We love going to Salida. In May Ellie and sat down to chat about whether she wanted to go to Bend, Oregon for Road Nationals or Salida for the State Games of America races. I figured either one would be fun. We go to Salida a few times each year and have an absolute blast. After some consideration she decided that Salida would be the place to go. We made it a fun family vacation. Last year Larr could not join us because of his work schedule. This year we all went together. What a difference that made. We've driven the same way so many times that the kids anticipate and reminisce about past trips.
We got out of the house early. The day was lovely and bright. The kids made drawings that they photographed to make a stop motion movie. They cracked me up. Ellie has a tiny rubber gecko and fly. She had the fly on an island. The gecko swam over to the island and ate the fly. I was surprised that she ended it with a death. Another one features a person who looks around and finds a fly on his head. The fly goes down to the person's nose. He reaches up. grabs the fly and eats it. Ethan did a take on a guy flying around like Superman. She also made several macrame necklaces. It took us a while to remember how to do the weaving, but it was fun once she got the hang of it.
We got settled in quickly, checked in with the race promoter and headed off to the Time Trial. The course is lovely, smooth and free of cars. Last year there was a huge storm, so we were prepared even though we had a rocky start. It is my habit to say to the kids "Have you got your helmet, shoes, gloves and your glasses." This prompts them to check for all of their gear. They are usually wearing their team kit so I don't ask about it. This time I did not do the regular drill and Ellie went to pieces once she realized that her jersey was in the washer at home, four hours away. This forced her to race in her cold weather jacket. We called Anna, who was already planning to come to the race on Sunday, to see if she could lend Ellie a jersey. Crisis avoided, we were back on track. Ellie was anxious about who would be there. They had the kids race in age groups that were arranged alphabetically so Ellie was last. She sped past all but one girl, one who started three minutes ahead of her. She returned quickly, clearly winning first place. She joined a group of us cheering Jessica on. We've watched Jess go from finishing last every time to really having a shot at getting on the podium. It makes us happy when she has a good race. Ethan had an awesome race, too. He returned much faster than I expected. His form was great. He came in 6th place. He has happy with that. After the race was over we putzed around town and had a fun time. We had a lovely dinner at Moonlight Pizza. Some friend won a gift card in the race last year. They could not go this year so they gave the card to us. The pizza was some of the best we've ever had. One of the ones we tried was the Cosmic Hawaiian which had BBQ sauce in place of the red sauce. It also featured small bits of Cream Cheese, Pineapple and Canadian Bacon - Yum! That evening we sat on the porch. We are pretty sure we saw Mars. (This month it will be very close to Earth. You can see it by looking for the second brightest thing in the sky past the Moon. It has a slight red tint to the glow.)
We had lots of ideas about what we wanted to do with Saturday, a race free day. Larr thought about going to the Royal Gorge. In the end we rode around town some. We hung out at the Farmer's Market.
Ellie and I spent time in Bead Song and came away with stuff to make many pairs of earrings.
The guys rode bikes over to an old mill and took lots of photos. After lunch we all went to the river so the kids could play in the water.
There were lots of bikers there who had just finished the road race. It was a brutal one. I was kind of glad that it did not have a junior component. I was amazed at the number of adults who could not finish the course. Ethan met some U23 guys from another team and hung out with them a bit. He also enjoyed riding some of the bikes in the shallow part of the water. 
I spent my day on Ethan's mountain bike since my bike is broken. I was a bit afraid to ride it, but soon found it to be a lot more fun than I expected. I kind of wish I had a modern mountain bike. I have one that I bought the year I graduated from college. It is okay, but the Trek, with its shocks, is a lot more fun. We also went to the Absolute Bike shop several times. We love visiting different bike shops just to see what they have. This has a print from a cover of Dirt Rag Mag. that Ethan is drawn to. Ethan decided that he would take the borrowed Yeti and do a photo shoot over by the mill. He wanted to make his own version of the poster.
we rode around town a bit more and spent the evening enjoying each other's company. Once we arrived back home I realized that I was missing my wallet. Ethan and I retraced our ride, but did not find it. We called the credit card company and cancelled our cards. I talked with a police officer who said nothing had been found. However, he strongly encouraged me to make a report so as to protect myself from identity theif. When I called I discovered that a woman had turned in my wallet. Everything was still as it should be. I wished that I could have thanked her for her honesty. I had to be happy with the fact that I did not have to replace my driver's license, a long and bothersome process.
Sunday was a busy race day. Ellie raced her criterium at 8:30 a.m. She was the second JR 10-12 and first girl over the finish line. We were excited to find that Jessica came in second place. It was the best we had ever seen Jessica race. Anna had a great race, too. Once that was done the girls went off to play in the river and cooled down. Ellie won two really lovely medals, two passes to the Mount Princeton Hot Springs and a girl's helmet.
Ethan did not race until 11:15 so Larr and I did a bit of casual reading in the park. Ethan hung out with Max, another Black Sheep rider. Ethan's race was an intense one. There were over 30 kids at the start, about 15 of whom were in Ethan's category. A front peloton was off straight away. Ethan was just behind the second group, battling it out with another rider. It was exciting to watch during each lap that he rode during the 25 minute race he got closer and closer to the next group. By the end he was firmly with them. As they turned the last corner he put all he had and won the sprint in his group. It was a great thing to see. He ended up placing fourth in the crit. and fifth in the Omnium. I always love watching my kids race, but this weekend it was much more fun than usual. After a bit more water play and photoshoots, we were on our way home.
We stopped in Breckenridge to see Mark, Lilia, Cousin Jeane, Greg, Claire and Ingrid. We had not seen Jeane and her family since Eleanor's funeral. We had dinner and a nice visit. The girls swam in the pool while Ethan told stories of his trip to Jamaica. We also listened, spellbound, to Greg's tales of his ride of the Paris Brest Paris, a 750+ mile ride that must be completed in something less than 90 hours.
We pulled into our garage at something close to 11:00. The weekend went both quickly and seemed to last for a long time. It was so great to have such a simple and wonderful vacation.
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Here's today's recipe. It is a simple, but yummy one that I found via allrecipes.com. It is fast to make.
Hamburger Salad Sandwiches
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup chopped dill pickle
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 cup Cheddar, shredded, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 hamburger buns, split or toast
Lettuce Leaves
DIRECTIONS
1. In a skillet, cook beef, onion and garlic until meat is browned; drain. Cool. Add the next six ingredients. Spoon about 1/2 cup onto each bun; top with lettuce.
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