Vacation recap

I am back from the woods of Tennessee! I had the Greatest Vacation Ever. Ever. Ever. We had a blast with my nephews and sister and BIL, Hubby caught fish every day, I went swimming in a lake with water moccasins and still loved every minute of it (eeek! snakes!), we are ridiculously tan and relaxed, we drank beer around a campfire, Hubby finally got to know his BIL, we shared our s'mores with a dozen kids next door who had never had the real thing before, we went to Graceland and marveled at the tackiness.

I ran three miles almost every day up massive hills or on a woody trail, my husband took me for an evening ride on his boat, I played Go Fish and Crazy Eights with my nephews, taught the older one how to do an underwater handstand in the pool, went on a shopping spree at Walmart with my sister, went hiking, saw a bald eagle and two owls up close, and ate a Thin Mint Blizzard at Dairy Queen.

We took an impromptu trip to St Louis on Sunday afternoon as our stopover spot on the way home and stayed at a new casino hotel overlooking the Arch; we gambled a bit, ate fancy hamburgers and slept like logs on a down bed. The next morning I won $900 on a slot machine, therefore pretty much paying for the whole trip.

Greatest vacation ever. I should have photos up on my photo blog all week.

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Clothing-wise, I ended up bringing too many shoes, mostly of the non-hiking variety, and came back with a few casual shirts unworn. I overestimated how much non-activity/gear clothes time there would be, and so the "dressier" items numbered too many. "Dressier" in this case means ballet flats, espadrille sandals, and pretty cotton shirts, which as you know is my usual "dressed down" look. So you can imagine how much gear I was wearing! I ended up going through 2-3 gear outfits a day. Morning meant a run with my sister, then we changed into bathing suits or hiking clothes, then maybe by dinnertime we would put on regular clothes. So most of the time I looked like this:


(You would think after all the self-portraits I have taken I would stop with the super-wide angle pose by now, wouldn't you? You would be wrong.)



We did go to Memphis one day, where we went to Sun Records, ate ribs, and toured Graceland. I got dressed up that day: cotton dress, leggings, and denim jacket!


I've decided; I just don't like capri leggings on me. The long ones are fine, but the short ones, meh. I think this outfit would have been cuter without them.


Hubby and I made this same trip on our honeymoon 13 years ago, and somewhere buried in a box is a photo of the two of us in this exact spot in front of Graceland. I need to find that photo.

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Exercise-wise, it was everything I wanted, and then some. I did GREAT on the running; my sister completed C25K months ago and has been running 3 days a week since. Her second 5K will be in a couple of weeks. We ran together almost every morning, some days doing week 4/5 of C25K for me, sometimes just running. There were some killer hills in the area of our cabins, and I pushed myself so by the end of the week I was running up them without stopping. We even did one run on a woody trail, which about killed me. But I kept going, and I am so glad I did. Today was Day 3, Week 5 of C25K: 20 minutes non-stop running.

I did it. I DID IT. And it wasn't even all that hard!

Week 6 looks like a repeat of week 5 -- day 1 is 5 run/3 walk/5 run/3 walk/5 run, day 2 is 8 run/5 walk/8 run, and day 3 is 20 run. I am so ready for it -- I may even have to find a hill just to keep myself fresh, LOL.

I was in the water a lot too, but it wasn't laps. I chased my nephews around, had a good old-fashioned mud fight with my grown sister, swam on a boogie board with my nephew to the end of the swimming area, did underwater handstands, and played Marco Polo, etc. A different kind of workout, but I did miss my laps. It may be time to hit the town pool tomorrow.

Lastly, the evening ride in my husband's boat convinced me that I do want a kayak. I'll start a savings account for it now, keep trying out different rentals and will get my own next spring. We've already booked our vacation in Natchez Trace for August 2010, and I can't wait to get back out there. I loved being out on the water more than I can put into words; maybe this last self-portrait will show how happy I felt.



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Eating-wise, it could have been better, and it could have been a lot worse. I ended up gaining just a couple of pounds which is reasonable given what I ate. I have more thoughts that I will save for another post, but I am up 12 pounds from goal, and I can feel and see it. I'm not pleased with this development, but I know how to change it.

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Oy. Work is going to be a tough adjustment tomorrow!