Adventurous Washington weekend

This is Kristin, posting to you live from Washington (state). Matt and I came to see our friends Matt and Alicia Curtis for Matt C's 30th Bday.

First of all, it's a 13 hour drive from SLC so we drove all night long. This was a rough night for many reasons. The weather was rainy and verrrry foggy, the roads were icy, and I had a hard time sleeping soundly (despite the fact that Matt is an excellent night/snow driver/stay-up -all-nighter. Alicia offered to get us a hotel room, but much to my disappointment, Matt said he'd prefer she just put the money toward our gas fill-ups to help with the over-all cost of the trip. I was bummed. :)

At about 2:30 Matt and I had a super scary experience in a snowy mountain. The battery light kept coming on, the head and dash lights kept getting dimmer, and the wipers kept getting slower. So did the car. Seriously, just writing about it gives me anxiety- it was so freaky! We couldn't find an exit and didn't think we'd make it to the next one (we later learned it was 20 more minutes away anyway). The car slowly came to a puttering stop and we barely made it off the road. We sat shivering and said a prayer. To make a long story short we had a long tow to the nearest town (which was behind us) and cost over $300! Then the alternator needed repair which cost ~$300. We had to sit and wait for the repair shop to open, wait for parts, wait for repairs... Oh and while we waited Matt slipped on the ice and dislocated his shoulder (again!!!) and we bummed a ride to the emergency room. Rough trip, eh?

Well, it was amazing to see our prayers answered in so many ways. On that mountain there was no phone reception, but somehow I just happened to have a bar left when we needed to call the police and tow truck (and Dad). We found the only spot where there was adequate shoulder to pull over. The repair shop said it would be 2 days but we found a nice local teen who fixed it for us that day (and ran to other towns looking for parts). The hospital had no drugs for Matt, but he was able to stand the "re-location" drug-free! What a stud! He's so awesome and tough. The towns people we amazing- offering rides, buying us breakfast, finding a mechanic. It was this hilariously classic small town where EVERYONE knew each other, and knew who we were within a couple hours. The town is called Cle Elum, Washington, and I think the following pictures sum it up.


I found them under Google images for Cle Elum. They are very Cle Elum-ish. Matt agrees.

FINALLY after a 24-hour+ journey, we were back on the road. We got to our friends' house, and went straight to the movie theater for Avatar in IMAX 3-D! It was so awesome, people. Then we went to Red Robin- Matt and Matt's favorite restaurant. Then we came home and crashed (poor Matt hadn't slept since we got up on Thursday)!

The trip was fun and therapeutic for all of us I think (once we got there!). We all love talking, and playing games. They are such good friends to us! We're leaving tomorrow morning. Needless to say I am dreading the drive home, but we decided to do it during the day this time.

During the trip I did get to go on a run! My foot is feeling better and better, and I had no pain at all! I ran around some of the neighborhoods and business areas (I may have done about 4 miles?) and had a great time. Seattle's weather is usually cloudy and misty or rainy. The air was completely saturated with mist and it was really refreshing to run through. It felt like running inside a humidifier! I loved seeing all the trees covered with moss. It was nice to have no snow. My new hat was perfect for the mist and the cool (see Suzy's post a week or so ago).

I love going running when I'm out of town! You get to check out new trails, new weather, and see the area from a runner's perspective. I also love passing fellow runners and sharing that, "We are awesome for being out here in this wet/cold weather" look.

Anyone ever run in a cool city while on vacation? We wanna hear about it.