A Taste of Cake

 Awhile ago, Desert Girl got to join her friend Remy for an outdoor birthday barbeque. They were happy to play with pinecones and run around.

 Food always seems to taste better when it's cooked outside! And as long as I don't have to cook it.

 We celebrated Victoria's birthday with a big cake. Look at the two little heads right next to the cake. They weren't going far from it.

 Time to eat cake!

 I'm not sure what prompted Remy's expression, but it sure is cute.

 Desert Girl really liked the pink flower icing.

 Really, really liked it!

Birthday cake makes any day a better day! Happy Birthday, Victoria!

A Strawberry Stroll

 We wanted to find some bugling elk, so we headed up Strawberry Creek. The end of the road has been closed all summer, and you can see by Desert Boy's expression that he wasn't too thrilled about walking.

 So it started out a little more like a drag than a stroll. But we persisted. Actually, I had the idea that this nice autumn day could be a good day to take a family photo, so we gave it a try.

 The disgruntled looks don't make for an enchanting photo. Oh, well, onwards.

 The feel of autumn was really in the air. I love this time of year--we're about to quiet down and have some time to relax!

 I think some of that eventually soaked through to the kids, as they calmed down and started finding things to enjoy. Desert Boy was entranced with the beetle galleries on a piece of bark.

 Before long, Desert Girl was even interested.

 At the end of the road we reached the reason the road was closed: a new parking area.

 On the other side we crossed the very long pedestrian bridge.

 We tried again for a family photo, but it didn't work out so well. At least this one of Desert Girl and Daddy turned out decent. While my husband and kids amused themselves with the creek, I walked a little farther, still with hopes of seeing some elk.


 I didn't see elk, but I saw lots of sagebrush (and tried to get a sunflare photo for a photo challenge).
Eventually it was clear that the elk had moved on, so I turned around and headed back.

 On the way I saw a sudden movement across the trail: a snake slithered across, with something in its mouth. How cool!

 The snake had caught a rodent, and she moved quickly to go enjoy her treat.

Back at the bridge it was time for me to play in the stream and my husband took some photos.

 The kids had gotten pretty happy after playing in the water for awhile. And they weren't even too wet!

Even though we didn't see any elk, it was still a nice family outing. It was also interesting to see how the leaves hadn't changed much, even those the ones at higher elevations were very colorful.

Cave Lake Cave

 At the turn around point for the Take It To The Lake Half Marathon, I noticed a big cave entrance. After recovering (slightly) from the run and refueling, we decided to go take a closer look. As we drove up the road, my husband noticed the arch. I hadn't seen it at all while I was running!

The arch looked fairly sizable, but difficult to reach.

Soon we saw the cave opening. Desert Girl had fallen asleep and my husband thought a nap sounded like a good idea, so Desert Boy and I set out on our own.

It was an easy walk in entrance.

I really liked the view from it. Inside, the floor was steep, but the light from the entrance lit the way for the most part. We eventually reached a place where we couldn't see very well. We hadn't expected the cave to be big, so we hadn't even brought one flashlight, but we did have the flash from the camera. Using that, we found a dead bird.

Desert Boy wanted to take the dead bird home, but I told him no. Our general rule is that when we go bone collecting, we only collect the bones with no hair or gristle or feathers connected to them. It's a very useful rule.

Desert Boy led the way out, happy for our brief adventure.

I was happy, too, as I had wondered about why Cave Lake was called Cave Lake.

Desert Boy managed to find a little ledge to climb. He is always eager to climb.

 

On the way out we saw another cave entrance--something to go explore another day!

Fishing at Cave Lake

 After the race, we wandered along the beach at Cave Lake. Some nice guys from Las Vegas were fishing and let Desert Boy reel one in. He was so excited!

 Desert Boy was intrigued with the whole process.

 Like the duck in the background?

 Here he is with the fish.

 The hook was in pretty deep, so it took some serious plier work to get the hook out.

 Don't you love Desert Boy's expression?

 Next it was Jenna's turn.

She also had a great expression that cracked up the guy.

We really appreciate them taking the time to share their fishing experience with the kids. They caught their limit fairly quickly. We're going to have to go back and give it a try some time. Apparently Zeke's Powerbait is the magic tool.

Ely Half-Marathon

 Since June I've been training for the Take It To The Lake Half Marathon near Ely, Nevada. I did a half marathon twelve years ago, but it was in Florida, where it was flat. And at about twelve feet elevation. I knew this half marathon would be substantially harder, as it started at 6600 feet elevation. Then it gained 800 feet elevation during the 13.1-mile course.

To make matters more difficult, I had two running injuries and a bad cold that impacted my training schedule. So my longest run ended up being 8 miles long, and I really wasn't too sure how well I was going to do. I decided my biggest goal was to finish. My secondary goal was to finish in less than 2:30. I figured that I would be doing really well if I could do that, given the course and my limited training.

 Three of us from our area signed up for the race: me, Chandra, and Clint. It was so nice having some people I knew in the race! We took a school bus out to the starting line, and I felt an ache in my left lower calf, similar to problems I had had previously. I was really concerned, as I sure wanted to finish!

We started off from the Ely Elk Viewing Area, and I was feeling really good. I ran with Chandra for the first half-mile, then looked at my pace and saw I was going too fast. I needed to slow down if I wanted to finish. So Chandra ran ahead, as did Clint and a few other people who passed me. I ran on the shoulder of the road for awhile, as I had done most of my training on dirt roads and I knew that the higher impact on pavement might not be so good for me. Fortunately, my leg wasn't hurting anymore, and my pace was right about where I wanted it to be. I felt good, and the miles started melting away.

 Meanwhile, the Kids Fun Run began. It included five kids from our valley, with Kara quickly taking the lead. It was Desert Boy's first official race, and he was excited. The fun run wasn't timed, so I tried to stress to Desert Boy that he didn't need to run fast, he just needed to finish.

My husband ran and walked with him for much of it and tried to give him some tips. The race course was supposed to be 1.1 miles along, but my husband said that most of the kids wanted to get a drink at the aid station that was just a little bit further away, so the run was a little longer for some of them.

 Here is Desert Boy running towards the finish line. When I downloaded these photos, I was so impressed at all the shots my husband had gotten! He took some photos, then left the camera in the van and ran, then picked it back up to record the grand finale. Bravo!

 Desert Boy wearing something other than cowboy boots.

 He finished! I was so glad that he made it.

Meanwhile, I found that I enjoyed picking people off in the race. I would see someone ahead of me and try to gradually catch up to them. I had trained some on hills, so I was ready for the gradual incline. It was warm, though, so when I got to an aid station I dumped a cup of water on my head and then drank one. I also started drinking gatorade around mile 6 and also had a Gu, which tasted better than I expected but made me really thirsty.

Up to mile 7 I was feeling like the run was pretty easy. After mile 7, I had to work for it. Fortunately there were people ahead of me that looked like they were getting a little tired, so I tried to catch up. Gradually I passed several people, and concentrating on catching them helped the miles go relatively quickly, although with more aches and pains. I had to frequently remind myself to relax and try to have a good running form (or at least as good as I could manage!).

 When I saw my husband about mile 10 1/2, I was so glad. I tried to smile (I always ran better when a camera was around). Then he started running with me. That made such a difference. He told me about the kids run and kept me distracted till I got to the Big Hill just after mile 11. I walked up the steepest part, and then he told me it was flat, so I better run some more. So I did. But miles 11-13 sucked.

 The girl in the green kept sneaking up on me, and I didn't realize how close she was.

 At the finish she was suddenly right there, and we both sprinted. She beat me by .1 second. Arghh! Oh well, I guess I learned my lesson! I still placed third in my age group.

Even better, my time was 2:18. I couldn't believe it! The run had turned out much better than I had hoped. Maybe wearing my Mr. Rogers "You are special" shirt helped. Or maybe it was my breakfast of champions: two hash browns from Old McDonalds (as my kids call it), a parfait, a large orange juice, and a banana.

Whatever the reason, I was very glad to be done. My legs had started cramping at the end, so I went in desperate search of a banana. Then I went over to the massage tent where Jenny worked her magic and I felt better.

It turned out to be a great race! They've already scheduled next year's: September 21. Will I do it? Will you?