Johnny and Kara's Adventures

Moab after Thanksgiving, November 25-27

2011-12-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

After eating two yummy Thanksgiving dinners and spending good quality time with family, we headed to Moab to try to work off some calories.

Friday we headed into Arches to do a few towers.

First on the tick list...Bullwinkle Towers:

It was still a little chilly when we started.

John braved the cold crack first.

It was sunny and warm at the top where we sat and enjoyed the views.

Then off to our next tower.

Owl Rock:

Our last climb of the day was a route that John had known about for years but had never climbed, so we thought we'd give it a try. It was all by itself on this pretty wall.

It turned out to be a GREAT climb and we were loving the sunshine and warm weather.

After lunch and a nap, we mountain biked Amasa Back and had plenty of time to enjoy our favorite spot at the end of the trail. It was such a beautiful night!

The Morgans came into town late that night and went on a 70 mile road bike ride with us the next morning. Peter is showing us what Michelle does when she likes something she's trying on. This is his cue to tell her to buy it.

We rode out to the Grand View Point Overlook and back, stopping at a few view points along the way to see where we'd ridden on the White Rim trail the month before.

It was a pretty hilly ride, going mostly up on the way out, and was colder than we thought it would be. There was a wind that moved the air just enough to keep us cold the whole time.

The ride back was even colder. By the time we got back to our car we were all freezing and hungry. We cranked up the heater and hit Wendys to tide us over until dinner.

It was a good hard ride that would have been more enjoyable being 10 degrees warmer. It however, was a great way to end our trip to Moab...exhausted.

Big Cottonwood Canyon: Days Fork, 11-19-11

2011-12-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

Another storm was supposed to come in and our friend CJ invited us to go back country skiing with him Saturday morning. Seeing no signs of snow late Friday night, we declined the offer.

However, while both of us were lying wide awake at 5:00 am, we changed our minds. We didn't have anything else planned and even if the snow wasn't good, at least we'd get in some good exercise from touring.

The snow turned out to be great, and the company even better. It was so peaceful, and the only other people we saw the entire 5+ hours were these two hunters at the beginning of the trail.

Because the avalanche danger was "moderate", we did multiple tests along the way. It was good practice, and very helpful and informative to see different people's approaches to testing.

Everyone crossed the two streams, both out and back without any casualties.

It was such a fun day! We were definitely glad that we changed our minds that morning!

Lots of 1's

2011-12-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to document this date and time in history.

Date: 11/11/11

Time: 11:11:11 am

My work phone:

My iPhone:

First Day of the Season! 11-6-11

2011-11-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

A storm came in over the weekend and we got to partake in over a foot of beautiful, light, fluffy, Utah powder.

Our friend Dave Jenkins came to play with us.

It was such a beautiful day and the air was so clean and crisp.

Kara

There wasn't much of a base so our skis took a beating...but it was worth it.

Dave and Johnny

Johnny

The White Rim, October 20-22

2011-10-31T14:21:00.000-06:00

The White Rim trail is a 100 mile loop through Canyonlands. Our friends, the Morgans, invited us to mountain bike it with them when they got permits for the ride a year ago.

The permit was for 15. At the last minute a couple of people dropped out so we were able to invite our friends, Bryce Nelson and Kevin Winzeler (our amazing photographer friend), to come along.

We rode the trail clockwise, starting by going down the Shafer Trail.

After stopping for lunch at an overlook by Musselman Arch, we took the detour out to the arch before continuing our ride. It's like a sidewalk, elevated thousands of feet in the air...so cool.

Kevin had us stop every now and then to do photo shoots. There was so much amazing scenery.

We broke the loop up into 3 days. The first day was just 20 miles and Airport A was our first campsite. There was plenty of time to relax, read a little of Edward Abbey's Desert Solitarie, set up camp, make dinner, and enjoy each others company.

Our views were great. The sunset and sunrise were beautiful.

Our second day we rode 50 miles through the most amazing country.

There were a few good hill climbs totaling 4,000 feet, including Murphy's Hog Back. After riding up, John went back down to drive our truck up as the driver was too nervous.

We stopped for lunch at the top of the hill before continuing on.

Johnny, Bryce, Kevin, and I made a push to the next campsite (Hardscrabble Bottom) so we could get dinner started.

If you look closely, you can see Johnny, Bryce, and Kevin riding on the trail across the ravine.

There were a few more good hill climbs along the way.

Our bikes weren't too happy with all the red sand. Luckily we had a bike mechanic riding with us.

Johnny and I were in charge of food for the whole trip which was a bit of work, but really fun. This was breakfast the last morning.

Bacon, hash browns, french toast and orange juice.

We finally used the big stove that our friend Dave gave to us for Christmas almost two years ago...and LOVED it.

After our tasty breakfast, we headed off on the last miles of the trip which included a good 1.5 mile climb out of the canyon.

Such a great trip! The next feat...ride it all in one day.

Utah Mountains in the Fall

2011-10-26T13:35:00.000-06:00

We got one last Wasatch Crest ride in while the colors were still beautiful and the weather still warm.

All was spectacular until Dave got a flat tire.

Tyson stayed with him until he got it fixed while Johnny and I finished the ride and shuttled cars.

It was getting dark by the time we finished shuttling cars. Tyson made it down, but Dave was no where to be found.

Other riders coming down told us that there was a guy running/walking his bike down the trail. It turned out that Dave got 4 flat tires and ran out of tubes to fix them. He missed all the fun downhill riding and wasn't too happy hiking his bike out in the dark.
A massive plate of nachos at the Porcupine Pub helped cheer him up.

After dinner, we met up with our Whittaker friends and stayed up WAY too late chatting (1:00 am). It was great to catch up with them, but a struggle to get up early the next morning. At least we started the day off right with breakfast burritos made with CJ's homemade tortillas...YUM!

After breakfast, we made the mistake of trying to go climb in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

It was beautiful, but we were so exhausted that it just wasn't much fun. We cut it short and went home for a nap, deciding that we wanted a "do over".

The other trails we've tried to ride a few more times before the cold weather settles in is South Fork Deer Creek and Wadsworth.
SFDC has been in such great riding condition and we've had a blast!

Wadsworth is a different story. Cows have been run down the trail to lower ground for the winter and rutted it out.

Although the trail was less than ideal, at least we got to enjoy the pretty colors.

We absolutely love this time of year in Utah!

Our Kitchen

2011-10-26T12:11:00.000-06:00

It's a good thing we absolutely love our kitchen, because we spend A LOT of time in it!

Cooking yummy food from the garden...

and canning more than 2 dozen quarts of tomatoes.

Canning over 2 dozen quarts of pears...

and more than 2 dozen quarts of applesauce.

Our food storage is very pretty and full! I think we're ready for the winter.

Our Anniversary & John's Birthday, September 24 & 25

2011-10-17T14:29:00.000-06:00

For John's birthday and our anniversary, we headed to our favorite spot in the world for the weekend...Moab.

We rode the Amasa Back trail on Friday night, right after getting in, and ended up riding the last little bit in the dark. Sad that the days are getting shorter.

As we were putting the bikes up, we watched three base jumpers jump from the cliffs surrounding the parking lot. It's always so cool to watch.

Then "home" to make delicious fajitas for dinner before heading to bed.

Saturday morning we got up and went straight to Indian Creek to climb. It was a gorgeous day, and the climbing was fabulous.

While climbing at the Supercrack Buttress we met a guy and his dog that were on a month long climbing trip. He didn't have a climbing partner so we invited him to climb with us. His dog didn't like it very much when he was climbing and tried to follow him up the wall (without much success).

After climbing till our arms couldn't anymore, we went to the local swimming hole in Moab.

We checked things out from up top before wading in.

Then off to Arches for a run to Delicate Arch. It was a beautiful night in the park.

We rode the Porcupine Rim trail the next morning, and spent a few minutes at the overlook checking out Castleton Tower where we got engaged over 7 years ago...crazy how fast time flies! Here's to many more years filled with adventures!

Napa Valley Ragnar, September 16th & 17th

2011-10-16T10:58:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine invited me to be part of his Napa Valley Ragnar Relay team. His team had finished third at the Southern California Ragnar and wanted to win Napa.

The course started in San Francisco and ended 186.4 miles later in the wine country. The scenery was beautiful!

Our team of 12 was named "Post-Fontaine". We ran in the Oregon colors: a yellow singlet and little green shorts.

Our starting time was 2:00 on Friday afternoon. I was the second runner and got my first run done with quickly. It was a nice short leg, 2.7 miles.

After all 6 people in our van finished our first legs, we handed the baton to our second van and watched their first runner before going on a hunt for dinner. We ended up at Whole Foods where I found a delicious chicken pot pie.

We then headed over to the next major exchange zone to wait for our second van to finish. It was about 9:30 and dark when our van started again.

My leg took me 5 miles through Petaluma farm country. It was a beautiful, clear night with lots of stars. John came to cheer me on with David and Peter in their zippy BMW convertible. It was fun to have them leading the way, making sure I didn't get run over or lost and playing loud, fun music while yelling words of encouragement.
After finishing my second run, I went with them to their house in Sonoma for a shower and nap until starting my final 9.2 mile leg at 4:30 am.

Most of my last leg was in the dark, but was beautiful as soon as it started lighting up. I was running through fields and fields of grape vines.
At this point we'd caught up to a lot of the other teams that had started earlier than we did. It was fun to be running around other people. I had 35 kills on my last leg. (kill: passing another team)
A few hours later we crossed the finish line in first place in the mixed division as well as overall...beating the all mens teams.

I was glad to have met and spent time with so many fun, great people.

As always, I had an amazing supportive husband.

We were able to spend some good quality time in San Francisco and Sonoma with David and Peter as well as with our friends Cory and Kelsey Sistrunk.

Cory had just taken a job with David's firm. He and Kelsey were out there looking for houses. After a dip in the pool, we were off to the Girl and the Fig for some amazing food!

Garden Veggies, September 4th

2011-10-10T12:57:00.000-06:00

Our garden this year has been awesome!

We started pretty much everything from seed which took longer for things to start producing, but for the last few months we've been getting this out of our garden, multiple times each week:

One of our favorite treats has been fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and basil. SOOOOO YUMMY!

As if we didn't have enough produce, my dad gave us a bunch of his cherry tomatoes and yellow egg plums. We had to break out our food drier and borrow another one to save most of them for later.

These are one of the yummiest fruits ever (yellow egg plums)! They really are like candy and are just as good, if not better, when dried.

Our butternut squash, peppers, and beets all grew really well this year. Roasted beets with goat cheese has been another favorite treat.

We've truly been spoiled, and aren't looking forward to the cold that brings an end to all of these beautiful and tasty fruits and veggies.

Wind Rivers, September 1-4

2011-09-16T10:52:00.000-06:00

We spent labor day weekend in the Wind Rivers with our friends David and Peter and the Francoms. It was fun to explore another place we hadn't been before.

David and Peter had never been backpacking or "real camping" before so we got to show them how it was done.

We were pleasantly surprised at how quickly we made it to Big Sandy Lake.

Because we got a later start than the Francoms, we used walkie talkies...

and trail markers to meet up with them.

Our campsite was about 8 miles from the trail head at the base of a mountain called Haystack.

It was right next to a river which was perfect white noise at night...

and a great place to clean dishes and pump water.

David and Peter brought great back packing fishing poles and caught dinner for us in Clear Lake, right by our camp.

They didn't have as much success at Deep Lake, a lake up the hill from our camp spot.

While they fished, we hiked to the top of East Temple with the Francoms. We called it the "Lion King Peak".

The higher we got the colder and more windy it was.

The views from the top were amazing and really exposed.

I got a little nervous with how comfortable John was walking so close to the edge of a 12,620 ft. drop.

Jonathan pointed out a few peaks to us.

After our hike, we soaked our legs and washed up in the river. It felt nice to be "clean".

Our dinner of red beans and rice with Cajun spiced fresh fish was delicious! The trout had pink meat that tasted like salmon...so yummy.

After dinner we found a boulder to play around on.

The color of the sun on Haystack was beautiful.

The next morning we were off to the Cirque via Jackass Pass.

We were amazed at the amount of huge granite walls. It would definitely be an incredible place to climb...if you're willing to pack in all your gear. We only saw one party climbing.

One last relaxing night at camp and then we were off first thing the next morning.

What had taken us 3 hours to hike in, took us just over 2 to hike out. We were "barn happy" little horses.

Deer Creek, August 28th

2011-09-15T16:45:00.000-06:00

Another beautiful morning on the lake with amazing water and our friend Ryan Grover.

John's cuts are so pretty...

My cuts are getting better...slowly but surely.

The Utah Half, 8-27

2011-09-10T20:23:00.000-06:00

I did my first half ironman!
70.3 miles of swimming (1.2), biking (56), and running (13.1).

The venue:

It started and finished at Utah Lake.

As we were heading over to the starting line, we bumped into John's cousin Molly who was also doing it.
It was fun to chat while waiting for everyone to start.

They had three waves of men start 5 minutes apart before starting all women at the same time.

I was super nervous the whole week before and happy to finally have the pit in my stomach gone as soon as the race started.

As with most triathlon swims, it was a mess. Aside from the usual beatings, there was a girl that swam on top of me for the first 100 meters...so frustrating.
After dropping her, I enjoyed a short reprieve of personal space before catching up to the men. It was quite the task to maneuver around everyone.

I was happy to get out of the water and head to T1.

The bike was nice and uneventful. It was fun to chat with a few friends, one of which I hadn't seen since high school days.

I was excited to transition to the run and felt pretty good for the first half...

But the last half was really painful. I didn't have enough electrolytes and my legs cramped up pretty bad.

I was so happy to see the finish line!

These are the wonderful people from Altra running shoes who sponsored me for the race.

I was the 3rd female finisher and 16th overall in a field of 400.

My finish time was 4:33:23:

Swim-30:05

T1-1:11

Bike-2:27:33

T2-1:19

Run-1:33:15

Yosemite, August 13-16

2011-09-04T21:30:00.000-06:00

All 6 of the boys in John's family were able to make their schedules work to fit in a "brothers trip" to Yosemite. I was lucky enough to be invited along.

We started in Mammoth Lakes and hiked 37 miles in 3 days through the Ansel Adams and John Muir Wilderness Areas, ending up at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite.

You know you're surrounded by Bankheads when there are discussions like the one at this particular spot about physics, chemistry and anatomy with regards to snow location and caloric expenditure.

Our first day we hiked 8 miles to camp, enjoying beautiful wild flowers and great views along the way.

After setting up camp, we hiked to Thousand Island Lake and were amazed at how clear the water was.

John went for a swim...

and his brothers decided to join him.

It was so pretty. We would have loved to spend a full day there.

Being in bear country, we used bear boxes to keep us and our food safe, and set up our "kitchen" away from our tents.

We enjoyed a full moon every night.

The second day we continued our trek, stopping at a lake for snacks before splitting up the group.

Alan needed to head out early for the first day of his new P.A. job. John, Byron, and I accompanied him most of the way out, adding on an extra 4 or 5 miles and a lot of elevation loss and gain, but it was beautiful!

We met back up with Austin, Paul, and Jace at Silver Lake where they had taken naps while waiting for us. We took a break to cook lunch and refill on water.

Then off for a few more miles before setting up camp at Waugh Lake.

We decided to take a bath and ice our legs in the lake before dinner. The water was freezing, but our feet and legs loved it after having hiked 12 miles that day.

We iced again in the morning before heading out.

We were continually amazed at our beautiful surroundings.

By lunch time we reached the saddle that crossed over into Yosemite.

We ate, took a short break, and headed down.

The original plan was to hike 12 miles, camp, and finish the last 5 miles in the morning.
However, Jace, John, and I were antsy and really wanted to see Yosemite Valley, as we'd never been there before.
We decided to split up.
Austin, Byron, and Paul followed the original plan, while the three of us pushed the full 17 miles out.

We were happy to be done hiking and even happier to see The Valley.
The amount of granite in that area is crazy! El Cap was massive and made the climbers look like ants.

The falls were beautiful.

The lighting on half dome was perfect.

We drove back to Mammoth that night, stopping at McDonald's (the only place open) for dinner before setting up camp in the back of the minivans.
It was a rough night of sleep, but life was great after getting in an awesome 9 mile run and having these amazing pastries and fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast.

Life was even better after a $5 shower at the local campground.
We were as happy as could be when we met up with the other three brothers at the trail head.

The drive home was not nearly as exciting as the drive there...it never is. However, we were able to see this:

It took up the entire road, so we had a little bit of a delay. There were 4 semis pushing it and 2 semis pulling it and it had a "radioactive" sign on it. Whatever it was, wasn't light. We all thought it was pretty cool.

Tour of Utah, 8-11

2011-09-04T20:35:00.000-06:00

Vivint was a sponsor of the Tour of Utah this year and the finish line for Stage 2 was in front of our building. This was the view out my window:

As the riders got closer to the finish line, we went out to watch them come in.

This is the winner of Stage 2, Jack Bauer of New Zealand. If you look closely, you can see the peloton coming in behind him. They were going SO FAST! A big breeze followed them as they came in.

They finished the 99.2 mile rolling course around Utah Lake in 3 hours and 33 minutes, averaging 27.8 mph.

Vivint gave away the "Most Aggressive Rider Jersey" for every stage.

Our CEO gave away the jersey for Stage 2.

It was a fun introduction for me to the world of elite racing.

I was told that the Tour of Utah is the toughest stage race in America and that the winner (for the second year in a row), Levi Leipheimer, was a former Utahn.

Yumminess! 8-5

2011-08-30T17:44:00.016-06:00

The slow start to Utah's summer this year meant a slow start for our garden. It took until the beginning of August to finally be able to start reaping what we'd sowed.

To celebrate our first crop, we invited friends over to partake of the goodness.

Our pretty beets on top of arugula...all from the garden except the walnuts.

Cheeses and pistachios to compliment the beets:

Amazing cherry tomatoes (they're seriously like candy) and basil from the garden with fresh mozzarella.

Olive oil we helped "make" in Sonoma with yummy bread.

Grilled veggies from our garden...with a few supplements.

We've also been experimenting with a few new recipes in the kitchen. A couple of our favorites are a black bean burger (no picture...sorry), and homemade gnocchi...super delicious!

This time of year is FAVORITE!

Mt. Timpanogos, 7-31

2011-08-30T16:40:00.000-06:00

To prepare for our upcoming Yosemite trip, we decided to do an overnight hike up Timp with our packs.

There was still a TON of snow up there, which made for a longer, more difficult hike.

By the time we reached Emerald Lake (which was less of a lake and more of an iced over snow field), a big storm had rolled in.
As soon as we finished setting up our tent, the rain started pouring down. We took shelter and false comfort from the thin piece of fabric between us and the mad skies.
The thunder that followed the lightening was incredibly loud and made my heart stop each time it boomed out.
After it cleared up, we ventured outside to pump water for our dinner. As soon as we were back in our tent, it started raining again so we ate our freeze dried dinner inside the tent and dozed off to sleep.

We got up the next morning and decided that with all the snow and lack of necessary gear (crampons and ice axes), it wouldn't be safe to proceed up to the summit.

So we packed up camp and headed home. It was the right decision but kind of a bummer. John still has yet to summit Timp!

Alpine Loop-mountain biking, 7-30

2011-08-30T16:08:00.000-06:00

We decided to combine two of our favorite trails (South Fork Deer Creek, and Tibblefork), and add in another great trail (Mill Canyon) for a 3 hour long adventure.

The weather was perfect...overcast and not too hot.

Dave had bike problems towards the end of the ride and tried to fix them to no avail. I couldn't stop laughing after seeing this.

He'd wiped the sweat off from his face using his dirty gloves he'd used to work on his bike.

The following week John had to work late, so Dave an I went up to ride it again and cut an hour off our time.
We love our Utah mountains!

Telluride, July 22-25

2011-08-23T16:22:00.000-06:00

After spending quality time with Juliann and Weston in Bondurant, they invited us to go to Telluride with them.
We took them up on their offer and were glad we did...Telluride is amazing!

We got in late Friday night and were unsuccessful in finding a camp spot as everything was full. A freshly graded spot next to an empty construction trailer off a side road worked for the night.
The next morning a few camping spots had emptied and we were able to set up camp.

After getting everything set up, we grabbed our downhill bikes, headed to the top of the resort (10,540 ft elevation) via the gondola, signed waivers, and were off.

The riding was great and we loved that the gondola was free!

After a lunch break we headed up to Alta Lakes (11,300 ft elevation) where we took a short swim (the water was frigid!), and relaxed while taking in the scenery.

We got in a nice road bike ride before having Juliann and Weston "over" for a tasty pasta dinner.

The next morning we enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL run,

a yummy breakfast,

and great climbing in a little town called Ophir.

We did a three pitch route called "Hot Wee Wee" and had a blast.

After a nice and much needed shower at Juliann and Weston's hotel in Mountain Village, the girls took the gondola over to Telluride.

The boys drove over, stopping for gas and snacks before picking us up and heading to the old mining, ghost town of TomBoy (11400 ft elevation).

The road to get there was steep, narrow, and very rocky. We definitely needed 4-wheel drive and were proud to be the only Forerunner among jeeps.

It was beautiful and had incredible views!

We then headed down and over to Bridal Veil Falls (the tallest free flowing waterfall in Colorado), stopping briefly on the way up for a bouldering session.

John and I headed back to camp for dinner before making one last trip into Telluride (via the gondola) for ice cream. It was a beautiful night.

The next morning we drove over to Ouray to climb a fourteener called Mt. Sneffels (14,158 ft).
fourteener: mountaineering terminology in the United States, a fourteener is a mountain that exceeds 14,000 feet (4,267.2 m) above sea level. The importance of fourteeners is greatest in Colorado, which has the majority of such peaks in North America.

It was a beautiful drive to the trail head, and fun to guess which of the many peaks was Mt. Sneffels.

Going up and down the snow field was the scariest part of the hike. Straight up and straight down...you definitely didn't want to slip.

The view at the top was amazing!

The hike down was quick, and we got in our car just as it started to down pour.

What a great trip!!! We will definitely be visiting again. Thank you to Juliann and Weston for introducing us to one of your favorite places!

Another great day at the lake, July 17th

2011-08-10T15:05:00.000-06:00

Great water...

great company...

great falls...

great skiing!

Replacements, July 14th

2011-08-10T15:04:00.000-06:00

After getting a settlement check to replace John's totaled bike, he was INCREDIBLY lucky to find a SCREAMING deal on a Cervelo P3. John absolutely loves it. He also got a regular road bike...not as nice as his old one, but he's ecstatic about the combo.

Jackson Hole & Bondurant, July 7-10

2011-08-09T14:36:00.000-06:00

A few guys that John works with decided last minute to go to Jackson Hole to raft the Snake River.
We jumped on board and decided to stay the rest of the weekend as well.
As we were arriving Thursday afternoon, an ambulance was on it's way out. We later found out that it was carrying someone who had just died on the river.
Needless to say, we were a little nervous when we launched after 5:00 that night. The water was discharging at 23,300 cubic feet per second...a LOT of FAST water!
We had scouted out a couple of trouble spots and were able to avoid them, making for a successfully fun ride.

To celebrate, we went to dinner at Mountain High Pizza Pie (I found this great picture of their grand opening in 1980), and Haagen Dazs for dessert.

We stayed the night in the thriving town of Bondurant (population: 200, elevation: 6,726 ft), at John's boss' cabin. He and his brothers were there to put the cabin back together after it'd been flooded during the winter due to frozen pipes. It had been completely gutted and remodeled.

I got in a great trail run the next morning, but quickly turned around when I started seeing signs similar to this:

After working on the cabin for a few hours, we headed to run the river again and had another successful and super fun run.

Our "river friends" then took off, and we went back to help more at the cabin, taking breaks to shoot at varmints (18 for 19 kill),

and relax on the porch...

We drove into Jackson for a heart stopping dinner at Bubba's BBQ, walked the streets and shops, ate more Haagen Dazs, stopped at a grocery store (where I bumped into and caught up with old friend...random) and then home to bed.

The next morning started with another great run (no trails this time), more work around the cabin, and then off for some downhill mountain biking at Jackson Pass!

After lunch we decided to get in a road bike ride.

It was great until we ended up getting caught in a major wind and rain storm on our way home.

Not feeling like driving the 40 minutes into Jackson, our dinner option was the Elkhorn.

The menu:

We listened to tunes from their high tech juke box while watching this guy make our burgers and fries.

Our dinner entertainment: listening to stories of the drunk locals. Quite the experience.

Fourth of July

2011-08-03T10:49:00.000-06:00

We had a pretty full Fourth of July weekend!
It started off Saturday morning with a 50+ mile road bike ride with the Denisons, followed by a nice long run, swimming, and buying new running shoes (yay!).

We then set off on the motorcycle to Outback for dinner with friends before all motoring over to the Stadium of Fire.

David Archuleta sang the national anthem and the fly by was awesome...as usual!

Brad Paisley put on a fun show!

The next morning we were up before the sun to do one of our favorite mountain bike trails (South Fork Deer Creek). It was a beautiful, quiet morning.

After the ride, we stopped in at our cousin's baby blessing before heading off to the lake for some skiing.

We got in a much needed nap before heading to a cul-de-sac BBQ.

After sleeping in a bit and going for a run the next morning, we did a bunch of errands and swam at the Scera pool. It was my first time swimming there and was REALLY nice to swim outside.
We stopped by a 4th of July pool party, hosted by Vivint's CEO, on our way home for cul-de-sac fireworks.
As we left the party it was pouring rain, but cleared up in time for "the show" (as predicted by our neighbor who's a pilot and very on top of the weather).

A combination of "illegal fireworks" being legal in Utah this year and our neighbors always doing things "right", including disconnecting the street lights, made for a great show.

Yay for the fourth and long weekends!

Oakley Rodeo, July 1st

2011-08-02T15:56:00.000-06:00

Our friends, the Morgans, invited us to go to the Oakley Rodeo with them.

How could we say no?

It's not really summer without a rodeo!

Summer has officially started!

2011-07-20T16:03:00.000-06:00

We had such a long Spring this year! Only about a month ago did it get warm enough to enjoy lake time.

Because it's been wet suit weather at Deer Creek, we've been going to Utah Lake.

I've never seen it so FULL of water! The boat ramps on the South side are completely under water and the north side is struggling with flooding.

Our first trip out, our friend Ryan came with us.

We found great water and skied until we were too tired to ski anymore.

Johnny

Kara

We couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces.

The next morning we were as sore as can be...nothing like the first ski of the season.

Accident, June 22nd

2011-07-05T16:32:00.000-06:00

A couple weeks ago we had time for a road bike ride between work and meeting up with some friends for dinner.
We headed out on our 32 mile loop but were cut short after 9 miles.

As we were riding south on a main road in rural Springville, a SUV turned left into a church parking lot right in front of us. The driver said that he didn't see us. He was going to a viewing, so his mind was probably somewhere else.

We had been doing 5 minute intervals at 23 mph. I was in front of John and had barely enough time to skirt around the back of the SUV. My back tire got caught up a little bit with John's bike and the SUV, but I was able to ride it out and my bike seems okay.

John wasn't so lucky. I heard a loud crunch as he and his bike slammed into the side of the SUV.

After finally being able to stop and turn around (road bike brakes suck!), I found him curled in a ball on the pavement trying to assess the damage. He was pretty beat up but didn't need stitches or have any broken bones. His carbon fiber bike was totaled.
Such a bummer...and a hassle! Dealing with insurance companies is such a pain!!!!

Rock Canyon, June 21st

2011-06-29T12:21:00.001-06:00

A couple of our San Franciscan friends were in town for work and stayed the night at our house.
Before an amazing dinner at Communal, we took Nate climbing in rock canyon.

It was a beautiful night.

The climbing was great too!
Nate did really well, especially for having not climbed in awhile.

Another year...really?!? June 17th

2011-06-28T13:35:00.003-06:00

I can't believe another year has flown by! To start off the celebration of me turning another older, our friends (the Francom's) invited us over for dinner the night before. John's brother Byron and his wife came over as well. The food was delicious and conversation great.
Charie even made me a cake, which we of course had to eat with ice cream.

Their kids were so excited to surprise me with the cake and sing happy birthday (so cute!).

The next morning I had a great 8 mile run followed by a really nice 40 mile road bike ride. No better way to start my day!! :).
I met up with some girlfriends for lunch at Noodles and then headed up American Fork canyon with Johnny for some climbing. It was a beautiful afternoon! The climbing was great and we even got a little power nap in at the base of the wall.
We then headed to SLC for dinner at a yummy Thai restaurant with our friends the Morgans.
It was a great, full day!

The next morning we rode a new trail, Corner Canyon, in Draper. It's a great trail and was fun to do something new.

Changing of the Guard

2011-06-16T17:28:00.000-06:00

After 6 amazing years of riding...we decided to retire our beloved Enduros.

It's been an emotionally hard decision, but our new found friends are helping us cope.

Kara's Santa Cruz Carbon Blur

John's Santa Cruz Carbon Nomad

The Sport of Climbing

2011-06-16T16:49:00.000-06:00

With the weather warming up in Utah county, the sport climbing bug has bitten us.
The last few weeks we've had some really enjoyable climbing sessions in American Fork Canyon and Rock Canyon.

One morning after climbing for a couple of hours, the Francom's and their kids met up with us. It was fun to get them on the wall.

It's finally beginning to feel like summer!

One of John's favorite things to do is splash his face and rinse off in fresh, cold water...my little fish!

Now if the snow would only melt in the higher elevations so we can jump on some of our favorite mountain bike trails!

Salem TRI, June 4th

2011-06-13T14:36:00.000-06:00

The Salem TRI is always a fun event! Our friend Dave and John's brother Byron did it with us this year...Byron's first triathlon!

Our stats:
Dave Jenkins: 1:04:41, 6th overall
Kara: 1:09:37, 17th overall, 3rd overall female
John: 1:14:53, 38th overall
Byron: 1:23:43, 110th overall

That afternoon we headed up to do the Diamond Fork trail...such a great ride.
There is SO MUCH water in Utah right now. The streams are more like rivers, the rivers are bumpin', and there are huge waterfalls everywhere.
With a record breaking year of snow this winter followed by a record amount of rain this spring, I feel the floods coming.

Memorial Weekend, May 27-30

2011-06-13T12:53:00.000-06:00

Utah county has been getting crazy amounts of rain this year and the trend was supposed to continue through the Memorial weekend...so we headed to Moab for sunnier skies.
The sunset was beautiful our first night out...camping under the stars was just what we needed.

The next morning we met up with the Morgan boys (Whittaker, Charlie, and Josh) to do the Kokopelli/Porcupine Rim trail.

Peter, recovering from his recent knee surgery, was our gracious chauffeur for the shuttle.
It was fun to ride with different people. Bets were made on who would get to the bottom fastest which made things a little more interesting.

After a quick shower and lunch, we headed to the Creek. It was HOT, so we climbed in the shade at the 4x4 wall.

The climbing was great and scenery beautiful!

That night we camped in a little ravine, which was perfect and sheltered from the crazy wind storm that came in that night.

On our way home the next day we saw this...which we thought was pretty cool. Wonder where they're all going.

On Memorial Day we helped John's brother Byron put on a backyard band party/barbecue.
The food and entertainment was amazing and the rain was relatively cooperative.

U2-May 24

2011-06-02T14:57:00.000-06:00

Our friends, the Morgans, happened to have two extra tickets to the U2 concert and invited us to go. It was an amazing concert.
How could it not be amazing with a set up like this?!?

The Fray opened for them. I didn't recognize their name but know and like a lot of their music.

U2 played for over 2 1/2 hours and didn't disappoint...so great!

My co-worker asked me the other day where I was sitting at the concert. He found a site with a picture of the entire stadium..and found us: http://www.u2.com/gigapixelfancam/110524/315884-kara-bankhead.

Thank you Morgans for a super fun night!

SG TRI-May 21

2011-06-02T14:14:00.000-06:00

In January, John was in charge of signing us both up for the St. George triathlon. In doing so, he somehow registered me for the wrong event.
A week before the race, we noticed that I wasn't on the roster and contacted the race director. She notified us that I had been signed up for a TRI in Las Vegas a few weeks prior and received a DNS (did not start), obviously.
She was completely unwilling to work with us to get the registration changed or discounted (BBSC is ridiculous), so I didn't end up doing the race.
It was still an enjoyable trip and fun to watch John and our friend Dave.
Dave started first in the Olympic distance (1500 m swim, 20.5 mile bike, 10k run).

An hour later John started the Sprint distance (750 swim, 12.4 mile bike, 5k run).

They finished pretty much at the same time.
Dave was 4th and John 25th overall in their races. I was so proud!

After a nap we headed to Chuckwalla for a little climbing.

It was a nice time besides the unfortunate opportunity we had of watching a climber fall 20 feet and land on his head (his belayer didn't catch him).
Their group had a bunch of shiny new gear and talked up their climbing abilities. It seemed that they were new to the climbing world and should have been more focused on safety instead of spraying*.

After calling 911 and helping the paramedics cart him off (sad), we climbed a little more, made yummy burritos for dinner and went to see a movie.

*Spraying: Giving unwanted and unasked for beta to a fellow climber. Also, excessive, overly prominent, or boorish proclamation of one's own (often exaggerated) skills or exploits.

Run to Walk-May 14

2011-06-01T13:42:00.000-06:00

First race of the season...a Vivint sponsored charity 5k for the Now I Can Foundation.

It's a fun little race.
John finished with a great time of just over 21:00 and was in the top 15 overall. Our friend Dave finished in just over 18:00 and was 6th overall, and I finished 1st in females and 5th overall with a time of 17:29.

Special Olympics-May 12

2011-05-25T16:03:00.000-06:00

I had the opportunity through Vivint (my employer) to volunteer at the Special Olympics Area Games. I didn't know until I got there that my sister was competing.

It was such a fun event!
My dad asked me to stand with Lisa at the starting line of the 25 meter dash so he could be at the finish for her to run to.

She was having a dance party at the starting line! Of course I joined in.

She cruised to a first place finish and was super happy.

We were so proud.

She polished off the day with a second place medal in the tennis ball throw...

and another first place medal in the 50 meter dash.

I love that she didn't want to stand on the podium. When you're number one, you can do whatever you want! GO LISA!

Peter Morgan is an Ironman-May 7

2011-05-25T16:02:00.000-06:00

Our friend Peter decided in December that he wanted to do the St. George Ironman. He'd never done a triathlon before, so why not start with the grand daddy of them all.
An Ironman in and of itself is no small feat (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike followed by a 26.2 mile run), but the St. George Ironman is brutal. With all the hill climbing on the bike and run portions, it's said to be the toughest in the nation.
Now throw in a torn ACL from a ski accident a couple months before the race. His doctor told him he needed surgery...so he scheduled it for 3 days after the Ironman.

He finished in just under 14 1/2 hours...torn ACL and all.
We cheered him on in between a morning run, pool time, Nielsens Frozen Custard and a nap.

It was fun to watch the event and once again we were inspired to do one...someday.

Born to Run-May 2nd

2011-05-24T13:55:00.000-06:00

Christopher McDougal, the author of one of my favorite books ("Born to Run") came to our local running store for a book signing and clinic.

I felt a little geeky waiting in line to have my book signed...I'd never done that before.

As he was signing my book, I told him that my dad had run down a deer (in his book he describes why that's possible).
He told me to call my dad and get him there.

It was a great clinic (he's awesome) and I was proud as can be when he pulled my dad up to tell his story
.
Afterwards, people asked my dad to sign their books as well. So fun!

Moab again! April 29-May 1

2011-05-24T13:13:00.000-06:00

Our last minute decision to go to Moab for the weekend was a good one.
It was snowing in Utah County when we left, but by the time we hit Price the weather was beautiful.

We went for a run up Kane Creek road first thing the next morning, waiting for it to warm up a bit.
After a hearty breakfast, we headed out to do the Jackson Hole mountain bike trail (22.3 miles).

It was fun to do something we hadn't done in the Moab area before. It was a long ride in beautiful country.

The trail loops into the Amasa Back trail, but not before a "hike a bike" up a 500 foot ravine...tiring.

It was fun to look down at the trail we had been on. We'd covered a lot of ground.

A shower and nap were well deserved and very much enjoyed before heading to Longs Canyon for a little climbing. It was a beautiful night.

After a few routes, we had a picnic and watched the sun go down. It felt like we were the only people for miles and miles.

The next morning we did a little trail running on the Portal Overlook and got a different perspective of Moab.

It was another beautiful day, but pretty windy. We were glad to be running and not biking.

After our run we weren't ready to head home, but were too tired to bike or climb...so we tried something new. We hiked to...

climbed up...

and rappelled down Corona Arch.

It's such a cool arch in a beautiful location. In all our years and trips to Moab, we thought it was crazy we hadn't been there.

We LOVE this place, and there's still so many places to explore!

UVU Alumni Teacher of the Year, 4-29-11

2011-05-19T16:54:00.000-06:00

And the UVU Alumni Teacher of the Year award goes to...

my dad!

Congratulations Dad!

It just confirms how great we already know you are!

I'm proud to be your daughter.

Moab/Arches Adventure-April 22-24

2011-05-18T13:26:00.000-06:00

After our Europe trip, we enjoyed a weekend at home before heading to Moab the next weekend. We were craving the desert.
We got into Moab Friday night with enough time to bike our favorite trail, Amasa Back. The temperature was perfect, and scenery beautiful. We stopped a few times to look at the views, listen to silence and just take it all in. It was so peaceful.
The next morning it was a bit rainy so we decided to do something different. We ran the 7.2 mile Devils Garden Primitive Loop in Arches, stopping at each of the eight arches along the way.

First stop: Landscape Arch (1)

Next: Partition and Navajo Arches (2 & 3)

Along the trail we found a great bouldering wall to play around on...

a great view to run by...

and an overlook to check out Black Arch.

Then back to business...Double O Arch (4) was next.

We took a little detour to see Dark Angel, a tower we'd climbed a few years ago...

then continued on to Private Arch (5).

Next was Wall Arch (6), but somehow we missed getting a picture of it.
Pine Tree Arch (7) and Tunnel Arch (8) were last.

It was a great trail and fun to see Arches we'd never seen before.

After a shower and nap, the rain died down enough for us to climb the Penguins.

The next morning we woke up to a very rainy day. There's not a lot to do in Moab when it's raining, but it creates all kinds of waterfalls...so pretty!

What a great weekend!

Trains, Planes and Automobiles-April 12, 2011

2011-05-17T14:32:00.000-06:00

A VERY long day of travel! We started the day by getting up at 5:00 am to take the metro to the train station.
We had breakfast at the station bakery and watched as tons of little birds ran around pecking up the crumbs.

Our bullet train left for Kaiserslautern promptly at 7:04 am. The trains were always on time.

John's sister Emily picked us up at the train station in Germany. It was GREAT to see her! Even better that she brought us pastries and a cooler full of Diet Cokes on ice (a little bit of heaven!).
After a quick stop at a grocery store to pick up more chocolate, we were off to the airport. Jackson watched a movie while we had a really enjoyable conversation.
At the airport it was sad to say goodbye, but we were ready to be heading home.
We spent our last Euros at an airport restaurant called Marche and wished US airports had the same caliber of food. The options were MUCH different at our Houston layover.
28 hours had passed from when we got up at 5:00 am Paris time until we got in bed at 1:00 am the next day Utah time. We passed the time with 6 movies, taking a run through the airport, hooking back into the world via e-mails, Internet, and phone calls, and getting in a nap from Houston to Utah.
The drive home from the SLC airport was the most painful...we were ready to be home. Our bed felt SO good...big, soft, and in the USA.

Paris-April 11, 2011

2011-05-15T21:49:00.000-06:00

Being so close to the Eiffel Tower was nice, but noisy. Our window wasn't closed quite tight enough (we didn't notice till morning), so that didn't help. It was a rough night and we had a hard time getting out of bed.

A shower woke us up and we headed over to climb the Eiffel Tower. We were first in line (to walk up instead of use the elevator) and had plenty of time until it opened, so John kept our spot while I got a nice 6 mile run in on the dirt paths around the gardens.

When the ticket office opened, we grabbed our tickets and took off running.

We stopped at the first floor for a few minutes and felt like we were the only ones on the whole tower. It was awesome! We beat the elevators, as they had to fill up with people before heading up...and we were just fast. :)

We got to the second floor at the same time as the first elevator of people.

The stairs ended there and we were planning to take the elevator to the very top. However, they weren't running as workers were using them for maintenance. We wanted to ask if we could harness up and help.

The second floor had some amazing views of the city.

It started getting too crowded for us so we made our way back down the stairs. It is such an awesome structure.

Our train back to Frankfurt left early the next morning so we did a trial run on the metro to make sure we wouldn't have any hiccups getting there.
One of the lines that we were planning to take was closed, so we were glad we found that out.

After feeling confident about our plan, we jumped back on the metro and headed to Notre Dame.

At this point of our trip, we were a little "over" all the old buildings, so we didn't spend much time there. We took a quick look inside and then wandered around outside for a bit before getting a baguette sandwich and crepe from a street vendor.

We ate as we walked to the Louvre and through its gardens, the Touilleries.

John's back started hurting him so he went back to the hotel for a nap while I went to explore Champs Elysees and see the Arc De Triomphe.

Back at the hotel, I found John dead asleep. He had taken a two hour nap. Awesome! We relaxed a bit longer and then headed to the grocery store to get some chocolate and snacks for our trip home.

While in France, you have to have Boeuf Bourguignon...so we did. It was delicious!

For dessert we walked to a nearby bakery and bought two beautiful fruit tarts. They were packaged in the cutest little box.

The plan was to grab our jackets from our hotel and eat the tarts at the Eiffel Tower park, but while getting our jackets the box was on the bed and John sat on it...kind of ruined our plans. We ended up just eating them there. They were delicious...even with the butt print. :)

We spent the rest of the evening on a park bench at the park people watching...such a fun thing to do, especially at the Eiffel Tower.

One of the favorites was watching the French police chase out the Indians who sell trinkets illegally on the Tower grounds...sneaky Indians.

When it started getting cold and windy, we headed home to pack up and get ready for the early morning and long day of travel home the next day.

Pisa and Paris-April 10, 2011

2011-05-13T16:54:00.000-06:00

We took a train out of the Cinque Terre first thing in the morning and arrived in Pisa a couple hours later.

We went straight to the Field of Miracles where we saw the bell tower (Leaning Tower) and the buildings they say encompass the milestones of life: the Baptistry (baptism), the Duomo (marriage), and the Cemetery (death).

We had our backpacks with us for the day and didn't want to go through the hassle of checking them so we could go into the buildings.
The views from outside were pretty amazing.

After getting our fill of the Field of Miracles, we found an outside cafe and had margharita pizzas while people watching, then headed towards the bus station, checking out the rest of the city on our way.

There was a local market going on with all kinds of cool things being sold by local artists. I found a great necklace.

Near the Arno river was a gelateria where we got the best gelato of the trip.

At the bus/train station, we purchased our tickets to the airport and John paid to use the WC for the first time...it was an emergency. :)

Ryanair flew us into the Beauvais airport (50 miles from Paris) and we took a bus into the city. It was a beautiful drive.

In Paris we found the metro and navigated our way to our hotel fairly easily.
After dropping our stuff off, we ate dinner and then walked over to the Eiffel Tower, which is amazing.

We wandered the gardens and watched the “light show” at the beginning of the hour, then headed home (just a few blocks away) to sleep.

Cinque Terre (Corniglia & Vernazza)-April 9, 2011

2011-05-13T11:37:00.000-06:00

It was a colder day than normal. We hit the trails expecting to get rained on as there was gloomy cloud coverage...but no rain.

We hiked/ran from Vernazza to Corniglia on the high trails (6 miles and 2,000 vertical feet), took a little apple and water break, then ran the "easy trail" back (2 1/2 miles), it had just opened.

Worn out and hungry when we got back into town, we sat and ate wood fired ham and cheese sandwiches on focaccia with a Coke Lite.
Still hungry, we went into the bakery and found a zucchini quiche and chocolate filled cookies similar to the ones we loved in Florence. We ate them out on the break water and people watched before taking a shower and nap.

It was hard to drag ourselves out of bed to go swimming because it was still gray outside. Instead, we warmed up on our rock in our suits and read. When it started getting cold we bundled up and headed home.

After changing, we hit the internet cafe to check e-mails and gather information on our travel to/from Paris...trains, airports, buses, metros, and more trains.

We spent the rest of the evening cooking and lounging. We had a pasta dinner with our leftovers and ate it at our spot overlooking the sea. It was fun to just sit and chat.

We watched a fisherman as he put out a ton of netting on the rocky sea, then headed to the point where another fisherman was fishing off the dock. He had an awesome mustache.

We relaxed on the rocks, watching the waves crashing in and the sky changing as the sun slipped away.

Then headed to up all our stairs to pull our laundry off the line (top right of picture), clean and get ready to leave.

Our last night in the Cinque Terre...such an amazing place, but time to move on.

Cinque Terre (Montorosso al Mare)-April 8, 2011

2011-05-13T11:14:00.001-06:00

Before heading out to the trails again we stopped by the water and noticed it was pretty rough (a storm was coming in). Two fishermen were out on the point break when a huge wave came in and soaked them. They laughed, shook off, and continued fishing.

On our way through the town to the trail we watched as they were unloading the weekly supplies.

The hike for the day was from our town of Vernazza to Monterosso, the “beach town” of the Cinque Terre and furthest north of the five towns.

We ran most of the 8 mile trail. It was pretty much straight uphill for the first half and straight down for the last.

In order to help farm the very hilly terrain, they have little carts that run on rails up and down the mountain. John used this one as a rest stop.

The trails were pretty well marked except for a couple of spots that really needed to be.
We got lost for a bit and found ourselves in a local's backyard trying to ask for directions, and eventually found our way.

We loved running the trails. It was so beautiful and serene.

But we quickly realized we needed to stay away from the pretty yellow bushes that were EVERYWHERE. Their sharp thorns felt like little knives.

We were tired and hungry when we arrived in Monterosso so we grabbed a foccacia sandwich with fresh mozzarella, basil and tomatoes, and headed down the boardwalk.

Within a few minutes we bumped into the Philly girls who'd taken the train over. It was so fun to run into them in the different towns.

We traded stories and then headed our separate ways.

At the end of the boardwalk is a "mansion" built into the rock with a man carved out of the side. Pretty interesting.

We had some gelato and watched people playing in the ocean on our way to the train station.

Then home for our routine of shower, nap, and going for a swim in the Mediterranean.

After another shower, we checked in with the world via the internet cafe and then grabbed a few groceries for dinner...focaccia bread pizza. It was fabulous!
Pesto sauce with cooked veggies (yellow and red peppers and zucchini) with tomatoes and provolone melted over the top. YUMMY! Did I tell you the focaccia is AMAZING?!? :)

We ate while watching the sea at our little bench up and around the corner.
After dropping off our dishes, we went for a walk up the "easy trail" towards Monterosso until it closed and saw some great views of Vernazza.

Then down to the pier where we bumped into our Philly friends one last time (they were leaving in the morning).

We sat and watched the sun go down until it got cold and then headed up to bed. Yet another great day!

Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore, Manarola & Cornigila)-April 7, 2011

2011-05-11T09:59:00.001-06:00

We woke up to the 7:00 bells and birds going crazy outside, ate a quick breakfast in our kitchen (their yogurt is SO yummy), and hopped on the train to Riomaggiore, the furthest south Cinque Terre town.

The tunnel that follows out from the train station was really cool. Designs were made out of all different kinds of mediums and colors.

We walked through the town a bit before getting on the trail that connects Riomaggiore to Manarola (the next town north).

When the trail was made, it was the first time people from the two towns could connect.

Relationships were started between people in the two towns and the trail was nicknamed “lovers lane”. Couples symbolically solidified their relationship by putting a lock with their initials somewhere along the trail.

There are multiple trails that now connect the towns in the Cinque Terre. The shortest and easiest trail was only open between these first two towns (Riomaggiore and Manarola). Due to heavy rains and land slides, the “easy trail” between the other towns was closed for maintenance. We took the challenge to do all the harder trails and headed out towards Corniglia (the next town north).

It was a beautiful 6 mile hike with a lot of stairs and elevation gain. We jogged most of it, stopping for the awesome views of the towns below.

The vineyards and garden plots on the hillsides were picturesque and it was great to see the people working their land.

Corniglia is the "mountain town" of the Cinque Terre and is higher up in the hills than the other towns and further from beach access, but the descent into it was just as steep as the ascent out of Manarola.

We walked through the town, grabbed a sandwich made with foccacia bread (did I tell you their foccacia is amazing?!?), and headed to the train station.
There are hundreds of stairs from the town to the train station…nice that we were going down. We saw our train arrive and then leave us as we were trying to get down all the stairs to catch it.

To kill time until the next train, we got a Coke Lite and Magnum bar from the snack shop and hung out on the benches. A few minutes before it arrived, we heard someone calling John’s name from across the platform. It was our Philly friends! It was so fun to bump into familiar faces.

After getting home we took a little nap and headed out to swim and soak up the sun until it was time to get ready for dinner with the girls.

We made spinach pasta with pomodoro sauce and the girls brought an appetizer of cheese, bread, and strawberries and made a yummy salad.

We had a great time chatting about our adventures that day and then headed to the point to watch the sunset with a bag of cookies for dessert. What a great day!

Cinque Terre-April 6, 2011

2011-05-10T16:34:00.000-06:00

On our way to the train station we had to stop by the market one last time for breakfast and to pick up a few shortbread cookies with chocolate centers for the road.

A two hour train ride took us past mountains that were being mined for white Carrera marble and to La Spezia where we needed to change trains. It was sad to see how mined out the mountains looked.

While waiting for our train to arrive, we met a couple of ladies from Philadelphia (Diane and Madeline) and found that we were going to be staying in the same Cinque Terre town of Vernazza.
They thought we were crazy not to have hotel reservations. It was the only place we didn't have reservations because we'd read you could get the best places and rates by just showing up and finding locals looking to rent their places.
We thought we were a little crazy too, but quickly changed our minds when we got off the train and met Francesco who introduced himself to us and asked if we needed a room.
We agreed to check his place out and followed him down to the town square and up a few flights of steep steps to number 6. The "room" was an entire apartment which easily sleeps 6, had a gorgeously remodeled kitchen, and a bathroom with a shower and washing machine. Francesco accepted our offer of 55 Euro/night for the 4 nights we'd be staying (a steal of a deal)!

To make things even better, just around the corner and up a few more stairs was a little courtyard with a park bench that overlooked the ocean. Such a gorgeous spot!

We settled in and headed down to the water. On our way down we bumped into our Philadelphia girl friends who ended up staying just down the stairs from us. We showed them our place and the secret courtyard. They were almost as excited as we were. :)

John was itching to go swimming so we put our swimsuits and went for a swim. It was super clear, beautiful, and just a little chilly. The Europeans probably thought we were crazy swimming in the cold water, but we thought they were crazy because of how much they ALL smoke.

We warmed ourselves up on a rock until we got hungry and and then headed up for a shower.
On our way we bumped into a funeral procession that was walking down the main street to the church at the waterfront. Three priests and nuns lead the way for a purple hearse and all the towns people. It was interesting to watch.

After a warm shower in our great little bathroom, we headed back to the street to wander and buy groceries at the market for dinner. We did our shopping, took a quick “Rick Steeves” tour of the small town, and stopped by the break water to check out the view before going up to cook.

Dinner was pasta with locally made pesto and fresh grated parmigiano, and a vegetable salad with vinegar and Francesco's homemade olive oil. We ate it with bread and Pecorino cheese while watching the sun go down in our little courtyard.

We dropped our dishes off at the house and went back to the break water to finish watching the sun go down while eating chocolate and dangling out feet over the side. While there, we watched as a fisherman came into the dock and pulled out a huge ugly fish he'd just caught.
The chef from the waterfront restaurant met him and took it to the restaurant. Talk about fresh fish!

It was such a relaxing evening. What an awesome place!

When the sun was gone, we headed home. We'd pulled out our laundry and started hanging it to dry on the line outside our windows at the same time the girls came looking for us. They were a little lost, so the timing was perfect.

We invited them in and sat around chatting for awhile before going out to wander the streets a little more (what great ladies!)

Everything was shut down and quiet except for the occasional train and bell towers (2 sets of bells ring every half hour, 3 minutes apart from 7 am-10 pm).

We were so happy to be there and couldn't have been more thrilled with the place we'd found.