Salida Omnium Bike Race and Mini Vacation

This past weekend found us in Salida. It is a wonderful, small, artsy town about 3 hours away from where we live. We have friends who allow us to use their historic home as a place to stay. It is just a few blocks away from the ultrafun coffee shop, art galleries and river. We usually go a few times a year. This time Larr had to work so the kids and I had to go without him. We left on Thursday afternoon and arrived just as the sun was setting. I don't like to drive in the dark, but I must admit that the setting sun did make the drive a wonderful experience. Friday we got up a bit early so that we could go to the Mount Princeton Hot Springs and Spa. The hot springs has two pools, one cooler than the other and another pool location that sports a long, wavy slide down the slope of the mountain (really pretty tame, but still loads of fun). There are also river side pools made from arranged rocks. Those were the popular spots with my kids. It was a wild experience since the water rushing by was cold and the sand under your feet was hot. From time to time warm water would emerge from below one of the large boulders. It was a wild experience. We also tried the steam room, but it was a bit much for all of us. Early in the evening we went to do the time trial race. The day had been wonderful and sunny. Imagine how surprised we were when the skies opened up, sending huge rain drops at a furious pace, accented by thunder and lightening. Once the lightening and thunder subsided the kids got to race. By that time the kids were soaked to the skin and it was a brisk 43 degrees. Luckily my kids both had their team bags packed with all of their gear so they were prepared. Ellie and Ethan both love cyclocross so racing in bad weather is fun to them. Ellie was a speedy little thing and came in 3rd place. Ethan was in great form, finishing way before I had expected him to. He came in 5th place in his division even though there was rain and hail. I think he was motivated to get back to the van. We parked next to a storm drain. Somehow he noticed that $10 sat at the bottom of the drain. He wanted to get it before the rain washed it away. He was all a flush when he came back victorious. A construction worker had used his tools to open the grate. Ethan fashion a tool with wood and nails to stab it and pull it up. He was thrilled with his find. It gave a new meaning to "dirty money." :)
Saturday we hung around town. Anna, who was also in town to race, spent the night with us so the girls took off on their own to explore the town with their new found freedom. Ethan also went off on his own to scout out locations to make a zombie film. I had breakfast at the lovely little bakery where everything is made from scratch and by hand. It could not be any better. Then I visited the art galleries and Bead Song. I will post photos of the creations I made there on another day. We were pleased to see that the Bungled Jungle store was still there. We think those folks and their funny creatures are simply great. It is also a place where we can pet a giant grey kitty and a huge standard poodle puppy. The Suter/Burgess clan showed up in the afternoon. Davis, Laura's husband took all of the kids to see St. Elmo while Laura and I made jewelry, shopped and prepared dinner. The kids were all abuzz when they got back home. It seems that there are tame ground squirrels that will let you pet them as they feed off of seeds placed in your palm. What fun ( I will have to go back and do this some day!)

On Sunday we did the criterium races. It was a perfect day, sunny but not too hot. Ellie was again in fine form and came in 4th in that race and 3rd in the overall omnium standings. Ethan started out a bit behind but caught up midway through. He had a goal of beating the kid who had come in before him in the time trial. When he not only caught up to, but also passed that boy he seemed to find new speed. He was thrilled that he came in in the middle of the pack, a bit feat since most of the racers were 17-18 year olds and he is 14. He finished 8th in his division and 6th in the omnium standings. He was pleased with that. During the time that we were waiting for results and the awards ceremony the kids got to try out some of the FELT bikes. Ethan had a bit of bike lust after spending 15 minutes on a $5,000 mountain bike. Ellie went for the cruiser. Who knew they could be so much fun! I had hope to try it out, too, but I ran out of time.
Ellie got a really cool "State Games of the West 2008" medal for her racing. She also received a silly swimming sperm monster from Bungled Jungle as a prize. She thought that was wonderful. We had been cleared to stay until Monday, but decided to head home in hopes of having some time with Larr.