Saturday, June 30, 2007

Home At Last

We are finally home. We had a wonderful week of travel - from Auburn to Santa Rosa, CA, where we ran trails in a regional park and went wine-tasting at two wineries, to Fort Bragg where we ran on a paved trail along the beach, to Crescent City, where we stayed in the Curly Redwood Lodge, complete with 1950s decor and skipped running. This time we took a side trip inland - to the Rogue River. We found our way to a little, tiny town of one store and a couple houses, where there was a trail head. We decided to just hike - not run - the trail. We probably hiked about three miles before getting back to the car. We decided to take the back roads back to the coast - but didn't expect to find ourselves on a gravel forest service road for 20 miles! We finally found our way back to civilization and eventually to Coos Bay, OR. We went to the movies that night, got up early to get on the road yet again. We wanted to get to Cannon Beach with most of the day still ahead of us. We got in about 1:00 and had time to wander the shops before checking in to the hotel. The hotel was wonderful - a private balcony overlooking the ocean, with a view of Cannon Beach's famous Haystack Rock and a gas fireplace in the room made for a luxurious stay. We watched the sun go down, then went for a second walk on the beach. This morning we were up and out to run along the waterline while the tide was out and before the wind picked up. We ran for four miles, with endless beach in front of us. And finally, after our last breakfast out, we drove home. It was a very relaxing and fun week - one that we both needed.

Now we are home and there is laundry to be done, groceries to be bought, bills to be paid, 57 unread emails (not counting all the junk ones I already deleted), and tons of unread posts to read. I hate to think about what might be waiting at work...Plus, my online class started while I was gone. I did most of the work for the first module before I left, and took a laptop along so I could sign in for the weekly chat. The next module starts Monday. It's all worth it though - to have two weeks of easy-going, laid back fun. Today, after we spent some time unpacking, sifting through regular mail and chatting with neighbors, we went out for a quiet dinner with Steve and Lorri - a nice finish to the day.

I'll start catching up on all your blogs again in the next week. I'll leave you with a few pictures...


From the tram at Squaw Valley (going up to the first tower):















At the winery:
















Rogue River Trail:















Haystack:















For perspective - those are people & horses:

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos and welcome back to the online world! Glad your vacation was restful How's your hubby doing, beginning to feel recovered?

Meghan
www.running-blogs.com/meghan

Dori said...

Nice pictures, Michelle. Looks like you had a great time. I'm still trying to catch up on blogs and posting since my trip to Italy two weeks ago. I'm in California now and took a peek at your previous post. I didn't realize the WS100 had already come; I feel bad that I didn't wish Eric well. I haven't read your post on that yet; I'll come back to it (it's after midnight now and I have to get some sleep.)

susie said...

Walks on the beach? The best...welcome home!

JustRun said...

Fantastic photos! Welcome back! :-)

Mama said...

The Oregon coast is so beautiful and you had the best weather. We are glad you are home and glad you had a relaxing trip.
Lorri

Olga said...

Michelle, beautiful photos and sounds like an awesome peaceful trip. Welcome back! Some day I'd like to visit Rogue river too, I heard there is a trail along for 40 miles.

Darrell said...

Vacations, ahhh. The time away is always welcome but coming back home is nice too. It sounds and looks like you two had a wonderful trip.

tryathlete said...

Lovely photos. Welcome home.

Scott McMurtrey said...

sounds like a wonderful trip. the photos are wonderful!

Jenny, Maniac #401 said...

Welcome home! Ahhh, photos from Cannon Beach, one of my most favorite places on earth. I long to walk and run those beaches! I will happily run with you upon return from Texas. We get back the morning of the 11th. Until then, I hope your return to a "normal" schedule goes well and that you get to settle into in to a nice routine! See you soon!
Jenny

Sarah said...

I want to go on your vacation! Beautiful pictures. Welcome home! : )

Joe said...

Welcome home, Michelle and Eric!! What a wonderful time, wandering back up the coastline. How cool! I've been in Cannon Beach...the haystack rocks are awesome.

Great pix, glad you had such a wonderful time!

Sunshine said...

Oh thank you for the exquisite pictues and account of running.

We MN people were in CA for the Av of the Giants Marathon in May, and appreciate your taking us on a revisit to the coast!

Wishing you energy!

Unknown said...

Beautiful pictures and glad to hear you had a relaxing vacation. Good luck catching up on everything.

Ryan said...

Welcome back! Glad to hear the travels went well….that's the way to do things - take it slow and make a nice vacation around WS. Great pics! Sorry to hear you have to come back to reality. Hope everyone’s doing well!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fun, restful break from reality! I hope you can ease back in without too much stress/chaos.

I haven't been to Cannon Beach in years - it is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Great pictures. Glad you and Eric had a good week away.

Adelyn said...

Glad to see that you made it back safely and had a wonderful and relaxing vacation. The photos are beautiful and it sounds like you made the most of your time off :) Hope reality can sink in unobtrusively amongst the peaceful feelings that I'm sure were cultivated during your trip

Thomas said...

Wow, what beautiful pictures. I bet you enjoyed every minute of it.

Randy - Maniac #788 said...

Well....just awesome...awesome. It's great that you and Eric could get away for such a monumental run for him, unfortunate that it ended early...but you still enjoyed the vacation and the time together. Welcome home!!!

Anonymous said...

Your pictures are absolutely breath taking! Sounds like a fun break.

psbowe said...

Hey! I was just about to ask Rob what happened to you! I was thinking about whether I should confront him or simply ask him...you know case he purposely left you on the trails somewhere in the desert or mountains! haha.

Nice images, thanks! Glad you have a wonderful time.

Anonymous said...

Our van 1 has a 9:00 start time too! Do you guys have a mandatory lay-over in Yelm? With the same start time and being in van 2, I'd say there's a good chance we'll see each other! Looking forward to it! :)

Anne said...

What wonderful photography! I had to immediately smile: We stayed at the Curly Redwood Lodge almost 20 years ago and came away with the same fond feelings. That's such a beautiful part of the country that I hope to see again soon. Thanks for the nudge to do it sooner.

runliarun said...

The Haystack pictures are out of this world. So good that you had fun.

wendy said...

you sound so renewed from your break! I'm so glad you guys had such a good time. CCC - WOW! That's such a funny thing to notice, that when you are the wife who is crewing, it's a completely different experience. Why do we do that??? Great observation. =)
Welcome back, and I can't wait to catch up with you guys!