Hike, Bike and Ice: Munising weekend 2014 comes to a close

As always, any good vacation must come to and end. 

Unfortunately, that was today.  But I am not going to let it put a damper on any of the fun adventures that we had this weekend!  The weather was awesome (a little rain overnight on Friday didn't bother us since we were sleeping), we met some great people and of course kept busy!

I will admit, I had every intention of getting up and going for a run along the lake this morning, but that never happened!  I actually slept until almost 8:30 (a very rare thing for me as my internal clock rarely lets me sleep past 7am).  We finished off the stuff we had in the fridge for breakfast and started loading up the car.  By the time we got everything packed up and the bikes on the car, we figured that we would head into town to grab a quick (early) lunch at the Lunch Bag again since I had another certificate to use there.

As luck would have it, the Lunch Bag didn't open until 1pm, so we were not going to wait that long.  Since the certificate we had was only good for another few days, we decided to run back to the hotel to drop it off the certificate for Pam, the uber helpful gal that was working in the office most of the weekend.  If we couldn't use the certificate, she could use it to enjoy lunch one day!

Good bye Munising!  Thank you for another weekend of awesome memories and adventures!  Next stop, on the way home, the UP State Fair.  I have not been to this fair since I was probably Darrin's age, if not younger!  

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This year, Sunday at the Fair was Scout Day!  All Scouts, in uniform, got in for free.  They also had scouts there doing demos on cooking, hiking, knot tying and more.  Once we got to the fairgrounds, the first thing Darrin wanted to do was find the Scouts... My mission was a restroom.  Thankfully the restroom was on the way to the scout tent!

When we got to the tent, Darrin was actually put to work, helping with some of the dutch oven cooking they were doing as well as helping with a Hiking preparedness presentation.  

We then spent the next few hours walking through the exhibit halls, browsing the fair vendors and eating a few fair treats.  We were just on our way our to the car and Darrin realized there was something going on in the grandstand. He said it looked like the Demolition Derby so we decided to go check it out for a while.

Come to find out it was actually "Armageddon on Wheels" - where demolition derby and dirt track racing collide! A Mini Van racing?  Chasing a retired police car?  Why not!

The next hour or so was filled with various races, interesting vehicles, lost of dirt and crashing!

Darrin decided one of the coolest trucks out of the course during the first part of the show was the modified Sprint Truck... truck?  Yes!  Someone modified their truck to resemble a sprint car!  Unfortunately, after he took the last jump on the course, his wings fell off the truck on his way off the track.  Hopefully he could get them fixed before the next heat!

The highlight of the afternoon (at least in our eyes) was the bus race.  Figure 8 bus races!  Everything from short buses to full size school buses were unleashed on the figure 8 track, with the mission to be the last one left standing, or the first on to finish 8 laps!  

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Finally we needed to hit the road for home so that we could get laundry and everything else done before it got too late. Once we got home, I had an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to take care of, thanks to our good friend Dean. (hence why I added "ice" to the title of these blog posts)  I was going to post a few pics here, but we actually only got a video and my computer is not cooperating and allowing me to post the video (I tried adding the ones that I took of the bus races at the fair and I have not been able to get it to work).  One of these days when I have time to play with it more I will have to post the videos.

Overall, it was an awesome weekend that I am glad we had the opportunity for!  This was the 4th year that Darrin and I made up to Munising.  We have not decided if we are going back to Munising next year for our summer adventure or if we are going to go somewhere else to get in some hiking and biking.

No matter where we end up going, you can be sure that we will find all kinds of interesting things and places to explore!

Total miles for today = 2.3
Total miles for the weekend = 30.8

Yes this is short of our overall goal, which I knew was going to be tough.  We may not have made 50 miles but the miles that we put in were nothing short of awesome!

Now time to switch gears and start preparing for back to school!

The close of 2013, opens the doors to another amazing year...

Reflections and visions.

As I sit here tonight, 2013 is quickly coming to a close... and what a year it as been!  If one year ago, someone would have told me that I would have experienced, endured and accomplished everything that I did in the last 12 months, I would have told them that they were crazy.  It still feels surreal that this year was filled with as much as it was!

To recap 2013...
* 118 miles run during events, with a total of 308 miles when you figure in training runs between early May and the end of December.  I am not sure how many miles I actually ran in the first 4 and a half months of 2013.
*  16 5k races between Michigan and Wisconsin
* 2 10k events, one in Green Bay, one in Chicago
* 2 5 Mile runs, one one one of the warmest days of June and the other the coldest day in November!
* Part of a full-marathon relay team.
* 3 Half Marathons
* Made a solo trip to Chicago to meet up with a friend for a run.  Managed to not get lost and spent about 24 hours in an amazing city!
* Biked the trails around Munising with Darrin and also found some awesome new waterfalls

What started out as running the St Patrick's Day Run in Appleton in March, turned into running events almost every weekend for the rest of 2013!  Several of these weekends included John joining the fun and walking some of the events!  Very proud of him for what he accomplished this summer and joining in the fun!  I have been blessed with an wonderful family and amazing friends that keep me going, inspire me and continually encourage me to keep moving forward.  Each and every run, I challenged myself to run a little further or faster, push a little harder and make it a better run than the last one.  Many of these runs where just as much of a mental challenge, as they were physical.  Many days I wanted to quit.  But thanks to the awesome support system that I have, I was always encouraged and pushed to do my best and I will be forever grateful for this.

I can only speculate what is to come in 2014!  I know that the adventures will continue.  So far, the only things that I know for sure about this next year are:

* I have signed up to run the Cellcom Marathon in May, which will be my first full marathon!
* Running an 18K race in Phoenix in March
* Want to to more with myTEAM TRIUMPH, to include at least a few races
* Running Mileage goal of 750 miles, which averages out to just over 2 miles each day
* Spend as much time as I can with my amazing family and friends

I know that there will be more, and this is just the start!  I can't want to see what we will accomplish this year and am excited to have each and every one of you out there to keep me going!

Bring on 2014!  It's going to be another amazing year!

Annual Mom and Son Weekend

The 3rd Annual Munising Weekend has finally arrived!  The weekend that Darrin and I head up north for a weekend of hiking, biking and waterfalls around Munising Michigan.  It all started in 2011 when I found an awesome deal on a Pictured Rocks Kayaking trip.  Last year we biked the entire loop around Grand Island.  Each trip is also full of hiking to the many beautiful waterfalls in the area, checking out new, fun places to eat and relaxing on the lake!  This year we left all of our plans up to whatever we felt like when we got there!  With the car packed and bikes loaded up, it was time to hit the road!

This year we started out the adventure with a visit to Fayette State Park with my parents.  Darrin had actually been traveling in the area with them for the past few days so I drove up to meet them Friday morning.  It still amazes me that I grew up just a few hours from this park and never visited it until today! This is definitely a park with a great deal of history and being able to walk through the remains of these buildings really makes you wonder what life was really like when this was a bustling iron smelting community!

We were able to spent a good part of the morning wandering through the open buildings, walking the various trails around the park and taking in the natural beauty of the surrounding cliffs.  It is amazing how easily we forget to stop and take a look around us each and every day!  Walking through the beauty and history of this park really helped me to remember to slow down and enjoy things.  In the every day hustle and bustle of life, being able to slow down and just enjoy the little things is something that I need to do more often - starting today!

After we spent the morning at the park, Darrin and I started out weekend adventure by heading the rest of the way into Manistique where we had to target destinations - the Mackinaw Winery and lunch... not necessarily in the order!  It was all going to depend on which one we found first.

As it turned out, the winery was right along the highway, next to the marina, as we drove into town!  I guess we knew where we were meant to stop first. Mackinaw Trail Winery is a family owned winery with locations in Manistique, Petoskey and Mackinaw City.  With a little bit over everything, you are sure to find something that you will enjoy!  My favorites?  I will have to say that the Blackberry was amazing as well as the late harvest Riesling.  Both of these made their way home with me, long with a few other selections!

Next order of business?  Lunch.  When Darrin and I travel together we have a few "rules" when it comes to where we eat.
1.  No fast food.  We don't eat much fast food anyway, so why eat it when we are on vacation?
2.  No place that we can eat at home - which pretty much eliminates any chain type restaurants, forcing us to find those local hidden gems!
3.  No place that we have eaten before.  This encourages us to continually try new places.  Now, we have found that we have broken this rule a few times, and have added a condition to this rule - if we go someplace that we have eaten at before, we have to get something different - no ordering the same thing from the menu!

Since this was the first time that we were traveling through Manistique, we knew that we had many available options, so when we were at the winery, we asked for a recommendation.  The gal that was working suggested Upper Crust Deli, which was located right across the river from the winery.  With the crowd that was already sitting in the restaurant, we knew that we made the right choice!  Unfortunately, we now had the next big decision to make - which of the dozens of amazing sounding sandwiches did we want to enjoy?  I opted for the Ultimate Grilled Cheese - complete with several kids of cheese, mushrooms and Canadian bacon (hold the red onions please).  served with a side of chips and a pickle, this was just what I was looking for!  I don't remember what sandwich Darrin ordered, but it was piled high with pastrami, mushrooms, cheese and onion.  The best part of the menu here is that you have your choice of several different fresh baked breads to build your sandwich on!  This was the perfect place to stop to refuel for the rest of vacation, day 1!

Time to move this adventure to Munising!!  I think this year was the first time that we were not at the motel to check in early!  On our first trip to the area, Darrin and I were lucky enough to have received a recommendation on where to stay that has turned into the only place we stay when we are in the area!  The Sunset Motel on the Bay is an awesome little motel, right on the lake that never disappoints!  Over the next few days, I will add more about this gem of a property!

Since we ate lunch later today, we were off to find some waterfalls!  Darrin's choice for our adventure this afternoon was Laughing Whitefish Falls, about 30 miles from Munising, just outside of Chatham.   From the parking area, it is a short 20 minute walk to the top of the falls.  From there, you can take a few flights of stairs down to a lookout point at the base of the falls.  This is one of the tallest waterfalls in the area, in fact I thought I read somewhere that it could be the tallest readily visitable waterfalls in the state.  Breathtaking views in the quiet serine area make this a place that I could just sit for hours...  unfortunately, dinner time was approaching and Johnny Dogs was calling our name, so we made this a short visit and headed back to town!

Johnny Dogs is one of those exceptions that we have made to vacation dining out rule #3.  We discovered Johnny Dogs on our first trip to the area and have to stop at least once each time we visit the area.  The menu is filled with gourmet hot dogs, burgers and wraps, as well as fries and a variety of other sides.  Each time we visit, we order something different and have never been disappointed!  Darrin says that we have to keep vacationing in Munising until he gets through the entire menu.  I think that will be a never ending task, as each year we come back, there are new things on the menu!  This time, it was the Guadalajara dog for me (Lime Creme, Pico and avocado) and the Homewrecker for Darrin (Deep fried hot dog, homemade chile, smoked bacon, cheddar cheese and fried onions.   Instead of eating there, we grabbed our food to go and headed back to the motel.  Nothing better than enjoying Johnny Dogs outside, sitting along the lake with the waves softly rolling in!  Sorry, once again, we were too hungry to post pics of our dinner... will have to try harder next time not to forget!!

We closed out the evening with watching the Packers Pre-season game - at least until we both fell asleep from a wonderful, exhausting day!

Tomorrow the adventure continues!

Wausau Bike Weekend Adventure! Part 1

After thinking about it for several months and planning for several weeks, the biking adventure of the summer is upon us!  It all started out as a joke that we should ride our bikes to Wendy's mom, via the Mountain Bay Trail.   The trail begins just north of Green Bay in Howard and travels across Wisconsin, ending in Weston, just outside of Wausau.  From end to end the trail is roughly 83 miles.  After laughing about it for a short time, we realized that we could do it! 90+ miles on the trail and then through Wausau to get to her parents will be a tough mission, but we were going to give it our all!!! Or at least we were going to try!  We compared our calendars and found a weekend that we were both free.  Then we just had to wait!

Now, that long awaited weekend had arrived!  Just getting through the day on Thursday was hard enough, knowing that we were heading on our adventure in the morning!  Thursday night was spent packing multiple bags.  Yes, multiple bags for our trek... 1) my overnight bag that John will be bringing with him when he and Tom drive to Wausau after work, 2) my pack on my bike, filled with trail munches, frozen bottles of water (ok those went in Friday morning), sunscreen, bug spray, tire repair kit ( which I don't even know if I would remember how to use it if I needed to) and tire pump. 3) my camelbak with phone charger, wallet, trail pass, and if course water!

Ready to hit to road!

I think I was actually up before my alarm went off on Friday morning,  I was ready to hit the trail for the ride of the summer! Wendy and I were ready to roll am hit the road at 6:30am. The guys would be leaving in the afternoon, once John got done with work.  We were able to hop on the Mountain Bay not too far from her house.

Our first pitstop was in Pulaski, a short 12 miles from where we started.  During that first stretch of the trail, Wendy started keeping track on critters we saw on the trail - mainly rabbits at this point in time, along with a few chipmunks.  It was a beautiful morning with a fabulous breeze.  We knew that the cooler weather was not going to last, so we were determined to get as far as we could before it started to get too warm!

About an hour past Pulaski we made our first official food stop on an awesome little bridge of the one of the many creeks that we would pass on our journey.  It was at this point that I needed to lose the light jacket that I was wearing and cover myself with sunscreen and bus spray.  We were enjoying the peaceful serenity of the trail all morning!  The only thing that you could hear (aside from us chatting as we rode) was the breeze through the trees and birds that frequented them.  Every once in a while we would hear something scurry away from the trail under the cover of all the grass, bushes and trees along the trail.

We soon realized that the only time that we actually saw people out on the trail was when we were nearing or going through towns!  We were truly in our own little world!

Once we left Brown county, the trail switches from a packed gravel trail to a packed trail that reminded me of many of the woodsy "roads" in the UP - just a wide trail, worn where vehicle tires frequently pass with a grassy "trail" down the middle.  It was still an awesome, quiet, maintained trail to ride on, so we are not going to complain!!  We made it to Shawano by 10:30am - 32 miles traveled. and were ready for some food!  Just off the trail as we came into town we found Perkins and that was just what our spirits ordered!  We washed off some trail dirt (and bugs), sat down and relaxed for a while, enjoying a fabulous lunch, refilling our camelbaks and getting ready for the next part of our journey!  I didn't realize how hungry I had been until my salad landed in front of me and I started eating.  I think my salad was half gone before I actually tasted it!

Traveling through Shawano, the trail goes right through town on an awesome paved path, weaving around through business and residential areas and crossing over the river right near the dam.  This Bridge was calling to us as an amazing photo opp, so of course I had to stop!  Once we past this bridge Wendy was checking out her maps.  From the information that she received from a friend of hers, we knew that the trail didn't go through in one section so we were going to be traveling the county roads.  We only made one error on our travels through here... because a street sign was turned 90 degrees!  We ended up going straight where we should have turned left (right where her directions told us to) and added a short 2-ish mile detour to our afternoon.  Once we got back on the right track, we started seeing the trail signed again so we knew we were at least going in the right direction!

One of my biggest concerns for this ride was my knees.  After my week of rest last month, I have not had any problems with any knee pain so I was feeling good going in!  While we were traveling the country roads in Shawano I did notice that my left knee was starting to bother me a little, but only when I was going uphill.  I kept a close on on it and once we got back to the trail and we were back on a flat surface, it stopped bothering me.  YAY!!!

Our next pit stop was at the Long Branch Saloon near Gresham.  No, we were not stopping for a refreshment break (if we did, we might not get back on the trail!), but rather to use their restrooms.  It was 1:30 in the afternoon, so there were only a few patrons in the bar.  It was at this time, when talking with the bartender that we found out that when you take the trail from Green Bay to Wausau, you are virtually going at a slight uphill grade the entire way!  Great... nice time to find this out!  Oh well.  It really has not been a noticeable uphill climb so it can't be all that bad!  Note to self, next time, start the ride in Wausau and bike back home to Green Bay!

At some point during the ride, Wendy realized that she was collecting more bugs on her arms and legs than me... the result of the difference in sunscreen and bug spray that we each used!  It was decided that her new trail/superhero name now was The Human Flypaper!  She was catching the pesky buggers without even trying!  A short time after we made our stop at the Long Branch, my bike started squeaking.  We determined that it was something in my gears, as it only squeaked when I was peddling.  After a few stops to try and figure out what it was, we thought that maybe there was a rock or something stuck that was causing the squeaking.   I did the only left to try... since I had tried everything else, I grabbed the straw from my camelpak and started squirting it into the gears, hoping that I could wash out whatever was stuck.

It worked!  The squeaking was gone!  Unfortunately Wendy already decided that I was now Squeaky... the Human Flypaper's sidekick!  I suppose there could be worse things to be called!

At Mile 50 we stopped to get a photo of that monumental point in our trek!  I was mentally trying to figure out how much further I was going to make it.  I was starting to feel it in my legs... not sure if it was my knees or just the muscles, I knew at this point the full trail was not going to be on my agenda for the day.  Now the big decision... how much further would we make it?

Once we started out again after our 50 mile break, it was evident that my day was quickly coming to and end.  We were both extremely proud of the miles that we put on today and we completely content with calling our day short.  I remembered seeing a sign a few miles back that we were withing 6 miles of Bowler.  That was our new final destination...  more specifically, Bonnie Place Bar and Grill (we had seen a few signs for this fine establishment several times along the trail and figured that this was THE place to stop.

That last 5 miles to Bowler was the longest 5 miles of the day!  I was beginning to think we were never going to get there!  Finally we started seeing signs of life - mainly houses along the side of the trail!    We finally made it to Bowler and stopped at the gas station just off the trail to as for directions to Bonnie's.  That half mile from the trail to Bonnie's was all that was between us and a cold beverage and a restroom!

Bonnie's Place did not disappoint!  We found a quiet bar (it was 3pm when we got there so the dinner crowd had not started coming in yet).  We sent messages to the guys to let them know where to pick us up and had an hour to relax, unwind and enjoy our chilled beverages while we waited.  The bartender was awesome - quick to get us some drink and even found a place just under the bar so that we could plug our dying cell phones in.  I think that was one of the best testing beers that I have had in a long time!

A short time later, John and Tom caught up with us, loaded up the bikes, had a drink with us and we were on the way to Wausau for the second part of our weekend adventure...

By the time we made to Bonnie's we traveled just shy of 58 miles, saw numerous rabbits (mostly in Brown county), several deer, and too many cows to count!  6.5 hours in a bike seat makes for one exhausting but satisfying day!

Stay tuned, Wausau Balloon Rally and Chalk Fest are next on the agenda!  Updates soon to follow!