Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Summer Life
Thursday, April 12, 2012
get up and go
i booked a last minute trip to south Florida and it feels so good. i couldn't be happier. i'll be visiting my cousin ashley. she isn't just my cousin, she's one of my best friends and i've missed her in my life. i need her in my life. she lives too far away but she's happy there and i'm happy here (for now).
other than that, i CAN'T STOP EATING CANDY. holidays kill me.
other than that, i CAN'T STOP EATING CANDY. holidays kill me.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
the trip
Here’s a recap of the route we took across the Southern U.S. and up the west coast. In 28 days we stayed in 11 states (not including the ones we just drove through) and visited countless cities. I’ll give each stop its own post with more details… one day.
We rented a car; booked a one-month rental. Pick-up Jersey City, NJ, drop off Seattle, WA. We showed up on December 24th to pick it up and to our surprise they had a SMARTCAR waiting for us. We looked at each other and laughed, a lot. “Are you kidding me?” The Hertz guy looked at us and laughed as well. “Did you look at our itinerary? The drop-off location? Did you notice we’ll be putting between 5,000-6,000 miles on the car? Oh and we were planning to bring suitcases… (DUH)? Not to mention the bikes. This trip will already be a test in our relationship. In a SMARTCAR I can guarantee we’ll no longer be a couple by the time we reach Seattle.” Needless to say, we upgraded to the next “class” for an extra $5 a day and then paid with a Mastercard which bumped us up another class for free. We still only ended up in a Toyota Corolla; a teal Toyota Corolla to be exact.
We left NJ on the night of December 26th and headed approximately 3 hours south to Alexandria, VA to stay with family. This gave us a jump-start. On the 27th of December we headed down to Georgia in the pouring rain… sat in a ton of traffic… and kept telling ourselves not to get our hopes up… “this will be the worst driving stretch of the trip.” We were right. We stayed about an hour north of Atlanta on the night of the 27th in a town called Lavonia.
The next morning (December 28th) we headed straight to Atlanta and wandered around for a few hours before heading further south to Montgomery, Alabama. The next two days were filled with relaxation, true southern home-cooked meals from our wonderful hosts, Lynn and Elaine, and a bit of site-seeing in the city center.
On December 30th we packed up and made our way down to New Orleans, Louisiana for the night to stay with my friend Lydia and her boyfriend, Lenin. New Orleans was awesome. PERFECT for people watching. We were there the night before New Year’s Eve so I’m sure you can imagine the masses of people filling Bourbon Street. We certainly didn’t spend enough time here and I can’t wait to go back one day.
On the 31st, we made the 500 mile drive to Austin, Texas, not leaving much energy for a wild New Year’s Eve. We spent two nights in a hotel in North Austin and if there’s ever a next time, I now know that South Austin is where it’s at. This was the first city that we made great use of our bikes.
On January 2nd we left Austin with a plan to stop for the night somewhere around Carlsbad, NM. We tried to mentally prepare for the dreaded drive across Texas that EVERYONE had warned us about. Honestly, we were so content staring at the lack of scenery that we decided to skip Carlsbad and instead we continued west on Route 10 all the way to Mesilla, NM. This was a 622 mile day. I guess listening to The Hunger Games on tape helped a bit.
After walking around historic Mesilla a bit the next day, January 3rd, we headed further west on Route 10 until we hit Gilbert, AZ (outside Phoenix) to stay with CJ’s cousins for two nights. The sky was a PERFECT blue and the temperatures hit near 80 while we were there…Such a treat.
From Gilbert we headed north to the Grand Canyon on January 5th. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, truly breathtaking. We only stayed for one night which we thought was enough considering we weren’t equipped for serious hiking or camping.
On January 6th, we made our way to Las Vegas, Nevada stopping at the Hoover Dam on the way. It was totally worth pulling off the main road to take the quick walk up to the bridge overlooking the dam. Neither of us are the type of people to plan an entire vacation to Vegas, but it was definitely worth seeing it once. CJ turned $5 into $30 in approximately 5 minutes so it’s easy to see how some people could spend more than just one day in Sin City.
After a huge breakfast at IHOP and a bit of Goodwill thrifting on the morning of January 7th, we headed back down south to San Diego, California where we stayed with CJ’s cousin Nicole in Ocean Beach. The weather was perfect, as expected, and the two days we spent there were certainly not enough.
On January 9th, we started the desirable route up the California coast. We passed through Mission Beach, La Jolla, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Laguna Beach…stopped for a hearty lunch under the sun in Newport Beach, bypassed Los Angeles and continued north until we finally hit Santa Barbara. We stayed for the night in a quaint little cottage up on a hill overlooking the city.
On the morning of January 10th we continued up the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s BEAUTIFUL. We decided to pull off the main route to check out Morro Bay. It was worth adding another 20 minutes to our trip and was a perfect opportunity to stretch our legs before hiking Big Sur. We spent the afternoon with our jaws dropped to the ground while we explored the vastness and beauty of Big Sur. By nightfall, we were on our way up to Capitola (right outside Santa Cruz) to stay with my friends Michelle and John and Michelle’s boyfriend, Chris.
We spent all of January 11th exploring Capitola and Santa Cruz. Capitola reminded me a lot of our hometown… a quaint little town along the ocean with a small downtown area. By sunset, we were on our way up to San Francisco where we spent the next five nights with my Uncle Chris and Adan. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities.
After going back and forth as to when we would continue north, we finally left San Francisco on the morning of January 16th to make our way up to Crescent City. Along the way, we drove the 30 mile stretch of Avenue of the Giants and WHOA… seriously incredible. We made it to Crescent City just in time to watch yet another beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean.
For January 17th, our original plan was to head up to the Oregon coast from California, but the Pacific Northwest was in the path of what they were calling a “record-breaking storm”. After a rainy morning hike in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park just northwest of Crescent City, we headed inland in the direction of Portland. We made it to Salem, Oregon for the night and although a bit discouraged, we weren’t really disappointed considering the winds were recorded between 95-100MPH along the coast.
On January 18th, we headed straight for Portland, Oregon where we walked around… in the pouring rain… before finally deciding to call it a day and check into our Bed & Breakfast for the night. We stopped at Trader Joe’s to grab some food to bring home for dinner and relaxed in the comfort of the cozy home for the rest of the evening.
The rain (heavy, heavy rain) continued on the morning of January 19th and with snow in the forecast we both decided it would be in our best interest to head north to Seattle, Washington (our final destination). We left the bikes with the innkeeper at the B&B and we were on our way. They were calling this storm the “Snowpocalypse” and people were freaking out! Apparently they don’t plow OR salt the roads so it was a long ride up to Seattle. We eventually made it to my cousin Becky’s house with enough daylight left to sled down the street a few times.
We stayed in Seattle for the last four nights of the trip and on January 23rd we dropped off the rental and flew home to NJ.
So there you have it. We saw A LOT in a short 28 days and traveled 5,486 miles to be exact. There is still SO MUCH of America that I cannot wait to see one day.
… oh, and we’re still in love.
We rented a car; booked a one-month rental. Pick-up Jersey City, NJ, drop off Seattle, WA. We showed up on December 24th to pick it up and to our surprise they had a SMARTCAR waiting for us. We looked at each other and laughed, a lot. “Are you kidding me?” The Hertz guy looked at us and laughed as well. “Did you look at our itinerary? The drop-off location? Did you notice we’ll be putting between 5,000-6,000 miles on the car? Oh and we were planning to bring suitcases… (DUH)? Not to mention the bikes. This trip will already be a test in our relationship. In a SMARTCAR I can guarantee we’ll no longer be a couple by the time we reach Seattle.” Needless to say, we upgraded to the next “class” for an extra $5 a day and then paid with a Mastercard which bumped us up another class for free. We still only ended up in a Toyota Corolla; a teal Toyota Corolla to be exact.
We left NJ on the night of December 26th and headed approximately 3 hours south to Alexandria, VA to stay with family. This gave us a jump-start. On the 27th of December we headed down to Georgia in the pouring rain… sat in a ton of traffic… and kept telling ourselves not to get our hopes up… “this will be the worst driving stretch of the trip.” We were right. We stayed about an hour north of Atlanta on the night of the 27th in a town called Lavonia.
The next morning (December 28th) we headed straight to Atlanta and wandered around for a few hours before heading further south to Montgomery, Alabama. The next two days were filled with relaxation, true southern home-cooked meals from our wonderful hosts, Lynn and Elaine, and a bit of site-seeing in the city center.
On December 30th we packed up and made our way down to New Orleans, Louisiana for the night to stay with my friend Lydia and her boyfriend, Lenin. New Orleans was awesome. PERFECT for people watching. We were there the night before New Year’s Eve so I’m sure you can imagine the masses of people filling Bourbon Street. We certainly didn’t spend enough time here and I can’t wait to go back one day.
On the 31st, we made the 500 mile drive to Austin, Texas, not leaving much energy for a wild New Year’s Eve. We spent two nights in a hotel in North Austin and if there’s ever a next time, I now know that South Austin is where it’s at. This was the first city that we made great use of our bikes.
On January 2nd we left Austin with a plan to stop for the night somewhere around Carlsbad, NM. We tried to mentally prepare for the dreaded drive across Texas that EVERYONE had warned us about. Honestly, we were so content staring at the lack of scenery that we decided to skip Carlsbad and instead we continued west on Route 10 all the way to Mesilla, NM. This was a 622 mile day. I guess listening to The Hunger Games on tape helped a bit.
After walking around historic Mesilla a bit the next day, January 3rd, we headed further west on Route 10 until we hit Gilbert, AZ (outside Phoenix) to stay with CJ’s cousins for two nights. The sky was a PERFECT blue and the temperatures hit near 80 while we were there…Such a treat.
From Gilbert we headed north to the Grand Canyon on January 5th. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, truly breathtaking. We only stayed for one night which we thought was enough considering we weren’t equipped for serious hiking or camping.
On January 6th, we made our way to Las Vegas, Nevada stopping at the Hoover Dam on the way. It was totally worth pulling off the main road to take the quick walk up to the bridge overlooking the dam. Neither of us are the type of people to plan an entire vacation to Vegas, but it was definitely worth seeing it once. CJ turned $5 into $30 in approximately 5 minutes so it’s easy to see how some people could spend more than just one day in Sin City.
After a huge breakfast at IHOP and a bit of Goodwill thrifting on the morning of January 7th, we headed back down south to San Diego, California where we stayed with CJ’s cousin Nicole in Ocean Beach. The weather was perfect, as expected, and the two days we spent there were certainly not enough.
On January 9th, we started the desirable route up the California coast. We passed through Mission Beach, La Jolla, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Laguna Beach…stopped for a hearty lunch under the sun in Newport Beach, bypassed Los Angeles and continued north until we finally hit Santa Barbara. We stayed for the night in a quaint little cottage up on a hill overlooking the city.
On the morning of January 10th we continued up the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s BEAUTIFUL. We decided to pull off the main route to check out Morro Bay. It was worth adding another 20 minutes to our trip and was a perfect opportunity to stretch our legs before hiking Big Sur. We spent the afternoon with our jaws dropped to the ground while we explored the vastness and beauty of Big Sur. By nightfall, we were on our way up to Capitola (right outside Santa Cruz) to stay with my friends Michelle and John and Michelle’s boyfriend, Chris.
We spent all of January 11th exploring Capitola and Santa Cruz. Capitola reminded me a lot of our hometown… a quaint little town along the ocean with a small downtown area. By sunset, we were on our way up to San Francisco where we spent the next five nights with my Uncle Chris and Adan. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities.
After going back and forth as to when we would continue north, we finally left San Francisco on the morning of January 16th to make our way up to Crescent City. Along the way, we drove the 30 mile stretch of Avenue of the Giants and WHOA… seriously incredible. We made it to Crescent City just in time to watch yet another beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean.
For January 17th, our original plan was to head up to the Oregon coast from California, but the Pacific Northwest was in the path of what they were calling a “record-breaking storm”. After a rainy morning hike in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park just northwest of Crescent City, we headed inland in the direction of Portland. We made it to Salem, Oregon for the night and although a bit discouraged, we weren’t really disappointed considering the winds were recorded between 95-100MPH along the coast.
On January 18th, we headed straight for Portland, Oregon where we walked around… in the pouring rain… before finally deciding to call it a day and check into our Bed & Breakfast for the night. We stopped at Trader Joe’s to grab some food to bring home for dinner and relaxed in the comfort of the cozy home for the rest of the evening.
The rain (heavy, heavy rain) continued on the morning of January 19th and with snow in the forecast we both decided it would be in our best interest to head north to Seattle, Washington (our final destination). We left the bikes with the innkeeper at the B&B and we were on our way. They were calling this storm the “Snowpocalypse” and people were freaking out! Apparently they don’t plow OR salt the roads so it was a long ride up to Seattle. We eventually made it to my cousin Becky’s house with enough daylight left to sled down the street a few times.
We stayed in Seattle for the last four nights of the trip and on January 23rd we dropped off the rental and flew home to NJ.
So there you have it. We saw A LOT in a short 28 days and traveled 5,486 miles to be exact. There is still SO MUCH of America that I cannot wait to see one day.
… oh, and we’re still in love.
tumblr
i started a tumblr a couple months ago. i went on a cross-country trip with my boyfriend, cj, and decided to use tumblr as a way to keep family, friends, etc. updated along the way. a majority of the blog was pictures. actually, tons of AWESOME pictures from all over the southern U.S. and the west coast. now i wish that i had used my blogspot. i just like it better. i'll be posting a recap of the trip.
for now... i'll dream of being here again
for now... i'll dream of being here again
Friday, December 5, 2008
All right guys, it's been a while.
I apologize; I've been so busy lately! I don't even know where to begin.
I went to Switzerland for a long weekend mid-November with four friends. We flew into Geneva and headed straight to Interlaken… a small town located between two lakes, hence the name. The train ride was incredible. We were riding through the mountains gazing at small towns down below.
Interlaken: what a peaceful, picturesque, little place. The mountains surrounded us on all ends and the air was so fresh! The water fountains throughout provided the most delicious water I have ever tasted! It was a nice change to be somewhere other than a large city with tall buildings and a gray atmosphere… not that Amsterdam is anything of the sort, but everywhere else I have visited has been so "citylike." We rented scooters and rode through the mountains. We visited two smaller towns neighboring Interlaken. Honestly, I have never been so cold in my life as I was on that scooter. We got back to our hostel and our legs felt like jello they were so numb. Anyway, it was so worth it… a great way to get around and see the area.
However, this small adventure was not even comparable to the one I had in store. After emailing my Dad to gain some reassurance of the crazy idea, I decided to go skydiving. When else would I have the opportunity to skydive over the Swiss Alps? I was hesitant at first, but after reading the response from good ole' pops that included the quote from the ten commandments of attitudes, there was no doubt in my mind as to getting on that plane.
"You will seldom experience regret for anything you've done; it's what you don't do that will torment you."
The sky did not have a cloud in it. I don't think I could have picked a more perfect day to fall out of a plane. People always say they "jump" out of a plane. I definitely consider it falling. The ride up in the plane alone was absolutely breathtaking. The mountain tops were covered in snow. It was like gazing down at a winter wonderland. I was calm the entire time…until I realized that my life was COMPLETELY in someone else's hands. Even then, I really kept my cool. I figure, they're trained to do this sort of thing, right? Of course, I was the last to go. I waited in anticipation to approach the small stoop outside the plane. There are no words to describe the feeling of falling out of a plane. What a rush! Call me crazy, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The freefall was approximately 40 seconds and then the parachute was released. It was then a relaxing float through the air, including some 360s, where I was able to take in the surroundings. It was worth every penny and I wouldn't take it back… Thanks for the support, Dad!
Back to Geneva. Eh, it was okay. We had nice weather when we arrived which is always a plus! The area along the water was nice! One of the main attractions of the city is some big water fountain. Luckily, we arrived just in time. I was taking some pictures and all of a sudden, I noticed the fountain was becoming a bit blurry. Then, it was gone. Apparently, it was that time of year where they turn off the fountain for about two weeks to clean it and whatnot. At least we saw it!
Now back to Amsterdam! My Mom came to visit for a week! It was SO nice to see her. I bought her a bike before her arrival so she could really fit into the Dutch lifestyle. I refused to let her ride around on a bright red, "rent-a-bike." My time with her could not have been more perfect. We have been to Amsterdam together before, so we were able to avoid the touristy things for the most part. I was really able to show her my life here. We hit up some of my favorite markets, did a little shopping, and made some fun memories over dinner at restaurants throughout the city… just to list a bit. The first snow of the season came while she was here! Very unexpected… for me at least. I was sad to see her go!
Shortly after her departure, I was off to Italy! I spent Thanksgiving in Venice with my friend Caroline and her family. I loved Venice… and I think I got out just in time. Don't know if you have been up with the news, but check out the floods right now! The city was so pretty! We did a lot of shopping in the stores and markets and took a gondola ride through the canals! Caroline, her two brothers, and I attempted to hit up the casino one night. I wish I could say I left with a ton of money, but in reality, it was super lame. Instead, we ended up wandering the streets, but that was really fine with me. Through all this traveling, I think I've realized it's one of my favorite things to do.
After Venice, I headed back to Florence, where Caroline studies! I was cursed with some bad weather but was still able to enjoy the city. The view from Piazzale Michelangelo was my favorite! I bought a really nice leather bag too. I was told I wasn't allowed to leave Florence without buying something leather! I'm also a sucker for Italian food… basically I was in heaven!
Now back to reality, back to school… I'm now finishing up the semester. Less than two weeks left. I fly home on the 18th. I am so excited to come home, but I'm really going to miss this place. Every time I went on a trip, I really looked forward to returning to Amsterdam. It's still my favorite city! The weather has been iffy lately. I have NEVER been one to complain about snow, but it's really no fun riding my bike through it everyday. It's not even the good snow, the kind that sticks. It's wet and cold. We had some sunshine today though which was awesome!
Hope all is well back at home and everyone's getting in the holiday spirit! Let me know how you are! Miss you all!
Love,
Libby
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