 2:22:38, which is a personal record for me!! But probably a personal worst for Vera. She runs ultramarathons. The course was hilly, and it rained on us. I was soooo happy to take off my socks as soon as we got to the car.



After the race (and showers), we went out for dinner at a delicious and hip Mexican restaurant. It was so hip that the menus were on iPads. I'm not kidding. Each of us had our own iPad to view the menu. Anyway, this was the view from our table:



The food was so good and despite the smallish-seeming portions, I literally stuffed myself. I was quite uncomfortable afterwards. I think there was some moaning and rubbing my belly as we walked down to the street to find this uber-trendy bar Scott wanted to check out. (We found it, there was a line, we were all full and tired so we got a cab and went home. DO WE KNOW HOW TO PARTY OR WHAT?)

On Sunday, we went apple picking:



Then we decided to drive to Maine. It was wet. The sea was angry.



After we got home, we made apple crisp:



On Monday, we drove down to Cape Cod



It was really pretty, and reminded me a lot of the west coast of Michigan.

On the way out of Cape Cod, we stopped for dinner at The Bee-Hive Tavern, which was adorable.



We talked to some locals and our waitress was super friendly.



I took a bazillion more pictures (421 total on my actual camera, even more on my Droid) and edited them down to 206 photos on Flickr.

And now it's back to the real world. Work tomorrow. 

DIY Mini College Reunion: Trip to Detroit

Somehow, even though we went to college in Chicago (Loyola), two of my best college buddies live in Detroit. This past weekend, I took a trip out there to visit them. I was only there from Thursday - Sunday, long enough to confirm that things have changed in the past seven years.

2004: Not a care in the world. Typical weekend included going to a bar and dancing with random dudes until maybe 3am or so and then sleeping until noon (or so). Some studying occurred. (Hey! I graduated Cum Laude.)

2011: Two of us are married, one of us has kids, we all have full-time jobs and various sources of debt. We went to a bar. (Both nights! Friday and Saturday!) On Friday we got home pretty early, with the best intentions of going out to another bar with dollar beers but ... didn't. Saturday night we were home early enough to catch an episode of America's Next Top Model on Bravo and be in bed by 1am and up before 9am. Despite seven more years to "exercise" my liver, I drank much less than I did in college because I don't want to get dehydrated (runner, much?) or fat (hey I'm not a hot young 21-year-old anymore.)

Time for photos!

Dog video on iPod = Dog Sitter

Belle Isle

Great Lakes Museum

Great Lakes Museum

Great Lakes Museum

Great Lakes Museum

See those buildings across the water? That's as close as I got to Canada.

Stay classy, Detroit

Chalkboard walls in the ladies room at the bar

I'm also another year older, as of yesterday. Flowers from The Sailor

From my co-workers

Running while on "vacation"

Peeps, I did something this past weekend that I've never been really good at.

I went running while on "vacation."

I was out of town from Friday - Sunday for a family reunion in the Quad Cities, where my pops grew up. It was pretty great! Two nights of 70+ people related to me in some way.

Our hotel was on the Mississippi River, and I am three weeks from the Rock 'n Roll Chicago Half Marathon. I was actually excited about running while on vacation.

On Saturday, I woke up early. Like, 7am. I'm glad I did, because it was cool-ish (70s) and cloudy. During my last mile I think the sun came out. So good thing I got my tush out the door when I did.





I also got to start breaking in these. Yup, my long run on Friday was cut short because of that familiar "it's time for new shoes" pain in my lower legs. I bought a pair of Mizuno Wave Nirvana 7s before heading out of town.



On Sunday, I woke up early ... but it was raining. Not hard, but I thought I could wait it out. Everyone was still asleep (they were on vacation, too), so I curled up in bed with some hotel cable. There is nothing good on at 7am on a Sunday. I could have read the book I brought, but instead I ended up watching Say Yes to the Dress and marveled at how crazy people get when it comes to weddings. (Yay for David's Bridal, that's all I'm sayin.) Around 9am it was still raining and I still wanted to get a run in, so I went out. It wasn't that bad at all, I don't know why I was being such a wuss. The rain felt nice. It stopped raining after a couple miles and I wished it hadn't. I saw a couple cousins while running. We're an active bunch. I got back to the hotel and realized breakfast was ending soon and my Mom told me I didn't smell (she also thinks I'm cool), so I ate breakfast in the lobby.

In addition to running and seeing various relatives, I also got to take in the Rock Island Train Festival.







And spend time with this cutie.



Also: two 20+ weeks in a row! Woot.

Anniversary in Galena

Last weekend, The Sailor and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary by taking a little trip to Galena, IL. Since it was "early" in the season, and also Easter weekend, it wasn't very crowded. Plus it rained the only whole day we were there. But, we had a good time. It was just nice to get away together. We haven't done that in a loooong time. (For the record, the last time we "got away" together was to Great Lakes for a Navy family weekend thing last summer. The last time we "got away" together for something more voluntary was a trip to Michigan with friends in 2007.)

Of course I took pictures!

Before we left, I picked up a cake - a mini-version of our wedding cake - from Fleckenstein's Bakery in Mokena (they made our wedding cake)



In Galena. Raining.









Massbach Ridge Winery & Vineyard



Didn't rain on the day we were leaving





Our "souveniers"

San Diego

I recently returned from a trip to San Diego to attend an eHealth conference hosted by my company's web site vendor for their clients. While I was there I was also able to spend time with my uncle (mom's oldest brother) and aunt and their younger son who lived in Northern California but happened to be in town that week as well.

View from my seat on the way there:



We were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego in the lovely (and active) Gaslamp Quarter



On Tuesday night, my Aunt and Uncle took my cousin and I to a Padres-Rockies game at Petco Park. We had good seats - I've never sat this close at Wrigley Field!



When the new Petco Park was designed, the existing structures on that land were incorporated into the park - check out the Western Metal Supply Co building - those are rows of seats hanging off like balconies.



Hanging out with my Uncle was fun because parts of him reminded me of my late Grandpa, and also my mom.



The Hard Rock Hotel was definitely designed to make you feel like a rockstar. Check out Float, the bar/lounge by the pool, over looking the San Diego Convention Center.





On Wednesday night, our group went to the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (where Top Gun was filmed) for our closing night event.



We all got the chance to take a peek in a jet



On Thursday, I had some free time before my flight, so my Aunt, Uncle and cousin took me sight seeing at Point Loma.







It was a little hazy that day, but here is Naval Air Station San Diego with the city of San Diego in the background.



Old Point Loma Lighthouse



All my pics on Flickr.


I had a really great few days out there, and kind of didn't want to leave! The weather was perfect, the food was good ... why leave?? Oh well. Chicago is nice too.