Sunday, August 30, 2009

the bird

I realize that I have hardly written about my recent trip to Jamaica, so I decided to do a post about it and went to my pictures for inspiration. Unfortunately, I was completely overwhelmed when I looked at all the pictures that I took and have no idea where to start or how to organize them into a nice blog post. I've been sick this week and in no mental state to think too hard, so let's start somewhere easy. The bird.

No big deal or story, it's just this bird that was always in the tree outside where we would eat dinner and some of our breakfasts. I really liked this bird. It was like a hummingbird with a really long tail. Apparently he is really fast too. The world's current fastest runner is from Jamaica, so I guess that's appropriate. I liked this bird and his long tail and I think he kind of liked me. At least he didn't mind having his picture taken. Maybe he wants to be famous. He thought he would get his big American break on my blog.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Thursday, August 20, 2009

My new toy!

I have been craving a bicycle for some time now. I've had bike envy when I see an attractive bike parked or cruise down the street where I walk. I wanted a bike for several different reasons. Mostly, I think it will be a nice thing for a weekend afternoon to cruise around on for fun. There are some really nice paths going up and down the sides of Manhattan. There is also a really nice area to ride around Battery Park, closer to the tip of the island. It's a very pretty walk, but a whole different experience on a bike. If I really get into riding it could be a nice way to avoid giving so much money to the Subway. Well - recently I bit the bullet, swiped some plastic and got myself a bike! Here she is:


My first new bike! I have ridden for most of my life, but I always had a used bike. I had a couple of pink bikes as a kid since I was a girly girl and loved my pink. I didn't ride much during high school, but picked it up again in college as a quicker way to get to class. So here I am with another pink bike!
I went for a couple of rides in the city last week to break her in. I loved it! Today I went for a spin around the park by my apartment. It was a nice ride with a fairly decent hill in the middle; raising my heart rate a bit. Coming from West Virginia, I am quite judgmental of 'hills'. If there's anything I know, it's how to ride on hills. These city folks may beat me on a track or flat surface, but I'll blow their doors off on a hill! Back in the day I lost my training wheels on the hills- and I'm talking uphill... both ways.

Monday, August 10, 2009

We're back!!!

Saturday morning we packed our bags with dirty clothes and souvenirs and boarded a plane taking us back to the US. I had a lovely view of Montego Bay and the Caribbean Sea as we flew out of the airport. We traveled all day before safely arriving home around midnight. Exhaustion quickly set in from the previous week of work and little rest. It was a wonderful week and an experience to be remembered.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

To Jamaica...

...or not!
This morning we were on our way to Jamaica. We leave the house at a dark and foggy 3AM. We drive to the church and meet up with our group. We gather together and load our bags into vans that take us to the Charleston airport. Once we arrive at the airport, where we intend to catch our flight to Atlanta, we notice a little problem:


No go. Both flights that our group was on were canceled due to fog in Atlanta. After sitting around at the airport figuring out what was going on and what we were going to do, we were told to go home and we will do the same thing tomorrow morning!!! I've never experienced a flight that is completely canceled. I've had a lot of delays and sitting around waiting for the flight to be rescheduled, but being told to go home and come back the next day is a new thing for me! I do have to say I would rather have it happen this way where I can go back to the house, sleep and enjoy the day than be stuck in a random airport or in a random hotel in a random city.
I guess I'll be up at 3:00 tomorrow morning to try this trip again! Hope it works a little better than this time!