Muahahahaha. Probably shouldn't start a post with maniacal laughter, but that's all I can really think about. Last weekend, I went on a short trip to San Diego (left Friday, returned Monday). The laughter is because my sister had no idea that I was coming.
Backstory: Caitlin started running a while ago. She'd done some shorter races, and then a few half-marathons. Recently, she decided that she would run a full marathon. Due to the rigorous training needed, I was hearing through the grapevine (my mom) that this would most-likely be her first and last marathon. When she posted on Facebook about her friends running their marathons two weeks prior to hers and remembering how much fun it was to cheer on our family when a bunch of them ran the Marine Corps marathon, I wanted to be there to support my sister.
So, I fired off an e-mail to Rogue to see what (if any) the plans were for the marathon. He said that he was planning to go up and meet up with her at a few spots on the course and possibly a few friends would join. I looked up airfare and found that I had two options. Option A - I have a free roundtrip flight on SouthWest, but I have to drive to an airport that SW serves (i.e. Baltimore). Option B - I found a crazy cheap roundtrip fare out of State College on United. When I called my mom to tell her of my plans, she thought that it was an awesome idea and told me to fly out of State College and that she'd cover my ticket for me. THANKS MOM! An additional bonus, these would be some of the same flights that I'd take on my trip out to Big Sky in March.
So, I checked back in with Rogue and our plan was hatched. I was to fly in on Friday night and out Monday mid-day. Rogue made sure that Caitlin didn't have any work on Saturday as he was already committed to a tournament up in Santa Barbara. Then he made some fake plans for Friday night to make sure that Caitlin was available. The entire two weeks leading up I could not stop smiling every time I thought about the trip. On Friday, Rogue picked me up from the airport and we headed to the apartment. When Caitlin returned home, she was quite surprised (and I think/hope happy, very hard to tell in the mix of emotions). We then promptly went out to dinner where the first thing we did upon arriving at On The Border was to get a picture taken of the 3 of us! My mom always asks that when we're together we get pictures with each other, and we always keep not doing it.
After dinner, I don't remember much. I think we watched some TV and then I crashed. I know that I was very tired. Saturday, Caitlin and I headed up to Carlsbad to pickup her info and check out the Expo. The Expo was pretty cool. There was tons of gear, clothing, food, etc. Cait picked up a bum-pack running type thing so that she could keep her cell phone with her along with holding her number and some gels.
On the way back to the apartment, we hit up some yarn stores as Caitlin is making some baby Jayne hats and was out of the necessary colors. I had found out that there is a World Market right next to where they live. A couple of days earlier, I discovered that World Market sells Bundaberg Ginger Beer (the nectar of the gods!) and other Australian goodness. So we stopped there and I picked up a 4-pack of Ginger Beer and a sleeve of Mint Slices (as Caitlin hadn't had them while she was there). I am happy to say that she liked both. We went out to lunch at Red Robin. A word of advice, if you find yourself hanging out with somebody the day before his/her marathon, you need to be very mindful of what you eat. The rest of the day, we just relaxed.
Sunday, we were out the door by 5am to head up to Carlsbad. It was quite cold! Not what I expected for sunny Southern California! I loaned Caitlin my jacket (as she was only in running gear and a thin hoodie) to keep her warm. Rogue also gave up his jacket to wrap around her legs for warmth (pictures in the album). You can really see the family resemblance in these pictures. Check out that chin and nose action! We met up with Caitlin 5 times on the course and then just barely got to see her cross the finish line (Rogue and I had to run through a parking lot from the last time we saw her to the finish line to see her again). Then we met up with a bunch of other friends who came out to support Caitlin.
After much hydrating and moving around, we headed to Dan & Debbie's house where Caitlin showered and changed and then we all headed out for food. Everybody wound up getting the brunch buffet as it had everything that we were thinking about getting. It was mostly good, but certainly suffered from being out all morning. We parted ways after food and went back to the apartment to relax and watch some football.
Monday, I had wanted to see the beach while I was there so Caitlin took me to the La Jolla shores (where we always seem to go). Nice walk along the beach and then to the hotel where she and Rogue were married. Then she took me to Mt. Soledad, somewhere I'd never been. Got some pretty great views of the city and surrounding areas. Then the best part, she took me to the science center where she works. It is so freakin cool! All of the fun displays and stuff to play with, gah! She has the best job! Finally, we headed to lunch at a sandwich shop that we couldn't find... so we went to Panera instead. Then it was off to the airport to start my journey back home. Leaving the warmth and sun back to the snow and cold.
All in all, it was an excellent trip. A blast to surprise my sister. And always great to get to see and hang out with family.
Backstory: Caitlin started running a while ago. She'd done some shorter races, and then a few half-marathons. Recently, she decided that she would run a full marathon. Due to the rigorous training needed, I was hearing through the grapevine (my mom) that this would most-likely be her first and last marathon. When she posted on Facebook about her friends running their marathons two weeks prior to hers and remembering how much fun it was to cheer on our family when a bunch of them ran the Marine Corps marathon, I wanted to be there to support my sister.
So, I fired off an e-mail to Rogue to see what (if any) the plans were for the marathon. He said that he was planning to go up and meet up with her at a few spots on the course and possibly a few friends would join. I looked up airfare and found that I had two options. Option A - I have a free roundtrip flight on SouthWest, but I have to drive to an airport that SW serves (i.e. Baltimore). Option B - I found a crazy cheap roundtrip fare out of State College on United. When I called my mom to tell her of my plans, she thought that it was an awesome idea and told me to fly out of State College and that she'd cover my ticket for me. THANKS MOM! An additional bonus, these would be some of the same flights that I'd take on my trip out to Big Sky in March.
So, I checked back in with Rogue and our plan was hatched. I was to fly in on Friday night and out Monday mid-day. Rogue made sure that Caitlin didn't have any work on Saturday as he was already committed to a tournament up in Santa Barbara. Then he made some fake plans for Friday night to make sure that Caitlin was available. The entire two weeks leading up I could not stop smiling every time I thought about the trip. On Friday, Rogue picked me up from the airport and we headed to the apartment. When Caitlin returned home, she was quite surprised (and I think/hope happy, very hard to tell in the mix of emotions). We then promptly went out to dinner where the first thing we did upon arriving at On The Border was to get a picture taken of the 3 of us! My mom always asks that when we're together we get pictures with each other, and we always keep not doing it.After dinner, I don't remember much. I think we watched some TV and then I crashed. I know that I was very tired. Saturday, Caitlin and I headed up to Carlsbad to pickup her info and check out the Expo. The Expo was pretty cool. There was tons of gear, clothing, food, etc. Cait picked up a bum-pack running type thing so that she could keep her cell phone with her along with holding her number and some gels.
On the way back to the apartment, we hit up some yarn stores as Caitlin is making some baby Jayne hats and was out of the necessary colors. I had found out that there is a World Market right next to where they live. A couple of days earlier, I discovered that World Market sells Bundaberg Ginger Beer (the nectar of the gods!) and other Australian goodness. So we stopped there and I picked up a 4-pack of Ginger Beer and a sleeve of Mint Slices (as Caitlin hadn't had them while she was there). I am happy to say that she liked both. We went out to lunch at Red Robin. A word of advice, if you find yourself hanging out with somebody the day before his/her marathon, you need to be very mindful of what you eat. The rest of the day, we just relaxed.
Sunday, we were out the door by 5am to head up to Carlsbad. It was quite cold! Not what I expected for sunny Southern California! I loaned Caitlin my jacket (as she was only in running gear and a thin hoodie) to keep her warm. Rogue also gave up his jacket to wrap around her legs for warmth (pictures in the album). You can really see the family resemblance in these pictures. Check out that chin and nose action! We met up with Caitlin 5 times on the course and then just barely got to see her cross the finish line (Rogue and I had to run through a parking lot from the last time we saw her to the finish line to see her again). Then we met up with a bunch of other friends who came out to support Caitlin.After much hydrating and moving around, we headed to Dan & Debbie's house where Caitlin showered and changed and then we all headed out for food. Everybody wound up getting the brunch buffet as it had everything that we were thinking about getting. It was mostly good, but certainly suffered from being out all morning. We parted ways after food and went back to the apartment to relax and watch some football.Monday, I had wanted to see the beach while I was there so Caitlin took me to the La Jolla shores (where we always seem to go). Nice walk along the beach and then to the hotel where she and Rogue were married. Then she took me to Mt. Soledad, somewhere I'd never been. Got some pretty great views of the city and surrounding areas. Then the best part, she took me to the science center where she works. It is so freakin cool! All of the fun displays and stuff to play with, gah! She has the best job! Finally, we headed to lunch at a sandwich shop that we couldn't find... so we went to Panera instead. Then it was off to the airport to start my journey back home. Leaving the warmth and sun back to the snow and cold.
All in all, it was an excellent trip. A blast to surprise my sister. And always great to get to see and hang out with family.
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