American Discovery Trail: Near Brandon, Iowa

Ocean Shores, Washington

Population 341, and home to the world's largest frying pan. I do not have a picture of the frying pan here, because that seems like a dubious honor. Seems a little gimmicky, but maybe that's just me.

My walking continues, but continues to be lackluster. I have two excuses though: First, I played a lot of bridge this week, and though I took long walks on the beach on Wednesday and Thursday, bridge does not naturally lend itself to lots of walking, so other days my steps were low. Second, my hip continues to bother me, although it is slowly getting better, so I have cut back on my distances. On days when I walk a long way (I put in almost 15,000 steps on Wednesday, mostly on the beach), the hip begins to ache, so I am trying to rest it while still putting in some steps, balancing exercise versus rest.

The bridge is going well - I am not sure that I can keep up this pace, but if I do, I will make it to Life Master in about two years. The tournament in Ocean Shores this week was a huge success, leaving me with over 42 gold points out of the 50 I need for Life Master, so I have earned 42 this year and need 8 more in the next two years. Really, it's going well.