3 Ring Circus: A Wirlwind Weekend For The Books.....the Marathon, Coachella and Coronado Island

I have an AMAZING husband....okay, that is obvious just for the pure fact that he has put up with me for the last 17 years, but I am referring to his running.

He has now ran his 10th marathon, and is registered for another one this September...(Kauai....here we come!!)

He trains hard for months, sacrifices sleep and playtime just so he can take on this monster

and accomplish a goal that very few people can claim to have done.

In my eyes, he is nothing short of AMAZING.

Look, it looks like he is giving us the ol' thumbs up!!

While Gabe was pounding the 26.2 miles of pavement, Melissa and I ran our first 5k.

That maybe nothing compared to the marathon, but to me it was a major accomplishment, and one I plan to continue until I can post a time worthy of all the blood sweat and tears it takes a gal like me to do. I am so happy I shared that with Melissa, she is an amazing friend, and I miss her, so having 3.1 miles to just talk to her was something I loved.

Immediately following the marathon, we headed home so Gabe could have an ice bath before we headed to the airport. That's right, within 2 hours of running the marathon, we were at the airport catching a flight to San Diego for an extraordinary weekend that I will never forget.

A little sleepy Gabe?

The plane was so empty, we were actually able to have a whole row to ourselves, which was really nice for Gabe to be able to stretch his legs out and relax before we arrived.

San Diego is one of our favorite cities in the world!!
Even a short 2 day trip is so worth the time and stress it takes to get us there.
Who couldn't be happy with a pretty little flower greeting us at the airport that looks like something out of a Dr. Suess book?

We decided to stay in San Diego for the night instead of driving right to Indio to see The Cure play Coachella the next day. A few days before we left, I booked us a room at the Crown Plaza, and I am so glad we did. The room was beautiful, the view was spectacular, and the bed could equally be compared to sleeping on a cloud.

After we checked in, we headed to India Palace, our all time favorite Indian restaurant that we visit every time we come. We then picked up a few things at Whole Foods and Target that we would need for the next day before heading back to our heavenly bed for the night.

We both woke up early the next morning, well rested and decided to take our time before hitting the road. We stopped for some bagels and Jamba Juice before hitting the road for the 2 1/2 drive that awaited us.

The drive to Indio seemed to last forever, and as much as I appreciate the GPS we brought, I was sick of listening to 'Robot Lady' tell me what to do. I never was much for authority!
As soon as we met up with Kim in Palm Springs, we headed to Indio for Coachella, which was going to be an insane day full of hot sun, awesome bands and
crowds like I have never seen before.

Here is a cute car that passed us while we were in line to park.

I had to post the picture of the a/c knob Kim accidentally broke by pushing it all the way into the dash. I did not however get a picture if the cone she ran over, or the car she cut off......silly Kimmy, good thing she bought the insurance!!

The lines to get into the venue were insane, and the crowds inside were even worse, but hey what did I expect, there were 150,000 people there! We picked up a Cure shirt and looked for a Drive by Truckers shirt for Gabe that Kim didn't buy the day before, but unfortunately, they were not selling them on Sunday.

This is what $6.00 looks like, a bottle of Gatorade and Water. It actually wasn't a bad price considering what a lot of venues charge.

Earplugs were also a must!!

They had a lot of artsy fartsy stuff around, and one of the things I loved the most was the

golf cart they decorated for Amy Winehouse. She was actually suppose to perform at Coachella,

but didn't.....big surprise!

Kim and I waiting under a tent for the next band to come on.

Gabe and I

Gabe and Kim

I took this picture as we were headed to the main Coachella stage, where we planned to sit our butts down and wait until The Cure came on...(4 hours later)

I can not even begin to describe how big it was, and none of the pictures I took do it justice. There were 6 stages with bands playing at all times. There were drinking areas set-up, and mini dance clubs all over. It was crazy. They had a section in the middle you could go to and get hosed down to cool off from the blazing sun.

Finally we have arrived at the main stage!

The view of the sunset was spectacular.

Kim was either sick of waiting for The Cure to come on, or she was sick of me taking her picture. I would say it was a little of both.

I took this picture on the west side of where we were sitting.

All along the side were drinking stations and a sea of people for as far as the eye could see.

The Yeah, Yeah Yeah's were great.

Her outfit was by far the coolest thing I have ever seen and her voice was amazing.

FINALLY!! The reason we were crazy enough to sit in the desert all day sweating ....

THE CURE

All the pictures I took were of the screens, because there was no way I could have gotten a decent picture of them on the actual stage.

They played for about 2 1/2 hours. They did an amazing job, and it was all worth it in the end. After their second encore, they were told the could only play one more song, but apparently Robert was still annoyed from being cut short when they played in Vegas the Friday before and didn't want to stop playing for us. As he started to sing 'Boys Don't Cry', they cut the sound. He still played and everyone rushed the stage and sang out loud with him. Even as they turned off the screens and turned on the lights, he still sang three more songs.

It was a monumental moment, and I was so happy to have been there for it!!

Take us home and put us to bed!!

As we left, people started jumping all over some of the art they had set-up,

and ripping it apart.

Those crazy kids!

I turned around one more time to get a glimpse of the massive amount of people leaving, and again, the pictures just do not do it justice!

We went back to Palm Springs and slept for a few hours before we headed back to San Diego.

It was going to be a long drive considering the night we had before, but at last.......

Coronado awaits!!

Gabe and I headed right to one of our favorite places in San Diego....Coronado Island where we spent the last remaining hours of our trip before heading back to Salt Lake City.

We just layed back and ran our fingers through the soft sand while listening to the ocean