Shenandoah National Park

Today we headed to Shenandoah to experience Skyline Drive. It's basically exactly like the Blue Ridge Parkway (the road snakes over the top of the mountains) only this portion of the road you need to pay an entrance fee. We drove up to the visitors center, got some maps, and took a tour of the little museum. I found the museum fascinating – and amusing. The first thing that amused me was the fact that I can't get enough of natural history, but have zero interest in just about all other history. For instance, yesterday we strolled into the visitor's center in Lexington. I asked for some suggestions on what to do during our very short visit. The nice lady told me all about the General Lee museum. She said that I could see the first ever portrait of George Washington and if that wasn't exciting enough, I could see Stonewall Jackson's war coat with a bullet hole in it. Wow, this is excitement at it's very best. I tried to be polite and act as if this was even remotely interesting when all I really wanted to ask was, "Where can I buy a baseball cap and get an ice cream cone?" You couldn't pay me to go and look at a portrait of George Washington, but I could listen to stories about how that water carved the Natural Bridge all day.

The second thing that amused me in the museum was great. A little boy of about 7 or 8 years old was completely intrigued by one of the exhibits. I overheard his grandfather telling him, "I have one of those at home." The boy was only half paying attention as he was playing with this object in amazement. A few minutes later the little boy ran into his father and all I could hear was, "Dad, you have to check this out. It's the coolest thing ever. Come here and see this." I just couldn't resist following them to see what the little boy so desperately wanted to show to his father. You ready for this? This was it:

Ok, enough indoor entertainment. We left the visitors center and found a great hike. After carting our hiking boots for 200 miles yesterday, this morning we decided not to bring them. Figures. I had to hike a few miles in my motorcycle boots, which wasn't too bad then, but I now have a few blisters brewing. The weather was perfect and the sights were, as usual, superb.

After lunch the clouds took over and we knew thunder storms were on the way. Being the chicken that I am, I insisted that we head back to town. This time we took a different route through the rolling farmlands. The minute we got down from the 3,000+ foot elevation the weather was sunny and warm. We really enjoyed the ride and never did see any rain. Since we got back sooner than planned we shopped at a cool little Amish market. We bought all kinds of snacks and now we're all set for tomorrow's road trip to the shore.

I posted the photos from today's journey online here.

A Motorcyclist's Dream Drive

Today we headed South and jumped on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This roads goes on forever on the very ridge of the mountain range. Whoever came up with the idea to put a road along the top of this mountain range was simply a genius. It was spectacular. We drove it for 60 miles in one direction and you never get tired of the amazing views on both sides. As a matter of fact my neck is sore from constantly looking back and fourth to take it all in. Well, at least I think that is the cause and not Karlo's driving.

All along the way there are several scenic overlooks and trails to hike. At one point we stopped and hung out on a huge rock that overlooked a million miles of mountain views. We took a few short hikes and eventually made our way down to the Natural Bridge. This thing was incredible. Water carved a hole (there's an understatement) into a rock to form a natural bridge. The so-called 'hole' is 215 feet high by 100 feet wide and 40 feet thick. Some how somebody figured out that it's at least 500 million years old. Amazing!


From there we visited a quaint little town called Lexington. We strolled some of the shops, where we got the usual cold shoulder glares and worried looks (as if we were going to rip them off) because of our appearance. This is the worst part of riding a motorcycle for me. It really bugs me. And we didn't even have our jackets on - just the big ugly boots. So we left the shops and toured the streets admiring the big beautiful homes. This place had all the charm of Savannah without being in the deep South. I just loved to look at all the unique architecture.

Click here to see some pictures from today's adventure.

It's Official

We made it to VA. The drive was almost exactly 10 hours, but that included a few gas, bathroom, and food breaks. All in all, not that bad of a drive. We hit no traffic and not too much rain. Let's hope we get that lucky on the return trip.

We've only been here for one day, but I am officially in love with Virginia. The funny thing is that we never even would have considered this as a vacation destination. And now . . . I'm pretty sure I want to live here! It is a very good thing that we love our existing house as much as we do. Otherwise I would be flipping through real estate magazines right this minute. Everything is so amazingly beautiful here. Who knew? The landscape reminds of us Austria and Switzerland. It really has the beauty of WA, VT and ME, only with a much better climate. I am sold. Maybe we can buy Rick and Nancy's house – again!

Today the weather man promised showers and thunderstorms so we spent most of the day traveling by car. Stupid weather guy. We never saw rain all day. We spent most of the day strolling through historic down towns, shopping, eating, visiting a glassblowing gallery, walking through a park and wine tasting. Finally, Karlo couldn't take it anymore and insisted we get back to the hotel, unload the bike, and take a ride.

We took what Karlo called "a short ride" and now my butt is officially worn out. We rode for 3 hours without stopping. And I mean without stopping. I think we encountered 2 traffic lights in over 120 miles. The ride was unbelievable. If I could have captured half of the beauty that we saw I could have published a coffee table book. Every mile presented even more spectacular scenery. It made me so sad that I couldn't capture any of it.

We headed west through the George Washington Forrest into West Virginia. We had to climb over the Alleghany mountains twice – once out and then again to get back. Holy M it was a wild and scary ride. Miles and miles of hairpin turns and 10% grades. I was getting very dizzy on the back of the bike and Karlo did a great job keeping us on the road. If this ride was great I can't wait to see the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway. That's coming tomorrow . . .

For such an amazingly beautiful day, I have an amazingly slim number of pictures to document it. So unlike me! The pictures I did take can be viewed here.

I Forgot to Mention

We are taking off tomorrow morning for vacation. I know it hasn’t been too long since our last one, but it feels like years. Maybe that’s because our last vacation wasn’t much of a vacation. It was a lot of work and stress, and we adhered to a very strict schedule. This time we have no agenda. We are driving down to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We are towing Karlo’s motorcycle and are planning on four days of hiking and sightseeing on the bike, in the park, and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. After that we are heading over to the shore to visit Rick & Nancy and see their spectacular new home. No real plans, no agenda, no meals to cook, no orders to pack and ship, no chores to perform. I can’t wait to kick back. And the best news is . . . we’ll be connected! I decided against the camping in favor of the motel with high-speed internet access. “Roughing” it has an entire new meaning these days. I can sleep in a tent, huddle over a campfire, and shower in my flip flops, but I can’t be without internet access for more than 2 days. So please stay tuned and follow us on our next adventure.

Bonfire Fun

When we got home from work on Tuesday Karlo suggested that we make a bonfire that evening. He had yard work to do and I had computer work to do so off he went to the backyard, and off I went to the office. After about an hour I decided it was time to change into my best grubby clothes in preparation for the bonfire. I put on my nylon track pants and my coziest Mastercam sweatshirt. I even uncovered the marshmallows from the pantry. I went back to the office and waited for Karlo to call me outside. I waited and waited, and worked and worked. Finally it got to be nearly 8 PM and Karlo came inside and took a shower. I stood in front of the shower door, with my head hanging and whimpered that I was all dressed and ready for the bonfire that never happened.

"Never happened?" Karlo said. "Turn around."

Sure enough, out the window I could see the blazes of the fire still flickering in the backyard. He made the bonfire and never even called me outside. Gee, that was NICE!

So last night he made up for it and we built another fire. We have so much brush to get rid of from our landscaping project, we can do this every night for a couple of weeks. This time the whole family came out - hounds included - and we cooked up some marshmallows and had a ball.

I Need Tivo

This is torture. My two favorite TV shows are on at the same time. Last night I struggled trying to decide if I should watch my new addiction: Fringe or Dancing with the Stars. I already missed the opening night of DWTS, due to my real dance class happening at the same time. Now, wasn't that poor planning on the instructor's part? Why would you schedule your lesson on the same night as the best dancing show? Of course, this isn't a problem for most of the population because just about everybody has Tivo. I think we are in the minority, still living in the stone age with no way of recording anything. We don't even own a VCR anymore. I guess I'm going to have to rely on YouTube and Lisa for my DWTS play-by-plays because Fringe won out last night.

Shopping Therapy

I had a pretty rotten day today. I'm ready for a work sabatical and it just so happens that a unique opportunity presented itself today. Was it a coincidence or fate that our dealer in New Zealand is looking for somebody to come down on an extended working holiday? I immediately replied and told him that I'm packing Karlo's bag (and of course, my own) immediately. I know we would never do it, but it sure was fun to think about it for a while. If we had any smarts we would just close up the house, sell the dogs, flush the fish and go. But we all know that's not going to happen.

So where do I go from there? Shopping, of course. I ran into Home Goods on a one track mission. I had to find a house warming gift for some friends. After ripping my hair out going up and down the isles I walked out of the store with my new best friend and a sweater for myself. No matter how bad my day was, I can't help but to smile when I look at this guy . . .

I parked him on the landing so he brings a smile to face every time I go up and down the stairs. He needs a name. Any ideas?

A Balanced World

There must be some sort of natural balancing force in this universe. For instance, Karlo unexpectedly won a new iPod, which I expectantly stole. This put my mp3 device ownership up by one. Within one month I lose the mp3 player that I’ve had for over a year. It just vanished into thin air. I guess this is the universes way of telling me that was unbalanced. Now I’m, once again, restored to harmony and balance. I’m trying to convince myself of this to stop being completely ticked off. I miss my old mp3 player. I finally have a car that lets me plug the device directly in and now the dedicated Mini mp3 player is gone – cute pink case and all. I hope whoever found is it not only enjoying all my photos, but all my cool music. Drat.

Doga

Why am I standing outside holding my yoga mat and Peanut on a leash? What could I possibly be doing? Well, you're not going to believe this one. Thanks to my buddy Robin, I went to Doga on Saturday. What is Doga, you ask? Doga is "yoga for dogs and people who love them." That is according to the ad that Robin found in a local newsletter paper. I just had to go and check this out.

Karlo and I took a drive out to a very nice park in Pomfret and I attended the Doga class with Peanut as Karlo and Bentley observed. It was quite an interesting hour. Mostly useless, but certainly entertaining. Here's the class in a nutshell - a Peanut shell . . .

First we needed to make eye contact, which is not an easy task with a aloof greyhound, but Peanut did her best.

Here she is showing off a brand new trick that she didn't know she could do.

Here she appears much more interested in Daddy and the camera than in yoga.

Looks like I'm the only one doing any yoga here. Peanut is just relaxing.

She's just not getting it. This is supposed to be 'updog.' Not 'lay-there dog.'

Wait, she's catching on. That almost looks like a 'down dog.' I'm so proud!

And then she figured out where the treats were coming from and it was all over!

Falling Off the Blogging Bandwagon

I think after a week away and not writing every day, I fell out of the groove. That, plus I’ve been very busy just trying to catch up with my life. As if work (my real job) doesn’t keep me busy enough, I’ve also been busy with YogaDudes. I had to add my new shirts to the shop, publish my latest newsletter, and then pack and ship all the shirts that I sold! I also had to review a new yoga CD that was sent to me and write a review on my YogaDudes blog. And I’ve been brainstorming some new jewelry designs and getting quotes on the materials. Stay tuned for more on that.

Then there’s Karlo’s up and coming business that can keep me employed part-time. Well, if I ever got any payment I guess it could keep me ‘employed.’ He sure does owe me a lot of ice cream cones by now. I just finished his new web site and taught him how to start blogging on his own. So as you can see, I’ve been a little busy.

I’ve been both busy and not feeling too great. Boy, it sure does stink to come back to CT during my most challenging allergy month. Once again I experienced the stark contrast between feeling 100% great every day and coming home and almost instantly feeling like a gremlin has entered my body and is sucking the life out of me. sigh Hopefully I can beat him down enough to be able to enjoy this weekend.

Fringe

Seems my good ole cuz pointed out an interesting fact. I never did tell you the name of the television show. It's called Fringe. Did anybody happen to catch it last night? I would compare it the X Files. Remember that show? This is a modern day X files. Instead of aliens, the new threat is terrorism, but it's laced with science and physics – fascinating stuff. And so intense that it actually keeps me awake until 10 PM. Not many things can do that!

I'm Hooked

And I'm so excited that it's Tuesday. On Sunday night we just happened to be watching FOX when whatever was on TV caught my attention. It was right up my alley, but for some reason I can't even describe it. Here, watch this:



The second episode is on tonight at 9 PM. Check it out if you get the chance. Maybe you can get totally hooked on it too and then I'll have somebody to chat with about it!

Back From the Soggy City

Forget the Windy City, I think Soggy City is more fitting. We had a bit of drama getting home and I’m so grateful that we made it. You may have seen on the news that Chicago was flooding this past weekend. They got pounded with rain and the roads to O’Hare were flooding most of the weekend. It was a small miracle that we made it to the airport, never mind that our flight actually took off. Phew!

We had a great week. Not only did we enjoy our nights, but the actual show went very well. Karlo’s book was a big hit and I can’t even describe the thrill of seeing the reactions to it. The publisher sold out all the books they brought to the show in the first three days. I’m not too happy that they brought so few books, but then again, perhaps the supply being smaller than the demand was a good thing.

We toyed with the idea of staying an extra day and celebrating our anniversary in Chicago. Thank goodness we didn’t. It rained all day and the stress of trying to get home was not what I wanted on our special day. Instead we woke up in our own bed and enoyed the day here in CT. First thing in the morning, we ran to get our dogs from the Gaumond kennel. We got a bonus visit with Luke & Lisa and I can't thank them enough for watching the hounds for us. Then we spent the rest of the day celebrating our 6 year anniversary.

The weather wasn’t so great, but it sure beat the downpours in Chicago. We toke a beautiful motorcycle ride down to North Stonington and went wine tasting at Jonathon Edwards vineyard. We packed a gourmet picnic and really had a great time. We sat leisurely and sipped our 6 little glasses of wine. Needless to say, I was semi-drunk. The picture that Karlo didn’t get was me with my head in my hands trying to ease the headache and wondering how I was going to make it back on the bike without falling off. I was so exhausted from our trip, but this was just what I needed — a day to relax. The best part was that we enjoyed each other's company after 10 days of traveling together.

You can view my pictures from yesterday here.

More Scenes From Chicago

Always on the run with very little online time. Didn't help that our darn hotel had internet access problems most of the week. Since I'm very short on time I'll let the pictures tell the story. You can check then out here.

Footnote, I had a problem uploading all the pics. It will have to wait until I get home. sorry!

Footnote II - All fixed. All pics are now up there and more captions have been added. Gotta run to dinner now . . . Tomorrow night we fly home!

Scenes from Chicago

I really can't complain about this trip. So far it's been pretty good. We spent two full days setting up our booth and then we had Sunday off. The weather couldn't have been better and we spent most of the day outside biking along the lake and strolling the Navy Pier.

Approximately 200 feet from our booth.

The Ferris wheel at the Navy Pier

Endless volleyball nets at the beach. Major city to my back, gorgeous beach in front of me. This city rocks.

I’m Gonna Miss the Buggers

Tomorrow we take off for Chicago. It’s our every-other-year trip to a big industry trade show. I’m not going to complain about this one. I’m actually looking forward to it . . . for many reasons: Karlo and I will be together, I love Chicago, Karlo’s book will make its big debut, I love Chicago, we’ll get to see our publisher again, we’ll take long walks along the Lake, the food, the window shopping, did I mention that I love Chicago?

When I asked Karlo if he’s looking forward to the trip his answer was, “I’m gonna miss my doggies.” How sweet is that? I’m not quite sure why he thinks they are his doggies, but still sweet. This morning made me realize that it will indeed be a tough 10 days without our little buggers. Here’s a story that I just have to share.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a couple of doggie bandannas – a pink one for Peanut and a purple one for Bentley. They looked adorable sporting their new threads and it lasted for a few days before they eventually fell off. We never took the effort to pick them up from wherever they had fallen and put them back on. Weeks went by.

Then this morning I came down to the garage to leave for work and noticed Bentley laying on his bed and Peanut standing near him, having her breakfast, wearing the purple bandanna. I thought, “Gee, that’s strange. Why did Karlo put Bentley’s bandanna on Peanut? And why did he only dress one dog up?” I thought for sure Karlo was getting the hounds ready for their big trip to Auntie Lisa’s tonight. So you can imagine my surprise when Karlo asked me if I put the bandanna on Peanut. Me? I didn’t do it. Now I’m still trying to figure out how and why she nestled her head into the bandanna all by herself. Karlo said it had to be an accident, but have you seen how long these dog’s necks are? Could she possibly have just laid down and the bandanna fell over her head? I am convinced that she wiggled it on on purpose. Boy, I wish I had a webcam. I know Peanut is very skilled at getting OUT of things, but who knew she could get into them all by herself?

I’m gonna miss my little buggers, but I know they will be living up, getting spoiled and having a grand old time with Luke and Lisa. Now if I could just get them to stop shedding the guilt would be lessened. Actually, if I could get them to stop shedding Lisa would steal them and I would be dog-less.

I Want One (of each)

I'm still trying to decide which creature I want more.



On Saturday we went to the Woodstock fair where I fell in love with the Alpacas. Those huge eyes just kill me and they stare so intently at you. I sure would love to know what they are thinking. After spending an hour that morning dusting the house and consequently feeling miserable from my sinus allergies issues, the thought of having OUTDOOR pets seems more and more appealing.


But then we went to my family picnic on Saturday where I met Bella. She's an Italian Mastiff and 1) I never knew there was such a thing, 2) I would be thrilled to have an "Italian" anything, and 3) Now THIS is a dog that Karlo can wrestle with. Puppies have a way of instantly stealing my heart, but I have to remember that I'm still allergic and Bella will weigh more than me in only a few months. Bad idea.

Luckily I didn't fall in love with anything yesterday. We spent the day outdoors enjoying the perfect weather. First it was a nice bike ride through Eastford and Woodstock. Then it was a terrific kayak ride at Mansfield Hollow. The wind was good and strong and we got a great work out, followed by a few effortless sails. Yeah, we looked pretty crazy with an umbrella as a sail, but all the other kayakers sure were jealous at our impressive ingenuity.

While in Mansfield we had to make a last minute dash to the mall so I could buy a bigger suitcase. I realized that 10 days worth of clothes will not fit into my cute pink bag and it was time for an upgrade. Karlo got into the suitcase shopping spirit and bought one of his own. Good thing we didn't have the Mini because I'm not sure both bags would have fit.