Thanksgiving 2010

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to spend it together. Between the both of us being in school, we haven't had real quality time together. It was a real treat to get out of the motorcycle and head up to our favorite little spot: Morro Bay. We weren't able to get a room at our usual hotel, so we opted for another, pricey place and decided to only stay one night. We drove up Thanksgiving day, encountered a little traffic on the coast, but made it by 3pm. After checking into the hotel we changed and headed out to our favorite little wine shop for a tasting, where I had a great Beaujolais. Next to dinner at Windows on the Water, where we had a front row seat to the sunset. It was very romantic and the food was great!


the sunset during dinner


the view from our hotel balcony


Ready to ride back home!

Last year's project - Update

In an effort to spend half the year traveling James and I have been working on promoting our motorcycle journal website full of travel info. and motorcycle specifics. While the site is up, its still a work in progress. You can check it out at:
www.jjriders.com

Also, we put up a video we made from some of pictures from our cross country trip. If you haven't seen it yet, its pretty cute. I've watched it probably a hundred times now. Its also especially good if you like Jonny Cash. Check it out and enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyAxyoeVHoQ

Vermont in 3 days

We dashed out of Arlington, MA Thursday morning for one more last minute trip on the motorcycle before the responsibilities kick in on Monday. I woke up full of worry this morning, but all that didn't matter today because we were hitting the road. I really love that riding is about being in the present moment.

We head west across Massachusetts and around 100+ miles later we take our first break at the Mass Moca in North Adams. Its a large museum in what feels like the middle of no where. This town, North Adams, must have been a mining town, which has since had many of its building converted, including the building of the Mass MoCA. We saw some great exhibit with Jenny Holzer and Anselm Kiefer.

Time to get back on the road and get to our final destination: the Nordic Hills Lodge in Wilmington, VT. where we'll be staying for the night. This is a great spot that James found by chance on a solo trip he did last month. This great lodge is motorcycle friendly and has a lot for a smaller place and great price. I would defiantly recommend if your in the area. Its also at the bottom of Mount Snow, which I hear is a nice ski area in the winter. At the lodge there's a game room downstairs where we played air hockey and then some pool.

Fall was starting to show, but its still a little early and actually quite hot - 84 degrees F. I do hope the heat late in the season means that this will be an easier winter.

The following day we made it over to our friends Stewart and Jenny who just moved up to Vermont from FL. It was great seeing some familiar faces up here.

Today, Saturday, we drove back home in a hurry, trying to bet the tropical storm making its way up here. So weird. Anyways, we made it and Monday is back to school.

Cape Cod

Today I unexpectedly found myself in Cape Cod with James on the motorcycle. Let me explain. I have been considering buying a motorcycle (to be discussed in another blog). We traveled to Wymouth about a half hour south of Boston to check out this cute little dual purpose enduro bike. It was nice, but I wasn't completely sure, so since we were already south of home, we thought lets keep going. It was probably a little after 11am, and with no pressing comittments and my freedom of flexibility slowly slipping away (classes start next Wednesday), we thought we should take advantage.

I have been talking about going to Cape Cod since I moved here; excited to see the ocean and this famous area. Finally today was the day, and just in time. It was good getting there on a week day, as I hear this area gets really crowded during the weekends. With a 35 mile stretch of one lane highway, I was glad there were few people out.

The ride out got more and more beautiful the closer we got. Towards the tip of the Cape appeared sand dunes (see photo above). It was unlike any beach terrain I had ever seen. The landscape reminded me of parts of Death Valley, but with vegetation. I really wish I would have brought my camera, but I did manage to find some photos on line, which are the photos above.

A hundred plus miles after leaving the bike we checked out this morning we had hit "P-town", which stands for Provincetown. This is the furthest point on the Cape Cod Bay. This was quite a ride considering we had no plans, no side cases and no lunch. We rode up route 6A looking for a lunch spot that had some fried seafood (we all get our cravings from time to time). We found a great little place called Pepe's Wharf Restaurant‎. It's right on the beach with a great view of the bay.

A few interesting things about Provincetown can be found here:
http://www.pilgrim-monument.org/t3/index.php?id=38
I'll tell you some of the most interesting. There is a monument there called Pilgrim Monument (see photo above). This is because this town is the first place that the pilgrims on the Mayflower landed in 1602. I know, crazy huh? I thought it was Plymouth Rock, which it was, but this is where they spent 5 weeks before heading up to Plymouth Rock. Interesting stuff.

The ride back went pretty fast but it was a little long probably due to the lack of water and too much sun. That can really zap your energy, and being tired on a motorcycle is the worst. A half hour out of Boston we stopped and got coffee to pep us up. This was a good move since we hit some traffic on the way home. We finally made it home by 7pm. Sometimes you never know where the day will take you.

Another successful day trip on the moto.

New Hampshire Day Trip

Today is suppose to be the last sunny and beautiful day for the rest of the week. As you may or may not have read, yesterday was not the nicest day, but did offer some adventure. In a carpe diem moment, James and I decided to take off on a day trip for a few hours to visit New Hampshire. This being our first trip to NH, we were both blown away by it's beauty.

We left around noon time and an hour later we were in NH, but still another hour away from our destination: Dublin, NH. As we got closer to our destination the altitude got higher and the trees bigger and tougher looking. The trees we saw looked like they have out lived some of the coldest winters imaginable. One of the most surprising things we saw were Moose Crossing signs. I knew we were North, but I didn't think we were that far.

Once reaching Dublin we stopped in at a little store called Hedge House for a souvenir, as we collect magnets from every state that we have traveled through. I also bought a beautiful porcelain pencil holder and a piece of neon green Fenton glass, which was their specialty. We made one more stop for the bathroom and then headed back for home.

In living in the Northeast I have to keep reminding myself that this is such a special time of year and will not last. I often remind myself that this place will be freezing in a few months time, and the summer is a time to be enjoyed outdoors. This is a very different perspective than I had in Florida. The summers in Florida were a time to be feared for their heat, and lacked out door enjoyment.

Returning home I couldn't believe I had seen mountains today. What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon! Make sure to check out some of our photos on JJriders.com (soon to be a fully operational site full of motorcycle travel info, but currently linked to our Flicker photos).