Day 23: OUCH!!

After our fun visit with Angela and the kids, we drove a day through the desert to visit Mark's mom, LaVerne, in Atascadero, California. Oh, it was wonderful to be back on the coast, with the pleasant marine air! We spent a full day puttering on "handyman" projects at her home, and throughly enjoyed our peaceful time with this very dear lady. (Sadly, I was so happy and peaceful that I completely forgot to pull out the camera...) On our last evening with her, we went next door to play pool at her neighbor's house. Hahaha! Haven't done that since the one time I tried as a teenager. I was definitely the novice in the group. Mark was whacking the balls quite expertly into the pockets, and even LaVerne knew how to set up a shot. It felt like some huge physics problem--which angle? How hard to (try to) hit? I am pleased to report that I did successfully get 3 or 4 balls into pockets over the course of the evening. Maybe I'll have to try that again sometime...

Then yesterday morning we climbed into the car for the drive north, and home. We planned to take two days for the trip, so we decided to take a little play-rest stop on our way to visit The Pinnacles, a place both of us remembered vaguely from childhood family outings. We loved it then...would we still love it now?

Oh, yes, WE DID! The Pinnacles National Monument is an amazing place. It met every expectation we had hoped for.

Oh, we had a glorious 2-mile hike. We congratulated ourselves over and over for taking the time to play on our long drive, and we were almost back to the car when...

I tripped. I tripped on one rock and, in falling, promptly face-planted into another rock. Gravity works oh-so-well. You know how head wounds bleed? Mine was classic. Blood everywhere, from my face, out of my nose, oh my, oh my. Could I walk? Yes. Mark sacrificed his hankie so I could try to stanch the flow(s) and we made our careful way back to the car. Took about 15 minutes of hiking. At the car we pulled ice out of the ice chest and loaded me up with Ibuprofen, and Mark drove the 30 minutes north to Hollister, the nearest town.

They DO have a nice, new ER facility at the Hollister hospital. We spent about 3 1/2 hours there. Turns out I have a broken nose. My facial wounds were all "superficial" and the doctor superglued the two worst, rather than doing stitches.

My present appearance garners lots of sympathy, but I must say that I look WAY worse than I feel. (I've posted a photo from the ER, but you'll have to scroll down a ways to see it. Don't look if you don't want to.) They gave me a prescription for pain meds, but I'm doing fine on the regular Ibuprofen dose, and I'm actually only taking that to help with the inflammation and swelling, not because I hurt a lot.

We stayed in a comfortable motel near Redding last night, and now we're loading our suitcases into the car...one last time...and we'll be home in 7 hours or so.

No more adventures today. Haha! Oregon City, here we come!!

How do I feel? Ummm...kind of stupid. Sort of like Bride of Frankenstein. But you know what? I'm still glad we took that hike. I had an accident, which could have happened anywhere. What fun would it be to live life afraid of what might happen? And mostly I feel grateful. My injuries aren't severe. My glasses didn't break. I don't hurt (amazing!). And I have my wonderful sweetheart, Mark, who helped me all along.