10 Year Trip and Leg Drama

Way, way, long ago, Royal and I were talking about what we wanted to do to celebrate being married for 10 years.  I said, "Hot sandy beaches!!!"  And then Royal started talking about all the things we would be doing at this tropical location - mostly fishing.  I said, "Um, no.  I want to lay on the beach with my umbrella drink and that's it!"  Royal just stared at me.  So I said, "Fine, let's go skiing, as long as one of the days I am not required to do anything but sit in front of the fire and read books and knit."  Royal said, "Deal."  And he proceeded to reserve a condo at Winter Park, CO.

Fast forward to the beginning of January and I have a total klutz moment.  I like to tell people I fell on the ice, but no I fell playing tennis.  "Playing tennis? I didn't think it was a contact sport."  It's not.  Unless of course you are totally committed to winning at all costs and have a moment of bad foot work.  I was running for a lob that went over my head on my backhand side, got all twisted, the ball had more top spin on it than I predicted, it bounced up higher than I was ready for, therefore I had to adjust my swing really quickly, and lost my balance and fell over my feet and landed first on the outside of my left shin, hit my left knee, then left hip, left palm, and finally left elbow.  It was tremendously embarrassing.  I quickly checked for blood..none.  But there was some swelling.  I finished playing and immediately texted my siblings with my embarrassing moment because I figure if I'm going to suffer humiliation, my siblings might as well get in on the fun too, and I send them this picture along with some caption of "I think something is wrong...."

Joanna immediately thinks something's broken.  Kaylee and Jordan are grossed out.  I just figure it will bruise up nice and be fine.  But holy tamoly, it was sore.  Not to be stopped by a "minor" injury, I go and workout the next day because I have a ski trip to get ready for in 10 days and these quads weren't going to get themselves ready all by themselves!  I had squats, lunges, and wall sits to do!

As predicted, I bruised up really good!
Leg..

Hip.

Leg again.  These pictures just don't show how dark or big the bruises were.  The bruise on my leg, while the worst of it was along the outside of it, wrapped all around the front of my leg from my knee to my ankle.

Now for my anniversary present back in October, Royal had bought me a new pair of ski boots.  Of course I waited until January to start breaking them in by wearing them around the house.  I'd only wore them two days before I fell, and since I fell, I couldn't buckle the boots around my leg.  I just continued to tell myself I would be fine by the time we left.  I might still be colorful, but it wouldn't hurt so bad.  Well, I was wrong.  The day before the trip, I still couldn't buckle my ski boots up.  Never fear!  That's why they invented Advil!!!  I still planned on ripping it up on the mountain!
This was the night before we left.

Oh!  I also forgot to mention that when I fell I also gave myself minor whiplash (I have issues.....). While we were up visiting the Boggess', my lovely friend Kerri who happens to be a physical therapist, did some estim and ice treatment on my neck (and also "yelled" at me for using heat on it...same as Joanna did....what?!? I'm a bad patient...this is a known fact).  I also had visited our chiropractor before we left and I was under strict orders to "not fall!!!!".  No prob.  I'm a pretty good skier and would just not push it up there and make sure that my head stayed above my feet!

Royal's parents flew in the day before we left, and Willow took full advantage of having someone to dress up for her imaginary world.

And injured or not, I packed Royal and I up with lots of Advil, and took selfies with the kids at the bus stop and we headed out of town.

Snow and Trees!!!  I love them!!

The first morning, Royal and I get up and get ready to hit the slopes.  My leg is still super tender, but I manage to get my ski boot buckled, with a little bit of grimacing.  I also pounded a bunch of Advil with my breakfast and figured that it would probably hurt at first, but eventually it would go numb and I wouldn't feel it and it would be a great day!

I made it one run. One.....pathetic!  Well, actually, only half a run.  I stopped half way down the run in tears because my leg hurt so bad, and I pretty much skied the rest of the way down on one foot.  I went back to the truck and got my backup plan....my snowboard.  The boots are lower and looser and didn't bother my leg too much.

I know, I know....why not snowboard from the start if the boots didn't hurt my leg?  Well, because I am not nearly as good of a snowboarder.  I've only done it maybe 10 times, and usually only half a day those times.  I thought it would be fun to learn, way back when, especially since Royal is a snowboarder, but since I can go just about anywhere on skis, and only blues and greens on my board and I'm slower, and it's just a lot funner to ski.  Not to mention, I still catch edges on my board every once in awhile, and I was under strict orders to not face plant.  But face plant I did.  Twice.

I made it to about lunch time before sitting in the middle of a run crying.  Crying!  There is no crying!!!  My neck and head were pounding and my left ankle was really starting to hurt (which was weird).  So, I told Royal to go make a couple good runs and I'd go to the lodge and get our lunch and see if more Advil and some food would raise my spirits.

Noodle bowls and hot chocolate!  The best ski day lunch ever in my opinion!

Lunch didn't help.  I couldn't make myself lace up my boot again, so I called it quits.  And I am not a quitter for pete's sake.  This was just not working out.

Getting text messages from my kids was fun though!

We got back to our condo and I took off my socks and found out why my ankle was hurting.  Don't know why or how, but I had huge new bruises on the front and back of my ankle.  My boots have NEVER done that to me before.

Soooooooo pretty!

I sat in front of the fire, knitted, and felt sorry for myself the rest of the day.

The next morning, we decided to give my leg a rest and do something else instead of skiing.  So, we went snowmobiling!  We decided to just rent one and switch off driving half way through.

It was so fun and pretty, even if I was freezing!

I ended up not driving at all.  The vibration from the machine was killing my leg, and my neck and head were pounding so hard I thought my right eye ball was going to explode out of my head.  So, I gritted my teeth (probably not good for my neck issues), gripped my heated handlebars, and made it thru the rest of the ride.  I am usually so much funner to take on vacation.

This is me pouting in the truck on the way home.... (Turn it around, girl.  Turn. It. Around!)

I also managed to slice up my thumb really good getting out of Royal's truck.  Who knew being alive was going to be so treacherous?????

So, after talking it over with Royal, and whining and whimpering about it, we decided we would skip skiing and boarding the next day, which was also our last day. :(  So, we hung out in the condo, with a big ole fire, watched movies, and played Spite and Malice - of which I lost terribly....every game but 2!  Of course I did...

While driving home the next day, I called and made an appointment with my doctor to get my leg looked at.  I thought for sure I had a fracture or something in there.  Nope, no fracture.  But she said I tore all the muscles off my shin bone when I fell and thinks I may have some LCL damage.  I am now getting to wear this fantastic brace and am scheduled for physical therapy.

Happy 10 Year Anniversary Trip, Royal!  You are now married to an old lady who can't even fall without causing major damage.....

I'm thinking I need a redo on our anniversary trip, and next time I'm sticking with my hot sandy beaches theme.  Because even if I have a busted up leg, or arm, or neck, or back, or whatever I damage next, I can still lay around.  And let's face it, bruises look better on tanned skin anyway.  :)

TWG :: vol 29 :: All the Way Back to Kansas

I'm just rolling all of our drive back home into one post!  :)

Chapter 1 : Leaving Kelso
On Wednesday, Aug 6th, we got up early said our goodbyes, and headed towards our Kansas home.  We had just a little ways to go.  :)

 We drove past one of the wildfires the PNW is fighting right outside of The Dalles, OR.  It's so sad to see all those beautiful trees on fire.  :(   I was really thankful they hadn't shut down the road!  :)

We drove for about 11 hours the first day and stopped in a KOA right off the freeway in Twin Falls, ID.  It was a brutal first day, but I felt like it was going to be ok because we thought we only had about 8 hours the next day and then we'd stop for 2 nights.  Wrong.

Chapter 2 : The Longest Drive EVER
Turns out day 2 of driving was more like 12 hours.  12!  Who did these driving time calculations?? They should be fired???  Oh wait.  It was me.  Major. Fail.   I am all about an 8 hour day being the longest.  I figure it's like working.  Even if you don't like your job, you can still survive for 8 hours and then be glad when the day is over, enjoy a little time off doing something you do love, and then be able to get up the next day and do it all over again.  But 12 hours?  No way.  That's like a life sucker.  You better really love your job if you have to work 12 hours!  :)

We did have a major malfunction.  Flat Tire.  Oy!  Why does it always have to happen on the freeway side of the trailer???

The kids and I sat inside the trailer, prayed for Royal's safety, and I fixed everybody lunch.  When the tire was successfully changed and Royal had not been flattened alongside the road, we said a huge prayer of thanksgiving, stopped a couple miles down the road to put a little more air in our spare tire, eat some ice cream in celebration that we were all still alive, and then got back to the driving at hand.

And 4 hours later than we thought it would take us, we drove into Estes Park, CO.  We actually saw a little black bear and a couple Big Horn Sheep alongside the road, but my camera was not in the truck, so I have no proof.  :)

Chapter 3 : Elk Meadow RV Park, Estes Park, CO
This campground leaves a little something to be desired.  I didn't even take a picture of it, if you can believe that.  It is a more expensive camp, but it's also 1 mile from the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park, so I get why.  But it was a dusty, dirty, campground all on a hill.  They had a pool and clean bathrooms, but I would probably chose a different place if we ever go back to that area.

Chapter 4 : Rocky Mountain National Park
Hello Beautiful National Park!  This park was great, the roads are a bit scary to drive on, but the views are so beautiful!

The elk here are like the buffalo in Yellowstone National Park.  They. Are. Everywhere.  Both Royal and Jayden were drooling and dreaming about finding one of these guys in WA during elk season.

 Marmot!

Pika!

We did a few hikes and I was wiped!  The altitude totally had me huffing and puffing and I'm sure sitting the car for the last 2 days probably didn't help my dehydration problem (you just can't drink 180oz of water while driving with Royal.  He won't stop every 30mins so you can go to the bathroom :) )

At first we thought this was a bear, but after slamming on the brakes in the middle of the road, flipping the truck around (so my camera was on the animal side of the vehicle), we discovered it was a moose!!!  Just as cool!  Plus we'd already seen a bear, even if I don't have a picture to show you. :)

Chapter 5 : Fishing at Lily Lake
We did one more outdoor activity in the evening.  We walked around Lily Lake while Jayden tried to catch himself another fish.

Jayden almost had one!  You can't use barbed hooks in this lake and Jayden lost it right at the shore.

Found a beaver!

Chapter 6 : The Long Haul to Wichita
We left Estes Park around 8:30 and drove an hour to Loveland, CO where we met up with some of Royal's family that lives there.  We stayed for a few hours and had lunch before we climbed back in the truck around 12:30 for the 8 hour drive back to our house, which really took us 9 because people need to eat and go to the bathroom.
As we crossed into Western Kansas, my phone starts freaking out beeping.  We had a severe weather warning for where we were driving.  And we pretty much drove right into it.

Once we were past this, my phone freaks out again stating that where we were had a Tornado Warning and to "seek shelter now".  Uhhhhhhhhh.  Welcome home???  After looking at radar and out my windows I could see the storm to the SW of us and we decided to just try and outrun it.  The storm was moving at 20mph and we were going 80 and really what else were we going to do?  There aren't many places to hide along the freeway.  :)  But we made it home safe and sound, with no more storms, around 10:30 at night.  It was a hard 3 days of driving, but it's over, and next time we go to Washington we'll be flying.  :)