On The Road During Semana Santa 2019 - Part 1

We were not exactly sure what Semana Santa held for us this year until the kid's SUP Team coaches put out the idea of going to the USA for a race in North Carolina.  Coach Bicho was going to be competing again so our question to Alex and Trace was, "Do you want to race"?  The answer came back an affirmative "Yes" so a few days into Mexico's Spring Break we headed off to the airport.

The hope was to take the kid's new boards, paddles and other gear to Atlanta and from there rent a car and head north 3.5-4 hours or so to Ashley's parent's house in South Carolina.  Their house was a great mid-way stopping point between Atlanta and the race location in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.  We had not seen the Templetons for a few years so the plan of an SUP race coupled with a grandparent visit was put in motion.

After successfully getting seats on a flight out of Puerto Vallarta, we ended up with a brand new upgraded rental in Atlanta and we were off just before dark!  Not far down the road I could see that the loaded boards were shifting on the rooftop.  There was a permanent rooftop antennae at the rear of the cab which prevented us from putting the boards down the middle of the car.  So after several freak outs, a few board loading ideas, lots of time wasted strapping and re-strapping the boards to the roof we settled on a side by side load that still caused me some frayed nerves.  Even at 60 mph it felt like the boards would fly off so we ended up going north very slowly and we eventually arrived at 1am in Columbia, South Carolina.

One of our goals while in Columbia was to get the kids on their race boards for a paddle.  The nearest place to do that was Lake Murray about a half hour from Ashley's parent's place.  We had contacted a SUP outfit called California Republic and met up with the owner, Steve, who was happy to go out for a paddle with the kids and safely show them around the lake.  The kids really have no experience paddling on a busy water way where there are boats zipping around.  The morning we met up with Steve was grey, cold, windy and drizzly so while the kids dealt with the conditions Ashley and I found some coffee and sat in the warm SUV.  The water was flat but the headwind on the return trip of the paddle was tough and Trace was less than impressed with the morning's 6 mile outing but the kids got some needed paddle time and that was the goal.  What we did realize is that we are woefully unprepared for cooler paddle temperatures and perhaps rain.  A quick trip to get the kids outfitted with some colder weather gear was needed as well.

Paddling with California Republic

We spent most of the week doing some shopping, shopping some more, running around, going to church functions(at Grammy's request), yard work and meeting up with some of Ashley's friends that still live in the area.  Needless to say we did not get sit still long enough to get bored and it felt like we were always getting ready to go do something.  The kids clean up pretty well in their new clothes as the photos below show.

Trace dressed up and ready for church.  Yes, he did wear shoes eventually.

Alex in her awesome new dress.

Trace's new "dry land" passion is basketball so we picked up a ball for him and found a local playground where he could shoot a bit.  One of the afternoons we were at the playground court when the boys from the after school program came out to play and before Trace knew it he was a designated captain to select a team for some local "pick up" games.  It was great to have him included and get some game experience especially since the boy's style of play was a little bit different than he was use to back in Mexico.

Trace playing some playground pick up with the boys.

Ashley's friends in Columbia are good people and we look forward to hanging out with them when we come to town.  Ashley makes sure I am along so I can drive her home since "the girls" like to party it up a bit.

We took this crew bowling too and then out for beer and wings at the joint where Ashley worked during college.  Ozzy was top scorer at 154 after not bowling for almost 10 years.  Let's just say that, with the exception of a few turns like this one we can honestly Alex can dance and paddle a whole lot better than she bowls.

After a day going for a short hike in a nearby state park and some last minute shopping we packed up and were off to Wrightsville Beach to check-in to the Blockade Runner Resort.  Only a 3.5 hour drive away from Columbia, we were happy about our short travel day since it allowed us to get the kids out on the water late in the afternoon.

A blog post about the race coming soon!