Runstreak

 I don't think I've mentioned it, maybe I have, but I've decided to stop my run streak.  November 1, 2018 was my first day of my run streak, so October 31, 2022 is my last.  4 years.  There were so many times this summer that I was done.  I was running so little, I only ran more than one mile 27 times from June through August, several of those were only 2 mile runs.  Looking back, in March I only ran 3 miles one time, the rest were all 1 mile runs.  I've been done for a long time, but too stubborn to give it up.  

This summer I had enough.  I was going to e. WA all the time, I wasn't even home on the weekends in August, I was just done.  I didn't want to run anymore.  So I decided I'd get to my 4 year mark and end it.  Honestly, when I made that decision it was soooooo long until Nov. 1.  I didn't think I'd make it.  But now it's only a week away.  Including today (because I haven't run yet) I only have 8 more runs.  8 more days until I can take a break.  

I'm dreading it, and looking forward to it.  I honestly don't know how I will handle it.  Chris told me this weekend he thinks I'll have anxiety not running every day. My sister told me she doesn't think I'll stop.  And honestly, part of me doesn't want to.  I will never do this again.  This is it.  1461 days, that is a lot of days.  4 years.  

I worry that I will stop completely.  It will just get to be "I don't have to run and don't want to run, so I'm not going to run."  I don't want that to happen.  But I also want to want to run instead feeling I have to run.  I want to enjoy it again.  I've started running more miles in the week.  I've gone back to trying to have a schedule.  I used to run on the same days every week, and have the same days off, well, at least Monday is always the day I took off, with another one or two later.  But always run on Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday being my long run.  I've been trying to start "long" running again, but so far, I've only made one 5 mile run (2 four mile runs).  I'd like to run at least 4 times a week, although this month I've only managed that once (well, more than one mile right now).  I started this in October, end of September, because I know I'm going to be done and want to be in the habit now.  

Mondays are now good days for me to run, while Wednesdays and Fridays are harder, so those will probably become days off, although I liked Monday off because I would rest after my long run, so we'll see.  But I do feel I need to have my "rules" so that I stick with it.  I had them several years ago, never run on Monday, always run either Thursday or Friday, long run on Sunday.  With my current schedule and not doing crazy long runs, I'll probably run on Mondays, and probably skip Wednesdays and Fridays and no fewer than 3 days a week, but preferably 4 or 5 days a week.  I guess we'll see how it goes.  

My crazy one mile run last November
at my dad's in freezing temperatures.

a downer of a post

I had a really hard time titling this post, sorry.

I was catching up on my blog reading, through my move I read very little of my favorite blogs.  Then when I was finally wanting to catch up, my main way of reading, bloglovin, wouldn't let me in.  I was trying to find my blogs in different ways, but I have definitely become dependent on bloglovin and how I get to my favorites there, I couldn't remember the names, much less the addresses, of the blogs I read.  Well, a few weeks ago I was finally able to get into bloglovin, and I had some time, so decided to look at some old entries.  

Stained Glass Butterfly posted in September that her mom passed away, and it hit home for me. 

I thought I had been very open about my own Mom's death, but I don't see any posts about how she died. So I'll tell you. In February of 2018 it snowed, on Valentine's Day my mom went out to make a snowman (because in my family, if it snows, you make a snowman).  She slipped after taking a selfie and broke her ankle.  She was told she would need surgery but they had to wait for an available spot.  Well, about a week, maybe 2, later while she was trying to get up to use the bathroom she fell again and made her ankle worse.  They ended up admitting her into the hospital and did the surgery the next day. They started talking about putting her into a rehab place for physical therapy, so my family and I decided to go over (4 hours) to celebrate her getting out.  Well, she started having breathing problems, her oxygen was low and she was always breathless.  They did a bunch of tests and saw a mass in her lungs, the doctor thought it was fluid, but all the tests came back saying it wasn't anything.  Finally it was discovered that she had a lung disease, I can't remember the word but it meant "generalized lung disease"  meaning they didn't really know where it came from or how long she had it.  But being put under anesthesia exacerbated it  and by the time it was discovered it was way too late.  We found out on Saturday that she wouldn't make it home again.  My sister had to come from N. Carolina to say goodbye so she held on until they got there, and she died Monday evening March 5, 2018.  

This loss was devastating to me.  I was angry. Really, really angry.  Not at her, but at the world.  She was the healthy one, she was the one that we expected we'd have to take care of after my Dad died.  Her family was the one with long life (I had a relative that lived to be 100 on her side), my dad's family has all died before they turn 80, they have multiple illnesses and no one lives long.  (Probably has a lot to do with living downwind from Hanford.)  I could not say my Mom "passed," my Mom died.  I felt "passed" was too kind, and it wasn't kind or fair that she was gone so soon, she was only 70.

My Dad died a year ago.  And my reaction to his death has been very, very different.  I still have the anger, but this anger has been focused at him.  He gave up after my Mom died.  He did nothing, he sat at home and just. gave. up.  He has 4 girls, 5 grandkids and one great-grandson, and he did not care enough to live for us.  I have compared him to my Mom so many times.  My Mom would have been devastated the he died, but she would have lived.  She would have enjoyed her kids, grandkids and great-grandson.  She would have always been at my house.  She would have lived, she would not have given up and she would not have allowed her health to get so bad that she died in her sleep.  You can still tell that I am mad at my Dad for giving up.

Going back to Stained Glass Butterfly.  She posted about her Mom's death, and her very next post was so inspiring. She focused on how her Mom lived, not on how her Mom died.  And that should be what I focus on.  

My Mom loved her girls with her whole heart.  She was kind, and friendly, embarrassing and unique.  She was friends with everyone, no one disliked her.  Even if she disliked someone, she never let that show, she showed grace and kindness to everyone.  I actually started school because of her, but not because I wanted to make her proud, but because I needed something to keep my brain active and not dwell on her loss.  But she would have been sooooo proud of me.  I can her voice so often "Woooo! Go Cathy."  I heard that countless times growing up. 

And my Dad . . . right now he's harder for me, but I need to forgive him.  He loved my Mom and he just couldn't handle his grief (he did not kill himself, he died while sleeping).  My Dad was a family man, he loved his family, he loved his farm.  He was loyal, he was hardworking.  He was kind and humble.  He was quiet, he was always in the background, he would let my Mom talk after church forever even though all he wanted to do was go home.  When I was in college I started calling him Pa as a joke, so he started addressing his letters to me as "Da #3" (I was the third daughter).  I think we had a connection that way because he was also the third child in his family.  In fact, after I had Maddox he told me I had to have another so that there was a 3rd child.  I know he was proud of my school and my job.  I talked to him about a week before he died and he told me.  I was only 2 weeks from graduating (yes, he died one week before I graduated), and I was talking to him about my career options.  He told me he was proud of me.

I need to remember the good things and not be so angry.  

  

How I spent my weekend

 So I hear you all asking what I did with my first weekend at home, so I'll tell you.  I worked in my "garden."  

If you remember, this is what my garden looked like in the real estate pictures.  (you can find this post here)

And this is what a summer of ignoring the garden looks like.

There are roses along the fence, 17 of them to be exact (I know because I moved them all).  They were covered in bindweed (also known as morning glory and trumpeter vine, but Google says the invasive stuff is bindweed, it is a vine with white flowers). There are planter boxes in that mess, well, you can see them in the above picture. 

After 2 days and 6 bags of cheap potting soil, I transferred the roses to 10 gallon garden bags I bought off of Amazon.

I mowed the parts I could, and Damian weedeated the boxes.  Then I sprayed the hell out of the weeds with noxious weedkiller.  I know it's not ideal for a garden area where I plan to plant vegetables, but there's no way I will get rid of the clover and bindweed without chemicals.  Bindweed travels above and below ground, google says that it's roots could be 9 feet long and every time you pull it out, it strengthens the roots and it grows new shoots.  Also, if you leave even a small piece of a root, it will regrow, very hard to get rid of.  Google says chemicals applied regularly is the best way to kill it.  So I guess I will be destroying the ground for awhile and then will have to work on making it better once I can get rid of the stuff.  

This was taken from my balcony, the space between the fence and the planter box is where all the roses were.  It was a lot of work, but I love gardens and want to get as much done this fall that I can so I can start on it in the spring and hopefully have flowers at least.

We did have to stop on Saturday and take Maddox to his first soccer game, and I kept having to go back to Lowes to get potting soil.  6 cu. ft (2 bags) is not enough, I ended up buying 7 and used 6 bags.

Once I was done with that I decided I wanted to finish the fake wall tiles in my bathroom.  That has been a project I've worked on here and there since we closed on the house.  The first picture is after I painted and I had put up one peel and stick tile before remembering I should take before and after photos.  

And the vanity area.  There was a mirror, but we took it down to paint.

And this is the end of the peel-and-stick tile.  It turned out so good, although, I feel like I need a trim.  It looks even better with the shower curtain up.  

I had finished the vanity a long time ago, but here's the after.  Obviously I have a few things still to do, like hang the toilet paper holder and towel rods, but I'm so happy with how it turned out.  The counter looks messy in this picture, but it really isn't.  The back of the toilet is with all the things I need to finish.  I also have a hanging cabinet I want to hang up above the toilet, as well as the towel rods.

So that's how I spent my first weekend at home since moving in.  Also, I did not unpack even one box.  I guess that's a project for next weekend. 

Just Checking in

Well, I finally will have a weekend at home.  This last weekend I went to eastern WA for my sister in law's 40th birthday.  She has cerebral palsy and has been confined to a wheelchair her entire life.  She was not expected to live to her 20s and she just turned 40.  It was also the last weekend I have to go anywhere until October.  Which makes 6 weekends in a row that I have not been home.  

We did our big move the weekend of July 22nd.  Then July 29 and 30 we finished up cleaning and such at our old place.  That was the last time I was home for a weekend, the last weekend in July.  All 4 weekends in August I was gone, granted, the second weekend we were finishing up our normal August vacation, but still, not home.  

I am very excited to be home for a weekend.  There is so much to do.  We've lived here a month and a half and still have a garage full of boxes.  I have a garden I would really like to start getting rid of weeds in so that I can have at least a little garden next spring.  I want to be done with it all so I can fully enjoy my house and not have to think of all the things that still need to be done.

I am still running at least one mile a day, the miles have been short, August was only 48 miles, which means that I only ran 8 days out of 31 more than one mile, and no more than 3 miles at a time.  Today marks 1414 days in a row.  

I've pretty much decided that I'm going to end my streak.  This summer was a summer of short runs, mostly only one milers.  From June through August I only ran more than one mile 26 days, not even a full month's worth of runs.  So sometime in the middle of July I decided I'm going to get to 4 years and then end it.  November 1, 2018 was when I started my streak, so October 31, 2022 will be my last runstreak run.

Running isn't very much fun when you have to figure out every single day when you are going to run.  I don't like feeling like I HAVE to run every day, I'm tired of it.  I'm hoping that I will start to enjoy it again if I don't feel like I have to run.  I'm not sure how I feel when I end it.  I'm not going to quit running, it is the only exercise I do faithfully and I usually love it.  I just want the pressure of it to go away.  Maybe I'll start entering races again.  

Today's run was cold and I could feel the damp air.  It rained this morning, and i have to tell you that even though it's been a hotter than normal summer here, it started so late that I'm still not ready for fall.  I don't want to go back to rainy and cold days that makes up fall, winter and spring.  I really do like all seasons, but I don't like the constant rain, which encompasses 3 of 4 of them.

On my current running route I almost always pass a yard with beautiful flowers.  Today the owner of the yard was out cutting flowers so I said something to her. Her house is on the other side of the dog park that is right next to our yard, so basically a neighbor.  She was super friendly and showed me her backyard.  It is beautiful!!  She said it's her "covid yard"  They did most of the work on it in the last 2 and 1/2 years.  It gives me hope that maybe it won't be 10 years before mine looks good too (probably not as nice as hers though).  But she sent me home with some flowers.  They are beautiful, I definitely need to make friends with her.  😁

A busy August

A whole month with no posts, I haven't done that in forever. Also, my formatting is weird again, I don't know how to change it. I'm sorry! Last time it did this I couldn't add images either.

Well, that worked for you, I can't see it in editing mode though (which annoys me). 

Are any of you using Bloglovin'? I haven't been able to get on it which means I can't read any of the blogs I follow. It's quite annoying. Anyway, August was very hectic. We finished up moving and cleaning our old place at the end of July. Then I spent the first week in August going to my Dad's house with a uhaul to help my sister move into my dad's house and grab my stuff from there (inherited stuff), came back to unload, and went straight back to my dad's the next day to help my sister paint her room. (I was voluntold by another sister I had to help, although I had no help from them). Then we went to the Lake the second week of August for our vacation. Which was nice, but definitely not long enough.

I realized that I tend to take pictures of the same thing over and over, so I quit taking pictures. Looking at what I did take, I don't have very many this year and I can't find any of me in my favorite spot in the morning with a coffee cup, or in the evening with a wine glass. I thought I did, but I can't find them, so you're stuck with a bunch of sunset pictures, with a few others. 

The picture of my sister on my paddleboard was meant to capture her dog on the board. She was very reluctant to get on, but couldn't stand being so far from my sister. 🤣 After the hectic months of moving, and going to my Dad's to work there once a month, I am still feeling the affects of it. Although, that might also be because I have not been home for a weekend since July 30th. I was looking forward to one weekend at home, but then we found out before our vacation that Chris's Grandma died, so we had to go to her funeral the one weekend I had at home. 

The last weekend in August I had to go back to eastern WA to help my sister paint her son's room and visit with my Mom's cousin, which was a lot of fun. Then Labor Day weekend I went on an overnight hike with some friends, and guess what? Next weekend I have to go back to eastern WA for Chris's sister's 40th birthday party. That will be 6 weekends in a row I was not home. This means that I still have a house full of boxes that hasn't been unpacked. Plus, it is time to start working on my garden so it (hopefully) will be less work next spring, but I haven't had time. I have so many plans, I just can't get them all done. 😔 I may have some time at the end of September to do things at home, but who knows.

Moving sucks.

I can't tell you how much I love my new house. I also can't tell you how much I hate the moving process. We finally finished painting yesterday, but we have been taking boxes over there since we closed. We've stored them in the garage, but while I have been touching up the edges and missed areas of paint, my husband has started to move boxes into the living spaces. I've moved most of my clothes there, all but two work outfits, with shoes, are there, but my dresser still has some tshirts, pants, and underclothes (don't you just love that word?). The last 2 weeks I have spent 4-5 hours after work at the new place, and then all day on the weekends (although last weekend I was at my dad's house again). This weekend is it, we are going to spend Saturday and Sunday moving everything else into the house and officially move in. We still have our rental through next week, but we are going to get it empty and then clean it next week after work. We have our final walk through next Saturday with our landlord. Honestly, as excited as I am to have my new house, I am very sad to be leaving this one. We've lived here 7 years and 3 months. It's the longest I've been in one spot in my adult life. And before we lived in this house, we lived 3 blocks over, so I've been in this neighborhood for 14 years (minus 6 months when we had our "temporary" home in 2014). I will drastically miss my running routes, and my neighborhood. We are friendly with all our neighbors and our current house is on a quiet cul-de-sac (sorta) with a lot of kids. Although, I think Maddox is outgrowing them (they are all younger by at least a year or two), he's at that age where a year or two make a big difference. In a year or two, it won't be so big, but for now it is. I was sitting out on my hammock chair last night enjoying the evening (it was late, but I didn't want to go straight to bed after getting home from the other house) and was thinking about how much I love this area. And yesterday I went to downtown Mt. Vernon on the riverwalk and was thinking that I will miss that too. Yes, my new house is only 5 miles away, but it's a different town (they are separated by the Skagit River) and I won't be able to run along the riverwalk unless I drive there. I'm just sad to be leaving, even though I'm excited for my new house. I wish my new house was in Mt. Vernon, that's what I most wish. Enough of the pity party, I am happy to be moving into a house where we all have our own space. I just noticed that this may be one long run-on paragraph, I promise I hit enter a ton, I'm on my 6th paragraph, but it's acting funny today, I'm sorry.

June . . . and a new house

Ouch,  I haven't posted at all in June.  June 17th we closed on our house and got the key.  😀  I am super excited to have the house, but I am looking forward to the end of August, maybe September or October.  That is when we will be moved and in the house, and hopefully unpacked.  😂  We are staying in our current house through July so that we can paint and get things done in our new house.  

Honestly, I love the house.  Chris has been worried about finances, but my sister had a great idea to start acting like we are paying a bigger mortgage already several months ago to see if we can afford a house. So I've been putting what we will have to pay in mortgage in our savings for several months and we haven't had any problems financially.  Bonus is that now we have a little extra for the stuff we are doing in the house.  

The last two weekends we've spent painting and mowing the lawn. The day we closed, Friday, I realized that it was Berry Dairy Days in Burlington (where our house is) (Berry Dairy Days is my second and fastest half marathon) and there would be fireworks that night. The park where they would be set off is not very far from our house, and our deck faces it, so Maddox and I decided to stay the night at the house.  We ran home and grabbed a blowup mattress and things to stay the night.  Unfortunately there was a tree in the way of the fireworks, but we were able to see some of it.  On Saturday Chris and I spent 5+ hours mowing and weed eating.  I know those are not necessary to move in, but I thought if we didn't do it first thing, it would only get worse.  The grass was up to our knees.  We had to have our mower at the highest level and then we basically mowed everything 3 times, forward, backward, forward again.  

Did I mention Saturday was also Maddox's birthday?  and don't forget Father's day on Sunday.  One of Maddox's birthday presents was a trampoline, which he's wanted for years.  So we also put that up, again, not something necessary for move-in, but a small thing to make Maddox feel special.  

Sunday we did some more yard work and got paint, and Damian and I spent Monday (Juneteenth) painting the living room.

This last weekend we painted the dining room and the three upstairs bedrooms. And Damian did Asher's room on Monday (his normal day off).  I'm so excited to get it done.  We need to do the two bathrooms, kitchen, and my closet.  Then Damian's space downstairs.  I'm hoping to get everything done before the weekend of the 22nd, and then we move all our stuff that weekend, and clean our current place the last week of July. 

Maddox's very bright
colors in his room.

The color selections for my room, 
I decided on the light green that is
painted on the wall and barely
visible.

Sunday was Chris's birthday and we had reservations so had to stop early. If we hadn't we probably would have gotten a little more done.  

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we had already had plans to go to the Lake, which as you know we always go (and are still going to go this year) in August.  So nothing will be done at the house this weekend.  Then I'm going to my parent's house the 15th of July to finish cleaning out their house, so that's another weekend I'm gone.  Basically, that means I have one full weekend in the house before I want to move.  We shall see what happens.  It means that I will likely have many late evenings at the house finishing up the house . . . not to mention, we also are still packing up our current house.  It might actually be easier to just move all in one weekend, rather than over a month.  I still have to have clothes and makeup and food and  . . . everything . . . in our current house.  Oh, and I forgot, we have to buy Maddox two mattresses for his bed (a bunkbed with a futon on the bottom).  

We need to do the kitchen, which we know the color for, the two bathrooms and my closet.  Not to mention all of the downstairs, but Damian was able to get one room down there done on Monday.  We have to paint the ceilings down there because for some reason they started (very strangely) to paint it white over a light green, but followed no rhyme or reason, so some of the ceiling was painted and most of it is still green, but it's patchy.  

Yesterday I got Maddox registered for school and soccer in Burlington, so that is good.  The school is very close, so Maddox could ride his bike there if he wanted (and I think he does).  The school is a K-8, which might actually be a benefit to him.  6th grade in Mount Vernon is now Middle School (when Damian was that age he didn't move to Jr. High until 7th grade) but in Burlington, in the school Maddox is going to 6th grade is a "transition" year, which he had in 5th grade in Mt. Vernon, but I think another year like that would be very good for him.  

Anyway, things are moving along here.  I'm still running, by the way.  Today is day 1336 in my runstreak.

News!

 Yeah, so it's obvious I quit doing my accountability posts.  I just went back and reread my last post and you can tell that I was over it at that time.  Like I said in that post (almost a month ago) it's silly to just keep talking about weight loss that's not losing.  Today I sit at the same weight I was in March, so that's two and a half months of trying and not succeeding.  

But . . . I do have good news.

We are pending on a house!  We put in an offer on Monday and it was accepted on Tuesday.  Now we are in the process of getting the loan and the appraisal and all of that.  It is very stressful. 

It says it's a three bedroom, but there are two bedrooms downstairs with living space.  The negative is that there is no bathroom downstairs, so Damian and Asher will have to come upstairs for that.  I'm excited and scared.  It will be nice to have enough space for all of us, but I'm terrified of the mortgage payments, seriously they are ridiculous.  

Look at this kitchen! I've never had a kitchen this size.  Our current kitchen is barely big enough for 2 people, and most likely you're in the way of the other person.  Our whole family could be in this kitchen and not be in the way of anyone else.  

The dining area is small, but it's bigger than our current dining area.  I wish they would leave their furniture, it's beautiful.

It's a fully fenced back yard, with space for my pool.  Maddox REALLY wants a trampoline, so we may get him one for his birthday, which is the day after our closing date.

With a garden!  Look at this garden!  It is wonderful, needs a lot of work, but I don't have to make the beds!

And the deck, oh my word, I love it.  The grassy area you see is a park, so that's another bonus.  The back of the house is adjacent to a mostly empty (but owned) lot that has trees and lots of brush.  The side is the same and is at the end of a dead end road, the only neighbors are at the front of the house.  It's a small gravel road that only has three other houses on it, but it really is rather perfect.  

Other than it is in Burlington, which is the neighboring town.  It means that Maddox will have to move schools, but he's going into middle school, so maybe it won't be bad.  We've lived in our current house for 7 years, the longest I've been in a house in my adult life.  It's also the only house Maddox remembers, so it will be difficult to leave.  I think Maddox will miss it, and his friends, a lot more than he realizes.  He's got quite a group of friends here.  But he's not shy at all, so hopefully will make new friends quickly (I hope there's kids on the small road we'll live on).

Accountability wk 6

 Writing an accountability post on Friday is terrible.  I don't always have time, plus it seems ridiculous that I'm the same weight.  Last week I did really, really well and my weight still ended up being 156.  I was so excited on Wednesday when I saw 155 but by Friday it had gone up again.  So what is the point of these posts?  

I thought that writing about it weekly would make me better.  And I have been better, but I don't think it's because I'm writing about it.  I am back to weighing in every day and writing it down. I did that 7 years ago when I got down to my goal weight, and it kept me on track. I only quit because even though I was at a good weight, I still obsessed about it so I quit. 

I suppose that I could say that it is succeeding because I've lost 1lb since the beginning of March, really since my last weigh-in in March was 157.4, that means that I've lost less than a pound since the end of March.  

I am still eating and drinking too much on the weekends.  I cut way back on my alcohol, even on the weekend, but don't do very good with food on weekends.  I really think that is my problem, the weekend.  I do very good throughout the week (she says as she eats a handful of jelly beans . . . seriously, jelly beans are delicious!).  

I get really frustrated.  I am obviously doing something wrong.  When I lost weight previously I was 36-39.  I really do feel like it is an age thing.  It is true that as you age, it gets harder and harder.  It makes me wish I had been this dedicated in my 20s and early 30s.  I was never big, but I was 180 and at 5'4" that is too big for me.  This week (two days so far) I have not been as good as I have been for the last 2 weeks, probably because I'm frustrated with my lack of loss.  I need to quit being frustrated and realize that it's my fault.  I'm obviously not doing as great as I think I am.  

I do feel guilty for complaining about my weight, my current weight is some people's goal weight, and that is okay.  I want them to succeed, but I have to tell myself this is my story and I am the one writing it.  

Today was day 1273 in my running streak.

Grand Canyon

 Wow! What a week!  We spent 3 days at the Grand Canyon even though we were gone for 5 days, 2 of those were spent traveling.  We were on the south rim, and stayed in the town of Tusayan. We spent 8+ hours at the Grand Canyon every day.  It was fun, and exhausting.  Between the pictures I took and the pictures my sisters took, I have over 200 pictures.  I obviously won't be posting all of them, but I will do a photo dump here.  You're welcome.  😉

This last picture is so funny because our room service only made one bed.  All week we never had a bed made and the last day we get back and my sister's bed was made, but not mine.  

I am not scared, at all, of edges.  I will go to the very edge and look straight down, I had maybe 2 or 3 times where I was like woah! but it was rare, and it wasn't bad enough that I would back away.  Sadly, those pictures were taken by my sisters and apparently didn't get backed up to my Google account.  The selfies included above were all on an edge.  

The second day my sister, Nancy, and I waked down the Bright Angel Trail.  It was the main trail to the bottom when people were mining there.  We wanted to get to the first rest stop, which was supposedly a mile and a half down the trail.  However, I turned on my Garmin and when we hit a mile and a half, we were not at the rest stop.  We didn't know how much farther it was, and we were a little worried about the uphill, so we turned around.  One of the spots we stopped at on the third day overlooked the trail and we could see where we turned around and where the stop was.  Sadly we were only about a quarter of a mile away.  We totally could have done it, but we just didn't know.  If I ever go back, I want to hike to the bottom, which would require an overnight stay.