San Francisco, CA August 28th-31st

Todd had a conference in San Francisco, CA for a week. I was able to join him for a long weekend. San Francisco is beautiful but it's cold! Even in August it was in the 60's and got down in the 50's at night.

We got up at o'dark thirty to catch a plane. We arrived in CA before noon. We've made it a practice to not think about the time difference and adjust to the local time as soon as we can. This way we don't spend our day thinking of how tired we are or what time it really is. We try to adjust and keep moving forward.

We got to the hotel, Le Meridien, which is in the financial district downtown. We unloaded and then walked to the Ferry Market, which my tour guide (aka Todd) said that the building has been remodeled and had really turned around since the last time he'd seen it. It had a lot of neat shops and restaurants in it. It was fun to look around and see unique shops.

We ended up at a fish place and I had clam chowder and he had clams. It was delicious.
This was the view that we had of the Bay Bridge when we ate. We sat facing windows all along the back of the restaurant that gave us this view.

Northport Long Island August 22nd, 2010

We rented a zip car and drove up to Northport, LI on Sunday morning to go to church.
It was a sweet little church. We drove around the north forks and along the water. The north forth is so much greener and plush than the South fork of Long Island-because of all of the rain it gets. Each time we've been to the Northfork, it has rained.

It drizzled all day. We walked around a little bit in Northport and grabbed a bite to eat at the local pub. Had fish and chips and it was tastey.

Then we drove to Centerport and went to the Vanderbilt mansion.It wasn't as lavish as the other Museums we've seen. This mansion houses many of Mr. Vanderbilt's collections of fish and a vast collection of marine life displayed in the aquarium. If you're a nature lover, you would love his collection.

Then we drove back along Long Beach but it wasn't very scenic. The land was flat and dry; not plush at all.

We had an invitation from a friend to eat at her house and watch PBS specials, so we drove to her house. That was fun.

Cape May! August 8th-10th

Sunday, August 8th, after church, I rode on the train to Newark, NJ to meet Todd at the motorcycle rental place. We rented a Harley and rode it along the Jersey Shore. Our destination was Cape May, the southern most tip of New Jersey. I had wanted to visit this place for quite some time, so I was grateful that the opportunity presented itself.

It always takes us longer to get somewhere than is predicted. A one hour destination usually turns in to a four or five hour ride. Because there are so many small towns, neat shops, rest stops, that call our name to stop.

As we got closer, we rode along the shore and it was wonderful to see the ocean and be on the bike; we're out in the open, feeling the breeze against us and smell the dampness of the ocean. All of the senses are stimulated.

We arrived early evening. I loved the town right away. It has more victorian homes than we've seen and most of them have been turned in to bed and breakfasts, which we love. We didn't have a room reservation, so as Todd rode to get gas, I strolled through the town, looking for a place to stay. I stumbled across one that was a block away from the beach and it had a vacancy! It was fine.


We walked through town and decided on Blue Pig Tavern-Congress Hall. It's owner, Thomas Hughes, called it the Big House, because of it's size. But many critics were skeptical of it becoming a success and named it "Tommy's Folly". Now open for over two centuries, it has become a success (see www.congresshall.com). The food was good and you could feel the historical significance as you sat outside.

We walked through town and ended up at a putt-putt place. Todd beat me for the first time (I've always beat him). Then we went across the street to an arcade and played games.

Monday morning we decided to stay another day! Todd or I didn't have to get back to work and we wanted to enjoy another day at Cape May.

We walked through town again to see the neat shops when they were open. There were no chains and each store was unique.

We had lunch at the Mad Batter, which had a fun atmosphere and uniquely decorated.

We got back on the road and took a different way back. Then we stayed in Ocean Grove in a Bed and Breakfast.

We walked over to Ashbury Park and had dinner at _____________. The food was excellent.

We were pretty wiped out, so we crashed when we got back to the BNB.

Tuesday morning we grabbed breakfast at the BNB and got on the road. We had a short distance to ride back to the motorcycle rental place.

Stacy and Peter Baird visit with two dogs

I get a call Wednesday from Stacy Baird (Stay and Peter are friends from ASCSA-they are now kicked out of the group like we are) stating they wanted to come to New York Friday morning for a concert. I said "why don't you come up Thursday night and stay with us?" They took us up on the offer! We were excited to see them and have guests. Fortunately, the apt. was coming together and we finally had some furniture.

We got the apartment in order and waited for their arrival. It was great to see them and they brought their two dogs! They were well behaved (the dogs...) and would stay in their kennel while we were away from the apt.

The concert was Train which performed for the Today show early Friday morning. Early, meaning we were there about 6:30 a.m. Stacy and I thought we'd venture ahead of the line and see where it lead. Bad idea...we ended up getting separated from Peter and on the other side away from the stage. Peter was right next to the stage! So we got back in line but it didn't go all the way through-there was a blockade and we couldn't go any further. We were butting in front of people but we did have a good reason! to get to her husband. Most people believed us, except a girl scout with an attitude! She turned her back towards us. What has the world come to when a girl scout doesn't believe you?

So we just stayed where we were and enjoyed the concert. The music was entertaining and we danced to it. We made a new friend who stood next to us. He was from New Jersey and we enjoyed talking to him.

The staff handed out styro-foam microphones (who doesn't need one of those?) and we sang in to those. We were very sophisticated, we were.

We left about 3 1/2 hours later and met Todd for brunch at Kitchenette, a fun place in Tribecca. Then we were ready for a nap! So we headed home and crashed. We slept most of the afternoon (which I don't like to sleep the day away but when you get about 3 hours of sleep, the lack of sleep catches up with you).

We met Todd for dinner at Sweet Melissa's in Brooklyn. There's a nice outdoor patio in back of the restaurant. It was a beautiful night to spend outside. We were going to see a movie and rushed through dinner. When we rushed to the theatre, we found out that the movie was sold out. We decided to enjoy the nice weather and take a walk along the promenade. This gave us more of a chance to visit. We walked through the park by the promenade and enjoyed the city lights emanating from Manhattan, across the East River.

We stopped for ice cream. We had to.

The next morning we took our time getting around. I made breakfast. Then we wanted to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Then we had the bright idea of walking back on the Manhattan Bridge. None of us had done that, so it was new to all of us. But we had felt we had walked about 100 miles, so we were pretty wiped out.

We ended up at Juniors for a late lunch. Shortly after they loaded up to go back home. We loved having them here.

Bikers gone bad Long Island July 2010

Our first bike ride together! We decided to rent a bike in Queens Village on a Sunday afternoon. We took the Long Island Rail Road to the Village and picked it up. I was a little skeptical, just because I hadn't ridden a motorcycle since I was in grade school. But I knew Todd would be a good driver (and I prayed a little too!).

It was a spontaneous trip and we didn't know where we were going or where we'd stop for the night. Which made it even more fun and exciting.

We rode along Long Island and just headed towards the North fork. A couple hours into the trip the sky was getting darker and we could tell a storm was moving in. I suggested we stop while we were in a small town for lunch. But Todd thought he could beat the storm...so we kept riding. About 15 minutes later, the storm hit and it started pouring, when we were outside the town...but did I say anything? Did I say "I told you so?"...nope.. (but inside I was). We pulled off to the side of the road and tried to seek cover under a big tree. That didn't help too much. We were soaked. Did I say we were seeking adventure? I guess we found it.

We rode back to the town and parked. We found a restaurant to eat at-a good mexican place. The server was so nice and didn't mind that we were leaving puddles where we sat.

The rain was lighting up so we got back on the road. We rode through ___________ as the wind was drying our clothes out. We were on the lookout for a store where we could buy some cheap clothes. Only when you're looking for something is when you don't find it. We ended up at a Walgreens and bought a couple of cheap t-shirts.

We had ridden long enough that our clothes had mostly dried out.

We ended up coming to ______________ where we found a hotel that had a vacancy. It was an upperscale hotel; it was fortunate that there was a room available.

When we got to the room, I used a heat lamp to dry out our jeans. Fortunately, I had a dress that I had worn to church that I could wear.

We thought this had been one of our most fun trips because of the spontaneity; not knowing what was ahead of us; the thrill of riding and not knowing where you were going to end up. Not packing what we needed but finding the resources we needed or make do with what we had.

We explored the town; watched cars load a ferry to be transported across the water to Rhode Island.

We settled back in the hotel and ate at the restaurant there. Had a wonderful meal-steak, cheese and fries fondue with a wonderful view of the water.

We were pretty wiped out and Todd crashed when we got back to the room. I was still awake and watched Miss Congeniality II. Had to. It was a moral imperative. These are the movies I have to watch when Todd is asleep.

Had the complimentary breakfast in the morning and then got back on the road. Didn't have as much time today since we had to return the bike late morning. It was a beautiful day for riding. Perfect weather.