Although the trip down to Patagonia, AZ really had nothing to do with the marathon, I want to include some of the "fun," or maybe memorable, highlights of that leg of the trip.
We: Bret, Tevs, their boys, my mom, Millie, Ellery and I, headed down the day after the marathon (on Monday) to go visit our grandma (my mom's mom) Borrego, who is staying there with one of her daughters after experiencing various health problems. For those of you not familiar with where or what Patagonia is, feel free to google maps it, or just click HERE. Be sure to zoom out to about half the state level to get a real sense of it's location.
On the way down to Patagonia we stopped by the Sonora Desert Museum. My family had been there once before long ago and it was a neat little place to go. The drive out is actually very pretty, if you enjoy desert views and large saguaro cacti (which I do). The museum is much like a zoo, only most of the animals on display are snakes, lizards and arachnids living in terrariums. Even so, the kids, including myself, really seemed to like it and I recommend it to anyone. However, if you do take small children or are adverse to the scorching summers that Arizona can concoct, I suggest going during the winter months... the weather was perfect for us!
We left the museum and headed south on I-19. A short way down the road Enok started to say "poo poo" (Enok, Bret, Tevia and Ellery were in the Wall's van, Millie and I followed behind in our car with Jarek and Malik). Tevia asked Enok if he went poo and he said "no," but they could faintly smell it. Enok was clean. Ellery on the other hand had squeezed a small one out. We all pulled over and Millie performed clean up. I few miles down the road Enok started to say "poo poo uh oh, poo poo." Tevia asked Enok if he was poopy, again, "no." Instead of pulling over again, Tevs thought she'd be sneaky and just take Ellery out and change her on the floor of the van while driving. However, she sorely underestimated the power of Ellery's second wave poops. Tevia went to lift up Ellery's dress to check her only to find her entire front side COVERED in gooey sticky poo. This is what Millie and I have come to call a "front butt splosion" (yes, splosion - as in explosion). Although I was not in the vehicle at the time of discovery, I'm sure it was a sight to witness. Bret (driving) does not handle bodily excrement all too well, not even of his own children, even less so of others'. The van filled with screams from my mom and Tevia at sight and smell of the mess as Bret did well just to get the windows rolled down and keep the car on the road as he hurried to the nearest exit; all the while Ellery remained perfectly calm and nonchalant as though nothing at all was the matter. As usual, I got to do the really bad clean up. We took Ellery out and I striped her down in the parking lot of a gas station and started scooping the gooey yum yum off of her with baby wipes. Thankfully, Tevs had a gallon bottle of water in her van that we were able to use to wash the rest of Ellery down. I only wish we would have gotten pictures of it; one of those things you just have to see to fully appreciate! Good thing I decided to pack a change of clothes for Ellery that morning, and if you notice the pictures of her (in the previous blog post) at the museum and the video of her in Patagonia, same day, different outfit. That's my girl!
On to Patagonia. Patagonia can hardly be considered part of the United States as it is south of Tucson, and if you've ever driven anywhere south of Tucson you would know what I mean. All the road markers and signs are in Spanish and there's not an English voice to be heard on any radio station. Most of the homes (in the "main" part of town) are brightly colored with an older model minivan and usually a lowered truck with "Gutierrez" or "Hernandez" decal lettering on the back window, not to mention the quintessential dirt yards with thousands of yard decorations and old tires for fences. My aunt's place was up on the hill overlooking the big city.
It is a blip on the map. There's nothing more to do there than go back in time and see what life was probably like in a border town in the early 1900s, just add somewhat newer cars and less horses.
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Because I'm wildly jealous of how cool the two of you are, we checked out your race results and then promptly went to the gym. I'm guessing after I have a baby I'll be on best rest for, oh maybe around 36 months, so Millie is my hero. Although the day after I was sad to realize you'd been in Phoenix and that doesn't happen very often and I hadn't seen you. Next time do a marathon in Hawaii and we'll come cheer you on! :)
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