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In search of clean clothes!

I promise I will tell you about my laundry experience in a moment, but first Sweden. If you ever get the chance to go to Are, Sweden...do it! It is beautiful, the people are amazing and the best bakery in the entire world (and I have been to all of them:) is located there. So, go and see Greger and Lena at Are Bageri, get yourself absolutely anything from the menu...you won't be disappointed, and sit in there beautiful bakery and relax. Greger took us on a tour of where they make all the pastries and cakes and it was unbelievable. Thanks Greger...for the tour, and feeding us amazing food all week! Also while you are there...because of course you are all booking your tickets right now, you need to go and see Claus and Anna at their restaurant to cook up some reindeer meat on the hot rocks...such a cool experience. Moving on from food, and onto skiing! It's been a bit of a challenge for me to get back into competition mode after the Olympics but I was happy with how I skied in Sweden and ended up 4th in singles and 6th in duals. After the events in Sweden we hopped in a taxi and headed to the airport...back through Amsterdam, on to Paris, before arriving at our "final" destination in Malaga, Spain. Shannon and I, after being on the road since Febraury 1st, decided it would be a good idea to jump into the rental van and find a place to do our laundry. The lady at the front desk told us to look for the Carrefour, we couldn't miss it, and gave us directions to go to "the roundabout" and we would see it on the right. Let me tell you, Malaga is a series of roundabouts, and it is not easy to get anywhere. About 45 minutes later, we ended up at a completely different Carrefour and found a dry cleaning place that was willing to do all of our laundry and have it ready in three hours. Great! All we had to do was find it again:) After exploring our way back to the hotel, with only a few wrong turns, we noticed some common trends about Malaga. If you see where you want to go, especially if it is on your left, your best bet is to get into the farthest right lane and hope that you come to one of those amazing roundabouts Also, it is never "easy" to find a place, and it is guaranteed to be a one way the wrong direction of where you want to go. Heading back from the hotel to pick up our laundry, Shannon and I were like locals, absolute pros, and found it with only one wrong turn, which we were able to correct very quickly. 25 Euros later it was 110% worth the entire experience...it was so exciting to pick up and put on clean clothes! After that stop, we proceeded to navigate our way to Sierra Nevada, Spain. We drove along the coast, it was absolutely beautiful, stopped at a great crepe place for lunch, and checked into our hotel. We compete tomorrow in the last World Cup of the year. It is sunny and gorgeous and feels like spring! After that I finally get to go home and sleep in my own bed after being gone since February 1st...woohoo! Three days at home and then I'm off to National Championships at Squaw. What a tour it has been!