Singed soles, dog vacation

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The trip to the other coast went well, we hit some traffic, not much and got there in around 2 hours and 15 minutes. We were staying at a Days Inn that was right on the beach. I read ahead of time some less than stellar reviews regarding this hotel on the web so I knew it wasn’t going to be 5 stars. It was funny seeing Nicki’s reaction, she was checking everything out and seemed to be having fun. The room was ok. It was basically clean. The only bad parts were the bathroom was rather gross and the TV was shitty. Oh and the AC unit rattled and carried on like it was ready to blow up. We didn’t get settled in until after 7 and we still hadn’t eaten. Not knowing the area and since we had the dog with, we decided to just have pizza delivered.

Walking Nicki around the area for bathroom runs was a challenge. There were the smells from many dogs everywhere. It turned out her bathroom of choice was out on the beach. It actually was better that way, easier to clean up. As I walked her I was surprised to look over the fence and see the tournament was set up right next door! I knew we were close, didn’t know we were that close. I didn’t get to sleep until around 11.

I didn’t sleep great but not bad considering the AC noise and sleeping in a foreign bed. I ran out and got pop tarts and milk for a makeshift breakfast. It was beautiful day. We had to come up with some sort of plan on how to have Ali be able to watch the tournament and Nicki at the same time. The beach where the tournament was did not allow dogs, the beach in front of the hotel did. So what we did was initially set up an umbrella and blanket for Alison and Nicki in an area where they could see the tournament from the dog beach. When I actually played Alison would take Nicki to the room to hang out for a bit. This logistically was a bit of a pain and would only work up until 1pm when we had to check out.

The tournament was going pretty well for us. We played more good than bad and were progressing through the games. The sand started to get incredibly hot. By mid-day you had to sprint across the sand to avoid severe burns on your soles. The thermometer hit 95 degrees. The heat was taking it’s toll. I was really feeling it.

1pm came so we had to come up with phase 2 of the dog plan. We decided to try to smuggle her onto the tournament beach. We set up a pop up canopy that sat low to the ground and blocked the view from 3 sides. We figured, worst case, if someone said something we could move them to the dog beach. It worked out ok. Nicki kept quiet and just hung out.

We finished 3-1 on our net which meant we got into the playoffs. I didn’t play as well as I wanted to but we still won games, a good thing. The sand, besides being hot was also deep which threw off my timing as I tried to move and jump. I lost my temper a few times getting furious at myself for screwing up what should be some easy plays. Even so we were in the 8 team playoff. We were seeded 6th. We won our first playoff game in relatively easy form. We consistently served the weaker hitter. That meant we were in the semi-finals. That game was a long back and forth battle. Both players jump served consistently and did a good job of it. We wound up losing 25-23. Bummer. Oh well at least now I can rest. My partner tells me to get ready for the 3-4 playoff. What? I forgot that they playoff to determine 3rd and 4th place. Argh. So after a bit of a rest we took on 2 young guys. During this match one of the blisters on my feet opened up, making it very painful to move around. Even so we played consistently enough to wear them down and won the game, securing third place. Yippee.

The reward for our effort was a monogrammed BudLight towel. We also grabbed 2 Bud Lights. They were handing out free beer all day, however that is the last thing you should be drinking when you are dying in the heat. The tournament was well run and the layout was impressive as hell. It looked like an AVP tournament. I saw a couple of guys that Rich and I played 2 years ago. We had a bad experience with them as they were bad sports that argued a crucial call in our playoff game. Ironically, they did the same thing in 2 of the playoff games they were in. I didn’t get to play them this time, but I would love to get a second crack at them to get some revenge. I don’t know if they even remembered me, probably not.

There was only one nickname generated during the day. Coming up with them was Rich’s specialty so I miss that aspect of playing. After play was over, Ali and I both used the hotels shower and pool facilities to clean up somewhat, even though we were checked out. Sneaky. We did not get home until after 9pm, a very long day. The “bring the dog” experiment turned out well. It was a great little trip. It made us feel better about the idea of taking her along to the timeshare as well.

On Sunday I woke up with surprisingly few aches and pains except for 2 throbbing feet. Unfortunately I had a shitload of things that that had been neglected that I wanted to get taken care of. We busted our ass for most of the day even though neither of us really felt up to it. My bro and sis-in-law are coming down this week so I needed to get the house in at least half decent shape. It would be nice to have a short Monday blog entry once in awhile.