Not To Be Trusted With Knives

More About My Vacation. Plus 101 Footnotes!

August 7, 2012 by Beth

So, we are back from our whirlwind trip to Portland ((Well, technically to Onalaska, WA, Portland, and various other places in Oregon state.)) and are now hanging out on Vancouver Island ((After a very poorly planned attempt to take the ferry from Ancortes to Vancouver Island.))^, ((Instead, we had to drive through the Peace Arch border and then head to Tsawwassen to catch the ferry from there)) . Didn’t really take many photos ((Did I mention I bought a new camera?)) since I went to pretty much all the same places as I did last year ((Voodoo Doughnut, the Oregon coast, the Tillamook Cheese Factory, the most amazing Mexican restaurant I’ve ever been to.)), so I figure you could just look at the photos from last year ((We did take a couple of pics, but I’m settled in on the coach with a nice cup of tea and waaaay to lazy comfy to go get the camera and upload the photos.)).

Some random thoughts about Oregon:

• Powell’s City of Books is made of awesome ((I went there on my trip last year too, but I don’t think I actually mentioned it much here on ye old blog.)). It’s a bookstore that’s 4 storeys high and takes up an entire city block ((And then, because an entire city block isn’t enough to house all the books, there’s Powell’s 2 across the street.)) and killer prices. We may have spent a few hours in there and picked up a giant piles of books ((I bought a boxed set of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 5-book “trilogy” ((By Douglas Adams)), Incognito ((By some author whose name I can’t recall)), and The Third Chimpanzee ((By Jared Diamond)). And some zombie key covers!)). Because you know I don’t have enough things to read.
• Did you know that there is a Comfort Inn & Suites Portland Airport and a Comfort Suites Portland International Airport and that these are two totally different hotels? I stayed in one of these last year and booked what I thought was the same hotel, but then it wasn’t. The hotel was still totally fine, and it was the cheapest price that we could find, so it was all good. But seriously, Comfort Suites, why would you name two hotels that are ~5 minutes away from each other virtually the same thing ((And why does one specify Portland *International* Airport and the other just Portland Airport. They are talking about the same airport!))??
• And speaking of unoriginal names, why do so many cities in Oregon use names of other cities for their cities? There’s Salem ((a la Massachusetts)), Albany ((a la New York)), Milwaukie ((a la Milwaukee, Wisconsin)), Dallas ((a la Texas)), Florence ((a la Italy)), Phoenix ((a la Arizona)), Toledo ((a la Ohio)), Harrisburg ((a la Pennsylvania)), Dundee ((a la Scotland)), Jacksonville ((a la Florida)), Dayton ((a la Ohio)), Oakland ((a la California)), Glendale ((a la California)), Arlington ((a la both Virginia and Texas)), St. Paul ((a la Minnesota)), Lexington ((a la Kentucky)), Waterloo ((a la Ontario)), and Detroit ((a la Michigan))^, ((In case you haven’t noticed this yet, I’m trying to write a blog posting containing 101 footnotes, which is item #10 on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days)) ^, ((Are the footnotes getting annoying yet?)) ^, ((Note that I didn’t say they had to be “good” or “useful” or “relevant” footnotes.)). And don’t even get me started on Vancouver, *Washington* ((When you are in Washington or Oregon and say you are from “Vancouver” people usually say “Vancouver, Washington?”. No! Not Vancouver, Washington! The *real* Vancouver!))

More About The Zombie Race

Despite the extreme length of my zombie race posting, I managed to forgot to mention a few things I meant to mention in that posting:

• I never even mentioned the race results ((All the race results can be found here.))! I finished the race in 46:20 ((Which would be pretty slow for a regular 5 km, but not terrible for a race with obstacles to get over/under/through, zombies in your way, 38 degree heat, and the decision to walk a bunch of the race once I got zombified!)). Out of 2,788 competitors, I came in 1,037th place ((That’s in the top half, at least.)). In my wave ((The 2 pm wave.)), I came in 68th out of 237 runners ((That’s in the top 30%)). That’s really not too shabby ((Well, other than the part where I didn’t make it out of the race alive)).
• Out of the 2,788 competitors, only 438 managed to get through the whole race without losing all of their flags ((That’s only a 16% survival rate.)). That at least makes me feel a bit better about being zombified ((I mean, insofar as one can feel better after being zombified)).
• I spoke to one guy after the race who told me that, despite finishing in about 30 minutes ((He used to be in the military, so was used to obstacle course type races)), not only did zombies get all 3 of his flags, but they also got the 3 flags he got from a “health pack” ((A few “health packs” containing extra flags were available around the race route for lucker runners who found them.)), and one flag that he saw on the ground and picked up. Picking up stray flags along the route is strictly prohibited, so I told him in as serious a tone as I could muster, “You can’t cheat death, dude. You can’t cheat death.”
• Another guy after the race was regaling his girlfriend with tales of his adventures, the best of which was “And at the end there was a part where we had to crawl through mud and there was an electrified wire cage above you and I thought I’d be smart and go through on my back instead of on my stomach so that I could see the wire cage and not hit it. But instead I ended up electrocuting my privates!”
• Another thing of awesomeness was one section of zombies that were doing the Thriller dance. Since I was without flags by that point in the race, I Thriller danced my way through that particular zombie horde ((Damnit, I just typed “zombie horder” again? What is my damage?)).
• Completing the zombie obstacle course race means I’ve checked off item #91 on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days ((Did I ever mention that I love knocking things off my to do lists?)) ^, ((I’m starting to think that writing 101 footnotes might just be harder than running that race!)) ^, ((I also have “run 3 races” as one of my goals for 2012, so I’m not 1/3rd done that particular goal too. Woohoo!)) ^, ((The Victoria half marathon will be race #2 and I’m thinking that the Energizer Night Race will be #3)) ^, ((The Energizer Night Race is one that’s held in Stanley Park after the sun sets and everyone wears headlamps. Sounds like a blast. Also, you get a free headlamp))!

Since arriving at the Island, we’ve been on the more relaxation portion of our holidays ((vs. the driving mega distances and running from zombie hordes portion of our holidays)). Slept in ((Though we didn’t get in to Devon’s parents place ’til about 2 a.m., thanks to the ferry fiasco!)), had a lovely breakfast ((Devon’s mom always feeds us so well when we are here!)), went for a glorious 12 km run ((Which felt so good after all the time spent sitting in the car yesterday!)) ^, ((12 km is usually my least favourite running distance, but today’s was totally fine! I’d been trying to prepare myself psychologically for this run, using the same trick as I did with running hills – i.e., tell myself that I love the 12 km distance, just like I told myself I loved hills – repeatedly, until I stopped hating hills.)) ^, spent some time with Devon’s sister, brother-in-law and their kids ((Including feeding them Voodoo Doughnuts that we brought back from Portland)) ^, ((Though Devon’s sister was mostly excited by the Tillamook cheese we brought back for her!)) ^, ((We also brought ourselves back some cheese! So excited by the cheese!))^, ((Oh)) ^, ((my)) ^, ((god)) ^, ((writing)) ^, ((101)) ^, ((footnotes)) ^, ((is)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((very)) ^, ((hard.)) ^, ((Yes)) ^, ((I)) ^, ((know)) ^, ((this)) ^, ((is)) ^, ((totally)) ^, ((totally)) ^, ((completely)) ^, ((entirely)) ^,((100%)) ^, ((cheating)) ^, ((but)) ^, ((I)) ^, ((don’t)) ^, ((care)) ^, ((All’s)) ^, ((fair))^, ((in))^, ((love)) ^, ((and)) ^, ((footnotes.)), including seeing a kickass thunder and lightening storm ((With probably the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard in my life!)). Other plans for the Vancouver Island portion of the trip include hiking some mountains, watching some movies, more time with the kids, some homework ((Including a teleconference with my business plan group tomorrow.)), and hopefully some leisure reading ((Because did I mention all the stuff I bought at Powell’s books?)). And after that, we still have the Okanagan leg of our holidays to go ((I haven’t been to the Okanagan since I was there with a band of traveling scientists in 2006.)))

Did I ever mention how much I love being on vacation?

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