Making My Way to Lake Stevens, The Alternate Route

Started out as a grand idea to go on HWY 2 to Lake Stevens for Katie's 1/2 Ironman Race.  Leave early, nice scenic ride!  Grand idea!  Mike knows that I am not good at directions so we pulled up the map on the Internet and I wrote down all the towns I would go through.  To Wenatchee and onward!  Got it.  Well, it didn't exactly turn out that way.  

As I started on my drive I thought about the Rascal Flats song, I Miss Mayberry!  It still exists you just have to know where to find it and slow down enough to see it! I saw it all along the way! These photos have Mayberry written all over them.

Go towards Wenatchee.  Check!

 More Mayberry!

 Beautiful scenery.

 I got to Wenatchee and there is where things started to go wrong.  There were some decisions to be made and I made the wrong ones.  Instead of staying on HWY 2 somehow I headed toward the city of Wenatchee.  After driving all the way through the city and getting on a small country road I thought this is not right.  I tried the GPS and I didn't like the directions I was getting.  I stopped a couple of times and finally put in the next city I should have arrived at into the GPS.  That got me on the right track.  There were panicked phone calls to Mike and Katie between stops. I knew this would happen, I knew this would happen.  I am not good at directions.  45 minutes later I was back on HWY 2 headed to Lake Stevens.  You will notice the pictures stopped.  All those quaint little towns I wanted to drive through were jammed with traffic.  No more pictures, just get there!  Monroe was having some sort of fair.  Lucky me!

 I thought I was going to miss Katie's check in and bike racking.  So frustrated and sad.  Oh, well I wouldn't miss the Triathlon!

 It took 7 1/2 hours to get to Lake Stevens High School where check in was for Katie.  She arrived at the same time I did, well a few minute before.  I missed nothing!  WHEW.  Longest most frustrating ride ever!

Check in time!

 Big time, I mean really big time!

 This came true!  Katie is an IRONMAN!  She would say, 1/2 Ironman MOM!  True!

 Time to drop off the bike!

 Nice expensive bikes!

 Katie checked out the swim area!

 Dinner time and I wanted a simple picture of Keri and Katie.  No simple with these two!

 There it is, much better.

 After dinner it was time to get ready and lay everything out for the morning!

 We didn't get much sleep.  Not sure Katie got more than an hour or two if that.  We got up about 3:45 to face the big day.  Now that is a game face if I have ever seen one!

Keri's Blog Post of Katie's 1/2 Iron Man

Cherry Pickers Trot July 2013

Off we go again.  Another event.  We decided to shake it up this time and head to the country for some fun.  Selling pies, ice cream, a cherry pit spitting contest, face painting, a band.  The Cherry Picker Trot had it all!   

Click here to watch some video of the Cherry Pickers Trot!

 

 This was unreal.  They spit the pit so far.  It think these people spend the off season practicing for this!  Not sure what the prize is or if there is one.

 Some food before we started!  Yum! We beat the food rush!

 The crowd kept growing and growing.

 We talked Nicolas into giving the spitting a try!  Turns out he doesn't like cherries and the only way to get the pit was to eat the cherry.

 Wear it proud Nicolas!

 We thought we would join the band for a while.

 Emergency vehicles were available and it turns out they were needed.

 Smile for the camera!

 Yes, I am in an outhouse.  They pull this outhouse over the start line with a tractor to start the race.  If that isn't pure country I don't know what is.

 The rest of the EAOD stayed on the outside of the outhouse.

 The kids had their own run!

 As always a line for the outhouse!  Mine was moving, rocking and I could hear my friends laughing outside when I was in it.  It was off balance people!

 Horses, I love horses!

 If you got the pit into this container...YOU WIN $100.00!  You had to spit it a long way and be very accurate.  Didn't see anyone succeed.

 Here we go.  4 miles to go!

 Beautiful scenery for an event.  Beautiful!

 Here is where the emergency vehicles entered the picture.  I don't know what happened and I didn't want to go poke my camera in the ambulance door like I did when Deanna took a trip in the ambulance.  That would have been tacky.  I did say a quick prayer for the injured person.

 3 miles!

 Done as the sun begins to set.  Another good time with friends.  I couldn't have better ones!