One thing we didn't think about when we booked our stay out here is air conditioning. In DC, it's pretty much a given that a rental place will have AC, at least a window unit, because summer temperatures are unbearable without it. And then as a child, we never needed it out here, because it would maybe break 90 a day or two during the summer, and almost never would it creep out of the low 90s. But times (and climates) have changed. You need AC here now, if only for stretches like we just had of six straight 90+ temperature days, and unfortunately, there isn't an AC unit at our Airbnb, and we never even thought to check.
But the worst should be past us now. Forecasts are calling for that lovely low-80s weather to come back again starting tomorrow. We survived the heat though a combination of sleeping in our underwear, creative utilization of box fans, and, most helpfully, staying at my parents' place. They do have AC, and I've stayed over there -- here, rather -- I'm here now -- the past four nights. S stayed with me two of the nights, but then she wanted the bigger bed of the Airbnb, which is much less hot solo, and Lil' S1 wanted to stay there as well (his room there doesn't get ridiculously hot), so we've split up, and they've stayed there, and Lil' S2 and I have stayed here. Not ideal, but it's worked out, and it's just a few days. Like I said, things are supposed to get back to normal tomorrow, and there are no 90+ days on the 10-day forecast.
The thing about this area also is that even on days it gets blazing hot, it doesn't really do so until late afternoon. In the morning, it might even be a bit chilly in the shade, and then it gradually gets hotter peaking at about 5pm. What this means is that by the time you're ready to go to bed, your house is totally cooked, but you can still do things in the morning outside. And we've been doing a lot, so much so that I'm going to turn this post in a listicle.
- I ran a 5K with some of my family members. I finished in 26:20, which was 39th overall (out of 374) and third in my age/gender bracket. It's a decent time, but not super impressive (8.5 minute miles), so you can tell that the competition wasn't too stiff. My goal, which I made up two nights before the race when I registered, was to break 25 minutes, and I think I could have done it, if I knew the course in advanced and timed myself throughout it. I was just guessing my pace, and when I guess I always go slower than I do when I'm actually monitoring it. But whatever -- if I actually cared about running for time, I would have, like, trained for this thing, rather than deciding it sounded like fun at the last minute.
- Last night we went to S's friend's lake house for her five-year old son's birthday party. It was great. The kids played in the lake the entire time, and we adults drank delicious wine (wine is their family business) and ate tacos. It seemed like it was on the brink of turning into a boozy all-night affair, which I might have been up for -- we used to have those types of parties at my friend DK's lake house, and I remember them fondly -- but we had to drive back to UP (we were out in the boonies near Olympia), so it wasn't in the cards.
- It was just as well, as I got to my sister's and brother-in-law's just in time to watch the Amanda Nunes, Julianna Pena fight on my their awesome home theater. One of the most entertaining lopsided fights, I've ever watched.
- S's good friend E is kinda randomly in town right now, so we met them for dinner on the waterfront. Well, technically, I only had beer, because my sister and brother-in-law had a cookout at their place, and I ate so many ribs, I felt like I never wanted to eat again, but everybody else had dinner. I've said it before, and I'll it say again: Tacoma is so underrated as a beautiful city. The vistas from Ruston Way of Commencement Bay are breathtaking, and the mountain has been out in all its splendor since we arrived.
That's all I got for today. It's already 11 here, and I'm trying hard not to get too far off my quasi-early-to-bed-early-to-rise schedule.
Until next time...
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