One of the highlights for every runner as they cross the finish line of a Destination Trail race is the congratulatory hug that they get from Candice, the owner, creator, and race director of Destination Trail.
Yesterday we competed the virtual Moab Sidewinder 240. We decided to walk and hike the Destination Trail Moab 240 course. On November 12th we started our 204.3 mile “run.” Most every morning we headed out for a hike or walk, racking up 4-6 miles at a time. And a little over two months later we crossed the finish line!
It just so happened that we were headed to Tucson to visit Candice and our granddaughters, Marina and Stella yesterday. So we got to have our (virtual) finish line hug from Candice.....and her dogs!
We have enjoyed the virtual bike rides and foot races that have been created this past year due to the pandemic.
Starting in June 2020 we completed the Race the USA (2572 miles cycling), the Seattle to Portland Bike Ride (206 miles), the Bigfoot 200 Endurance Run (206.5 miles), the Tahoe Tessie 200 Ultra Run (205.5 miles), and now the Moab Sidewinder 240 (240.3 miles).
But most wonderful thing that happened yesterday is that WE GOT TO SEE MARINA & STELLA! We hadn’t seen them since the summer that we sold our home on Whidbey Island, one and a half years ago.
Marina and Stella, 1-1/2 years later, both teenagers now and darn near grown up!
Grandpa, Candice, and our granddaughters:
Marina and Stella took us to “The Wash” which is a place that they hang out with their new friends. Here we are at “The Wash,” three generations of women, Grandma, daughter, and granddaughters:
We celebrated Stella’s 13th birthday. She is an accomplished ice skater. Here she is with the gifts we gave her, wearing the winter hat that I knitted and holding her new snow globe. It plays a Skater’s Waltz as glittering snow swirls around a group of ice skaters.
The last time that we saw Marina and Stella in the summer of 2019, I cooked dinner for all of us. This time Marina cooked dinner for the five of us! It was a very complicated Asian dish that she had invented.
Marina was the chef and her mother was the sous-chef.
The dinner Marina made consisted of rice noodles, chicken breasts simmered in her own broth, rice, stir fry vegetables, a fried egg, chicken broth, a bit of some kind of dried flaky fish, chopped onions, and all of this topped with a small bit of spicy plum sauce. Marina dished up our bowls one at a time, adding each ingredient exactly as we requested.
It was absolutely delicious!
Candice set up two tables out on the patio, so we could social distance and be together while we ate our dinner and watched the sun set over mountains and on the distant desert.
We had a perfect day!
It was so sad to say goodbye. We would have cried, but they are going to come visit us before they return back to their home in Washington. We are excited to have Marina and Stella see our home. They loved to spend time at our home on Whidbey Island, and we know they feel that our desert home is also their home.
January 27th:
When Marina, Stella, and Candice visited us at Nuestra Casa, the girls loved our home. They immediately adopted it as their very own special Grandma and Grandpa home. In fact Stella wanted to know how old she had to be to live here too!
On our three mile walk around the lakes both Marina and Stella said it felt like they were in Venice (although they laughed, because they admitted they had never been to Venice...it just felt like how they imagined Venice would be).
We look forward to many visits from Marina and Stella and all of our grandchildren. This is something that brings us one of the greatest joy in our life!
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