travel

Just a quick post to announce that we’re married!!

Everything went fabulously and I could not have imagined a more awesome day. I’ll get around to posting more pictures later, but for now, I’ll focus on enjoying our honeymoon in San Francisco (I already had a yummy In-n-Out burger and strawberry milk shake…MMMM!).

Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming….check, check, check, check.

We made it to Spearfish, South Dakota late last night and found a hotel room to crash at. After 13 hours of driving (or, riding, in my case) and 800 miles, I was eager to get some good sleep and realign my back.

Highlights from the day of driving include, but are not limited to:
-Crossing the Clark Fork river 15 times.
-Winning another bet against our friend Erin for not seeing any signs for hamburgers for over 30 miles.
-75 mph speed limits!
-Getting to listen to the K-State football game while driving through Montana State country, the team we were playing and eventually beat 69-10. It’s not often that K-State games are broadcast out in Seattle, so that was a pleasant surprise.
-Being a couple weeks too late to attend the Testicle Festival in Montana. Thank goodness!

We’re getting ready to hit the road again and make it through South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and 7 miles into Kansas, where I’ll finally feel like we’re ‘home’.

I write this from the front seat of my car, Goldie.  Just for safety’s concern, I should clarify that I’m in the passenger seat, NOT the driver’s seat. 

Todd, Goldie, my dress Bella, and I are making the long haul back to Kansas City for our wedding (also our luggage and about 5 boxes of wedding stuff).  Yes, my dress has a name–she has a personality all her own and she’s taking up most of the back seat.

Our road trip will be a quick one, as we’re eager to get back and get things ready and rollin’.  We left Seattle this afternoon and are currently driving to Todd’s parents’ house in Idaho where we’ll have yummy greek food for dinner and spend the night.

Tomorrow we’ll drive through to Rapid City, South Dakota and then Sunday we’ll drive to my parents’ house in small town northeast Kansas and then rolling into Kansas City on Monday.  I’m excited that we are able to include stops at both parents’ and spend a little bit of time with them before things get too excitingly hectic. 

Should be fun.  I’ll probably post more during this trip than I have the past month    Enjoy.

Kansas City, here I come!

We’re off to our homeland before the sun even rises, catching a 4:30am bus to the airport. Ugh. Who planned that?

Oh yeah, I did.

I had to, in order to get the most out of our short visit, packed with wedding vendor meetings, a couple’s communication class at the church, tux/bridesmaid dress fittings, and squeezing in as much time as possible with family and a few friends.

That’s the bad thing about going back home. I love making the trip, but it’s impossible to see everybody I want to, or even try to see everyone with all the other items to check off the to-do list. And this time more than any previous, it seems like there’s a gazillion to-do items.

It’s a weird mix of fun and stress, but I’m excited for it and wouldn’t want to spend the next four days any other way.

My brother said we can play Nerf gun war

Pop Quiz:

Dallas was _________.
a. a nice change from Seattle’s weather
b. sunny and warm
c. cold

The correct answer is C. Dallas was cold.

Who would’ve thought? I packed my bags Friday night based on the forecast that it will be warm and humid, with a chance of rain.

WRONG.

While I was glad to not be running in warm and humid weather, I wasn’t *quite* prepared for 40 degree temps. In hindsight, I probably should’ve packed some old gloves and a long sleeve shirt to wear before the race. And some warm pants would’ve been nice too.

But despite the weather surprise, it turned out to be a great race and a fun weekend with my cousins Leann, Ryan and his wife, Lindsay.

The course was flat and fast, the scenery was good and the crowds were impressive considering the ‘not-so-pleasant-to-be-standing-outside-for-hours’ weather. Ryan made an excellent running partner and pushed me at a faster pace than I normally run, but it felt great (up until the last mile).

The most exhilarating part of the race was running through downtown Dallas at Mile 12, the band was playing, the fans were cheering and the announcer shouted “Go Katie! You rock! One more mile!” My legs moved faster, my eyes teared up, and I pumped my fist in glee. But….that last 1.1 mile was the LONGEST ever. I kept trudging on though because I didn’t want to slow Ryan down. (we talked after the race and he felt the same way about not wanting to slow me down. talk about good silent motivation!)

And when it was all over, we both walked away with a PR of 1:47:19! (This even despite our back-of-the-pack start and a 10:00 first mile.)

To top it all off, Leann and Lindsay (who ran the full marathon) both qualified for Boston!

I’ll have more pictures to post soon, but now I’m just wrapping things up and heading back to Kansas City for a good ol’ family Christmas time! Let’s just pray the ice doesn’t interfere with our fun.

I get to enjoy a lovely evening by myself doing laundry and tucking myself into bed by 9 pm. It’s a super early start for me tomorrow with a 7 am flight and since I’m confined by the bus schedules at such an early hour, my only chance to get there in time is to take the 4:15 bus. If I miss that bus…..well…..I’ll be spending my weekend in chilly Seattle instead of deep in the heart of Texas.
I’m super excited for the weekend, although this will be the fastest cross country trip I’ve ever made. But it will be nice to spend time with my cousins and the weather looks like it won’t be *too* bad:

It’s my cousin Ryan’s first half marathon and our plan is to run it together, so I’m really looking forward to having an entertaining run.

More details on the flip side!

It’s not like I needed a vacation from a job, but I welcomed the vacation from searching for a job. Friday morning we headed to Idaho to spend the weekend at Todd’s parent’s new house in the Post Falls/Lake Coeur d’ Alene area, about 4 hours east of here, just across the Washington border. After 3 hours of driving, we decided to take a pitstop at the Latah Creek winery in Spokane Valley for a free wine tasting…..and then we left there with 3 bottles of fruity goodness. (note: I did most of the tasting since I was just the passenger)

Saturday morning I was able to get in a 3 mile run down by the river, but after the previous night’s delicious, yet very garlicky Greek dinner, my stomach just didn’t have the gusto to do much more than that. We all drove about 45 minutes north to the quaint little town of Sandpoint, ID where they were having an arts festival along Lake Pond Oreille. I never knew Idaho was such a vacation destination, but after spending some time at their mountain lakes, it’s easy to see why.

Who would ever guess this is in Idaho?!?

On the way back to Seattle on Sunday afternoon, we stopped in Spokane to walk around the riverfront area and took a gondola ride above the waterfalls.

It’s looking to be a very busy week, I have a couple interviews and my parents are flying into Seattle for a 5 day visit. I’m super excited to show them around. But just my luck, my tire has severe damage and i have to take it into the shop tomorrow, manage to find my way downtown on the bus in time for my interview and hopefully meet up with my parents sans car. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. Good night.