Road Trip!

Well we weren't in Carbondale for long before it was time to head back to the truck and hit the road again for another road trip.  This time it was a bit shorter than the last one, but still tons of fun!  Destination? Ann Arbor, Michigan home of University of Michigan and where Oregon State Women's Crew was racing in a regatta.  Chris was the head strength and conditioning coach for the women's crew team at OSU and as a thank-you the team pooled together and got us gas money and a place to stay so we could go watch them.   

Adding to our picture collection - Welcome to Indiana: Check!

Welcome to Michigan: Check!

The nine hour drive didn't seem to take long at all, and it was interesting to see what Indiana had in store.  Definitely have directions ready when driving by Indianapolis - that place is super duper confusing.  Thank goodness my sense of direction and intuition is impeccable! 

It was very interesting being at the race.  I have never personally watched a regatta in person or even on TV so I really had no idea what to expect.  It was fairly simple, they mark a course on the lake and either a 4-person or 8-person boat races against the other school.  I was impressed because it was darn cold and most of those girls were walking around in flip-flops and shorts.  I thought jumping into a cold pool in the morning was irritating, I can't imagine being out on a cold lake with cold water splashing onto your face and feet the whole time. Kudos.

The lake area was absolutely gorgeous and the houses were beautiful. 

This is our future house when Chris is the head Strength Coach at Michigan :-)

Chris was like a proud parent, it was so cute.  He was super excited to watch his girls and he told me all the weights each girl could lift the whole time.  

We took a break from the regatta in between sessions and headed to downtown Ann Arbor.  We got to drive past Michigan stadium - which is simply gi-normous!  I just fell in love with downtown Ann Arbor.  There were so many pretty buildings and fun looking shops.  Plus so many restaurants!  It was hard to decide where to choose to eat lunch, but I had read some reviews about Ann Arbor brewing and they served fresh organic food, so that was at the top of our lists.

Neat building artwork

The food was so delicious at Ann Arbor Brewing!  On the left is a pierogi - a Polish meat stuffed dumpling with melted cheese on top.  WOW!  On the right was my pear, mandarin orange salad.  the huge chunk of Brie cheese on top reminded me of the salads in France.  It should be a requirement that all salads are made this way because there is nothing like it!  We both would highly recommend this restaurant for whoever finds themselves in Ann Arbor. 

After the races were over we hung out with the girls for awhile and Chris got all caught up.  You could tell all the girls missed him so much and they were all so excited that he was there.  I was so proud of him because it just shows how talented he is at what he does.  His passion inspires so many people and they all respect him so much.  He is going to do amazing things for the strength and conditioning world and he will definitely have a huge impact on those he trains, it is obvious! 

Team breakdown!

We hit the road again, with a quick over night stop in Cincinnati to visit Chris' bestie Shawn and his lovely girlfriend Stephanie.  It was so nice to hang out with them and make plans for all the hanging out we are going to do now that we only live a few hours away from each other!

Haha we went through another tunnel - Chris held his breath the whole time! Yay :-)

Red Sox Stadium - For Josh :-) 

Welcome to Kentucky! Check

Our weekend adventure was a huge success.  We got to see four more states, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky, the girls did great, and we were able to visit good friends.  Back to Carbondale we go!