headed out

i am in pre-travel mode currently as we are preparing to hit I-40 today on the longish road to asheville, nc. despite living in this state for 6 years, i’ve never been there and i’m excited to explore the town, which is known for its artsiness, outdoor activities, and great restaurants. also, we are staying here (grove park inn).

thank you, stimulus rebate of 2008!

top 10 most vivid memories of childhood vacations:

10. bringing every conceivable toy, book, and craft supply in the car for entertainment on the 10-hour drive from philadelphia to vermont, and then sleeping most of the way

9. my mother always packing the same ‘travel breakfast’ of raisin bran muffins and cheese and making us sit down and eat it in a fast food restaurant, while i looked wistfully over at the kids eating mcdonalds pancakes washed down by a coke and seethed with jealousy

8. picking out juice boxes for the trip (and the trip home) was a very important task

7. poring for hours over a walt disney world guidebook and creating a multi-page, color-printed document of ALL the things we had to do there

6. staying at well-beyond-our-means hotels for free, and even getting special club-floor privileges and lavish gift baskets because we were tagging along on my father’s business trips and conveniently, his company holds courses in fancy hotels who are motivated to have him keep liking them

5. putting random cosmetic items in the freezer of my grandparents’ new hampshire house to see what they would turn into

4. desperately sucking on tropical-flavored life-savers as my ears imploded on nearly every plane trip to florida

3. walking the freedom trail (on the actual line for as much as possible) on multiple trips to boston. who knew a red line on the ground could make a city-wide hike so much more enticing?

2. running back to our hotel in a panic when a tornado siren went off in wisconsin

1. always arriving home and wondering, for a few seconds as my dad fumbled for the keys, ‘what if someone broke into our house and stole everything??. also, getting to paw through the enormous stack of mail left behind the screen door.

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7.27.08

run: 5 miles easy. i’ve had cold-type symptoms for a few days, but this was the only run that felt subpar. it was actually supposed to be 6, but i cut it off at 5. part of the problem might be that this was the 5th running day in a row — time for some rest & cross-training!