vacation can be a cool thing...

Hello from vacation!

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get online, but I am. Woo hoo!

(You have no idea how long it took me to upload these two pictures :)

We had a great day today. Went to a place called Cranberry Caverns and Beartown something-or-other. The cranberry place was a hike in the woods. We only walked for about an hour, but it was a trek! Walked deep in the woods to this clearing that had a spectacular view of surrounding mountains. I picked up a 6 foot tall walking stick to carry with me. Was so cool!

The beartown place was a boardwalk through huge rocks and caverns where bears hide. A real live deer walked right up to the boardwalk. We spooked him at first but then he came back and I pretended like I had a piece of food I was going to give him in my hand (I know that was mean). So when I extended my arm out, he inched closer and closer. Daughter got some good pictures of the deer. Obviously these deers are used to people and all but it was still cool being that close to such a magnificent creature.

The boardwalk was really cool, but I liked the hike through the woods better. I remember hiking through the woods as a kid and it brought back great memories. Especially because my guide was my mom and behind me was my precious daughter.

But the thing that came to mind most was a post I read by Lyn when she was talking about a walk she made in the woods and about how she'd tried it before but never could make it all the way and what a triumph it was for her to make it so far. I felt the same way today. I didn't get winded at all. My mom, who's not used to walking so much, did get winded. I thought how that was so me last year. I'm sure there would have been no way I could have walked as far as we did today if I had that extra 90 pounds on me.


Oh, did I mention I weighed in today? Yea, because I'm in a strange place, I have to weigh in when they have their meetings and they only meet once a week in these parts--Mondays at 5pm. I know I just weighed in 3 days ago, so I knew my weight would be up. I've been good, but I'm always up at least a couple of pounds by Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Well, surprise, surprise. I lost 1.2 pounds!!

Could not believe that at all!!!

I have really been being good while I'm here but I had no idea I was being that good. And I've been drinking a lot of water over the past few days. That might have helped some, too.

As a treat, we went right from WI to Dairy Queen and I had two West Virginia hot dogs. If you've never heard of them before, let me tell you what a treat. I had no idea there was any way you could ever eat hot dogs until I was a senior in high school and we went on a mission trip to Canada and they talked about eating Canadian hot dogs and some other girls from Indiana talked about how their hot dogs were different as well. A WV hot dog has chili made with finely ground beef and no beans and on top of that is cole slaw where the cabbage has been minced. They call it a "Chili and Slaw Dog". Oh my gosh! What a treat. You can't get them outside of WV. I've tried, but they're never the same. The cole slaw is usually with shredded cabbage with very little mayo or with chili that has big chuncks of ground beef or beans in it. But oh man were these dogs heaven!


(P.S. you have no idea how long it took me to upload that picture of the hot dog :) The fries weren't mine, my daughter shoved them in there right before I clicked the picture.)

A true treat!

More later...


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Challenge Update! - Week Five (updates in bold below)
"18 Pounds in 18 Weeks"

Bento Box Diet (sat WI) - Gained 3 pounds.
Katschi (tues WI) - Lost 1.2 pounds.
MaryFran (tues WI) - Down to 178.4 lbs (not sure if that's a loss or gain)
Karyn (mon WI) - Lost .6 pound.
Donna (mon WI) - Lost .9 pound.
Spunkysuzi (sun WI) - Lost .8 pounds.
Cathy (fri WI) - Hasn't weighed in in 2 weeks :(
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