The Rydholm's post-Ironman activities

Two goof balls.

After Ironman Canada, we headed to the Seattle area for a short visit with my grandparents. Both my mom and dad were there the first night, then my dad left to go back to work. The first night we got there, we walked around the gardens and visited a bit.

My grandparents, my mom, and me in front of the blue spruce my grandpa planted years ago.

Me and my mom posing with her black-eyed susan's shirt near the black-eyed susans.

After dinner E and I went up the hill with my dad and picked some black berries. They were very good, and the vines covered everything. I guess this land was bought out by the airport years ago because it is directly beneath most flight patterns and they wanted to get the houses out of there.

Blackberries!

It is rumored that some of the black berry vines actually may cover old houses and buildings left behind. They are like weeds, according to the locals. Yummy weeds, according to me! The berries we found had already been well picked over, so they were pretty small and if you weren't careful, still not their sweetest. Again, I just say yum! I wish we had such useful weeds here in Colorado!

The blackberry vines are more than 8 feet tall!

The next day, around lunch time, E, my mom, and I walked down to the sound. My grandparents only live a few blocks away and my grandfather used to walk down to the water nearly every morning.

The beach down at the sound at mid-tide.

We poked around a bit and watched the tide start to come in before heading over to the fishing pier and then on to Anthony's for a Salmon lunch. That was topped off by a 3-way split of their fresh peach cobbler and triple berry cobbler... mmmmm!

Me, picking at rocks. The fishing pier is in the background, and beyond that.....LUNCH!

We visited more the rest of that day, had a nice dinner with my grandparents at their normal table (we had been taking meals with them in the big dinning room at the guest tables), and then left early the next morning to try and beat the traffic before rush hour made the section with construction impassible.

We left early enough to be going through Richland, WA, where my aunt and uncle just build a new house, to stop in and visit for lunch. They have a beautiful new place that is very functional for their active (SCUBA, etc.) lifestyle that was built with many small yet smart details that make it comfortable.

Me (and my aunt) eating more food. Yes, there may be a theme here.....

Then we were back on the road with Boise in sight for our stopping point that night. A little shopping at the Sierra Trading Post labor day sale, a little BBQ ribs for dinner, and we were fast asleep in our comfy hotel bed (we found this new chain (at least new to us) called the Oxford Suites that has been fairly affordable and extremely high quality).

Along the way we saw some beautiful country and strange sites. Like a couple of small grass fires, and canyon walls that looked to be gently graded with something like a large apple peeler (they had stripes going along horizontally on grassy covered slopes, it was strange).

One of the grass fires.

The final day of our trip brought us through Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. We made sandwhiches in the car for lunch from the rest of our supply of fixings in the cooler and stopped in Fort Collins for a tasty supper of artesian pizza and salad. Finally, as the sun was setting, Boulder was in out sites and we cruised home.

Almost home.....

Since then, we have been doing lots of boring things: work, yard projects, house cleaning, getting the brakes fixed on the car, etc. And a few fun things, too, like attending Roller Derby, doing some training with friends as we prepare for the Halfmax USAT half-Ironman distance race near Las Vegas (this is a national championship, wish were were headed out for a certain world championship a week earler, but not this year, sigh), and bike-to-breakfast rides.