On the Road Again

This time I'm in Orlando, Florida for a business trip. Well, it's almost hard to call it a business trip really. I'm at Photoshop World which is a huge meeting for folks who are passionate about Photoshop. It's really mostly just photographers that attend and it feels just like being at that photo conference in NYC. I just love being around photographers and all things related to photography. It's all so inspiring!

On the first day I had the morning free to stroll around with my photo buddy Sandy. We strolled around the shops and had lunch at my favorite restaurant Opa. God I love that place. I could eat there every day and it's the reason I want to visit Greece.


In addition to eating terrific Greek food, I also attended a half day training workshop on video. All the training I've taken in the past involved editing the video with software, but this class went over some of the camera and production basics. We got to practice our video skills while shooting a musician performing. He was an adorable kid who was on previous American Idols. Although I loved getting out 'in the field' and learning the tricks of the trade, it was all sort of scary and stressful. It left me with very mixed emotions about taking on such a difficult new job. But I guess I love a challenge so I'm going to embrace it.



Despite being completely drained from that class I did manage to have lots of fun that night. My manager Ben arrived and he joined Sandy and I for a great dinner and then we went to a poolside party at the hotel.

Yesterday was filled with more classes and some crazy weather. I sure am happy this is a business trip and not vacation. Lots of rain and wind, add to that the lightening and tornadoes. Boy, there's never a dull weather moment this week. And now I hear I'm coming home to snow. Yeah!

Week in Pictures

I lost count of which week this is so I'm going to end up with a lot of blog posts that have this same title . . .

Here's what last week looked like:

#80

Big excitement today. We brought some much needed food home to our empty pantry.

#81
Karlo and Cooper practice levitating. I only wish the sun was out so you can see the shadows between their feet and the pavement. And look at all that stupid snow still in our yard.

#82
I had an interesting assignment at work this day. I had to take photos of some of the strangest things found in people's offices. This chicken coop happens to be in my office. It's a real movie prop from the Chicken Run. Long story, don't ask.

#83
Today was my first run of the year. I figured I should be in great shape after our bike trip and I did OK, but there's no doubt I would prefer to pedal. I have to regain my running legs, but there's plenty of time for that.

#84
And speaking of running, this guy seems to have to problem with the sport despite doing nothing but laying around all winter.

#85
You already know the story of my beloved ducks. Only I could completely fall in love with creatures that I got within 10 feet of for 20 minutes. I've yet to see them again and my heart is breaking. I'm glued to the window today.

#86
Do I even need to explain what's going on here? But once again, the GoPro managed to disappoint so I have no footage to show you. I may keep that stupid piece of crap long enough to attempt 'doggie cam' one more time. After that it's a goner. I already bought a replacement!

My Dream Come True

Maybe I'm going to get my ducks this Spring after all. First thing this morning Karlo noticed lots of ripples in the pond (which by the way is liquid again). The ripples just kept on going and going, only we wouldn't really see what the source was. I hoped it would be ducks, but it could have been anything. Then a couple of hours later I noticed two ducks swimming along. I got so excited. I ran downstairs to get one of my cameras and my friend's 500mm lens, but that turned into a disaster of frustration. Stupid useless lens! That's a whole 'nother story. I had no choice but to venture out into the cold.


So the 4 of us headed outside and sure enough, the ducks were still there. Normally it doesn't take more than one sight of humans and hounds coming toward the pond to make any ducks fly away, but this time it was a different story. The dogs ran all around the pond and I snapped some shots with my loud camera and they didn't budge.


I decided to run back inside and get some bread. This exercise always proved to be a waste of time in the past. All previous ducks were so skittish they flew away the minute I threw a bread crumb into the water. But this time was different. The little suckers started to swim right to me. I was thrilled. I sat at the end of the dock and feed them one whole piece of bread. At one point one of the dogs ran down to the shore and, although the ducks looked concerned, they must have been hungry enough to be brave.

This went on for a couple of slices of bread until my hands were positively frozen. I even got to see a couple of the huge trout that live in the pond as they came up to steal the bread too. What a thrilling morning indeed.


There has to be some reason why these ducks were so persistent this time. Perhaps they already have some eggs stashed somewhere. I can cry at the thought of having to leave town next week. I desperately want to go out and feed them every day. I have visions of getting my baby ducks after all, only with this scenario they will have parents to take care of them. Fingers are crossed. If it doesn't work, I'll have to resort back to the begging process and see if the grumpy old man will let me buy some ducklings.

OK I Lied

I never dreamed I would find the time to make a video, let alone two videos, but I found some cool ways to cheat and have most everything automated. I wish I could find a service to do this for most of my life, but I'll keep searching for that solution. In the meantime I'm gonna enjoy this cool video maker. Here are a couple little creations I made tonight in under 30 minutes.

This one is a silly little movie trailer made from the horrific little video snippets we took with that darn GoPro camera:



And this one is a longer movie of just the still pictures:

Scrambling to Catch Up With Life

Life has been a bit chaotic since getting back from vacation. Seems there is never enough time to do all I need or want to do. For instance, I've been dying to look at the video clips we took on vacation and make a little movie of my pics and videos. I simply can not wait to do this project, but I don't see any time in sight for that to happen. So much other stuff is in the way and it's frustrating.

One good (make that great) thing that happened was that I am now officially done with my yoga class. I was supposed to have one more class to teach, but because of the snow cancellations and my crazy travel schedule we just couldn't coordinate dates with the school. Instead of killing ourselves to find an alternate location I decided to just cut the session short. I figured if anybody complained I would refund their money. Guess what? It was no problem at all and I got off the hook for teaching my last class. Just like that. What a relief.

In the midst of not having any free time, I did manage to enter a photo contest. The contest was to shoot a shiny and reflective object - the thing that scares me the most. I tried really hard to execute a cool idea that I had, but that failed miserably – and like I had time to keep trying it. Instead I sent in a picture that I took last Fall and it was just published on the contest blog today. Yipeeee. Check it out and see if you can guess which one is mine.

More Photos From Our Trip

After a brief tour of Salt Lake City we finally made our way back to the East Coast. There wasn't all that much to see in Salt Lake City, unless of course, you're really interested in churches. There were no shortage of those! We strolled around for a couple of hours, but the skies were gray and the temps were much chillier than being in the desert. I was already missing the desert climate. We found a nice little brewery and had a positively delicious lunch. I think from now on I only want to eat at breweries because our experiences have been superb. Yummy. Luckily the entire trip home was completely uneventful and no good stories came of it. I thank Southwest for that :-)

If you want to see some more pictures from the trip I uploaded two albums to picasa. Click here to see some shots of the pretty scenery.

And here to see some more silly snapshots while hiking and biking.

Photos of the Past 2 Weeks

I got a little behind with posting my pictures, but I still haven't missed a day taking them. Here's the past two weeks.

#66

Our raging river after all the rains. A complete miserable walk in the snow getting down to the river. uuugh.

#67
The kitchen lighting make-over finally gets complete with our new updated track lighting.

#68
After driving home from Tolland and seeing lots of grass everywhere we came home to the North Pole. So depressing to still have this much snow when everyone else bare yards.

#69
On our way to Moab . . . I snapped a picture going over the Rockies.

#70
Our first hike in Canyonlands National Park. We are sitting in front of Mesa Arch, famous for sunrise pictures, but that wasn't gonna happen on this trip.

#71
Karlo happy to be at the top of the 25 mile hill on our first ride.

#72
The best and most challenging bike ride of our life. The benefit of all the uphill climbs is the sweet several mile descents. This was the start of a big one. The most exhilarating coast of my biking career.

#73
Our pretty lunch stop on Day 3 of riding.

#74
This day the biking was boring and easy so we hiked at Arches at sunset. Love this park to pieces.

#75
Will never forget this bloody day and that stupid Jeep ride from Hell.

#76
I took lots of cool pictures on this, our last day in Moab, but I really loved this one of Karlo despite the gray sky and lack of scenery.

#77
Our stroll through Salt Lake City. This was taken in Temple Square. Lots of churches everywhere.

#78
We attended our second themed dinner party. Can you guess the theme of this one? Irish. Oh, we ate some food too, and it was all new to me.

#79
Porsche - Faster than a greyhound!

Sand and Slick Rock

Today was our last day in Moab and we were sad to leave it. We planned a nice easy half day of hiking. We went back to our favorite place (Arches) to finish off the trails we didn't yet hike, and also to finally get some video footage of the course we biked a few days ago. This time I used my trusty pink point-and-shoot and it worked like a charm. I think we may take a sledge hammer to the GoPro when we get home.

I'm glad the day of hiking we had planned was an easy one as I woke up with a terrible stomach issue. My entire core was in a knot. I felt like I did P90X Ab Ripper 25 times in a row and I could barely walk upright without lots of pain. What the heck happened to me? It wasn't the food because it wasn't 'that kind' of stomach ache. I pondered and pondered what could have happened to me and then it hit me. It was the pure STRESS of the Jeep ride the day before that left my stomach in a severe knot. Stress has done this to me in the past. Unreal. I biked 4 challenging days without the slightest bit of soreness anywhere and it will take me days to recover from a Jeep ride.

But I still managed to hike (a bit slower than usual) and I'm so glad I did. Today's hikes were my favorite ones. Once again, it was all sand and slick rock, but the views were the best. There was a 50% chance of rain so I didn't take my real camera and that takes so much pressure off. All we did was take silly snapshots of each other and had a such a good time. I loved it. My favorite place was called Sandy Arch. It reminded me of another favorite Utah park, Zion. I had fun posing in yoga poses and Karlo was like a monkey climbing on the rocks.


We were brave not to take rain gear and as it turned out the sun started to shine. It was then that we marveled at the incredible good luck we had with weather. In over 10 years of this biking event, this was the best weather they ever had. In fact, last year was so miserable that it caused a turnout of over 400 less riders this year. Apparently last year one riding day had to be canceled due to sleet and freezing rain. All 4 days were cold and miserable and this year was simply perfect. The day we arrived was the first day the park ranger said she could wear short sleeves. We had 6 straight days of perfection and on our last day, with a threat of rain, the sun continued to shine. We got into the car to start our 4.5 hour drive back to Salt Lake City and 30 minutes into the ride the rain started. Thank you Mother Nature for the awesome run we had!

The drive back to Salt Lake was beautiful. We took a different return trip and this one was much nicer. We drove through the snowy mountains and it was awe inspiring scenery for hours. Unfortunately my stomach still hurt all day and continues to persist into the night, but I guess it was all worth it to make some great memories.

It's a Jeep Thing

The biking portion of our ride came to an end yesterday and it was torture to give back the sweet carbon fiber bikes that we rented. I think I shed a tear or two saying goodbye to them. What on Earth would we do without bikes all day?

We tossed around the idea of renting either mountain bikes or a Jeep. Since we didn't have the right gear for mountain biking, I opted for the Jeep. I figured we deserved to cheat a little today and use some gasoline to get around. That was a decision I later regretted!



We planned on taking two different Jeep trails. The ride was slotted to last 4-5 hours so it sounded like a nice easy and fun day. Wrong! The very start of the first trail had me in tears. I was at least hoping to ease into the off-road riding, but no . . . the trail immediately started going straight up and dangled on the side of a cliff right off the bat. We were in a stock Jeep and the terrain was ridiculous. I guess I'm just used to having all four wheels on the ground at all times and when they are not, I'm a little anxious.

By the time we got done with that first trail I was in serious need of a break, or a very hard drink, or tranquilizer, or something. I suggested that we take a nice hike before tackling the next trail. We didn't bother going into the visitor center to get any stats on the hike. I figured it HAD to be better than riding in that Jeep, so off we went.

3 hours later after non-stop hiking we finally made our way back to the Jeep. It was exhausting. The trail was 25% slick rock, which was fun and easy to walk on (except for the parts that were so steep I wish I had a climbing harness and ropes) and it was 75% sand (like a beach). Do you know how much harder it is to walk in sand? And every time I ever walked several miles in sand it's been on a beach, which is FLAT. This, of course, was not flat at all. Totally pooped. I was actually happy to see the Jeep again.

But the bad news is that we walked along the top of the canyon that we were going to drive down into. Looking at the road cut into the side of the cliff terrified me. Now I suddenly dreaded getting back in the Jeep. Karlo, on the other hand, was jittery with excitement. Lord help me.

Me after looking down into the canyon at the Jeep trail we were about to take. YIKES!

One view of the trail. You can see it snaking along the side of the cliff.

See that dirt trail wayyyyy down into the canyon? We had to lose that much elevation on the switchbacks and finally make our way across the canyon.

Well let me tell you, that was the worst drive of my life. I was completely terrified and nearly in tears. Easily the second most terrifying day of my life (second only to my terrible whitewater rafting trip). I HATED it and I simply could not BELIEVE that they let any old shmoe with no off-road 4x4 driving experience rent a Jeep and attempt this death trap. You should have heard me . . . "I wanna go home . . . SLOW DOWN!!! . . . I'm never getting into a Jeep again as long as I live . . . SLOW DOWN!!! . . . We are selling our Jeep when we get home . . . How many people don't make it down?" The trail was literally cut into the cliff and it just switched back and fourth for 3,000 feet until we were finally on the canyon floor. Every time we turned so that I was on the side that looked straight down I thought I would have a nervous breakdown. And Karlo didn't help matters, driving so that the tires were 6 inches from the edge. Oh God, just writing about this is getting me sick.

Then there was the mud. Holy Lord, that was to be the end of me. For some reason one stretch of serious downhill was a mud bog. The Jeep was literally floating side to side on a 30 degree incline and at the bottom is a hairpin switchback turn. Yeah, you can just imagine the screaming going on. NEVER again. I just thank GOD we are alive right now. I was ready to KILL the guy that rented the stupid Jeep to us.

But the rest of the ride (once we got to the bottom of the canyon) was fine. I guess after what I just went through, not much could phase me and I got much braver. And if you're wondering if we took video of the Hell ride, yes we did, sort of, but once again the GoPro camera served to disappoint. Long story. bottom line, no good footage of the worst part of the ride. But I suppose in retrospect that might be a good thing because I don't think I could stomach reliving it by just watching the video.

Colorado River Ride Part 2

Today we rode along the Colorado River again, but in the other direction. This was slated as the 'easy' day because the mileage was low (44 miles) and the ride was nearly dead flat. Everybody raved about how great it was and how much they enjoyed the treat of pedaling on flat ground. Many riders commented on how it was a great chance to train for cadence. Good grief. I hated it. It got boring and monotonous and totally reminded me of riding on the dreaded trainer in our living room. With flat riding you never get a break. There is no coasting on flat ground and of course you have headwinds in at least one direction, making it feel like you're biking through sand. Even though we were cruising along at about 18 mph it seemed like it took forever to finish the ride. My butt and back never got a break and I was ready to get off the bike. It was then that I realized that I'm a hill climber. I guess I actually enjoy climbing the hills. Crazy, I know.

I managed to snap this picture of Karlo while I was pedaling. I just loved the shadow he was casting.

We had to say our final goodbyes to our new biking friends. The event was truly great. Everything was just perfect and the group raised over 2 million dollars. It was just so much fun to be in and around all these hard-core bikers and their beautiful bikes. I had flashbacks to Ballroom Bootcamp . . . when Karlo and I were the only ones that weren't carrying 'dance shoes' and I had that, "We are in over our heads" feeling. This was the same thing. Many guys had shaved legs and I didn't even recognize most of the bike brands. I've been a biker for over a decade. I watch the Tour every year, I even have a friend in France that sends me the official Tour guide and I still didn't recognize these bikes. It was a treat just to gawk at them all.


Since the ride was short we decided to head out to Arches National Park (where we rode the day before) for some hiking before dinner, when the sun was starting to cast some interesting light. We only did one hike that was all downhill on the way out and all uphill on the way back. It was then that the previous day's climb started to hit me. My legs felt like bricks and it was amazingly difficult to get back up the hill. I was told that the actual hilly biking would be fine, but the recovery from it would be a big challenge at these high altitudes. Well, I was living proof of that. I couldn't believe how hard it was, both to move my legs and to breathe. This high altitude definitely takes some getting used to.

The Epic Ride of a Lifetime

I am so proud of myself at this very moment. I survived the most challenging ride of my life. It looked something like this.

And the worst part is that the ride was out and back so those spikes in the sky had to be climbed up and over TWICE. It was a total of 5 hours of pedaling, at least 4 of those were climbing major hills. I still can't believe I did it! What a rush. I still have Tony Horton's voice in my head. I can hear him saying, "Take in the fact that you just did that." And I am taking it in . . . .

The ride was simply incredible. There are no words, pictures or even video that would do it justice. Of all the amazing rides we have done in our biking careers this one was the highlight. It was worth every grueling climbing mile. There is officially no place in CT that could ever scare me as far as hill climbing goes. I deserve some sort of girl scout badge for this one.

And the saddest story ever . . . Karlo worked really hard at figuring out how to secure our helmet cam to the front of his bike. Then he proceeded to work really hard all day at capturing some of the most amazing footage ever. And then we proceeded to accidentally delete every video he took. Yeah, believe me . . . there are NO WORDS to express that major disappointment. I can't even think about it right now.

The rest our day was filled with lounging in the hot tub, laying by the pool, shopping, pigging out at dinner and then taking a scenic drive. See, we do sometimes do normal vacation things too. This day feels so long that the ride seems like yesterday. I think it's time to finally crash out and relax.