running the rapids

I always thought whitewater rafting sounded like the coolest thing when i was younger. I didn't know we had rapids in our own back yard!

Last week, after a big rain, the water level in the little creek that runs through our woods rose up. Dimis, the Russian Exchange student that lives with my parents, talked my brothers into taking the canoe down the creek. This is a photo of them coming back, mud covered with the canoe.

Dimis has now put a rudder and sail on the canoe. That boy is sure inventive!

you went where?

Mike has been feeling restless - wanting to "go somewhere." So two weekends ago we did. I flew up to Minnesota, worked from Mike's hotel room for a couple hours, and then he picked me up and we headed out for our lonnnnnnng drive. First stop: sioux falls, South Dakota.

We spent the night in this lovely little town, and headed out again early the next morning. Stops along the way included the Corn Palace (what sports team plays there again?), Wall Drug, and a scenic viewpoint. Final destination: Mt. Rushmore.

We're training for a marathon, and our schedule called for a 7 mile run that day. We were hoping we could run around Mt. Rushmore; however, on arrival we quickly realized Mt Rushmore is, in fact, just a National Monument with no trails, and any trails that would have been there were covered with snow anyway.

Not to be deterred be the professed 30 inches of snow over the previous two weeks, we drove to the next town and found a running trail. It was only 4 inches at the deepest! We would have made good pioneers!

Well, maybe not.

We made it back to Minneapolis with just enough time to catch my flight back home! Phew. what a weekend! It's taken me two weeks to recover enough to write about it...