A Quick California Catch-Up

Last week was a nice catch-up week after being gone for so long.

Catching up on the house, laundry and big-time catching up on the time zone change! Even the kids slept in til 9:00 am on numerous mornings last week - which was fine, but getting to bed before 11:00 pm was tough. We were all about two hours off our usual but this week has been much better.

To keep myself from going all picture crazy on this post, here are just a few memories from our two weeks in California.

For the first part of our trip, we traveled to Newport Beach, California via a smooth (a.k.a. happy kids) flight to Las Vegas followed by a VERY LONG drive to the beach. It was a Sunday night and the Las Vegas to Las Angeles traffic was insane.

Once we arrived at the beach, the weather was perfect for us - around the 60-70's during the day - and the ocean water was SO cold. This must be the off season for beach goers because we had the place nearly to ourselves all day.

My sister-in-law and I discovered that the "Eat Chow" restaurant made the BEST espresso! Their espresso con panna (espresso with cream) was absolutely delicious!

We spent a lot of time at the beach building sand castles, running, watching the kids and searching for shells. I walked in the water only up to the tops of my feet (yes, I'm a baby). The brave ones boogie boarded in the chilly waters and drew the attention of a few dolphins. And a sea lion!

We stopped by a tide pool in Corona Del Mar and explored for a while before hitting the road back to Vegas.

The shore was loaded with beautiful sea shells!

The drive back to Vegas took 7 hours (instead of 4) because of a fatal car accident and crazy traffic. Surely, the city life is NOT the life for me!

My parents and siblings flew home the next day and we flew on to Oregon, making our way to the most northern parts of California, which strangely feels a lot like northern Minnesota (minus the mountains). I was so happy to be back to small town life again.

It snows there but the snow easily melts in the sunshine and the temps were in the 30's and 40's. I love the California sun!

And I love the view of Mount Shasta. Someday, just maybe, my husband and I will climb that mountain. It's funny how close the mountains seem, when in actuality it is over an hours drive away.

For now, I'm content with watching it while I run by.

After enjoying a week with my in-laws, we took the three flights and an hour drive to get us home. It felt good to be home in this flat, cold tundra-like place! Just in time for another blizzard.

Home sweet home!

{Weekly Wrap: 01/02-01/08}

01/02 MON: 2 mi, 00:19 @ 09:30 pace. It wasn't THAT cold but the wind made the blowing snow feel like needles piercing my face. Then the storm later that day. Brr!

01/03 TUES: Vinyasa Yoga Flow (17:55)

01/04 WED: (Treadmill) 4 mi, 00:33 @ 08:13 pace. 400m speed intervals

01/05 THURS: Runner's Yoga (25:28)

01/06 FRI: (Treadmill) 3 mi, 00:26 @ 08:37 pace.

01/07 SAT: 6.26 mi, 00:52 @ 08:19 pace. 0 degrees and sunny.

A photo posted by Amy W (@creativeaim87) on Jan 7, 2017 at 12:55pm PST

01/08 SUN: 6 x 1:00 planks.

Did you travel over the holidays?

Linking up with Wild Workout Wednesday and Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.