Wednesday was a day I’d been excited about for MONTHS! Val and Tiff and Tiff’s oldest son were flying into Chicago ORD (from Denver and Los Angeles) so we could all drive to Guttenberg, Iowa and spend a few days on the river together!

I was so excited I woke up Tuesday and thought it was Wednesday and was really disappointed when that was not the case. Ha.

I did my long run Wednesday morning so I’d have it out of the way for our trip. (Run report: I ran 12.4 miles and felt good. I was thinking I’d feel like garbage because I’d run the night before with Steven (and try to have at least 24 hours between runs) but my legs had a lot of pep and kept me on a good pace. I switched from podcasts to music for the last two miles to let the legs fly. That felt good but at the end I could tell it was time to stop – 12 was definitely my limit for the day!)

Then I said goodbye to Steven, finished packing, gave all the cats some treats, and hit the road! First stop – a fresh mani/pedi, then on to the airport!

Random dumb detail – the traffic was moving but was so annoying on the way to the airport. It’s a four-lane highway but at times there were semis in every lane, all lined up, slowing everyone down. Not a big deal, but I was just feeling so excited (read: impatient) to get to the airport and see them!

Everything was timed perfectly though. I parked, went to Tiff’s baggage claim, where we all planned to meet, and Val was there within a few minutes, then Tiff and her son were. Yay!

We loaded my car and started the just under 4 hour drive from Chicago to Guttenberg, deciding to stop just past halfway to get food. I told them about “River Time” and how time stretches out and loses all sense of meaning in Guttenberg, so planning to have a very late lunch was a perfect way to get us on river time!

The time in the car flew by because we were chatting and catching up! We stopped in Galena, Illinois for our lunch. We went to the touristy downtown area with all the shops and ate at Galena Cellars Vineyard & Winery – which had a dedicated plant based menu! I was shook! I got the Tofu Nachos, which were different (they had pineapple on them!) but very good!

We continued on with a stop at Starbucks in Dubuque for treats from my snis (thank you snis!) then drove the windy country road into Guttenberg. I love that last bit of the trip, when the road curves and goes up and down because of all the hills next to the river. It’s gorgeous.

Christina (my snis) and Ella were waiting for us at the house (we are staying at what used to be my Grandma’s house, but my mom and her youngest brother bought it), and Christina had sangria for us (I even had a little!), and had the house decorated so so cute with our names on our rooms! And of course, she had a bag of goodies for us, and I had left stuff out for Val and Tiff, and Val and Tiff had goodies for us as well. So sweet.

A token from our Saguaro National Park (East) hike

Oh my gosh, and my mom had set up a painting area for us and look what she spelled out with the rocks she put out for us!

We did the house tour, went down to the water, played a bit with the kids, and just hung out! Christina ordered pizzas toward 8:00 or something (river time!) and picked them up and we had them (and a frozen vegan flatbread for me) with some fresh green beans from our garden that I sauteed in oil and garlic salt. The green beans were so good!

After dinner we did a quick golf cart ride to my snister’s place and back, then we got out all our painting stuff and painted until almost 12:00. I thought for sure I would crash at 10:00 but I was feeling so happy and greedy for time together.

Val came up with a fun game where we close our eyes and pull out a random sticker from a set she bought then paint what’s on that sticker, so I ended up painting a shoe and a cat, she painted a whale and a mermaid, and Tiff painted a bunny and carmex (ha, random) and a bunch of other things because she is a painting machine!

I had only painted a few times this month and it felt so good to be doing it again! I could tell it was time for bed when I couldn’t pick colors out anymore though.

We went to bed after midnight and I read a bit then fell right asleep!