Outer Banks

Visiting the Outer Banks (OBX) has been on our "to do" list since we moved to North Carolina.  I listen to my students rave about it and started to feel like I was left out, or certainly not a true North Carolinian unless I visited. So, this summer a student who's family has a home in Buxton, NC (mile 61 on HWY 12-almost at the end of Hatteras Island) offered a stay.  Consequently, he is also doing his internship at an exclusive resort in OBX, so I was able to work and play.  Words cannot describe the natural beauty of the OBX, although a few come to mind; breathtaking, inspiring, majestic...you get the point. And Sean and I aren't "beach people."  I dropped him off to ride his bike in the 50 mile HWY 12 to the house on our trip in and I drove slow, stopped to take pix, and enjoyed the evening glow on the ocean and dunes (one way in and out).  We tried to pack as much in as possible for four days, so we paddle boarded, visited the Hatteras lighthouse and Wright Brother Museum, rode our bikes to Ocracoke, and ate seafood every meal.  The highlight of the trip was Ocracoke.  We rode 12 miles from our house to the ferry (a 40 minute ride), then 14 miles to Ocracoke.  The lady at the bar said, "Goddamn, you rode that far?"  And although I laughed at her, the last leg of our trip in 90 degree heat when Sean couldn't take it anymore and rode home in front of me, I did start to agree with her!  It was a great day, although the heat got to me (my cryptonite) and I was thankful for a tailwind home because I'm pretty sure I wasn't peddling.  I would highly recommend the trip, it is truly a special place and one worth protecting!

End of Our Summer Midwest Tour

After Tour of Dairyland we spent a few more days in Indiana visiting family.  Unfortunately, we were unable to see the fireworks show at the 4th of July Festival due to the drought and fire ban.  I will admit it was the hottest I've ever been in Indiana with temperatures in the 100's and we forgot how violent storms can be.  The tree below fell on our deck while my Dad was sitting on it watching the storm blow in.  It's a 100 year old black locus tree. The wood is extremely durable, hard, and VERY heavy.  It was sad to the see the tree I grew up swinging on fall.  The storms that night had winds in excess of 60mph and took out our power for the night.  Unfortunately, little rain followed. We decided to head to the local pool (recently remodeled) and cool down with our nephew.  Now it's back to work teaching summer school, visiting interns, and catching up on house work.  Happy July!

 

 

 

Tour of Dairyland

After visiting with my folks for a few days I picked Sean up from the Chicago airport and headed to Milwaukee to race in the Tour of Dairyland.  The race series is 10 days of racing in various towns around the Milwaukee area.  Sean raced well getting on the podium many times...he won a lot of coffee.  The races in Wisconsin, both Dairyland and Superweek, attract the best Master's racers in the country, which made for great finishes and fun competition for Sean.  We stayed with a great host family in Brookfield and was able to enjoy the local Greenway system in town.  We swam in Long Lake at the Kettle Moraine State Forest after the Greenbush road race.  The forest and lake were beautiful, with minimal uggies in the water, enabling me to swim and touch the bottom!  One of our favorite parts of traveling is eating at great restaurants.  You can see below we found a great breakfast spot, where surprisingly at 8am we were the only ones not drinking fancy OJ Mimosa's or beer.   We thought for a moment we had AM and PM mixed up, but I guess its part of their culture.  They had a delicious eggs benedict, something hard to find the southland.  Another night we had dinner with David Forkner at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, which was amazing!  We had a great time and miss many things about the Midwest, including the beautiful rural farm landscapes, friendly people, and cool weather.  We head back to Indiana to visit family, friends, and partake in the July 4th festival until next week when it's back to work!

 

 

 

 

 

Down Home

Made the trip to Indiana last week as we start our Grand Summer Midwest Tour.  Snapped a few shots of my parents farm, which has great memories. I delivered a barn quilt made in our town, West Jefferson, to my folks.  It took my Dad making a serious pulley system to raise the quilt and it looks great!  Heading to Wisconsin for five days of racing in the Tour of Dairyland.

 

Memorial Day Traditions

Since I can remember we go to the lakes for Memorial Day and in Indiana it was the official start of summer.  I broke that tradition last year when Sean and I raced BURN, a 24 hour mountain bike race in Wilkesboro, NC on the Dark Mountain Trails.  It seemed like a great idea to ring in our 10 year wedding anniversary; however, with a few stomach issues, heat, and lack of sleep I decided breaking that tradition was a bad idea!  So, this year I went to the lakes and stayed at the Wood's Playground in Clemson which includes the Issaqueena Forest, Hartwell lake, and a pool.  We had a great time and I love watching the kids grow up and pick on each other...it brings back great memories!  Sean on the hand raced on a five man team for the 24 hours of BURN race.  Although he had a great time, I think he'll be returning to my tradition next year too! 

Cruising 101

I was invited to assist/observe a cruise course to understand how the cruise industry operates and fill in for future trips.   Although people chuckle and think, what a great class…you go on a cruise; however, it’s much more than that.  We meet in the classroom before the trip during the Spring semester to learn about the industry, understand expectations, and read an industry textbook.  The study abroad visits Haiti, Jamaica, and Cozumel offering a variety of backdrops and cultural experiences for students while living on the second largest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet.   For many students it’s there first time on a plane or international experience and they value the adventure, for others it’s a time of celebration after graduation, and for a few it’s a party.  Regardless, the students gain insight into the largest commercial recreation and tourism sector in the industry with over 20.3 million passengers and $33.5 billion dollars.  We met with every director of the cruise ship including entertainment, sports, hotel, cleaning, chef, etc.  Our ship carried over 4,000 passengers, 1,200 employees, and served over 20,000 meals a day.  The service sector of the ship was unbelievable!  I have never experienced such personalized and courteous service.  In fact, these people work 12-14 hour days, which made me feel bad in one way, but happy in another that is was a safe job that paid cash, tax free, and provided housing/food.  On the other hand, the amount of waste a cruise ship creates is alarming even though they have sustainable practices to minimize their environmental footprint.  The excursions on land were a lesson in mass tourism, one most students have not experienced.  Mass amounts of cruisers would all gather to kiss the stingrays, drink on a private beach, or hike up a waterfall.  You can see from my pictures below the large amounts of people that tolerate this type of crowding and enjoy the experience.  I viewed this from an academic lens since I teach tourism courses; however, as a traveler I prefer solitude, peace, and tranquility in the outdoors.  Overall, it was a great trip and I was fortunate to share it with awesome faculty in my department and fun students.  

36 Years of Perpetual Fence Sitting

I am turning 36 and depending on your source, half of my life is over.  With this realization I asked myself, “what have I accomplished and who am I?”  In societal terms I am a progressive, educated, and contributing member of society.  However, who I am today was shaped by where I came from.  My early years were rough through family transitions, but I was fortunate to have wonderful people raise me on a farm that valued education and taught me to believe I could accomplish anything.  Moreover, I was raised by/with an eclectic bunch that were conservationists, farmers, hunters, golfers, cyclists, anglers, botanist…and the list could go on.  I didn’t understand social class or cultural boundaries, for I could learn and do anything I wanted.  Although these values have enabled me to switch career paths and embark on many adventures, it’s been a struggle.  You see the problem is I am a perpetual fence sitter.   I have the belief I can do anything and was able to bounce around in my childhood with new activities like a pinball machine.  Don’t get me wrong I had to finish what I started, but I was soon enthusiastically chasing the next squirrel, or butterfly…hey wait, was that a hummingbird, I wonder where they are from, what they eat?   And this led to my lack of commitment in my leisure pursuits.  Sure, I appear to be good at a few things; however, the truth is I don’t commit and really never have.  It’s taken me 36 years to accept this about myself.  I am married to a man and run in a social circle that is highly committed to one activity and for that I applaud them, but it’s not me…and I’m OK with that.   What I have is variety of random knowledge and love of learning, go ahead ask me anything!  I am also athletic enough to jump in just about any activity (exclude height related sports) and have fun.  Therefore, I am no longer making it a goal in life to commit or apologize for my fence sitting.  So, next time you ask me when my next race is, what my favorite food is, or my political party affiliation, you probably won’t get a definite answer.   I do; however, vow for the next 36 years to explore all my curiosity, travel the world, and be in good enough shape to join in any sporting invite and have fun.  Cheers to many years of proudly fence sitting…