Two Carries and a Lacey

This weekend we were invited along on a hike to Kitchen Creek with optional waterfall. We agreed to meet at the Park & Ride at 9am and I was shocked to be the first one there. So was Carrie. But I didn't see her and she didn't see me, and I was just about to take a photo of the park & ride sign in my lot to counter hers when my indisputable proof showed up. Sidian the hiking dog was in the front seat ready to go. I let Carrie know Sidian had showed up and she crossed over to meet us. Jo'l pulled in a couple minutes later and we made a quick stop at Starbucks for coffee and opportunistic bathroom use before we got going. 
For some people who have read this blog for a bit you may have noticed a certain resemblance between my friends. Carrie and Jo'l are in fact related. Everywhere we go I take delight in answering "yes!" along with them when people ask "are you sisters?" just to see the confusion on peoples faces because one of these things is certainly not like the other. So keep that in mind when you imagine this:
The barista came out from behind the counter with breakfast sandwiches in hand and looked over the stickers "Two Carries and a Lacey!"  We burst out laughing as she stared confused at two nearly identical women dressed the same and one who didn't match at all.

 

From there we drove up past Sunrise Highway to Kitchen Creek Road and drove to the trailhead passing snow at lower elevations than I've ever seen. This is a part of the PCT and I was gleeful at the chance to wander through the winter scene and feel the snow crunch under my boots. I swapped back to my Oboz for the day given that they're waterproof and was ready for the cold hike, it proved to be a good decision as the others had some soggy shoes by the time we were done.

Despite all of the snow on the ground I warmed up fast and shed my layers in a hurry. Normally I'm really good about taking my layers off without stopping, but the path was icy, there were rocks under the snow, and there was a cliff on one side. I could see myself trying to remove my puffy jacket without pausing to save a few seconds and tumbling over the side to break a leg 34 days before we're set to leave. Sidian got tired of waiting behind me on the hills pretty quickly and I stepped aside to let anyone left go past while I stuffed my puffy jacket and base layer into my pack. 

I don't know how to convey how special snow is to a San Diegan, we almost never see it and when we do it's all in Julian and Cuyamaca and it's gone in a day or two and full of the entire county rushing to see it. We saw only two other people all day and it was a wonderful stretch after so much time inside between being sick and not being able to hike last weekend. 

We really indulged while we had the opportunity to enjoy it. Please note the way that we're making the most normal and graceful snow angels like regular people. 

On the way back the snow had started to melt along the trail and the crunching feeling beneath my feet had been replaced by very slippery icy mud with a tiny stream starting downhill. Picking my way downhill so that I didn't slip the wrong way and pull my hip out, I started to fall behind again until things evened out. 

After we got back to the car we drove up toward kitchen creek to see the water flowing before heading back to the park & ride. After we picked up all the cars we went for Himalayan food and chatted about making a plan for plan tickets this week. Next week should be 17 miles! 

The Trash Can Plague Strikes Back

Finally, a sunny day in San Diego! It sounds funny when you put it that way, but after weeks of on and off rain when you're used to nothing but sunshine it seems like a long time to go without.
We had packed a serious snack feast since we were missing the snack day celebrations (some of you may know this as the superbowl) and armed with cheese and sunbeams we picked a route.
After discussing that high mileage walks take too long to spend time driving to a destination we left straight from Carries front door and headed toward Chollas Lake making a loop up through Rolando then on toward Lake Murray. I was lagging behind, but there were quite a few hills and it's not unusual for me to fall behind when there's a lot of rise to our walks.

I kept pulling at my pack, feeling like something wasn't right and I needed to adjust it. I had a lot of pain in my shoulder and my feet were getting sore which I thought was just shoes. I tried another pair of the same style in a tamer color.  But nothing seemed to help and my hips were starting to hurt and we were only 5 miles in with 11 left to go. I looked up and saw that Carrie and Jo'l were far ahead of me and I was losing ground fast, but we were on level ground, it made no sense.

When we got to the turnaround point I stopped for water and they both looked at me and immediately came to the conclusion that I had caught the trash can plague. Fever, headache, full body pain, that's it in a nutshell. We  stopped for the snack feast and I picked at it, unable to find an appetite even though everything we brought was peak snacking.

From there I called Sean and sent him a pin on Google Maps so that he could come pick me up. I knew that there was no way I could walk back to Carries place even though it was closer than finishing the entire days miles. I walked with Carrie and Jo'l to the turnoff and they left for Cowles Mountain and I proceeded to go home and sleep for the next 3 days. 

Heated Flow

Everyone knows that San Diego is all about sun, beaches, palm trees, and perfect weather. This week we are not living up to our reputation. While most of the United States suffers through the polar vortex that has wandered off from the pole that it belongs to we have been gleefully sharing beautiful sunsets and lovely days to our social media and our comeuppance has arrived. Hoodies won't save us now, it's raining for multiple days in a row and we have to break out the serious gear because it's in the 50's and for us that's deep winter considering that water is falling from the sky.

We talked it over and after looking at the storm rolling in for 5 (five!!!) days chose the lightest day to walk in San Diego and took today to do something else fitness related up in Orange County. Chris and Sean chose to drive up with us as Jo'l had a list of things that she needed help with in her apartment and if we were only doing a short thing for the day there would be plenty of time left in the day to actually spend time with them for a change. Pearl also made the drive with us, and seemed thrilled when we arrived at Jo'ls place even though she had never been there before. We made it early for once and set off for Jo'ls very fancy gym after she gave Sean & Chris their list and showed them where the snacks that she had set up for them were. Full disclosure: I left my phone at home today, so some of the photos that aren't from people who were there were from Google, all hail. 

We left Jo'ls place and headed to Laguna Niguel to what we knew was a fancy gym, but didn't realize would be a full on mega-gym/cult experience. It's so big that it looks like an industrial church, it has it's own parking structure, there's a concierge, it has spa services. I could go on but to be honest I don't even know what was happening. 

After we got checked in as guests we went upstairs, and Jo'l figured that we had some time before the yoga class that we were there to attend started so she suggested that we warm up on the treadmills for a bit. My treadmill experience includes the one time I did the shoe thing at Roadrunner and two HIIT workouts in the gym at work. Once I figured out how to get the thing going it was pretty easy, and I even managed to get the fake outside feature to work and was soon strolling along a fake lake with many fake dogs. The only problem is that I hadn't planned for this, so while Carrie and Jo'l were going along casually, I was gripping the rail and trying to keep up with my fake dogs while wearing flip flops. Once it was time to go to class I frantically pushed the slow down button and hopped off the treadmill and we wandered over to the yoga room. As we stepped into the waiting area it became clear that some details had been left out, very warm air was drifting out from the room that we were supposed to be going in to but Carrie and I weren't prepared for this at all. I stripped off as many layers as I could and stuffed them into a wooden cubby before grabbing a mat and towel. 

The room was darkened with modern music playing and the people warming up inside were more flexible than I aspire to be. There was a woman folded completely forward with her wrists on the floor, another leaning gracefully sideways with fingertips to toes, and a man doing a headstand. Carrie asked Jo'l something I couldn't head and she confessed that this was the intermediate class. She's fond of adding miles and extra dongles as punishment for our frequent tardiness, and had we been late today our stiff selves would have been in the advanced class. The instructor got started and at first it was familiar and manageable. I had done regular yoga with Erin from Orobouros in San Diego for a while and it felt good to move in familiar ways, but suddenly it was heating up, we were moving faster, and the sweat was pouring from just about everywhere. Even though the lights were dim I found myself face to face with Carrie instead of looking the same way as the rest of the class and things were not flowing as I frantically tried to course correct. By the time we reached shivasana I was drenched and have no idea how I managed to nearly keep up. I can't remember the last time I was that sweaty. As I walked out still trying desperately to look less like Marlon Brando in Apocolyspe Now and more like the slightly dewy women who were walking out and moving on to more gym I wondered if this was a glandular problem that I should have looked into. I heard the instructor say to people walking in "welcome to heated flow" and felt the need to warn them that this was a very misleading title. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Chris and Sean were doing serious battle with Jo'ls sink. It wasn't draining properly and after taking it apart they discovered why. Years of previous tenants left goodies in the pipes and what we have started calling the "hair snake" emerged. It was so gross that Pearl retreated to a far corner and that pyrex bowl will be forever unclean. 

Now that everyone is thoroughly disgusted, let's talk about lunch! We have a favorite restaurant up North and today was a great day to visit given the efforts that everyone exerted. We got to La Columbiana just in time as there was one table left with the patio being closed and a large party with a reservation in the tiny restaurant. It was amazing, like always, and even though we just ate there I can't wait to go back. 

On the way back to the house it was still pouring and we got a flash flood warning, so of course this reminded Jo'l of a great water feature on low ground. When it floods in Dana Point, part of the hillside by the marina becomes a waterfall, cascading down into I don't even know what. But it comes with a slightly seweresque smell and lots of local traffic pulling up to have a look. It was fun to see and we didn't mention the sewage of Dana Point Falls until after we had left the attraction. 

After that detour we headed back to the house for some trip planning; looking at flight options, places to stay in the Dominican Republic, realistic travel dates, and what we're willing to do to save $200 (the answer for 4/5 of the room was not stay in the airport for 2 days). There was judgement from Pearl, outrageous competition for best flights found, and some serious phone envy. All in all we ended on a high note when we stepped back out into the rain to drive home and get ready for Sundays long walk.