Epic Crazy

I'm interrupting my England memories to bring you pictures of a crazy race. Last year, Ben and I ran in this relay. Basically it's a Ragnar, but it is called Epic--a team of 12 people who don't mind running long distances and not sleeping relay for 200 miles. It starts in Logan, UT and goes to Jackson, WY. I had fun doing it last year, so I committed to doing it again this year. And, since Ben hated it, Erik decided to take his place. So, Erik and I ran on this crazy team that consists of my brother-in-law's family. We were the Retro Rockers. Glance through the pictures and you will see where these crazy people took this theme. Yes, we had an old-school ghetto-blaster playing AC/DC or KISS or some other classic rock band they had a tape of. Erik says he will, and Maren (who volunteered with Ben at an exchange and met us at the finish line) even says she might run next year--if she's given an easy course. But, I am a little relay burned-out. I'll take a year off and see how I feel after that. Volunteering at an exchange sounds like it is more in my future.

And it begins!

Erik (in the red) getting ready for his first leg...which was his longest at 7.39 miles.

First van pass off. The crazy Retro-Rockers who were in our team's other van had the wild wigs that they wore at the exchanges. Our van was a little more laid-back with regard to the theme.

The three brothers...Brent with the boom-box, Nate with the denim jacket, and Russ (my bro-in-law) in the Def Leopard Shirt.

Running through the exchange.

11 of us (one runner was off on his first leg) in front of Preston High...of Napoleon Dynamite fame.

Shorty-shorts. Don't bend over!

My last exchange. Katie (the girl in red behind me) was a cross-country champ in school and ran right before me. She killed on time. And then I slowed us down for a reality check. 37-year-old mom on the road does not = speed.

Erik and me at the end of my 7.2 mile climb up this canyon. 

The canyon I ran through.

Finish Line! YAY!
Teton Village (finish line) is such a neat place. Jackson is beautiful and I always enjoy spending time there, even if I have just run 16 miles in 28 hours.

Air guitar. I don't know why these finish-line pics are so over-exposed.

Another pose with our medals.

Crazy rockers!!! I think a couple of them are stuck in the '80s and '90s.

Windsor

Windsor Castle was our last stop in England, on a Monday afternoon. We went to the Harry Potter WB studio tour that morning, and Windsor Castle in the afternoon. I managed to drive us there and park without getting us lost in London traffic, even with a detour off the motorway to get petrol.

We ended up in a car park next to a sweeping green field, park, and tennis courts. It was an amazing sight to come around a corner and see the massive castle where the queen spends weekends and vacations. After going through security, we entered and saw that the queen's flag was flying (indicating she was in residence...though when we were done touring the state rooms, the union jack had replaced her flag...indicating she had gone).

We walked all over the grounds, toured through St. George's Chapel...where we had to backtrack and go through the quire twice in order to see the tomb of Henry VIII, wondered at the Knights of the Royal Garter, toured the State Rooms of the castle, and sat down every chance we got. We were tired. Our feet ached. And by the time we were done, we still had a bit of time to kill, since we didn't want to end up in the hotel room at 3pm twiddling our thumbs.

Thinking of the lush park we parked near, I said to Christina, "I wouldn't mind sitting in the shade in a park, people-watching for a while." So, with this in mind, we headed back to the car park and as we are just entering the park, there is a man standing next to a tree, with his back to us, peeing on the tree. Not really what I had in mind as far as people-watching was concerned...it was a classy end to a very royal tour!

We decided maybe sitting in the park was not such a good idea, and did end up back at the hotel room, where we had another adventure checking into the right hotel. (Turns out there are TWO hotels with the same name, within about a mile or two of each other. We ended up at the wrong one, and had to take a rather scary taxi ride to the right one.) It was actually good to be in the hotel, where we had a crappy dinner and turned in early.

Queen's flag flying on the Round Tower

Taking aim!

This is the moat around the castle which was never filled, and is a lovely garden.

St. George's Chapel

The Gvard

St. George's again.

The Globe and the London Eye

On our third day in London, we went to the Tower of London (which will be another post), the Globe theater, and then walked to the London Eye area--because there was no convenient way to get there by train, and we were too chicken to figure the bus system out. We then took a trip on a boat down the Thames, and ate dinner at a tasty pizza place where I'm sure we tipped way too much but had a good time people-watching.

A random church we passed by on our long, hot walk. Have I mentioned the weather we had was very hot, sunny, and unusual for England! 

Waterloo Royal Hospital for Children and Women

My kids have been big Mr. Bean fans, so when we saw him on the pier, I had to get a pic!

How unfortunate that this man happens to look just like Mr. Bean!

The London Eye. We were totally going to pay the outrageous 35 pounds for a ride, but the line was HUGE and it was HOT and I thought it would just make me ornery to wait forever for a glorified amusement park ride. 

The Globe, viewed from Millennium Bridge.

We both wished we had brought sunglasses. Who knew we would need them the whole time we were there! Here we are on Millennium Bridge with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background.

As we crossed the bridge, we found a guy in a wet-suit singing in the river. I'm not sure how he did not electrocute himself. He was called Flame-Proof Moth. (Maybe someday he will make it big and perform in a real venue.)

Miniature replica of the Globe.

A really cool period costume.

Queen's garb.

Detail

Undergarments

There were lots of costumes. I spent all of our waiting time before our tour looking at them!

Back view of the Queen's dress.

People pretending to be "groundlings"--which were the people who paid a penny to stand in the area between the seats and the stage.

Everything is made of oak, and painted to look like other materials. Even the roof was oak. You can imagine how much it weighs! Add the thatch roof, and it is just waiting to go up in flames. Which it did.

The stands

This was a poster which was for sale in the gift shop. My friend had seen it on her previous trip and kicked herself that she did not buy it the first time. So she bought it, and I believe it survived the trip home without getting bent or crushed. Can you find any phrases you use that you didn't know came from Shakespeare?