Just Plodding Along

(We are back in Colorado  after cutting our trip short and some exciting stuff is going on with that but I am so behind on blogging about our travels that we are just gonna pretend that we are still adventuring. The good news is I can use a computer now, though that is no guarantee the quality will be any better.....) After we dropped our cute little nugget of a lost dog off with his peeps we hit up Portland for some fun. We headed straight for a farmers market. There is a farmers market in Portland everyday you just gotta find it. It would be so hard not to spend all your money at them if you lived there. Everything looks amazing and delicious.  We wandered around tasting samples and handing our money over for cherries and grabbed some pizza from a food truck for lunch. We headed over to our airbnb accommodations when we were done. We had never used airbnb before and the idea of renting a room in someone's house seemed odd to me but it was actually super aw...

After getting off the Lost Coast Trail we decided to head towards Redwoods and Crater Lake with a stop over on the coast for the night for things like showers and laundry. After changing out of sweaty clothes and stuffing our face full of red vines (lunch of champions), we shoved all our backpacking gear in our truck and headed out. About ten miles into our drive out of Humbolt County we spied a tiny dog running down the road. We stopped the truck and opened the door. No collar, lots of ticks. We grabbed the little nugget and spent the next couple hours looking for his people. After asking at the local general store, the campground and knocking on doors, nada. We were told a couple times to just leave him on the road. A windy road where people drive crazy fast. Ummm no. D knocked on one more door and came back real quiet and with a weird look on his face. Me: "What's wrong?" D: "The guy answered in an apron.....only an apron" Me: Laughing hysterically. So that ...

Beautiful, Magnificent, Miserable. Hiking the 50 plus miles on the Lost Coast trail was physically one of the hardest things I have ever done. Soft sand and ankle busting rocks made up most of the terrain on this trail. You would think a trail with an elevation of 50 feet would be a breeze. It was not. But it was amazing with the view and the sea life. I am glad we did it. We started at Mattole Beach in Humbolt County. It took us a few hours to get to the trail head down a windy and rough road. There is a campground, which we used the night before we started. We started at the north end and hiked towards Shelter Cove. Many people do this trail one way and take a shuttle. We decided to forgo the cost of a shuttle and hike out and back cause we are dumb, or have inflated sense of how good of shape we are in. After camping for the night we started in the morning and were immediately hiking through soft sand. This can't last right, oh no it does and then it turns into large rocks you ...

After our Sequoia fail we hung at the in-laws for two weeks. Got to sleep inside, showers, refrigeration and air conditioning.  So fancy. All those little things you miss living outdoors. We had a great time hanging out, going wine tasting, doing yardwork, visiting, trying different restaurants in the area and living indoors. I got some running in but honestly the running fitness is at an all time low while my hiking fitness is at an all time high. Oh well. Will probably need to get on that before fall races.  One source of inspiration was spectating the finish line of the Western States 100. These people were just amazing! I am not built for 100 mile trail run but if someone needs crew or a pacer I am totally in!  I also got to see Cat and her family ( check her blog out at My Heart's Content). I had the best time hanging with them (as evidenced by me crushing her with my love in the pic below). I absolutely love them and it was great to see them. We decided that since ...