7 Days of Travel

The 2012 Cross-Country Adventure has begun!
Goodbye Sleepy Creek, I'll miss you :)



Day 1: Cross Junction, VA to Bowling Green, KY

Ok, so BG isn’t exactly on the way from VA to NV, but when Hanna Hughes has a brand new baby girl, you go down to meet her! It was a beautiful drive through VA and KY with a crucial stop at the Route 66 Chip Factory to pick up 4 GIANT bags of crunchy chips to distribute throughout the country to thank my hosts. I cursed myself for not leaving a day earlier as I passed sign after sign along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail: Makers Mark?! Woodford Reserve?! I arrived (sober) at Hanna and Joe’s in time to meet beautiful baby Natalie and enjoy a delicious dinner with the new parents.




Day 2: Bowling Green, KY to Kansas City, MO
One of these days I’m going to actually stop in St Louis for more than 10 minutes. But that day is not today.


Durie and I had an AMAZING BBQ dinner immediately after I arrived in KC, followed by a trip downtown for local beers with a local band providing the entertainment. Turns out some of the guys had spent a lot of time in VT, so we swapped New England stories.


Day 3: Kansas City, MO to Aspen, CO
It’s getting flat out here!



Longest day of the trip, clocking in at just over 13 hours in the truck. Thank you to Godfather Clint for providing me with 3 awesome mix cds and 2 books on tape, they were crucial on this day in particular!







The exciting transition from plains to mountains was made around sundown with the lights of Denver on the horizon, followed by a climb into the Rockies in the pitch black of night. The drive was definitely worth the reward of beers and pizza on the couch with Jess Tuttle upon my arrival, with a Colorado ski day waiting for us in the morning…


Day 4: Zero Day in Aspen, CO

Yesssss! Awesome day at Aspen with Jess, Davis and Dan! East Coast Love!


Where the beer flows like wine...




Day 5: Aspen, CO to Salt Lake City, UT


So many mountains! What a beautiful drive, ending with sunset in the mountains surrounding SLC. Maybe I’ll just stay here…



Day 6: Zero Day in Salt Lake City, UT
Alta, I think I loooooove you.



I spent the day trying to keep up with Troy and Corey, who were freeing their heels all over the mountain. A little hiking was definitely worth a few turns of untouched powder.



After re-fueling on Green Iguana burritos, we hopped on our bikes and headed to downtown SLC, fulfilling a life goal of wearing my ski helmet on both my skis and bike in the same day. Check!

Day 7: Salt Lake City, UT to Gardnerville, NV



The final push! Another beautiful day of driving, ending with the 2nd half of the superbowl in my new home in Gardnerville, NV. We (the truck and I) have arrived!



(the view from my front yard:)

Blog in a Nutshell: 2011 at a glance

Oh No.

I'm sorry, Blog. It was only a matter of time until you went the same way as so many of my handwritten journals before you.

I forgot about you.

But unlike all those journals, I'm here to continue you! Is that because another cross country trip is pending? Perhaps. Doesn't really matter. First things first. A quick catch up of the last 12 months.

Quick and Dirty. One picture, one paragraph for each month (ok maybe 2 pictures):

DECEMBER 2010:

New York, Phase III and IV. Friends Caroline and Ruaraidh allowed me to continue my couch-surfing streak. The holiday season in the city offered so much greatness: Santacon, White elephant exchanges in Chinatown, a bottle of wine in the spinning restaurant atop times square, late night christmas dance parties in Williamsburg...
I even tried to disguise myself as a real person at Ruaraidh's work party at the Met but no one was fooled, mostly b/c I was just so excited about everything: "free drinks?! chips with grated cheese on them?! dinner in the egyptian exhibit?! tiny desserts?!" It was awesome.



Christmas was spent at the farm on Sleepy Creek, which was exactly how it sounds; relaxing and full of laughs. And eggnog.



JANUARY 2011:

The New Year begins in Charlottesville for my final clinical internship at Martha Jefferson Hospital. I was lucky enough to immediately find out about the Outdoor Adventure Social Club, and we took at trip to the (apparently haunted) Corbin Cabin, above White Oak Canyon.



FEBRUARY:

Road trip to Lake Placid, NY for the annual Full Moon XC ski party! College friends Ginny, Ryan, Mike and I piled into the car and hit the road for an epic night of skiing, beers, bonfires and singing. We made it back in one piece...barely.




MARCH:
I'm falling in love with Charlottesville at this point. The hiking, the people, the running trails, the local beers :)



It turns out when St Patricks day falls in the middle of the week you just get to celebrate it twice! First, an epic day of bar hopping in Richmond, beginning in Shockoe Bottom's "Shamrock the Block" and walking our way to Carey town by the end of the night.



In a slight twist of sobriety, the next weekend was spent in Virginia Beach running my first half marathon. It was a perfect day, cold to start but mid-50's once the sun came up. The after-party was on the beach, dancing to live Irish music in the sand, drinking Yuengling and eating Irish stew.

APRIL:



Virginia Spring!! I miss Vermont so much, but Virginia definitely wins the head-to-head battle in April. Hikes galore (Dragons tooth, McAfee's Knob, Old Rag), parties at the farm and morel hunting. With my last clinical successfully completed, I set up shop at the farm to begin the biggest study session of my life.



MAY:
After attending the Apple Blossom Festival in all its glory, I made my return to Burlington, with a long-weekend trip to NYC along the way (once you live in that city for a few months it just starts to pull you back whenever you get within 100 miles...)
The Ahmann family kindly welcomed me into their home so I could continue my licensing exam preparation on UVM's campus. Oh yeah, and that little thing called graduation? Check! Doctorate of Physical Therapy? Yes please!



JUNE:
Serious study time. Days were spent almost exclusively in the med-library, but I somehow "squeezed" in a good amount of summer-league soccer, play-off hockey and vermont mountain time (which obviously goes hand in hand with Vermont beer time)



JULY:
You know what makes family beach week even better? Having just passed the physical therapy licensing exam! Such a reward.



About a week after the exam my contracting company found a great job for me in Newport News working on the Ft Eustis Army Base! Time to get that career started!


AUGUST:
Late July and early August were spent in a bit of a limbo situation with my job while I waited for my clearance with the Army. But when the worst thing happening is you have to keep taking additional weeks of vacation, your life is pretty good. Lake Anna, Charlottesville, Richmond, Sleepy Creek, weddings galore...not a bad way to spend a Virginia summer!


(tubing adventure for Davids birthday)

SEPTEMBER:
Patients! My own patients! Wait, I get my own office, too? AND I get PAID?
This is awesome.


(the PT crew at McDonald Army Health Center)

The crew at work rocks, working with active duty troops is pretty awesome and it turns out Newport News actually has amazing running trails. Who knew!?

OCTOBER:
Hmmm, I don't know if I'll be able to make W&M Homecoming this year, since I...wait, I live 10 minutes from Williamsburg?! I'll be there!



October also brought the ten year reunion of JHHS 2001. Football was watched, beers were shotgunned, friends were re-united and laughter abounded. What more can you ask for?


(Welcome back to the Handley Bowl, Class of 2001)

NOVEMBER:



I might have gone a little overboard on expedia.com. November weekends included trips to Vermont, New York City and San Francisco. Worth it? Every freakin' penny.


(pictures courtesy of Rebecca DelBalzo:)


Training runs in a snowy Central Park, a foggy Golden Gate Park and along the windy Burlington Waterfront bike path prepared me for pretty much anything the Vegas 1/2 marathon could possible throw my way...

DECEMBER:

When flying to Las Vegas for the weekend, I strongly recommend flying into Los Angeles and road tripping to Vegas with your friends. Jack, Kim and I had a surprisingly relaxing trip and the race down the strip at night was amazing!



As you can imagine there was a LOT of roadside entertainment. Luckily I was running fast enough to outpace the guy in the Borat-style speedo who had a coors tall boy in one hand a cigarette in the other.



(Courtesy Picture of Jack McLoughlin :)

Whew. Year in a nutshell. 4 weeks left in Newport News then it's time for the open road, destination TBD...

New York, Phase I and II

Where do I start? How about in Harlem, where I began my visit!

Someone must have slipped my friend Amal some drugs, because she somehow happily agreed to let me stay in her super-cute apartment for THREE weeks. Amal=Angel.
We spent lots of nights doing ‘friends things,’ including a visit to Harlem’s first (and only) Bier House (fantastic!), night runs along the river, Monday Night Football with Dinosaur BBQ, and many hours spent distracting each other from work with random discussions through the wall…you know, friend things.

It was really nice to open the door every day after work to this:



Just makes you happy.

Mom and Dad came for a visit, and we packed in a matinee Broadway show (Next to Normal), a Central Park walk, delicious Italian and Cuban dinners, and the New York City Marathon!



Thanks to Matt, we had a front row seat in Brooklyn for mile 6 of the marathon. We ate brunch while watching the elite runners finish on TV and the real-time runners go by out the window (If you’re not going to actually participate in a marathon you might as well eat delicious pastries and breakfast sandwiches while watching the runners, right?)



I also had the fantastic opportunity to attend NYC’s WhiskeyFest with my friend Dan who works for VA Distillery in Charlottesville.



I “worked” pouring whiskey at their booth, talking with people about whiskey and taking strolls around the room tasting whiskeys from around the world…amazing!

Next stop, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn.



The next kind individual to offer up his couch was my friend Kevin, and his three roommates Ronnie (person), Tom (person) and Rita (kitty). Kevin’s neighborhood sits between historic Green-Wood Cemetery and beautiful Prospect Park. It is also home to the Double Windsor bar, which has delicious food, eclectic microbrews (even a VT brewery I’d never even HEARD of!!!) and a fantastic trivia night.

It’s clear I enjoyed my time in Brooklyn! Prospect park was a great place for running, and Kevin and I enjoyed a perfect late-fall afternoon walking around the cemetery, checking out old gravestones and listening to the parakeets chirp from the front gates (haven’t gotten the back story there yet…)



Over Thanksgiving weekend Amal and I fought the crowd at the Wednesday night inflation of the Macy's day parade balloons!



It was a little crazy fighting the crowd, but the balloons sure looked good!

So far so good in the city! Next up, stays in Chelsea and Midtown Manhattan!

8 Weeks in Bellingham

Well that went by quickly!
Early fall in the northwest was amazing.



At this point I clearly can’t revisit everything that happened, so I’m going David Letterman style on this with a top 10 list:

Top 10 favorite things about my 8 weeks in Washington (in no particular order):

1-My Job:
When you have a good job it really makes your life fun! From the moment I walked into work on the first day and discovered my CI (clinical instructor = boss) was both a Redskins fan and a Red Sox fan, I knew it was going to be a good 2 months. I was lucky enough to work with some super cool people in a relaxed environment, learn a ton and have a lot of fun! My co-workers rocked, my schedule rocked, my patients rocked.
Oh and we had a car crash into the side of the building one day, so that really pepped up the work-day! (don’t worry, everyone was OK)

2-Meagan’s Bike:
I didn’t have a car in Bellingham (except for when Malcolm, Michelle or Malcolm let me borrow theirs…) so my main mode of transportation was my bicycle. My mountain bike made the trip XC and would have been my ride to work everyday, until Meagan (Malcolm’s sister for those who don’t know her) lent me her totally sweet, super light-weight, nicest-bike-I’ve-ever-ridden, road bike! Needless to say, it obviously made my daily commute much more enjoyable. Thanks Meagan!

3-Mt Baker


Speaking of my bike ride to work, my commute was also enhanced by an amazing view of Mt Baker, one of Washington’s awesome snowy peaks. Malcolm and I also made it over to North Cascades National Park for an overnight hike. We had great weather and found a perfect spot for the tent with amazing views of Baker and Shuksan.



4-Vancouver
Since Vancouver is only a little over an hour from Bellingham, we took a quick trip up one weekend to check out the Olympic city. We were lucky enough to be there on a perfectly sunny, beautiful day!


After securing the car downtown for the day, we hopped on our bikes and took them for a spin around Stanley Park (yes, the same Stanley name behind that little ol’ hockey trophy!) Totem poles, beaches, cricket games, views of the city and lots of amusing tourists…. It was very entertaining! Next we rode over to Granville Island for some local beers and lunch at the market. While walking through a tiny park on the island, we stumbled upon an official beer pong tournament---which we tried to crash but it was unfortunately a private event (booo!) Back to downtown Vancouver, we walked through Chinatown and the historic Gaslight District where we checked out some local art before grabbing dinner and another round of local brews. Since we had a few Canadian dollars left, we HAD to get some gelato before we headed home, passing the night-lit olympic torch platform…a pretty good 12 hours in Canada!




5-Mom and Dad Visit:
Yah! Mom and Dad took a 10-day trip to the northwest in September. Our first weekend was spent in Seattle, walking the downtown piers, eating seafood on the waterfront and taking the shamelessly touristy Duck Tour (two thumbs up from the Gustin review).

Unfortunately I had to work during the week, but they had no trouble filling up the days with hikes, whale watching tours and other northwest fun with the McPhees. Our 2nd weekend consisted of more delicious food, hikes along the water, cycling around Anacortes and some good hang out-time.

6- Seattle Time

Since Malcolm was in Seattle for this rotation, we spent a fair amount of time in the city! The highlights included runs around Green Lake, trips to the REI flagships store and a Saturday night Huskies game complete with tailgating and an overtime victory!



7-McPhee Proximity:
Malcolm’s hometown of Anacortes is conveniently located between Seattle and Bellingham, so we frequently found ourselves spending weekend time at the McPhee household. Delicious meals, homebrews, forestland runs/bikes and quality hang out time were just what we needed to unwind over the weekend. We also made a trip out to the family cabin for a weekend ‘cabin party’ with Michelle’s extended family, complete with beach campfires and a pickleball tournament-goodtimes!



8-Bellingham Brews:
Ahhhh. The beers in Bellingham took the edge off my homesickness for Vermont beers. Among my favorites were Chuckanut’s British Brown Ale and Boundary Bay’s Imperial Oatmeal Stout and Scotch. The food scene in Bellingham also kept me coming back for more (mostly thanks to nights out with Mom and Dad and Michelle and Malcolm). Apparently “clam” chowder also includes salmon as a staple ingredient… I love it!

9-Cliffside Drive:
Talk about lucky. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw my Bellingham neighborhood. I had beautiful views of the bay from the front yard, a huge fenced in backyard for the roommate’s pups
(2 German wire-haired pointers), and a 5 minute walk to a private beach with a view of Bellingham that was eerily similar to the view of Burlington from Oakledge!

My roommate Tracy is an awesome woman- a dog lover, earth conscious and PTA student – we obviously got along pretty well!



10-West-coast Football:
Let me tell you. Waking up at 10am, sitting up in bed and turning the TV on to the 1:00 NFL game is AWESOME. Sunday and Monday night football? Over by 9. NINE.
If only I’d stayed until the world series was over…


*Oh yeah, and Mt Rainer:


It's pretty cool too! :)


Next stop, New York City...