Tyler lives on in happy memories

On the anniversary of his birth, I find myself remembering Tyler in so many different ways.  While some cause grief, many more cause smiles and laughter.  I'm so very thankful to have had the years that I did with him and hope that each of you has happy memories of him today too.

For a slideshow of photos of Tyler, visit http://youtu.be/ggeaw0Mo6yc to see a 15 minute walk down memory lane.

Happy birthday, Tyler!

T-Bone Classic

We are approaching the 3rd Annual T-Bone Classic Golf Tournament!  Everyone is welcome to join in this golf tournament, commemorating the life of Tyler Bledsoe.

Where: Cedar Crest Golf Course
Date: September 19, 2013
First Tee Time: 11:00am
Cost: $85.00, which includes golf, cart, and dinner

To reserve your spot and get more details, contact Scott Bledsoe at 206-546-2629

The Day After the Marathon

To all of the brave Team in Training members who joined us in the inaugural Nike Women's Half Marathon in Washington, D.C. --  We salute you!


http://youtu.be/m-hCuYjvw2I

Love Lives On

A few weeks ago at our Team in Training practice, each of the runners was given the opportunity to write the name of the person that they run in memory/honor of.  I wrote down Tyler's name because my love for him is what inspired me to first start fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

On the anniversary of our wedding (February 24, 2007), I am proud to be able to say that with your generous support I have raised over $31,000 to fight cancer.  Together, we can make a difference in the battle for lives. I can also share that Tyler has helped to inspire several others to raise funds through Light the Night, Team in Training, or the Big Climb, so his life continues to provide inspiration to the people that hear his story.

I was blessed to find a husband who taught me how to love and how to fight for what I believe in.  While our time together was far shorter than I would have wished, I would not trade that time for anything.  May you be as blessed in your lives.

For more information about my latest efforts with Team in Training, or to make a donation to fight cancer, please visit my fundraising site at http://bledsoebattle.com.  My battle isn't over until I see that leukemia isn't affecting the lives of the people around me.  Thanks for your help!

Signs and Symptoms of Leukemia

One of the dates you never quite forget is the date that you first heard the doctor mention the word cancer. Tyler's cancerversary was February 19th.  As I have done before, I wanted to mention a few warning signs of blood cancer.  We found that both Hans and Tyler had experienced several of the same symptoms before being diagnosed, but we hadn't known just what they were at that time.

1. Are you tired? Leukemia causes fatigue because the increased production of white blood cells (WBCs) crowds out the red blood cells in your blood volume.  Red blood cells carry the oxygen to your cells and having fewer of them can cause noticeable fatigue or breathlessness.  Tyler just assumed he was getting old (at 40 after an incredibly active life).  Check with your doctor before making the same assumption about any fatigue you might be experiencing.  Tyler was working a physical job on the grounds crew at Children's Hospital and playing soccer.  I remember him coming home from soccer games in the last few months before diagnosis and shaking and shivering uncontrollably for a long time.  It wasn't a reaction to cold, but seemed to be a reaction to the exertion.  It was the first symptom I noticed as his fiancé and prompted me to suggest a doctor's visit.  Sadly, it took a few more months before that doctors visit happened.  Could that time have made a difference in the ultimate war against the disease?  I'll never know...

2. Have you lost weight? Are you eating as much as ever, but your clothes are getting baggy and you haven't been able to find a reason?  Unexplained weight loss (more than a few pounds) is a common symptom of many illnesses and should prompt a visit to the doctor.

3. Do you (or your child) have a tendency to bleed or bruise easily? This is a common symptom of childhood leukemia. A youngster's skin may be peppered with tiny red dots. While going through treatment, we learned that the little red dots can be a sign of low platelet counts.  Platelets are the blood part that help your blood stick together and clot.  When your platelet count is low, you are at risk for bleeding too much from minor injuries.

4. Check your pallor. Have your cheeks lost their rosy glow? This may be a symptom of leukemia. An increase in WBCs can crowd out red blood cells, making you appear anemic.

5. Examine your lymph nodes. Feel under your armpits. Do you feel any lumps or bulges? Feel under your throat, where your jaw meets your neck, for lumps or bulges. Swollen lymph nodes are a possible sign of leukemia or other illnesses.

6. Evaluate yourself for unexplained chronic infections that never seem to go away. Even though your body is producing more WBCs, which are the body's infection fighters, the WBCs of a person with leukemia are immature and unable to fight off diseases.  The best description I have heard of this was comparing the WBCs to either toddlers (not functional at all in the adult world of fighting infections) or teenagers (only partially functional at fight infections).  Tyler was finally diagnosed after going to see the doctor about the "worst cold he'd ever had".

7. Check for an enlarged spleen. Lay down in bed and place the palm of your hand on the left side of your abdomen, below your rib cage. Feel for a lump or mass. This may be a sign of leukemia and put you at risk for internal bleeding if injured.  Tyler definitely had this symptom and was unable to play soccer until the spleen returned to normal size.  It can also manifest itself as abdominal fullness.

8. Keep track of unusual night sweats or bone pain. These are often signs of your body attempting to fight an internal war against the cancer.

9. Pay attention to your body's messages.  Tyler's doctor asked him at diagnosis how long it had been since T had felt 100% normal.  When he stopped and thought about it, Tyler said it had been about 1.5 - 2 YEARS.  Imagine how an early diagnosis (from regular check ups or even a doctor's visit when started feeling some of the symptoms that weren't normal) might have changed the outcome of our battle.

New treatments are being discovered all of the time and an early diagnosis gives you the strongest chance at joining the ranks of survivor.  Please see your doctor regularly for check ups and in response to any of the symptoms listed above.

 For my readers that have been through cancer diagnoses themselves or with a loved one, please add your own items to the list by posting comments on this message.  Together we can help others start treatment at a time when they can be successful.

Two Years Gone

Two years ago, my husband took his last breath as his body finally gave out after battling leukemia for 4 years.  While his memory and his presence live on for me, I am deeply saddened by the fact that someone so loved is gone forever because of cancer.

I started fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after Tyler was first diagnosed with cancer, but I continue in his memory.  It is one of my deepest passions to make a difference in this battle against cancer and stop the loss of our loved ones.

If you share this goal, please help me by donating at http://bledsoebattle.com.  Together we can ease the heartache caused by this insidious thing called cancer.

Gratitude from the Bledsoe Battle

As I reflect on the things I am grateful for, I realized that I wanted to thank you to each of you for your participation in this year’s Light the Night walk.  Team Firefly was again the top Friends and Family team for the Seattle walk.  This is the 4^th year in a row that we have claimed that honor and I thank each and every one of you for your help in raising over $22,000 to fight blood cancers.

We were the 2^nd place team overall, chasing the incredibly impressive Seattle Genetics team who raised over $49,000 with 157 team members.  As I talked to their team at the awards ceremony, each of them was incredibly impressed with all that our team has been able to do without the backing of any corporate sponsor. 

Did you know?  When LLS was founded in 1949, a blood cancer diagnosis was almost always fatal.  Thanks in part to innovative research funded by LLS, survival rates have improved dramatically. Today, an estimated 274,930 people are living with or are in remission from leukemia. 

FUNDRAISING CLUBS:

This is the first year that we have had 6 team members joining the Bright Lights club.  Do you think we can break that record again next year??

TEAM FIREFLY BRIGHT LIGHTS (Raised over $1000)

•    Christine Watson - $1691.46 
•    Carrie Numata - $1472.46
•    Ken Mock - $1121.46
•    Andrea Coughlin - $1079.51
•    Becky McLellan - $1053.71 

 

TEAM FIREFLY CHAMPIONS – THE 100 CLUB!

• Vivian Oehler - $936.71
• Ceci Rozendaal - $806.46
• Celeste McArthur - $521.46
• Bonnie Rydman - $506.46
• Carol Bonenko - $491.46
• Scott Bledsoe - $453.71
• Paul Giering - $426.46
• Thelma Westberg - $371.46
• Mackenzie Martin - $366.46
• Debbie Carroll - $252.46
• Erin Aten - $205.46
• Hans Loland - $203.71
• LeAnn Miller - $201.60
• Zea Carter - $123.71
• Dorothy Gorman - $106.46
• Benjamin Bonenko - $103.90 
• Aleksandra Bonenko - $103.71
• David Bonenko - $103.71 
• Jacque Bonenko - $103.71
• Laura Mitchell - $103.71
• Steve Mitchell - $103.71
• Jennifer Hugill - $103.71
• Libby Dermenstein - $103.71
• Bethanie Roddy – $103.71
• Amy Donlan - $103.71 
• Cynthia Loland - $103.71 
• Michele Bleser - $103.71
• Dave Carroll - $101.60
• Lauren Schepman - $100
• Lynn Roediger - $100

Thank you for all that you have done to help fight cancer.  I’m deeply touched by the fact that family and friends continue to join me each September in my current version of the Bledsoe Battle – my efforts to fund a cure for blood cancers.

Registration for next year’s walk begins in February.  I hope that you will consider joining Team Firefly again.  Invite your friends and neighbors and coworkers to join us in fundraising.  Let’s give those corporate teams a run for their (research) money again next year!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Mandy Bledsoe

http://bledsoebattle.com

Feeling the Loss

I've been feeling more subdued and more grumpy than normal for the last week or so.  I was just blaming it on not getting enough sleep, but today I finally figured out that my emotions are on edge more than usual because Tyler's birthday was Halloween.

Although on most days I am doing really well, I have found that just the thought of his birthday (combined with the necessity of sorting through some of his belongings) have made me miss Tyler more than usual.  Today I am feeling the tragedy side of things...  I'm just so sad that he was stolen from us so early.

As many of you knew him or came to know him a little bit through the blog, you know that he was a kind and loving man.  He inspired so many of us with his integrity or athleticism or kindness or one of his other wonderful qualities.  I'm sorry that he isn't with us still.

So... I'll issue a general apology to the people that have to be around me day to day and hope that my grumpiness fades quickly.  But I ask that you take one more day with me to acknowledge that cancer steals light and life from people.  As we wrap up October, widely acknowledged as breast cancer awareness month, and celebrate Tyler's birthday on the final day of the month, I urge you to make a difference in some way in the fight against cancer.  Wouldn't that be an ideal birthday gift to a friend lost to leukemia?

What can you do to help save the person who will be diagnosed with any form of cancer tomorrow?  I've chosen fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as my vehicle to continue the fight.  If you would like to make a donation in memory of Tyler, you can donate at http://bledsoebattle.com.  Thanks to all that have already supported my quest for a cure!  With your help, I'm taking the Bledsoe Battle to an entirely new level.

In loving memory of Tyler...

Light the Night

We have only two weeks until this week's Light the Night walk and I'm excited to see friends and family there!  Team Firefly is currently in second place in the team fundraising, so we need to have a good push this week to catch up with Seattle Genetics.  I'd hate to have another team win the Tyler Bledsoe Memorial Award for the top fundraising team... :)

If you are coming to walk with us, you can register for Team Firefly (please note that a second team with a similar name signed up for the Seattle walk, so you will want to be careful to join the correct team).  The top team as of Wednesday 9/26 will be announced at the walk.  The top 10 teams at that time will be awarded a tent on the night of the walk and get to skip the check in lines, etc.  You can mail your donations in to the LLS office, or drop it off at their upcoming bank nights, or deposit it online at your website.

In the meantime, I have been keeping busy watching our online fundraising auction.  If you haven't checked out the wonderful items available for bidding, please visit the auction at http://www.facebook.com/events/266809260097392/ or our auction photo album at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.117076831774654&type=1.  I'm shocked to see that a guitar signed by Blake Shelton is only at $100...  Isn't a guitar alone worth at least that much?  You can also help us out by forwarding these links on to your other friends.

See you on walk night!

Light the Night Walk Update - 6 weeks to Go!

If you will be walking with us this September, please contact me to get signed up (or sign up online at http://pages.lightthenight.org/wa/SeattleL12/TeamFirefly).  We are up to 25 team members so far, but several other people have told me they plan to join us.

 

Walk Night Details
Seattle Walk   --  Saturday, September 29th, 2012
Green Lake Park, Seattle
 
5:00pm – Remembrance Ceremony
5:30pm – Check-in & Festivities
7:00pm – Walk
 

Upcoming Fundraisers
Let me know if you have an upcoming fundraiser and I am happy to share the information with team members.  Use this area to know how you can support our team, to spread the word about events, and to get some ideas on what you can do!  Contact me if you need more details about any of the events below.

- Tyler Memorial Golf Tournament, Marysville -- August 23rd

- Flea Market, Sequim – September 8th

- Bake Sale, Kent – September 15th
- Facebook Auction, Online
     - Everyone is encouraged to participate!  Call businesses you frequent to see if

       they will make a donation to support LLS – TAX ID number available…

- Women’s Clothing Swap, Lynnwood – October 20th
     - Contact Mandy for more information
 

Become a Champion For Cures
Every walker who raises $100 or more will become a Champion For Cures and recognized on the night of the Walk with the following benefits:
            - A Light The Night t-shirt
            - A Light The Night illuminated balloon
            - A wristband for food and refreshments
 
 Fundraising Tips
Here are two quick and simple fundraising ideas to help rake in the donations:
1. Game Night/Poker Night: Suggest a minimum donation to enter and/or a donation to compete in each game.
2. Food/Beverage Sales: Baked goods, donuts, bagels, breakfast burritos, popcorn, hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, smoothies, etc.

Top 5 Fundraising Teams   (As of August 16th)
  -->  We just lost our first place position, so it is a very good week to start your fundraising!

1.      Seattle Genetics                           $5,260 raised

2.      Team Firefly                                 $4,959 raised

3.      Team Nanchantress                     $3,750 raised

4.      Team Seattle Children’s              $3,410 raised

5.      Biff’s Beauties                             $2,300 raised

 
 

Shop for a Cause

It's time to shop; but this time, shop for a cause.

I am happy to tell you that Macy's is partnering with LLS by offering 25% off for shoppers with the $5.00 purchase of a Macy's shopping pass for Saturday, August 25, 2012.

Anyone with a $5.00 Macy's pass can shop at any Macy's and get 25% off all purchases including regular, sale and clearance items (10% off electronics, watches, furniture and mattresses).

Not a bad way to shop especially with back to school coming up!

100% of the shopping pass proceeds will help fund lifesaving cancer research plus you get a chance to win a $500 Macy's Gift Card!

I might suggest not waiting until the last minute. Go online now and purchase a $5.00 pass ($5.00 is the minimum donation but feel free to donate more)! The passes can only be used in-store and not online.

It's programs like this, people like you and the generosity of companies like Macy's that enable LLS to be able to fund the cancer research that saves lives every day.

You can purchase your passes here.

Happy Shopping!

Light the Night Kickoff

The 2012 Light the Night Kickoff was a great opportunity to get some new ideas for this year's walk and be reminded of why I continue to fundraise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Roger Levesque joined us for the event and took a few minutes to share his thoughts on how commendable it is that we are fighting cancer.

Then we heard from a lovely young lady named Rose Egge who shared her remarkable battle against Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma.  She was diagnosed in May 2011 at age 25.  Imagine what goes through your head when something so scary is dropped in your lap.  She came out of her treatments with a passion for fighting cancer - fighting for her future and fighting for the friends she has made along the journey.

For each of us that has been touched by cancer, we respond in many different ways.  For me, I became extremely passionate about living my life as fully as I can and pouring some of my energies into the fundraising I do for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I'm extremely blessed to have supportive and generous friends around me that allow me to achieve my own fundraising goals in these areas. I have been a top fundraiser for LLS for the past few years thanks to your generosity. If I haven't said it recently, THANK YOU!!!

But... I couldn't do it without a team.  So it has come to that time of year and I want to invite each of you to join us for a lovely evening stroll around Greenlake.  The Light the Night walk will be on Saturday, September 29th this year.  Last year we had over 100 walkers on Team Firefly and I would love to match that total again!  Look at the statement we make in the team photo below!

If you would like to join us, please visit http://pages.lightthenight.org/wa/SeattleL12/TeamFirefly and click "JOIN" at the bottom of the page.  You can also just let me know that you want to join us and I will make certain that you get registered.  We are planning to have an auction between now and the walk and would love to have a few other team members participating in the posting of auction items and helping us to spread the word for online bidding.

If you can't join us for the walk (and I really hope that you can), please consider donating at http://bledsoebattle.com

Thanks again!

Light the Night Kickoff Event - July 21st

FUN for EVERYONE and  FREE to join!

·         Guest appearance from a Seattle Sounders player!  Meet and take your picture for unforgettable memory!

·         Free to attend for everyone - team members, family, friends, and coworkers

·         Carnival games, festivities, and prizes

·         Complimentary food and refreshments

·         Meet your local Honored Heroes

·        Learn fundraising tips from your LLS staff and past teams

Win a Light The Night/Sounders FC Scarf!
       Raise $100 by our Kickoff date AND attend our Kickoff to receive a special Light The Night/Sounders scarf*! 

*must be present to win/while supplies last.

When & Where?
     Saturday July 21st, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
      REI Flagship Store - 222 Yale Ave. North, Seattle, 98109

RSVP today!  Email LightTheNight_WAS@lls.org or call Lauren at 206.957.4592

The Long and Winding Road

After the soccer game in Barcelona, we began our journey homeward.  First was the drive back to Madrid.  Our final tapas run happened somewhere along that road, but it was a perfect representation of tapas all over the country.  From first thing in the morning until last thing at night, there were plates of food set out all over the city.  You order a little of this and a little of that, along with your beverage of choice.  For the Spaniards, it seemed like the beverage of choice was quite often an espresso.  They had incredibly complex looking espresso machines all over the country and my friend, Ruth, said that the coffee was fantastic over there.

It was a wonderful trip and I am so thankful that my mother and I got to explore the country.  Thanks to all of you for joining us on the journey!

What's a Soccer Fan to Do?

If you are a soccer addict and find yourself in the city of Barcelona, what else are you going to do?  We got tickets to see FC Barcelona play a home game! We watched them play against Malaga and were thrilled with both our seats and the game. 

The club's motto is "Mes Que Un Club" which translates to "More than a Club".  Based on what we saw, FC Barcelona is a way of life!  The club has teams for several other sports (like basketball -- who has heard of the Barcelona basketball team?), they have a huge youth program, they have their own television channel, and a huge complex at the stadium with tours every day.


I didn't know it at the time (since I speak neither spanish or catalan), but we watched Messi set a record for the most goals in a season.  I shouldn't spoil the score line for you but it was fantastic to watch magic happening, even if I didn't know what the magic was.

Mom said before the game that "Messi is her guy".  I'm not sure how she can have a guy on a soccer team in Spain, but he lived up to her expectations and I became a Barcelona fan myself that day.

After the game, we joined the entire city in the line to the metro.  :)  It was amazing to see that many people trying to leave the stadium at once.

The FC Barcelona game was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  I had looked into it before we left and thought it was too expensive.  But, I'm so very thankful that we decided to splurge!

Exploring Barcelona

Because we couldn't miss out on Barcelona, we headed south again and back into Spain.  Barcelona is a city devoted to its arts, especially Gaudi.  You see his art EVERYWHERE around town, but in my tiny little bit of research about Spain I had decided that I wanted to see Park Guell.  Antoni Gaudi was commissioned to design a housing community for the affluent and began building it in 1900.  It was a fascinating concept and way ahead of his time, but Gaudi's habits of bringing the natural world and a whimsical spirit into his art is evident everywhere you look.

It was definitely a highlight to wander around the park and enjoy the afternoon sunshine (along with the rest of Barcelona).

On the way out of the park, we tripped across a lovely church and admired the art and the peace there.  I couldn't even decipher anything to tell us where we were, but just enjoyed the moments of tranquility.

More France

The next morning we headed just outside of Narbonne to l'Abbaye de Fontfroide.  It was a functioning abbey up until about 1901, when it was abandoned by the monks and purchased by a local family.  When we arrived, they were closing for lunch so we wandered the grounds first.

It was incredibly windy, but so very beautiful around the abbey.

After the lunch break was over, we took a tour inside the abbey.  The tour was only offered in French, which I was hoping would be okay after taking French classes for a few months before the trip.  Unfortunately, I couldn't understand anything the tour guide was saying and ended up being very thankful that I had gotten the audio guide in English too.  I guess I need to head back to French class again soon!

The tour was very interesting.  There were both monks and lay people that lived inside the abbey when it was a functioning monastery.  I found it interesting to learn that the lay people had to take the same vows of celibacy, poverty, etc as the monks, but were not actually monks.

Another highlight of the abbey tour was that they actually let us take pictures of the stained glass windows.  Most cathedrals we visited had signs indicating that we shouldn't take photos, so we didn't get to share much of that glory with you.  But the colors were incredibly bright and vivid in all of the stained glass we saw there.  I had forgotten, but the stained glass is one of the things I really enjoyed about Europe! I'm pretty much an uneducated lout when it comes to most artwork, but the way they meld those colors together and the sheer beauty when the colors stream through amaze me.

We enjoyed more delightful french bread and cheese and various pastries.  Sigh...  It was good to eat food I know again!

Vive la France!

On Sunday morning, we were both up early and were anxious to hit the road.   This probably had nothing to do with the fact that we were about to cross the border into France.

Just before the border, there was an incredibly busy town advertising duty free stuff of every possible variety.  There were swarms of people EVERYWHERE, and cars pulling into or out of parking spots seemed to bog everything down further.  Just after the town we crossed the border without even being sure that we had.  We didn't even have to slow down as we passed the border patrol folks, let alone stop and show our passports.

As soon as we figured out that we had indeed crossed the border, I suggested to mom that we should find a boulangerie as soon as possible because I wanted some REAL French bread.  We found one and added on a quiche and a vegetable filled pastry too.  We were both in heaven!

We continued north into Narbonne, a mid sized town for this area and found a place to stay.  I think this was the earliest in the day that we have found a room!  After unloading our luggage, we headed out to the archbishop's palace.  It has been converted into two museums, one with art and one with archeology.  We toured the archeological museum, but were very thankful that we both speak French.  A few of the signs had English on them, but the majority of the information was in French.  My brain started to hurt from having to focus so intently on reading the signs, but I think I got the majority of what I read.  Narbonne was very closely tied to the Roman Empire, so the museum talked a lot about the Roman influences on architecture and home door.

After the museum, we also visited the cathedral of Catherine-St Just.  I find cathedrals to be one of my favorite sights.  When you step inside and look up at this amazing vaulted ceiling or admire the intricately detailed stained glass windows or feel the devotion present in the various small chapels around the edges, you can't help but be awestruck at what they were able to accomplish. This particular cathedral was never finished as they built it too close to the city wall.

We wanted to sit down to a nice dinner, but almost everything that wasn't touristy was closed because it was Sunday.  So instead we opened a bottle of wine and had ourselves a little picnic for dinner. We will go out for dinner tonight instead.

Soccer match in Girona

Friday was a driving day, getting from the Costa del Sol to Valencia.  We were trying to find a hotel close to the freeway, as we knew we would want to head out early in the morning to make it to Barcelona.  We had spied a second division soccer match about an hour north of Barcelona and thought that we could make the timing work, but first we stopped at Camp Nou - the home of FC Barcelona.  We were planning to take a tour of the stadium, but after seeing the crowds we remembered that it was a Saturday and speculated that the tour might be easier on a weekday.

We headed north to Girona and started looking for a hotel.  The only hotel that we could find happened to be loading up a team of soccer players in uniform.  We decided to pretend we were groupies and followed the bus to the stadium.  After we figured out where the stadium was, we headed back into town to continue our search for a hotel.  We finally found a hotel with 1 room left, but it was 140 euros for the night ($200+).  Time was getting short before the match start, so we decided that we would just go to the game and hope to find a room afterwards.  Since the game started at 6pm and the next down was maybe only 30 minutes away (and hopefully not clogged with soccer fans and high end weddings like this one) we thought we would have better luck.

The soccer match was fun.  We bought seats that were supposed to be behind the south goal, but ended up too close to the 10 foot tall fence separating the home fans from the visiting fans and couldn't see 75% of the field clearly.  We ended up moving seats pretty early on in the match.  Our new seats had a much better view, but were somewhat less appealing in smell due to Mr Cigar 2 rows in front of us.

Because time had been so short getting to the match, we hadn't had any sort of dinner, so I had the challenge of figuring out the concessions stand.  In Girona we paid at one window and were given a colored token based on the amount we paid.  Cold sandwiches were 3 euros and hot sandwiches were 4 euros.  I bought two hot sandwiches and moved over to the food area to try to order them.

In the end, it took 4 concession stand employees to help me order two different kinds of sandwich.  I could easily order the Frankfurt, but had trouble figuring out what other kinds of sandwiches were available. We think we ended up with a pork sandwich, but they might have been charading something else for me.

The game ended in a 0-0 tie, but we enjoyed the soccer despite the lack of goals.  I was intrigued by the yell leader who walked back and forth in our section all game long, trying to get us to cheer more.  I'm still chanting Gee-Rona - hey! in my head at random times.

After the match we headed back to the car and then went in search of the freeway again.  In Spain, many of the freeways have tolls.  We have been trying to take the older highways that parallel the toll roads, but that lends additional challenges as we try to decipher the signs on the side of the road.  In any case, we for a hotel next to the highway on our way out of town for only 52 euros, so we happily booked a room there.

Thursday in Spain

Unfortunately, I was slow to get moving on Thursday morning and we had to modify several plans that day.  The first was learning that we couldn't get Alhambra tickets for any of the days that we could make Granada work, so we had to cancel that plan.  The second change came around lunch time.  We had been heading south towards Tarifa, so that we could catch the ferry to Morocco and spend the day there.  At lunchtime, I finally admitted that we weren't going to make it in time to see Morocco that day.  The next day (Friday) is their holy day and we didn't have enough to see in that area to wait around until Saturday.  I'm bummed to have missed out on Morocco, but will have to pick it up on one of my next trips.

Because we made that decision, we were able to stop and enjoy lunch along the Costa del Sol.  The restaurant we chose was suffering from an invasion of ladybugs so we were covered with them almost as soon as we sat down.  I've actually never seen so many ladybugs in one place.  The restaurant was actually losing business because of it.  But our sangria was delicious and the food was outstanding, and the ladybugs were avoidable once we switched to an inside table.  Our waitress was very sweet and we liked her enough to invite her to come visit us in Seattle.

With the change in plans for the day, we bumped Gibraltar up a day.  We took a tour of the Rock and were fascinated by the history of that area, as well as the amazing views.  They have a long and varied history, but are proud British citizens now.  Our favorite part was the view from the top.  I took video of the amazing 360 degree view, but I am certain that it won't be able to do justice to the amazing sights!

After our afternoon in England, we started back up the coast again, headed towards Barcelona.  We made it to Malaga before I demanded food.  We ended up at a cafeteria, trying to use their wi-fi to look up hotels.  The streets were narrow, one way, and difficult to navigate.  We were tired and really wanted to find a place, but weren't having much luck.  Finally we just decided to head a little bit out of town.  There weren't many options on the way out of town, so we finally pulled off the freeway again at Cala del Moral.  Lucky us, we found a fabulous little gem of a hotel with low prices and friendly staff.  The desk clerk told me that I was very beautiful, which I'm sure was a lie since it was 11pm at night and I was exhausted.  But we got checked in and then we happily collapsed in bed and slept.

In the morning, I headed out for my first post-marathon run.  It was quite muggy out, but I enjoyed the opportunity to run along the paseo and on a great path up and around a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Ocean.