Done and Out (but proud of how far we came)

Oh man.

Yesterday was a tough day. We lost our final round robin game (which started at 8 AM, which meant we had to be at the club at 7:15, which means we started driving at 6:20, which means I got up at 5:00) and were in a 4-way tie. The top two teams were also tied, but that just put them both in the semifinal. We were in the 4-way tie for the next two semifinal slots.

So we went to lunch at a place just down the street, and I had a salmon salad which was delicious and which contained vegetables (the night before we had eaten pizza and wings). Then we waited for the last round robin games to play out. Sooooo grateful that we had a 4-way tie instead of a 3-way tie. A three-way tie would have meant TWO tie-breaker games. Our game against team Hampton started at 5:30 PM and went until about 8 PM, when we conceded after 9 ends. We had already lost our round robin game to team Hampton, and they are very good.

Then they bought us drinks and we hung out and talked and laughed for an hour or so and had a good time. They are very nice people (most curlers are, I’ve found) and I enjoyed it.

I’m happy I did not have to set an alarm for 6 AM today, but sad we didn’t make it to the next round. HOWEVER, I am fired up to work hard and practice and get better at curling and work with my team to sometime make it back to the national championship. Because this has been an amazing experience. And I have already improved over the course of the week. I think my takeout shots have gotten more accurate on average. I think my draw shots have become a little more consistent. And I have swept HARD and kept going ALL THE WAY and PUSHED and HURRIED and I am grateful for my work with my trainer developing the stamina and the reserves that I needed to draw on (Thanks, Nicole!)

And it’s been interesting to experience the northern Minnesota weather. Today I woke up to 11°F and there is a brisk wind. Yesterday when we left the club it was in the teens and also very windy, and still snowing. The day we arrived it was beautiful and in the 40’s. I went for a nice walk on Sunday and didn’t need my coat. The first morning we woke up to snow on the ground, we saw a fox out the windows! So neat! But then it kept getting colder, and it snowed again, and I had to be very careful driving us back to the cabin last night because at these temps salt does not work and there were a few patches of black ice on the roads. So yeah, interesting weather. The low temp tomorrow is supposed to be -1°F at our cabin.

Partial screen shot of my phone showing the temp as 11° but feels like 2°

We leave Sunday, and everyone flying out is on a 9 PM flight out of Minneapolis-St.Paul, so we don’t have to rush. I’ll be staying in a hotel by the airport until Tuesday morning when I get an early flight to Houston to work at the National Science Teachers’ Association conference. I’m hoping to find a place I can get a massage and a mani-pedi Monday morning – if any salon or spa is open on a Monday. I worked my body hard and my fingernails are a wreck of brittleness from the dry cold.

Thank you to all of you who supported us. I hope to be able to ask for your support again at this level of competition!

Packing

So much stuff had to be packed. After the curling competition, I am going to Houston, TX for a conference. So I had to pack all my conference stuff in addition to all my curling stuff.

Here is some of my curling stuff:

Clockwise from bottom left: my hat, my curling pants, my curling shirt, my curling jacket, my curling shoes.

It all fit in my large suitcase, so yay!

We are in Minnesota!

L to R: Fran, Sarah, and Mel, in front of the largest ball of twine wound by one man, in Darwin, MN.

We all got on a 6:30 AM flight from Portland to Minneapolis, rented cars, and got on the road. Mary and Jen (and Mary’s husband George) drove straight to our AirBnB, and Sarah and Mel and I detoured to Darwin to see the Biggest Ball of Twine rolled by one man. Sarah is a big fan of Weird Al Yankovic, as is my husband Greg, and Weird Al wrote a song about the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota. We played the song in the car as we drove into town.

The twine ball isn’t officially open until April 1, but Sarah contacted a volunteer named Josh who opened up the gift shop for us and told us about the man who wound the ball, Francis Johnson, who was also a wood carver and a collector. Josh was also extra nice and opened the twine ball’s enclosure for us, so we were able to stand inside next to the twine ball for the photo above, which Josh kindly took for us. Thanks to the wide-angle camera lens, the enclosure looks much larger than it actually is. There is juuuusst enough room for a person to walk around the twine ball inside the enclosure, being very careful not to touch it. We did not do this. We stood just inside the door.

Do NOT touch the ball of twine. The middle is 70 years old, and the outside is 40 years old, and it is all old farm twine so the whole thing smells quite musty and is probably very fragile.