Tanya's Daily ScoopHappy Monday!Too many people start of the week with Monday blues; Ho Hum...Why people?! Wake up! It's the beginning of a new week, why not start it off HAPPY! I just can't understand the dread. Some people actually even ruin their own weekend (namely Sunday) because they are dreading Monday and the beginning of a new week. SURE - that makes plenty of sense to me - ruin your day off, because you aren't looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Come on now! Well, like little orphan Annie, I say "The sun will come out tomorrow"! Beginnings are suppose to be exciting, fun, and exuberant! Where is the LA JOIE DE LA VIE? Personally I think it's lost when the individual is lost and not living the life that they are meant to be living! Ya know - living in... THE BOX? Just a cut out of society. Following the advice of other miserable people. You know who I'm talking about.. Be the change you want to see! Get out there and dance! Shake that A$$...You'll feel better for it! I've got tons on my to-do list for today, some of which are putting together a travel proposal for The International Peace Choir, for them (and us) to go to Disney World in Feb 2015! Fingers crossed! I'm on their board of directors and we have an Associates meeting tonight, along with a vote on travel and one for a new board (I'm running again). Both Dominic and Cosette have been singing as Ambassadors with this choir since they were 6 and 5 years old. It's a wonderful organization and I love helping them and anybody else with their travel needs! I'm also doing a featured post for another site (hopefully we'll get some new followers from this awesome opportunity) and I'm going to bang out a Recap of my Fun Filled Weekend - which you'll find right here on this page later on today! And so much much more! So off I go, gotta go Shake my A$$! ~T | Elisa's Daily ScoopMonday Photo FrenzyI woke up to yet another gorgeous, sunny, crisp day here on Long Island! Makes getting up at an un-godly hour to get the kids to school more bearable. Lots happening today on Travelin' Cousins. First, Tanya is going to re-cap her fun-filled weekend of biking and festivals! While she was busy traveling around the past few days, I was busy writing lots of travel blogs to be posted throughout the week, including a segment of Foodie Fridays and Elisa's Trip to Picturesque Prague and Imperial Vienna Part 2! During our unending stream of texts this weekend, Tanya and I also planned some great improvements for our site which will include lots more slide shows on our various themed blog pages. We are especially excited about this as the selection of photos will be themed to the subject matter of the Blog Topic pages, respectively. Keep checking back to see our progress! Now I'm off to start digging through hundreds of old photos for some Throwback Thursdays posts I'm working on!! Here's to my day of scanning away!! -E |
My weekend recap -
Feeling the burn in Catalina and Having fun at the Sicilian Festival in San Diego
Another stay-cation weekend down in the books!
So while I don't exactly stay home on these stay-cation weekends, I do stay fairly local.
And this weekend I started off with going to Santa Catalina Island.
We had the bikes loaded and took off for the Long Beach Catalina Express. We made good time getting there and just hung out in the terminal until it was time to board the Catamaran that would take us to our home for the night. Arriving at the docks in Avalon, dry, safe and sound...and with no adventures on the way over!
We walked and headed over from the docks to Crescent Ave in search of our hotel The Snug Harbor Inn on Sumner Ave. We happened to be the last to check in (do you see a trend here?!..lol) We were shown to our room - the best room on the entire island! Great location & great view! And then in the blink of an eye the office closed! Wow, that was FAST!
Not having dinner yet, we were hungry; but from the previous research that was done regarding vegan eats here on Catalina - there wasn't much to choose from, especially late at night. So I had planned ahead and earlier in the day I placed a take out order from Freesoul Caffe for us to bring along. Once we were all settled in, we sat down and enjoyed our late but still very yummy dinner!
Well, if you have been keeping up with us here on 'The Daily', you would know that Dave and I were visiting Catalina primarily to race in the Gran Fondo bike ride.
I decided to stay at this award winning quaint luxury boutique hotel which has only 6 rooms and is located on the second floor of this beachfront property. We both thoroughly enjoyed staying in the Santa Catalina room. And would never stay elsewhere. Absolutely lovely, that's all I can say!
Lucky for us this race didn't start at the crack of dawn as they usually do. So we were able to wake up comfortably and have a nice relaxing morning taking in the sights and sounds of harbor that were just outside of our windows, I even got to watch a playful little seal bobbing around in the bay!
Then it was time to get serious! Get into race mode! Yea right - I don't race mountain bikes!
I'm self admittedly going for a scenic tour and I don't care who gets in front of me. So we checked out, stored our luggage and went to collect our bib numbers and goodie bags (which were conveniently right outside the hotel!)
We then hopped on our bikes and went in the direction of the Casino, where the starting line was located.
So while I don't exactly stay home on these stay-cation weekends, I do stay fairly local.
And this weekend I started off with going to Santa Catalina Island.
We had the bikes loaded and took off for the Long Beach Catalina Express. We made good time getting there and just hung out in the terminal until it was time to board the Catamaran that would take us to our home for the night. Arriving at the docks in Avalon, dry, safe and sound...and with no adventures on the way over!
We walked and headed over from the docks to Crescent Ave in search of our hotel The Snug Harbor Inn on Sumner Ave. We happened to be the last to check in (do you see a trend here?!..lol) We were shown to our room - the best room on the entire island! Great location & great view! And then in the blink of an eye the office closed! Wow, that was FAST!
Not having dinner yet, we were hungry; but from the previous research that was done regarding vegan eats here on Catalina - there wasn't much to choose from, especially late at night. So I had planned ahead and earlier in the day I placed a take out order from Freesoul Caffe for us to bring along. Once we were all settled in, we sat down and enjoyed our late but still very yummy dinner!
Well, if you have been keeping up with us here on 'The Daily', you would know that Dave and I were visiting Catalina primarily to race in the Gran Fondo bike ride.
I decided to stay at this award winning quaint luxury boutique hotel which has only 6 rooms and is located on the second floor of this beachfront property. We both thoroughly enjoyed staying in the Santa Catalina room. And would never stay elsewhere. Absolutely lovely, that's all I can say!
Lucky for us this race didn't start at the crack of dawn as they usually do. So we were able to wake up comfortably and have a nice relaxing morning taking in the sights and sounds of harbor that were just outside of our windows, I even got to watch a playful little seal bobbing around in the bay!
Then it was time to get serious! Get into race mode! Yea right - I don't race mountain bikes!
I'm self admittedly going for a scenic tour and I don't care who gets in front of me. So we checked out, stored our luggage and went to collect our bib numbers and goodie bags (which were conveniently right outside the hotel!)
We then hopped on our bikes and went in the direction of the Casino, where the starting line was located.
Now we were amongst the silly, the fun and the SERIOUS, and all ready to go! Then with an on time start of 10AM we were off! And with no time to waste we started the uphill...the never ending uphill. I was doing okay until we started climbing! Then people of all shapes and sizes were passing me, as I huffed and puffed and grinded up the Eucalyptus tree lined trail on the never ending path of this Gran Fondo!
I'm gonna be taking plenty of "picture taking" breaks (where I text Elisa). I am staying very well hydrated, but yet the only thing I have going for me is that I refuse to get off and walk the bike (which some of these people are doing).
CRAP...I'm cursing an awful lot and coming up with some very interesting profanities (all in my head)!
This is Grueling, and I'm pulling up the rear!
Eventually the sweeper catches up to me and I jokingly tell him that I'm going for the "most lame" or "pathetic" medal! He was overall very encouraging and wanted to be certain that we were both staying hydrated, I assured him that we were, and that my only mistake was not being more hydrated the day prior to the race. He reminded me that another mistake I made was not training for this ride for the past six months! True you got me there. But I did inform him that I wasn't able to, and that I was just barely recovering from a torn MCL.
Now, as I was appreciating every extra moment of this breather, a first aid/support vehicle had drove past us heading downhill with a cyclist with his arm in a sling - no bueno!
We then continued, and with only 1/4 of a mile to go before the first rest station (only 3 miles in).
I pushed and pedaled my way up. Damn that was a tough 3 miles! 11 miles to go! UGH!!!
The volunteers at the rest station were all welcoming and offering us fresh fruit, water, and smoothies (with dairy), so I opted for a couple of slices of crisp sweet watermelon.
As I took this break and we filled up our camelbacks and water bottles, started conversing with other sweepers and ride coordinators. I happened to mention how I was just glad that the BIG climb was behind me, they mentioned how 50-60% of this route is climbing and that I have another upcoming climb ahead of me which is even worse! The sweeper explained how she rides all the time, but for "that" climb, she has to hike her bike up the exposed hill. Exposed to the sun with no shade at all. She went on to scare me (I’m sure unintentionally) about how it was 110 degrees out there and how several riders in last years ride went home with IVs and some even worse. YIKES!! What the hell am I doing??? I was still game for a ride, I’m not ready to quit, but I’m not doing that hellified route - smh (shaking my head) - nope nope nope.
I'm gonna be taking plenty of "picture taking" breaks (where I text Elisa). I am staying very well hydrated, but yet the only thing I have going for me is that I refuse to get off and walk the bike (which some of these people are doing).
CRAP...I'm cursing an awful lot and coming up with some very interesting profanities (all in my head)!
This is Grueling, and I'm pulling up the rear!
Eventually the sweeper catches up to me and I jokingly tell him that I'm going for the "most lame" or "pathetic" medal! He was overall very encouraging and wanted to be certain that we were both staying hydrated, I assured him that we were, and that my only mistake was not being more hydrated the day prior to the race. He reminded me that another mistake I made was not training for this ride for the past six months! True you got me there. But I did inform him that I wasn't able to, and that I was just barely recovering from a torn MCL.
Now, as I was appreciating every extra moment of this breather, a first aid/support vehicle had drove past us heading downhill with a cyclist with his arm in a sling - no bueno!
We then continued, and with only 1/4 of a mile to go before the first rest station (only 3 miles in).
I pushed and pedaled my way up. Damn that was a tough 3 miles! 11 miles to go! UGH!!!
The volunteers at the rest station were all welcoming and offering us fresh fruit, water, and smoothies (with dairy), so I opted for a couple of slices of crisp sweet watermelon.
As I took this break and we filled up our camelbacks and water bottles, started conversing with other sweepers and ride coordinators. I happened to mention how I was just glad that the BIG climb was behind me, they mentioned how 50-60% of this route is climbing and that I have another upcoming climb ahead of me which is even worse! The sweeper explained how she rides all the time, but for "that" climb, she has to hike her bike up the exposed hill. Exposed to the sun with no shade at all. She went on to scare me (I’m sure unintentionally) about how it was 110 degrees out there and how several riders in last years ride went home with IVs and some even worse. YIKES!! What the hell am I doing??? I was still game for a ride, I’m not ready to quit, but I’m not doing that hellified route - smh (shaking my head) - nope nope nope.
So after having a discussion with Dave and finding out from the organizers what our other options were, we agree that we’ll follow the route that leads to the Airport. With it's rolling hills and meandering road with Fox crossings and Bison some where out there. We rode out for another 4 miles, and then I knew I just didn’t want to do anymore climbing then I already knew I had to do in order to get us back to the downhill portion - my poor rubbery noodle excuses for legs!
This was it - time to turn around, and so we did. I finally got to the downhill - my favorite part, and Dave tells me that it’s my reward. Honey, I don’t need to kill myself for a reward. I’ll reward myself just because I deserve it for being MEEEE!
Next up the Sicilian Festival in San Diego - which I think I will post tomorrow - I’ve chewed your ear off enough for one day :)
This was it - time to turn around, and so we did. I finally got to the downhill - my favorite part, and Dave tells me that it’s my reward. Honey, I don’t need to kill myself for a reward. I’ll reward myself just because I deserve it for being MEEEE!
Next up the Sicilian Festival in San Diego - which I think I will post tomorrow - I’ve chewed your ear off enough for one day :)
