Christmas Break Days #2 & 3: Let the Fun Begin!

     Hey guys! I would have posted yesterday, but we got into Jamie's parents place later in the evening and they don't have internet. I'm currently sitting in a Starbuck in Ukiah to write this. 

DAY #2

     So, yesterday we got up pretty early and headed out. Nevada consisted mostly of barren flatland and rolling hills, but it was beautiful in its own special way, especially as the sun rose. The rest of our time spent driving through it was relatively uneventful, but there were some fun photo opportunities during my driving breaks.

     We crossed the border into California around noon.

     And it wasn't long after that we were stopped and checked to see if we had any "contaminating" or "illegal" items in our cars.

     We were fine. =)

     Our next stop was off of exit 184 for Donner Pass Road. It was a totally random choice; we just needed a place to stop and stretch our legs out. However, we ended up finding some pretty cool places to check out...

Like an epic health food store! =)

DAY #3

     The plan was to sleep in, but  ended up waking up and going for a nice run with Jamie's dog, Chief at 7:30am. When I got back I was able to enjoy some of the California fruit that Jamie's folks had bought for us. I grabbed some strawberries, bananas, dates, and coconut water, through it all in the blender, and made myself the BEST fruit smoothie I have had in a long time.

Honeydew, pineapple, persimmons, oranges, mandarines, 

clementines, strawberries, bananas, etc.

     Afterwards we played with the dogs and hung around the house a little bit before taking Jamie's horse, Arnie, out for a buggy ride! I even got to steer him for a couple of miles. =)

   
     A couple hours later we came back, had lunch, and headed out again. We stopped off at Glen Eden trail to check it out. We only trekked a half mile  up and then raced back down, but we plan on going back there later this week and hiking the whole thing.

     Then we stopped of at the Blue Lakes and a Bison ranch.

     And that sums up the day. It's about time for dinner so Jamie, Johnny, and I are going to go head out and find some food. Tomorrow we'll be heading out to Fort Bragg to spend the day on the coast. I can't wait!

Christmas Break Day #1: On the Road

     At 4:40 AM, Jamie, Johnny, and I began our road trip to California in two fully loaded cars. Before starting out though, I was sure to have a light breakfast consisting of tangerine/tangelo/clementine juice leftover from Saturday.

     As the journey commenced I spent the first 8 hours reacquainting myself with my extensive iPod music library and randomly making comments to Jamie and Johnny over the two way radio. By then we had mad nearly halfway across Wyoming and I was beat.

     This is where having three capable drivers comes in handy, if someone gets tired there is a relief driver. In this case Jamie joined me in my car to allow me a nice two hours of sleep and another two hours spent dozing and taking pictures.

     Around 4:20 PM we reached the outer city limits and I discovered (thanks to my awesome 3G internet) that there was a Whole Foods and an Exon gas station right next to each other two exits ahead.

Sadly, most of the fresh fruit was unripe 

(the pineapple being one of the few exceptions). 

However, they had some great organic dried fruit, 

raw fruit/chia bars, and raw chocolates.

     So we stopped to grab dinner, get gas, and switch drivers before driving 2.5 more hours before stopping for the night at The Rainbow Hotel and Casino in Nevada.

     After we checked in we played in the pool and relaxed in the hot tub for a bit. Tomorrow we'll have just 10-11 more hours until we get to Jamie's parents house. I honestly can't wait. Driving all day with little to no movement is not my idea of fun. I'm ready to get outside to swim, hike, run, and explore!

     On that note it's late, and we want to try to get as early a start as possible in the morning so I need to go get some sleep. Until tomorrow...

Total Miles Driven (from Lincoln city limits): 1,000 miles.

Christmas Break Begins

     Finals are finally over for this semester and my Christmas Break has finally arrived! I've got all my stuff packed up, and tomorrow morning I'm driving to Upper Lake, CA with a couple of my good friends (Jamie and Johnny). I can't wait for the adventure to begin, and I plan to most os often as I can (whenever I can get internet access) so you can follow me on my outdoor and fruity adventures.

 
    Let the fun begin!! =D

Thanksgiving Break Recap, Fruit Deliveries, and Winter Running

     I can't believe its almost been a week since I got back to Union College from Thanksgiving Break! Being home with my mom and my brother was something I really needed. We all stayed up late watching movies, slept in late,  I had long in-depth conversations with my mom, I got to see my old friends, go to cycling classes at LA Fitness, and do some fun trail running. I also took advantage of Black Friday by purchasing some new Vibrams online (they were 30% off!) instead of buying them at Abbadabba's in Atlanta (I needed a new pair of Sprints. My old pair I wore a whole through it after wearing it everyday for almost 1.5 yrs.).

    

      I was planning to do the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon while I was home, but I changed my plans; my mom asked me if it would be alright to skip it this year so that she could have a relaxing and well-slept vacation (I didn't have my car so she would have driven me to the race at 5am on Thanksgiving Day in downtown Atlanta). Everyone just needs a break now and again, and my main priority on this vacation was to spend quality time with my family. They have supported me in my food choices, school choices, and especially in my races, and they are what I am most grateful for.

This is my latest creation, a "Baked" Apple Smoothie.

This smoothie was invented to replace my preplanned 

raw persimmon pie. I had all the ingredients but somehow

ants managed to find their way into the reusable bag, 

paper bag, and plastic bag that I had wrapped 

the Hachiya persimmons in to ripen.

     When I got back from break my good friend, Jamie, and her boyfriend picked me up at the airport in Omaha. Although I had persimmons waiting for me back in my dorm and some clementines I had brought back from the Farmer's Market at home, I was still going to need some more food to last me until my next shipment from Jourdan's Beautiful Foods arrived, so we stopped off at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

Yum yum, eat em up!

     Yesterday was when my fruit 

packages started to arrive again. More Dragon Fruit!   

And today my package of Pomelos came in!!

I was amazed at the size of these guys. 

Wow! I know what I'm having for breakfast.

     Since getting back I hadn't gone running. I was sick of using the treadmill, but it was cold outside and I didn't have the appropriate outdoor running clothes for midwest temperatures.  So this Tuesday I went over to Scheels (a popular sports store hear in Nebraska) to fork out some money for a good quality winter running outfit: pants, shirt, coat, gloves, and hat (the whole shebang).

     While I was there I also invested in a new pair of running shoes. I haven't run or really even walked in anything but Vibram Five Fingers and thin sandles in well over a year. However, I've found that even with the Bikila's I'm only able to run a max of 14 miles on pavement (trails aren't a problem) before I start experiencing ankle pain. I viewed this reaction as an indication that if I plan on training and running the Lincoln Marathon this May, then I was going to need some shoes with more support; and with some research beforehand and some assistance from one of the staff members from Scheels, I found something that I believe will work for me - the Nike LunarGlide+ 3 Shield running shoe.

I ran in them for the first time today.

It felt a little weird because I'm not accustomed

to running in actual shoes, but I don't think it 

will be to difficult to adjust seeing as they are so light.

And even though they provide more support than 

Vibrams, they aren't really all that thick.

Bring on the cold, I'm ready!

     I only have one more week after this week before finals; then I can enjoy myself over Christmas Break - 3 whole weeks of fun, rest, and relaxation before Spring Semester starts. The first two weeks I'll be in California with Jamie (road trip!) and the last week of break I plan on flying back home to visit my family. So my posts might have been rather sparse over the Fall semester, but look out for a lot of activity  anytime after December 18th.

Later!

Fun Flavors of Fall

     

     Autumn my dear readers is a beautiful season, especially here in Nebraska. On campus the trees are turning so many colors: red, yellow, orange, and pink, all with different variance of these shades; there are even trees with multiple colors on the leaves, one side might be red while the other side is yellow! And as a college student and Biology major, Autumn is the busiest time of the year, with tests to take, papers to write, projects to do, books to read, classes to attend, and lab experiments to conduct. I still managed to have some fun though, and even make a couple of new good friends.
     In early October I attended a small fall festival at the church by Union's campus. The festival was put on by the the George Stone Elementary school (which is housed below the Union girls' dorm) to raise money for their school.

Some of the kids even performed. 

This guy was pretty good.

     Due to its pagan origins I have never, and still don't celebrate Halloween. However, I love that because of Halloween you can dress up in a costume during this time of the month without people thinking your nuts, and this year I took advantage of it. So I grabbed whatever I had handy in my dorm room, and for one day I went to classes as a wood nymph. What fun I had! =D

     When November came about three things happened: (1) It got colder! Brrr..., (2) my workload got heavier, and (3) some of my favorite fall fruits became available, Fuyu persimmons, cranberries, honey crisp apples, and dragon fruit! Persimmons and dragon fruit I prefer to eat as a mono-meals. While its true that persimmons and dragon fruit taste good with a lot of different fruits and raw recipes, there is just something delectable about sitting down to a large meal of sweet, soft, and juicy persimmons or dragon fruit. Mmmmm...

     And when cranberry season arrives, so do the honey crisp apples, and I get to make one of my favorite fall breakfast, raw cranberry sauce:

    
     Today is the last day of classes for me. Tomorrow morning I get to fly home for Thanksgiving Break. It's going to be wonderful. A whole week without classes or labs to go to and no tests to take. . . I can't wait! I plan on running the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon again this year. It's the same course as last year so I'll get the chance to see if I can beat my PB for this course from last year. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.