Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Adjective-free Friends
As I was talking to Al about my 50th Birthday Party, he was commenting on how many friends I have...about 75 showed up Friday. I said, "But so many have adjectives in front of the word 'friend'--work friends, church friends, Gator friends, sports friends. I need more friends who don't have adjectives."
Alan, in a moment of surprising clarity said, "All friends have adjectives, some have just gotten to the point that their adjective is 'best'."
Wisdom in those words. So, to all my friends, regardless of your adjective, I LOVE YOU!
Alan, in a moment of surprising clarity said, "All friends have adjectives, some have just gotten to the point that their adjective is 'best'."
Wisdom in those words. So, to all my friends, regardless of your adjective, I LOVE YOU!
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
The Bike Ride...and The Crash
(Updated a link on this on May 9, 2012. This was published on May 11, 2011. Accident occurred May 8, 2011. Here I am, one year later still dealing with the after effects of my impaction fracture of the humerus. No, its not funny.)
So, my Mother's Day gift from my husband was to drag me on a 2-day, 210-mile bike ride....OK, he didn't drag me, I wanted to do it.
As most who know me well realize, I like to test limits, find the boundaries...what I can achieve with my team at work, the patience of my superiors, the limits of myself. I saw this bike ride as another opportunity to do that.
This was the 50th Tour of the Scioto Valley (TOSRV) and its considered one of the classic American bicycle tours and had about 3,000 riders this year. It started as a father and son ride to honor their wife and mother who had died. I thought a lot about this origin after I had finished the ride. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOSRV
We saw all kinds of riders--a guy on a velociped . Seriously, one of those "big wheel in the front, little wheel in the back" old-timey bicycles. We also saw three people on a triple tandem and found out later that the two in the back were blind and the rider in the front was the only sighted rider.
I was really concerned when the weather report showed that we would have headwinds both days but I'd gotten good at riding in Al's slipstream during our 200-mile ride last year and figured that's what would get me through this year. We had a rest stop after every 25 miles and so, in my mind, I had broken up the ride into 4, 25-mile bike rides each day, At the start of each leg I told myself, "This is a 25-mile ride. You can do a 25-mile bike ride."
I really tried to look around and take in the scenery as much as possible. Southern Ohio is really beautiful and the ride went through lots of rolling farmlands and woods. The ride profile looked something like this--
The worst climb on the trip is one called "Schoolhouse Hill". I was a little concerned about it since I had heard how hard it was. Just to be clear--I HATE HILLS!!!! I'm really bad at climbing...I blame it on the structural weakness my sports doc diagnosed on my left side so I go up hills with half the power of a normal person. Its that, or just laziness.
Anyway, we're on the leg between Chillicothe and Waverly which is nothing but rolling hills. The Columbus area was scraped flat by glaciers during the ice age and boy do I appreciate their work. But, after Chillicothe, we were beyond the reach of the glaciers...damn, you lazy glaciers.
I never asked Alan where Schoolhouse Hill was because I didn't want to dread its approach. I was just taking each hill as it came. We were riding up what seemed to be one excessively long hill when Alan said to me, "I'll tell you something at the top of this hill." Deep down inside, I was hopeful he would say it was Schoolhouse Hill, but, knowing Alan, he could have some obscure piece of trivia to share with me. But, it was Schoolhouse Hill and I gained a lot of confidence when I knew I survived that climb.
We finished out the ride with no real incidents except for about 20 minutes of rain after Waverly. It was very refreshing and didn't slow us down at all. We arrived in Portsmouth about 4 and joined the party at the park. We signed up for our massages, went to set up our sleeping arrangements at the workout center at the Southern Ohio Medical Center and then went to dinner at the Portsmouth Brewing Company .
We went back to our sleeping accommodations, took showers and I was asleep by 9.
The next morning, we were on the road by about 6:30 with the obligatory stop at Crispie Creme, the local donut shop that gives away donuts and coffee to the TOSRV riders.
It was a foggy and cool morning. Alan warned me that today would be a grind that I just needed to get through. I knew that because it was uphill on Sunday
The first leg was pretty hard and slow going for me. The second leg, the hated Waverly to Chillicothe didn't feel that much better but Alan said I rode with a lot more energy. We got to Chillicothe for lunch and as we sat there, my legs were violently shaking due to fatigue. But I knew I had reached the flatland....the land of my beloved glaciers so I was optimistic.
The ride from Chillicothe to Circleville was uneventful bordering on unmemorable. But I knew once I got to Circleville it was 25 miles to the promised land. That promised land wasn't an actual physical location, it was the finisher's certificate I knew I could claim if I made it to the end.
Amy's boyfriend, Sean, had shared this Radiolab piece on endurance athletes with me and one of the stories is about a woman, Julie Moss, who competed in one of the early Ironman Triathlons. (You can hear it here.) When she found she was in first place, she became so fixated on the prize of winning that, even though she was collapsing (and eventually pooping her pants on Wide World of Sports) she kept pushing and crawling toward the finish line. That was my inspiration, that finisher's certificate was the prize I became fixated on. To quote Julie, "I don't care if it hurts, I don't care if its messy, I would finish."
So, we came out of Circleville and I knew I would be able to finish. As we got a few miles out of town I was in Alan's slipstream and trying to conserve every ounce of energy. My thought was, "I would apply the brakes only if necessary because I wanted to conserve all forward momentum." So, at one point, I creeped up on Alan on the inside so my front wheel was beyond his back wheel. My hands were on the center of my handlebars and not on the hoods so I was nowhere near the brakes.
At this point, Alan decided to move over toward the edge to get out of the road, right into my front tire. As our tires rubbed for a few seconds, my bike started fishtailing and I careened into the traffic lane. As I was trying to maintain control and declip from my pedals, I see sky and think "This isn't going to be good."
At the next moment, I feel a smack as my head hits the road, see the flash of light and then my left shoulder and hip hit. I roll over onto my right side (Alan says I was still clipped in) and lay in the median groaning. Alan was next to me in a few moments saying, "Talk to me, Kat." I replied, "What do you want me to say?" He started his neuro exam and asked me where I was and I said, "On a road outside of Chillicothe, Ohio." That was the detail he needed to determine that I had passed my neuro exam and he asked me if I was hurt anywhere else and I said I didn't think so. As I laid there realizing that I was OK, I remember thinking, "If my bike is too screwed up to finish this ride, I AM GOING TO BE PISSED!"
At that point, the HAM radio operator that was 1-1/2 blocks away came running up. TOSRV has these operators located every 2-3 miles on the course in case of emergency. We were around the corner from him and I asked him how he knew I crashed and he said he heard my helmet hit. I crunched it up pretty good
Alan checked out my bike and found the front tire was rubbing against the front fork. Turns out that about 4 inches of the tire was pulled from the rim. As he worked on that, the tube popped. But, he was able to replace the tube, the tire was OK and my bike was fine. The only damage was to my reading glasses that I had in the left pocket on the back of my jersey--my iPod and Blackberry were undamaged--and my bike computer that flew off when I crashed.
I got back on the bike and finished the ride. It did give me time to think about what could have happened....if a car had been right behind me, if my helmet hadn't been properly adjusted, if a car had been coming in the other direction and I had slid a little further. It made me think of the woman who was killed in last year's Pelotonia .
I was glad I finished the ride but its going to be weird getting back on the bike after that. Not because of what happened but mostly from my thoughts of what could have happened. Gave me a good opportunity to appreciate how fortunate I am in so many ways.
So, my Mother's Day gift from my husband was to drag me on a 2-day, 210-mile bike ride....OK, he didn't drag me, I wanted to do it.
As most who know me well realize, I like to test limits, find the boundaries...what I can achieve with my team at work, the patience of my superiors, the limits of myself. I saw this bike ride as another opportunity to do that.
This was the 50th Tour of the Scioto Valley (TOSRV) and its considered one of the classic American bicycle tours and had about 3,000 riders this year. It started as a father and son ride to honor their wife and mother who had died. I thought a lot about this origin after I had finished the ride. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOSRV
We saw all kinds of riders--a guy on a velociped . Seriously, one of those "big wheel in the front, little wheel in the back" old-timey bicycles. We also saw three people on a triple tandem and found out later that the two in the back were blind and the rider in the front was the only sighted rider.
I was really concerned when the weather report showed that we would have headwinds both days but I'd gotten good at riding in Al's slipstream during our 200-mile ride last year and figured that's what would get me through this year. We had a rest stop after every 25 miles and so, in my mind, I had broken up the ride into 4, 25-mile bike rides each day, At the start of each leg I told myself, "This is a 25-mile ride. You can do a 25-mile bike ride."
I really tried to look around and take in the scenery as much as possible. Southern Ohio is really beautiful and the ride went through lots of rolling farmlands and woods. The ride profile looked something like this--
Anyway, we're on the leg between Chillicothe and Waverly which is nothing but rolling hills. The Columbus area was scraped flat by glaciers during the ice age and boy do I appreciate their work. But, after Chillicothe, we were beyond the reach of the glaciers...damn, you lazy glaciers.
I never asked Alan where Schoolhouse Hill was because I didn't want to dread its approach. I was just taking each hill as it came. We were riding up what seemed to be one excessively long hill when Alan said to me, "I'll tell you something at the top of this hill." Deep down inside, I was hopeful he would say it was Schoolhouse Hill, but, knowing Alan, he could have some obscure piece of trivia to share with me. But, it was Schoolhouse Hill and I gained a lot of confidence when I knew I survived that climb.
We finished out the ride with no real incidents except for about 20 minutes of rain after Waverly. It was very refreshing and didn't slow us down at all. We arrived in Portsmouth about 4 and joined the party at the park. We signed up for our massages, went to set up our sleeping arrangements at the workout center at the Southern Ohio Medical Center and then went to dinner at the Portsmouth Brewing Company .
We went back to our sleeping accommodations, took showers and I was asleep by 9.
The next morning, we were on the road by about 6:30 with the obligatory stop at Crispie Creme, the local donut shop that gives away donuts and coffee to the TOSRV riders.
It was a foggy and cool morning. Alan warned me that today would be a grind that I just needed to get through. I knew that because it was uphill on Sunday
The first leg was pretty hard and slow going for me. The second leg, the hated Waverly to Chillicothe didn't feel that much better but Alan said I rode with a lot more energy. We got to Chillicothe for lunch and as we sat there, my legs were violently shaking due to fatigue. But I knew I had reached the flatland....the land of my beloved glaciers so I was optimistic.
The ride from Chillicothe to Circleville was uneventful bordering on unmemorable. But I knew once I got to Circleville it was 25 miles to the promised land. That promised land wasn't an actual physical location, it was the finisher's certificate I knew I could claim if I made it to the end.
Amy's boyfriend, Sean, had shared this Radiolab piece on endurance athletes with me and one of the stories is about a woman, Julie Moss, who competed in one of the early Ironman Triathlons. (You can hear it here.) When she found she was in first place, she became so fixated on the prize of winning that, even though she was collapsing (and eventually pooping her pants on Wide World of Sports) she kept pushing and crawling toward the finish line. That was my inspiration, that finisher's certificate was the prize I became fixated on. To quote Julie, "I don't care if it hurts, I don't care if its messy, I would finish."
So, we came out of Circleville and I knew I would be able to finish. As we got a few miles out of town I was in Alan's slipstream and trying to conserve every ounce of energy. My thought was, "I would apply the brakes only if necessary because I wanted to conserve all forward momentum." So, at one point, I creeped up on Alan on the inside so my front wheel was beyond his back wheel. My hands were on the center of my handlebars and not on the hoods so I was nowhere near the brakes.
At this point, Alan decided to move over toward the edge to get out of the road, right into my front tire. As our tires rubbed for a few seconds, my bike started fishtailing and I careened into the traffic lane. As I was trying to maintain control and declip from my pedals, I see sky and think "This isn't going to be good."
At the next moment, I feel a smack as my head hits the road, see the flash of light and then my left shoulder and hip hit. I roll over onto my right side (Alan says I was still clipped in) and lay in the median groaning. Alan was next to me in a few moments saying, "Talk to me, Kat." I replied, "What do you want me to say?" He started his neuro exam and asked me where I was and I said, "On a road outside of Chillicothe, Ohio." That was the detail he needed to determine that I had passed my neuro exam and he asked me if I was hurt anywhere else and I said I didn't think so. As I laid there realizing that I was OK, I remember thinking, "If my bike is too screwed up to finish this ride, I AM GOING TO BE PISSED!"
At that point, the HAM radio operator that was 1-1/2 blocks away came running up. TOSRV has these operators located every 2-3 miles on the course in case of emergency. We were around the corner from him and I asked him how he knew I crashed and he said he heard my helmet hit. I crunched it up pretty good
Alan checked out my bike and found the front tire was rubbing against the front fork. Turns out that about 4 inches of the tire was pulled from the rim. As he worked on that, the tube popped. But, he was able to replace the tube, the tire was OK and my bike was fine. The only damage was to my reading glasses that I had in the left pocket on the back of my jersey--my iPod and Blackberry were undamaged--and my bike computer that flew off when I crashed.
I got back on the bike and finished the ride. It did give me time to think about what could have happened....if a car had been right behind me, if my helmet hadn't been properly adjusted, if a car had been coming in the other direction and I had slid a little further. It made me think of the woman who was killed in last year's Pelotonia .
I was glad I finished the ride but its going to be weird getting back on the bike after that. Not because of what happened but mostly from my thoughts of what could have happened. Gave me a good opportunity to appreciate how fortunate I am in so many ways.
Monday, August 02, 2010
Cost Rica--Part 2
So, Thursday morning it was up and at em at 6 am for our pick up by Rios Tropicales for the whitewater rafting trip. This is the same trip that Alan and I did in 1993 (?) and we were psyched to do it again with the girls.
After a 1-1/2 hour bus ride, lunch at the Rios facility and another bus ride and tractor ride, we were at the river. Our guide was Henry, a Costa Rican native who has never traveled out of the country. Luis was guiding the provision boat that had our clothes and the other supplies for the trip. Rafting with us were 2 girls about Amy's age who had just graduated from college and were completing an internship with Rios.
We had a great first day rafting the class II and III rapids. Henry was great about doing extra stuff like letting us jump off an 8-foot tall rock into the river and paddling back to eddys so we could surf the wave and swamp the boat. I kept looking over at Claire to see how she was doing and she had this huge adrenaline-junkie smile on her face the entire time.
We got to the Rios compound at about 3 pm. Unloaded the boat, went up to our room and changed into drier clothes--nothing in the rain forest is ever truly dry. We then went down to the central area and relaxed in hammocks and read magazines and books.
The rain started about 4 and it was a steady downpour as you can see here--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0DG5Gqa734.
We had a great dinner that night of rice and black beans (of course), corn and wonderful grilled chicken. Claire ate more than anyone else and had lots of beans and rice and 3 pieces of chicken. The growing girl needs her food.
We went to sleep that night in the pitch black of the rain forest with the birds chirping and the rain coming down. Here's the video. I am panning around and you can see a few flashes of light but it just show how dark it is in the rainforest. This was shot at 8pm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Cr64ECUTM
We got up the next day and had a great breakfast of fresh fruit--we had wonderful fresh watermelon and pineapple at every meal--rice and beans, eggs and ham. After that, it was off to the zip line at the camp. We had given up on doing a zip line because we couldn't work it into our schedule at Jaco
so this was a wonderful surprise.
We did a small, four platform zip line around the campsite. At one of the platforms, Amy said to Al, "I can't see the ground. All I can see is the forest." To me, that's how a zip line is supposed to be. We had a great time, Of course, Claire came in too fast to each of the platforms and the guide had to catch her but that's just her adrenaline-junkie personality at work.
We took off around 1 to finish our rafting trip and, of course, Henry had some surprises lined up for us. One of the things he liked to do was let someone, usually Claire, ride Superman style through the rapids. This involved her putting her hips up on the bow of the raft, holding on to the ropes, bowing her head down and letting the white water splash over her.
We paddled back into a bunch of eddys, rafted over rocks and swamped the boat a few times. We hiked up to a pool and waterfall and crawled behind the waterfall to watch the water come down in front of us. Henry pulled a rock out of the water and rubbed it into a paste and then decorated Claire's face the way the natives do in the rainforest.
The rapids the second day were much better with several Class III and Class IV rapids. They were a lot of fun. Any time Henry had something kinda crazy for us to do, he would introduce it with "OK, what we can do here is..." paddle back and surf that eddy, swamp the boat, do 360s through this rapid...but his best trick, he saved for last.
Toward the end of the day, he started with his "what we can do here is" and he proposed that we all stand on the upper edge of the boat, hold hands and stand up as we raft through the Class II rapids that were ahead. The others in the boat always looked to Alan and I to make the decision since we were the supposed adults in the boat. We looked at each other and said, "Sure!"
So, we all climbed up onto the sides of the boat, held hands and started surfing through the rapids. About 1/2 way through, Alan who was across from me, fell forward and neglected to let go of my hand as he fell. This pushed be backward at which point, he remembered to let go of my hand and I fell backward into the water. I was ashamed that I was the only one to have fallen into the water, but, like Humpty Dumpty, I was pushed.
I rode through the rest of the rapids in the "nose and toes" swimmer's position, was picked up by the safety kayak and taken back to the boat. Even with the swim, it was a great way to end the day.
We went back to the Rios operations center, had some lunch and boarded the bus back to San Jose. We got packed up that night, had a meat-filled meal at the Fogo Brasil steakhouse and left for the airport the following morning.
All in all, it was an incredible trip filled with fun family time and incredible adventures. My only regret is that we didn't get to visit more areas--Arenal volcano (Al and I visited there on our first trip), Monteverde Cloud Forest, or even have time to see the historical sites in San Jose like the National Cathedral. Guess we'll have to save that for another trip. But, I wouldn't have traded those for our time relaxing on the beach or rafting through the rainforest.
Now, time to start planning the next big trip. Hmmmmm, where to go......................
After a 1-1/2 hour bus ride, lunch at the Rios facility and another bus ride and tractor ride, we were at the river. Our guide was Henry, a Costa Rican native who has never traveled out of the country. Luis was guiding the provision boat that had our clothes and the other supplies for the trip. Rafting with us were 2 girls about Amy's age who had just graduated from college and were completing an internship with Rios.
We had a great first day rafting the class II and III rapids. Henry was great about doing extra stuff like letting us jump off an 8-foot tall rock into the river and paddling back to eddys so we could surf the wave and swamp the boat. I kept looking over at Claire to see how she was doing and she had this huge adrenaline-junkie smile on her face the entire time.
We got to the Rios compound at about 3 pm. Unloaded the boat, went up to our room and changed into drier clothes--nothing in the rain forest is ever truly dry. We then went down to the central area and relaxed in hammocks and read magazines and books.
The rain started about 4 and it was a steady downpour as you can see here--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0DG5Gqa734.
We had a great dinner that night of rice and black beans (of course), corn and wonderful grilled chicken. Claire ate more than anyone else and had lots of beans and rice and 3 pieces of chicken. The growing girl needs her food.
We went to sleep that night in the pitch black of the rain forest with the birds chirping and the rain coming down. Here's the video. I am panning around and you can see a few flashes of light but it just show how dark it is in the rainforest. This was shot at 8pm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Cr64ECUTM
We got up the next day and had a great breakfast of fresh fruit--we had wonderful fresh watermelon and pineapple at every meal--rice and beans, eggs and ham. After that, it was off to the zip line at the camp. We had given up on doing a zip line because we couldn't work it into our schedule at Jaco
so this was a wonderful surprise.
We did a small, four platform zip line around the campsite. At one of the platforms, Amy said to Al, "I can't see the ground. All I can see is the forest." To me, that's how a zip line is supposed to be. We had a great time, Of course, Claire came in too fast to each of the platforms and the guide had to catch her but that's just her adrenaline-junkie personality at work.
We took off around 1 to finish our rafting trip and, of course, Henry had some surprises lined up for us. One of the things he liked to do was let someone, usually Claire, ride Superman style through the rapids. This involved her putting her hips up on the bow of the raft, holding on to the ropes, bowing her head down and letting the white water splash over her.
We paddled back into a bunch of eddys, rafted over rocks and swamped the boat a few times. We hiked up to a pool and waterfall and crawled behind the waterfall to watch the water come down in front of us. Henry pulled a rock out of the water and rubbed it into a paste and then decorated Claire's face the way the natives do in the rainforest.
The rapids the second day were much better with several Class III and Class IV rapids. They were a lot of fun. Any time Henry had something kinda crazy for us to do, he would introduce it with "OK, what we can do here is..." paddle back and surf that eddy, swamp the boat, do 360s through this rapid...but his best trick, he saved for last.
Toward the end of the day, he started with his "what we can do here is" and he proposed that we all stand on the upper edge of the boat, hold hands and stand up as we raft through the Class II rapids that were ahead. The others in the boat always looked to Alan and I to make the decision since we were the supposed adults in the boat. We looked at each other and said, "Sure!"
So, we all climbed up onto the sides of the boat, held hands and started surfing through the rapids. About 1/2 way through, Alan who was across from me, fell forward and neglected to let go of my hand as he fell. This pushed be backward at which point, he remembered to let go of my hand and I fell backward into the water. I was ashamed that I was the only one to have fallen into the water, but, like Humpty Dumpty, I was pushed.
I rode through the rest of the rapids in the "nose and toes" swimmer's position, was picked up by the safety kayak and taken back to the boat. Even with the swim, it was a great way to end the day.
We went back to the Rios operations center, had some lunch and boarded the bus back to San Jose. We got packed up that night, had a meat-filled meal at the Fogo Brasil steakhouse and left for the airport the following morning.
All in all, it was an incredible trip filled with fun family time and incredible adventures. My only regret is that we didn't get to visit more areas--Arenal volcano (Al and I visited there on our first trip), Monteverde Cloud Forest, or even have time to see the historical sites in San Jose like the National Cathedral. Guess we'll have to save that for another trip. But, I wouldn't have traded those for our time relaxing on the beach or rafting through the rainforest.
Now, time to start planning the next big trip. Hmmmmm, where to go......................
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Costa Rica--Part 1
Just got back from our vacation in Costa Rica and it was sooooooo much fun. Now, bear in mind that my most recent vacation is always my favorite vacation, but this one is up there in the list of best vacations ever. Maybe it was because there was so much stuff going on at work, or because we hadn't had a chance for all four of us to hang out as a family in quite a while. As always, there was so much laughter and fun just being together. We all had a great time.
You can check out the complete photographic evidence here.
Made the 2-hour drive from San Jose to Jaco with no problems but thank God for GPS. Got to the house, met Pierre the local manager, got settled in. The house was beautiful, lots of architectural and decorative features, great pool and fountain, a nearby stream and beautiful gardens. We saw Jesus lizards and hummingbirds every morning and discovered a really big Halloween Crab living under the mango tree in the garden.
That afternoon we went for a swim in the pool and a cut throat game of "Toothpaste" between Amy and Claire. What Claire lacked in swimming speed, she made up for it by choosing obscure words for the categories--like "reservoir" for the category "body of water". Even after she told Amy it started and ended with an "r", Amy couldn't get it. We then took a walk on the beach and then had dinner at the local Soda down the street from the house. Had the best yucca and the fish casado. Al had a whole snapper and Amy had the chicken casado. Yummy! We finished the night playing "Pass the Pigs" on the patio while listening to the rain and drinking Imperial, La Cerveza de Costa Rica. BTW, they have an awesome logo.
The surfing on our first full day at the beach was great. We got to Jaco Surf School just as they were heading out to an easier break for lessons. Turned out, the location was at the end of the street where our house was. Gustavo handed me a rash guard and board and told me to head out while the girls had their lessons.
I paddled out to get beyond the break. Waves were about head high and breaking pretty hard. It was exhausting to get out and I got caught in the washing machine twice, really worried about how strong an ocean swimmer I was after all these years. I caught my breath, waited for a wave, started paddling into a promising one only to pull back because the drop was too steep. Mistake! The next wave caught me and pulled me back into the washing machine. Bruised and tired, I decided to take my place in the white water of the shore break. After not surfing for 20 years, I figured I needed to ease my way back in.
About this time, the girls were out in the water and already standing up. It was a great sight to see. I had fun and the balance and board movement came right back so I was able to walk the board to stay in the wave, turn and ride out of the wave. We saw the guys waving us in at the end and, completely by accident, Amy, Claire and I rode the same wave in. What a great time.
After, we were going to go to the ATM, get some more colones, pay Gustavo and go get the best fish tacos in Jaco according to Gustavo and Lauri, the owner of the house we rented, at Bubba's. This begins the only inconvenient part of the trip. We tried about 4 different ATMs and couldn't get money from any of them. We went back to the house and I called our bank. Now, we had told both the bank and our credit card company that we were traveling to Costa Rica so they would not put a hold on the international transactions. However, because we took money out on Saturday and it was Monday, the Saturday withdrawal was posting and we had reached our limit on ATM withdrawals. So, we went to the bank to get a cash advance.
Al dropped Amy and I off at the bank--me to get the money, Amy to translate. We stood in line for about 35-40 minutes only to find out that I needed my passport, even though the sign said local ID was ok. Sooooo, we drive 10 minutes back to the house to get my passport and go back to the bank. We get in line again and wait, this time only about 25 minutes. A manager for the bank comes out, pulls us out of line and takes us to a back room.
The whole trip, we've been making up scenarios from the show Locked Up Abroad and Amy and I looked at each other with a "this is the moment look." As we sat in the office, we were both trying to suppress giggles as we thought about the situation. We got the money, left the bank and headed over for lunch and to pay Gustavo. The fish tacos did not disappoint and neither did the beef one that Claire had. She said it was the best taco she'd ever had.
We went back to the house, had a swim, drank some wine, played "Pass the Pigs" again and relaxed.
Tuesday we went to Manuel Antonio Park for a 2-hour horseback ride.--one hour in the forest and one hour on the beach. We got to the very small Marlboro Stables and saw one particularly lively horse that turned out to be the one for Amy, who has the least amount of horseback riding experience of any of us. She said, "I don't have a good feeling about this" but Al and I both told her it would be fine and not to worry. I was crossing my fingers. ;) It was interesting to note that none of the horses had bits, only a rope halter/rein combo that wrapped around the horses nose.
The ride was great, wonderful views, cool wildlife including 3 sloths, a hawk and several iguanas. We finished the ride with no injuries--yeah!--and went to lunch at Costa Linda on the recommendation of the stable owner. Had a good lunch and then drove back to Jaco.
There was a lot of fresh fruit at the house so we decided to get some rum and make some fresh fruit rum punch. Blended up some pineapple, lime juice and mixed fruit juice and had a yummy punch. A storm came through and we lost power at the house so we decided to head into town and see if we could find a place that was open. We couldn't find DiMarios where I wanted to eat but ended up at Caliches Wishbone. As soon as we got in and ordered, another really bad thunderstorm came through and they lost power. But it was back on relatively quickly and dinner was good.
The stray dog that had wandered into Bubba's on Monday and hung out around our table also did the same thing at Caliche's. He was now known as "Old Friend."
Wednesday was beach time before we headed into San Jose for the rafting trip. Just enjoyed the sun, the surf and relaxed. We picked up some more tacos from Bubba's and then took off for San Jose. As we were driving along Rt 34, Alan got pulled over, or rather "waved over" by a cop. Turns out his lead foot works internationally as well and he was told by the cop to slow down or he would be facing a $400 speeding ticket.
We got into San Jose and Alan got us to the hotel through the crazy traffic and crowded, twisting, turning streets. At one point, we were trying to turn onto one street and a cab driver decided to be nice and let us in. Obviously, this is not an expected action among cab drivers in San Jose and he was rear-ended by the cab behind him. Eeek! We checked into the hotel, dropped off our bags and then drove the rental car to the airport. While its only about a 13 mile drive, it took about an hour in San Jose rush hour. Again, thank God for GPS. Not sure we could have made it without it.
The cab ride back to the hotel was a little quicker. We had dinner at a little restaurant near the hotel, La Criollita. It was recommended by the hotel clerk when I told him we wanted a place with good Tres Leches. Got back to the hotel and then to bed early so we would be up and ready to leave for our rafting trip the next morning at 6 AM.
That will be Part 2 which I hope to get up tomorrow.
You can check out the complete photographic evidence here.
Made the 2-hour drive from San Jose to Jaco with no problems but thank God for GPS. Got to the house, met Pierre the local manager, got settled in. The house was beautiful, lots of architectural and decorative features, great pool and fountain, a nearby stream and beautiful gardens. We saw Jesus lizards and hummingbirds every morning and discovered a really big Halloween Crab living under the mango tree in the garden.
That afternoon we went for a swim in the pool and a cut throat game of "Toothpaste" between Amy and Claire. What Claire lacked in swimming speed, she made up for it by choosing obscure words for the categories--like "reservoir" for the category "body of water". Even after she told Amy it started and ended with an "r", Amy couldn't get it. We then took a walk on the beach and then had dinner at the local Soda down the street from the house. Had the best yucca and the fish casado. Al had a whole snapper and Amy had the chicken casado. Yummy! We finished the night playing "Pass the Pigs" on the patio while listening to the rain and drinking Imperial, La Cerveza de Costa Rica. BTW, they have an awesome logo. The surfing on our first full day at the beach was great. We got to Jaco Surf School just as they were heading out to an easier break for lessons. Turned out, the location was at the end of the street where our house was. Gustavo handed me a rash guard and board and told me to head out while the girls had their lessons.
I paddled out to get beyond the break. Waves were about head high and breaking pretty hard. It was exhausting to get out and I got caught in the washing machine twice, really worried about how strong an ocean swimmer I was after all these years. I caught my breath, waited for a wave, started paddling into a promising one only to pull back because the drop was too steep. Mistake! The next wave caught me and pulled me back into the washing machine. Bruised and tired, I decided to take my place in the white water of the shore break. After not surfing for 20 years, I figured I needed to ease my way back in.
About this time, the girls were out in the water and already standing up. It was a great sight to see. I had fun and the balance and board movement came right back so I was able to walk the board to stay in the wave, turn and ride out of the wave. We saw the guys waving us in at the end and, completely by accident, Amy, Claire and I rode the same wave in. What a great time.
After, we were going to go to the ATM, get some more colones, pay Gustavo and go get the best fish tacos in Jaco according to Gustavo and Lauri, the owner of the house we rented, at Bubba's. This begins the only inconvenient part of the trip. We tried about 4 different ATMs and couldn't get money from any of them. We went back to the house and I called our bank. Now, we had told both the bank and our credit card company that we were traveling to Costa Rica so they would not put a hold on the international transactions. However, because we took money out on Saturday and it was Monday, the Saturday withdrawal was posting and we had reached our limit on ATM withdrawals. So, we went to the bank to get a cash advance.
Al dropped Amy and I off at the bank--me to get the money, Amy to translate. We stood in line for about 35-40 minutes only to find out that I needed my passport, even though the sign said local ID was ok. Sooooo, we drive 10 minutes back to the house to get my passport and go back to the bank. We get in line again and wait, this time only about 25 minutes. A manager for the bank comes out, pulls us out of line and takes us to a back room.
The whole trip, we've been making up scenarios from the show Locked Up Abroad and Amy and I looked at each other with a "this is the moment look." As we sat in the office, we were both trying to suppress giggles as we thought about the situation. We got the money, left the bank and headed over for lunch and to pay Gustavo. The fish tacos did not disappoint and neither did the beef one that Claire had. She said it was the best taco she'd ever had.
We went back to the house, had a swim, drank some wine, played "Pass the Pigs" again and relaxed.
Tuesday we went to Manuel Antonio Park for a 2-hour horseback ride.--one hour in the forest and one hour on the beach. We got to the very small Marlboro Stables and saw one particularly lively horse that turned out to be the one for Amy, who has the least amount of horseback riding experience of any of us. She said, "I don't have a good feeling about this" but Al and I both told her it would be fine and not to worry. I was crossing my fingers. ;) It was interesting to note that none of the horses had bits, only a rope halter/rein combo that wrapped around the horses nose.
The ride was great, wonderful views, cool wildlife including 3 sloths, a hawk and several iguanas. We finished the ride with no injuries--yeah!--and went to lunch at Costa Linda on the recommendation of the stable owner. Had a good lunch and then drove back to Jaco.
There was a lot of fresh fruit at the house so we decided to get some rum and make some fresh fruit rum punch. Blended up some pineapple, lime juice and mixed fruit juice and had a yummy punch. A storm came through and we lost power at the house so we decided to head into town and see if we could find a place that was open. We couldn't find DiMarios where I wanted to eat but ended up at Caliches Wishbone. As soon as we got in and ordered, another really bad thunderstorm came through and they lost power. But it was back on relatively quickly and dinner was good.
The stray dog that had wandered into Bubba's on Monday and hung out around our table also did the same thing at Caliche's. He was now known as "Old Friend."
Wednesday was beach time before we headed into San Jose for the rafting trip. Just enjoyed the sun, the surf and relaxed. We picked up some more tacos from Bubba's and then took off for San Jose. As we were driving along Rt 34, Alan got pulled over, or rather "waved over" by a cop. Turns out his lead foot works internationally as well and he was told by the cop to slow down or he would be facing a $400 speeding ticket.
We got into San Jose and Alan got us to the hotel through the crazy traffic and crowded, twisting, turning streets. At one point, we were trying to turn onto one street and a cab driver decided to be nice and let us in. Obviously, this is not an expected action among cab drivers in San Jose and he was rear-ended by the cab behind him. Eeek! We checked into the hotel, dropped off our bags and then drove the rental car to the airport. While its only about a 13 mile drive, it took about an hour in San Jose rush hour. Again, thank God for GPS. Not sure we could have made it without it.
The cab ride back to the hotel was a little quicker. We had dinner at a little restaurant near the hotel, La Criollita. It was recommended by the hotel clerk when I told him we wanted a place with good Tres Leches. Got back to the hotel and then to bed early so we would be up and ready to leave for our rafting trip the next morning at 6 AM.
That will be Part 2 which I hope to get up tomorrow.
Monday, July 05, 2010
4th of July
Had a great time tonight with Claire doing a somewhat non-traditional 4th of July activity. It started with me proposing that I rollerblade and she ride her bike through Glacier Ridge Park, a park near our house that is pretty big and has a lot of wildlife in it. She was all for it but wanted to cook us dinner instead of me buying fried chicken and macaroni salad.
So, while I did my workout, she made us homemade meatballs, spaghetti and garlic bread. We loaded it up in the backpack with 2 bottles of water and off we went about 7pm for our 5 mile ride. Claire said it would be a great time to see some deer.
Of course we saw a multitude of birds including redwing blackbirds, cardinal, great blue heron, sparrows, flycatchers and maybe a Carolina chickadee...but the first real wildlife we encountered were spotted by Claire. She spotted an otter next to the bike trail. We saw it run into the tall grass and I knew a stream was just up ahead. We rode to the bridge over the stream and saw one otter swimming in the stream. It then went up the bank and we saw the two of them frollicking in the tall grass above the stream.
We rode on to the first bench and sat down to have dinner. It was near where I saw the fawn yesterday but we never saw any deer. Of course, we saw lots of bunnies.
On the way back, Claire stopped when she saw a small garter snake on the bike trail. It had stopped on the trail and Claire bent down to look at it. She asked if she could touch its tail. I said, "Go ahead, it doesn't look poisonous but just be ready to jump back." She didn't take the bait and bent down and touched it a few times. It then slithered off into the grass.
As we rode on, she stopped again when she spotted something in the low grass next to the trail. She stepped into the grass and a mouse ran across her foot and into the tall grass.
We rode toward home and turned around and saw this view...
It was a great time together, arguments about the helmet notwithstanding. Its only 6 years until she goes off to college and I know this time will fly by. I cherish these times we spend together.
So, while I did my workout, she made us homemade meatballs, spaghetti and garlic bread. We loaded it up in the backpack with 2 bottles of water and off we went about 7pm for our 5 mile ride. Claire said it would be a great time to see some deer.
Of course we saw a multitude of birds including redwing blackbirds, cardinal, great blue heron, sparrows, flycatchers and maybe a Carolina chickadee...but the first real wildlife we encountered were spotted by Claire. She spotted an otter next to the bike trail. We saw it run into the tall grass and I knew a stream was just up ahead. We rode to the bridge over the stream and saw one otter swimming in the stream. It then went up the bank and we saw the two of them frollicking in the tall grass above the stream.
We rode on to the first bench and sat down to have dinner. It was near where I saw the fawn yesterday but we never saw any deer. Of course, we saw lots of bunnies.
On the way back, Claire stopped when she saw a small garter snake on the bike trail. It had stopped on the trail and Claire bent down to look at it. She asked if she could touch its tail. I said, "Go ahead, it doesn't look poisonous but just be ready to jump back." She didn't take the bait and bent down and touched it a few times. It then slithered off into the grass.
As we rode on, she stopped again when she spotted something in the low grass next to the trail. She stepped into the grass and a mouse ran across her foot and into the tall grass.
We rode toward home and turned around and saw this view...
It was a great time together, arguments about the helmet notwithstanding. Its only 6 years until she goes off to college and I know this time will fly by. I cherish these times we spend together.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Dabbling Again
May start dabbling in this blogging thing again. I have way too much to say for Facebook. We'll see if it sticks any longer than the three other times I decided to stop blogging.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)