Marlene Bloggables: Spring Break

Ah, spring break! Sunshine, Beaches, Mai-Tai's . . . Oh, wait , we don't go south for break. We go north, where it is colder. But I'm not complaining! We had a lovely time visiting the fams in northern Wisconsin. A road trip does, however, throw a few kinks into the training plan and there are only 191 days till the Chicago Marathon. On Friday, I traded in a workout for the organized chaos of packing. And rather than a Saturday long run, I went for a butt atrophying snack infused car ride for seven hours. Running up north presents it's own problems. The road side slant makes me feel like a peg legged pirate running on a fun-house floor. I am, however, pretty speedy up there (darn if those chipmunks don't sound like bears when you are running alone!). But no runs this time. And to make matters worse, I was presented with (gasp!) Oreos. And I did cave. It wasn't pretty.

I did, however, get in a couple of lovely bike rides with my darling sister Bert. I love biking up north! Compared to here, it is like biking the Himalayas (they are actually just rolling hills, but lets stick with the Himalayas story). And of course it is gorgeous up there! On the first ride, we were joined by my sisters lovely friend Kristen. Kristen has changed my life. OK, that is a little dramatic, but she did change the way I make pizza. She sent me a pizza crust recipe with an amazing secret ingredient: cauliflower - no lie! I made it tonight. No one even noticed the secret ingredient (and I'm for sure not telling them – thankfully they are among the millions that don't read my blog). This will be Bert's first year doing a CSA too, so on our second ride, we biked out to the farm to check things out. In addition to veggies and eggs, they had chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, wool, a cafe, and soon they will have some hydro-fisho-thing-a-ma-bob that will allow them to grow veggies in the winter. AND, this summer, they will have a creamery and will be serving goat milk gelato (a summer must try me thinks)!

But the best thing about a trip up north is family. Here are some pictures from our adventures (albeit not very good ones – you will just have to trust me that we had a lot of fun).