Which beast will open the fridgerfreighter first?

Going back to work after a long vacation SUCKS! I haven't slept well since we got home, the stress of getting back into life and then planning for a baby is tripping me out. I don't know how I'm going to keep doing what I do and have a child. The answer is obvious: I won't keep doing what I do. SO WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?

I turn 37 in September and in the next few years, before I turn 40, I need to:

• have a baby and raise it
• get back in shape and lose as much baby weight as possible
  
• get pregnant and have another baby and then raise both kids
• get in killer shape and lose the hormone boosted baby making body
  
• continue to work, hopefully part time, at my desk job
• continue tribabe.com
• go back to school and finish my bachelors degree (I have just over 1 year left)
• ummm save the planet? that's what this feels like right now
  

It really didn't help when I called the two childcare places I was interested in today and they both told me they have a waiting list over a year long. Apparently, you are supposed to secure childcare prior to conception. STUPID ME! Looks like we'll just leave the baby with the dog and cats and see who figures out how to open the fridge first. Good luck babies!

I watched one of my dear friends go through this when she was pregnant and I thought, "All of this worry and fretting will go away when she holds that baby in her arms." Now that the baby is here... you know, I don't know what she's thinking about, I've barely seen her. That's real good to think about. I'm going to go panic in the corner now.

Central CA coast

The end is near... from the pile of hand-me-downs

some sun shades to protect the dog from the sun

We were sad to leave family behind in Arizona, I like to reflect on life and priorities when I travel and it's always good to hear the family perspective on life. Two of my sisters-in-law gave me a bunch of hand me downs for the baby! I have three large bags of infant clothes and toys and some new stuff too including our first baby shower gifts. Our car was completely crammed to the roof with stuff when we left.

Pismo Beach, CA

But it was hot in Phoenix and time to go to the California coast and cool off. We drove straight west to CA, it was 116 degrees in Palm Springs so no time to stop, we kept rolling until we made it to Pismo Beach CA where it was 70 degrees. What a cute little place!

Heading down to Sand Dollar Beach

Unfortunately, the rest of the CA coast until you hit Carmel is dry and a little boring. Hwy 1 is super windy and tough to drive. We were dodging speeding motorcyclists the entire way which added to the excitement. We briefly stopped at the Hearst Castle, but couldn't take the tour since the dog was with us.

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Some surfers enjoying the waves in Carmel, a swanky town just south of Monterrey. You know it's swank when there is a Coach handbag store next to the beach. I loved Carmel!

Pregnant by the Sea

Check out the volleyball in my stomach! I took my shirt off for this photo, don't worry, I wasn't walking around with my shirt off! Carmel is so swanky, I thought I was make a scene with my belly pose. Bill notice one woman gaping at me, mouth open and staring. Sweet!!

Marshall romping with a Great Dane at the beach

Marshall stayed close to us at the beach when this big guy came over to play. It was adorable! Check out the short video below. We ended our time at the coast with an ice cream cone in Monterrey. We had a great day and it was a nice way to wrap up our trip.

Pitstop in Chandler

Marshall aqua jogging with me in the morning

We've been in Chandler AZ for a pit stop for the past four days, spending time at Bill's parent's house with the brothers and their families. We've spent our days in the swimming pool and our evenings having dinner and playing cards. It's been relaxing and fun to see everyone, the nieces and nephews grow so fast and they are getting more and more fun to be around.

A million and one kisses for Marshall dog.

The most popular activity this week has been giving love and affection to the dog. He is going to feel neglected when we get home! His cousins (Marshall counts as our first child) always have their hands on him but it's back to the kitties for you Marshall dog!

Bill obligating Hailey before she says "Again! Again!"

On Sunday we head out for the California coast. Our plan is to drive west to the Santa Barbara area and then see where we get from there. Bill has a business meeting in Stockton on Tuesday and then Redding CA either Tues or Wed. Then we'll head home. Time to leave the heat of Arizona behind and all the love we feel from family. Bittersweet! I'm sure the kitties miss us so we better get the dog home soon. Happy 4th of July!

A Near Miss with the Grand Canyon

The only shade in Hurricane, UT

After we left Zion, Bill had to visit a site for his work at Hurricane, UT. It was hotter than hell so Marshall and I drove around in the car with the AC on until Bill was done. Afterward, we picnicked at a school playground, the only place we could find shade in the whole town.

We set out for the Grand Canyon, but as the day wore on, I was getting increasingly car sick from high elevations and windy roads. My brain started weighing options: drive 40 miles in to see the Grand Canyon and then drive back out and get a hotel, or drive to Bill's parents house in Chandler AZ, and get some food and rest and see family...

Road Warrior

Bill wearing my hat and some obnoxious sunglasses I bought for cycling at a grocery store when we were in Kona. I shouldn't buy these things, they come back to haunt me.

These trees belong in Oregon, not Arizona!

This looks more like Arizona

We decided to head to the family home and see the Grand Canyon when I had more energy for it. It is only 2.5 hours from Bill's parents house and we visit there twice a year so we'll see the canyon eventually. I had regrets until we got to the house and then I knew it was the right decision. I was exhausted.

Floaters on the Colorado River

We stopped in Flaggstaff AZ for dinner and what a cool town! It's on my list for places to check out in case we need to move. There were some great looking restaurants downtown and it had an outdoorsy vibe to it that I find attractive.

Bicycle on the streets of Flagstaff, AZ

Zion National Park

Zion is a little bit more dog friendly than Bryce. There is one trail that you can walk your dog on, and it's actually longer than 800 feet. Zion is interesting because you drive through the park and then you can take a bus into the canyon, there are no cars in the canyon. But there are no dogs on buses so we just hiked along the trail for a while, letting Marshall get a turn in the little river that was running near the campground.



Zion was nice, but I could see how it would be seriously hot in the canyon in the summer. I think fall and spring would be a great time to visit.

Bryce Canyon National Park

I love visiting national parks, they exist because they are national treasures and need to be protected. The thing I don't like about national parks is their policy on dogs. Dogs are not allowed on 98% (my guess) of the trails in our national parks. They can go in campgrounds and walk along the road. At some parks, like Bryce Canyon, they aren't even welcome at viewing points.

One of the great pleasures in life is hiking with a dog. A dog brings energy and enthusiasm to everything, especially hiking. I would pay good money to bring my dog on the trails in national parks. I would undergo training, sign a contract, do whatever it takes to commit to preserving the trails and areas in national parks.

For now, when we travel with the dog to a national park, we'll have to rush through the viewing points and skip most hikes unless we board the dog or leave him at home. Most of the outdoorsy people I know own a dog, people who would use the back country trails and spend days in the parks. Bummer for all of us.
As you can see, Bryce Canyon is out of this world amazing. Can't wait to go back and do some hiking in the spring or fall sometime!

Boise ID to Park City UT

Boise ID foothills

We woke up Sunday morning in a cheap motel in Boise, ID. It was 9:00 am and the temperatures were already heading toward 90 degrees outside. Yuck. It could have been worse, at least we weren't hungover. We set out on a mission to find outdoor seating at a restaurant that served breakfast because it was too hot in the car for the dog.

Park in downtown Boise

Since we had no idea where we were, it was a slightly ambitious goal, but we headed downtown and were able to find a cute place with great service. Everyone we spoke with in Boise was friendly and outgoing which made the experience that much nicer. The same could not be said of the people in Provo. That place was strange.

Ski jumps at Park City

Anyway, we drove around Boise for a while to see what it was about, hit a local park to run the dog and then we were out of there. The best thing we discovered about Boise is it's people and the variety of cool shops downtown. When you come from Oregon, land of a million shades of green, it's a lot harder to be impressed by a landscape.

Downtown Park City: do you have a million dollars
to go the private brew pub?

The drive to Park City was awesome! The speed limit was 75 instead of the 55. Zoom! Park City was home to the winter Olympics and it looks exactly how you would expect. Trendy, fancy, yuppie, and all the other shi-shi words that end in a "y" sound. I look at it as a place I cannot afford to play but nice to look at just the same. Sometimes it's hard to shake growing up poor. Hey, I'm still poor when it comes to the Park City lifestyle, let's not kid ourselves here.

The foothills outside of Heber UT

Bill's aunt and uncle reside in Park City so we spent the evening with them and the cousins. We watched a wedding video and travel videos and heard about our cousin's husband losing 40 pounds by starting running. Family is good to be with. The only problem was Park City has a high elevation and I was breathing heavy just moving around.

Yuma Lake: a little too pretty for wading cows

We drove south through Utah (speed limit 80!) and stopped at Yuma Lake for a picnic lunch. The lake was gorgeous and I was contemplating a swim until I heard a "Mooooo!" from across the lake and saw cattle bathing in the lake. Yuck. Marshall dog went for a dip and then we are off again. I enjoy traveling with a dog, even though it's a pain in the butt. You have stop and enjoy the view more and watching a dog romp in a lake brings a pleasure all it's own.

You gotta have Wonder Bread at a lakeside picnic

We made it to Bryce Canyon National Park and I was stunned STUNNED by the beauty. Unfortunately the elevation was so high that once again I was breathing heavy and started to feel sick. We stayed long enough to take some photos and then we had to leave. We will go back when I'm not pregnant so we can hike there. Gorgeous! Photos on next post.

A bad start to a long trip

Marshall dog in the rental car ready to roll!

Greetings from a road side motel at Mt Carmel Junction outside Zion National Park in Utah where the sign out front says "Friendly to bikers!" I don't think they mean cyclists. We made it this far but we had a really bad start to our trip. Yeah, really, really bad. We got to Sun River, OR late Friday evening (typical late arrival for the Flecks) and as night was falling we were unable to find a campsite near the lake where Bill was racing in a triathlon the next day. We went to an area that is undeveloped camping area on Wickiup Reservoir and set up camp in the dark.

Sunset at Wickiup Reservoir

We slept well and felt rested the next day and after a quick breakfast, we loaded up the car with the camping gear and set out to get Bill to the triathlon. We didn't get far down the road when an older woman using a walker stepped into the road and asked us to stop. She thrust her cell phone at Bill and said, "Tell them where we are! He shot himself! I don't know where we are! He shot himself and I took away the gun!"

Bill remained completely calm, explained to the 911 dispatcher where we were, and then told them we would meet them at the end of the road and guide them to the location of the woman. The woman said something about the person being diabetic and that she didn't know if he was dead or alive. Fortunately, the ambulance appeared at the end of the road as soon as we got there. We guided them directly to the woman who stood exactly where we left her. We could see that someone else was with her and that the ambulance was there so after talking about it, we decided we should not get further involved.

Neither one of us wanted to see what was inside the camper or to find out what happened. We aren't emergency trained and we were traumatized enough by what we had encountered thus far. It felt wrong to leave, but we would have been in over our heads in this circumstance if we tried to help. How's that for a freaky start to the day?

Some dude posing at the swim start

We were late getting to the triathlon so I tried to drop Bill off down the road from the entrance when one of the race staff starts running down the road yelling at us, "Move your car! Do not stop there! We will disqualify you from the race if you unload there!" There were no cars around us, so we just ignored the hysterical dude and Bill hauled his stuff in to the race site while I parked the car elsewhere. Perspective dude, work on it.

Turns out the race was delayed because a cyclist who was warming up for the race was hit by a car and had to be life flighted out of the area and the road was temporarily closed. Basically, the day was turning into one bad scene after another.

The race itself was fine, for me, the spectator. It was hotter than expected and racers were coming in slow. The swim was slow (too long course) and the run times were slow (bad on course nutrition offerings and heat). Bill was a lot slower than his expected time and even though he was treating it as a training day, he was disappointed with his finish. Pissed off actually. Then he was nauseated and needed to lay down in the shade. I had to drag him out of there because we had a 5+ hour drive to Boise ID to face, you can imagine how fun that was for both of us.

Marshall is happy to be hanging in the sun!

Bill did get to take a cold shower at a friend's rental house before we left and we stopped for burgers before heading out of Bend, OR at 5:30 pm. The speed limit in this part of Oregon is 55 mph. I was driving and I thought I was going to fall asleep because I was going so slow and I battled just to drive for an hour while Bill slept. Long story short, Bill drank 3 sodas and took over driving. We got to Boise, ID around 11:45 pm (we lost an hour driving across the border) and searched for my friend's house where we planned to stay.

Bill finishing the 13.2 mile run after a 58 mile bike ride and a long 1.2 mile swim

My friend in Boise was out of town but offered us her place, which was very generous of her. Only there was a party going on at her house when we got there. A large group of people were sitting on the porch drinking beer so Bill went up to see what was going on when someone decided to take a leak off the front porch. We were out of there. I could not deal with a bunch of drunk people, not that late, after everything that had happened. We set out to find a hotel but joy oh flipping joy, the GPS was not working in Boise. So we drove around, finally getting a room near the airport and getting to bed at 1:30 am.

How's that for a freaking bad day? Things improved drastically when we woke up the next day but WOW! The best laid plans. Tomorrow, gorgeous photos of Park City UT and Bryce Canyon.

We're bringing the damn duct tape!

We're trying to organize this slightly epic road trip we're leaving on today and I'm always amused by the different ways my husband and I approach things. As soon as we decided to go on this trip, I purchased travel books, made a spreadsheet detailing each leg of the trip, and printed out maps of the areas we are traveling. My husband contacted his relatives we are visiting and then watched from afar as I packed our food, stuffed my suitcase, and asked him to do a million things before we leave.

The look on his face throughout all this is a mix of bemusement at his alien wife and mild panic that he has to go out of town. He doesn't like to act until the last minute.

Last night I'm chatting with him about what national park we should see in Utah when out of the blue he firmly says, "I'm bringing the duct tape!" My brain shut down, I could not for the life of me, figure out what he was talking about, so I started laughing my butt off. I guess he's worried about the air mattress leaking under the weight of his massively pregnant wife when we are camping. I'm going to make sure he brings that damn duct tape and that he damn well uses it too!

We are so weird. I'm planning to take a million photos on the trip and will blog when we have internet access. Here is our tentative itinerary:

• Sunriver, OR (Pacific Crest triathlon)
  
• Boise, ID
• Park City, UT (Bill's aunt and uncle)
  
• Zion or other national park in UT
  
• Grand Canyon
• Phoenix for 4 days (Bill's parents)
  
• San Bernandino or other (business travel)
  
• Stockton, CA (business)
• Redding, CA (business)
  
• Rogue River area in southern Oregon

We are limited by my pregnant belly on hiking in the heat but I'll do my best to take photos. I will try to blog Monday if possible and next Wednesday when we get to PHX. Have a great weekend and 4th of July!