Last summer, in July 2009, I convinced a group of 12 friends to ride the STP with me. It’s the 209 mile Seattle to Portland bike ride done over two days and we had a great time! We did Saturday training rides before the event (very casual) and all managed to survive the long two days of riding during the actual event. Here are some long overdue photos of the trip between Seattle, WA and Portland, OR. Enjoy!
Noah, Suzanne, Mez, Caroline, Jess, Mae, Leo, me, Zoe, Stefan. (Brian did it too, but in one day instead of 2! Turns out he’s hardcore like that!)
Noah got 4 flats in 24 hours… happily ensuring I got zero!
Loving my new wicker bike basket. Awesome!
It was wet, thundering, lightening, cold, and hilly… but it sure was pretty!
Embracing the spandex
Welcome to Oregon! Crossing the state border!
Deliriously happy at the finish line with Mez. So very proud of us, and our entire great group, for doing the training and riding the ride! It was definitely a fun summer adventure!
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David and I had a great time zooming around Mexico’s Yucatan, but I never found time to post. I’m now already prepping for my next trip, so figured I should at least get a super short recap up! One fun thing to note… it turns out that David and I can spend 24/7 together for a week and not drive each other crazy… that’s always a good thing! Pictures will have to come some other day…
Cancun:
Dinner at Carlos & Charlies – cheesy, touristy, entertaining
Stay with Suzan and Jeremy who were in town at the same time from Chicago!
Merida:
Los Arcos Hotel ($12/day) – gorgeous courtyard, nice small place
Lunch at El Trapiche
Dinner at Café Amaro (with live music!)
Breakfast at Hotel San Jose
Drive to Mayapan ruins – empty site, fun to climb all over!
Happy hour and breakfast at Las Vigas
A lovely dinner Casa Frieda
Breakfast at Hotel San Jose
Free Dali exhibit at the town art center
Free music, mariachi performances, and WIFI in the main plaza
Great time wandering the town market, seeing David get a hair cut, eating yummy food
Ruins at Chitzen Nitza with guided tour – one of the biggest sites for ruins!
Tulum:
El Capitan – great dinner and amazing ceviche
Casa Hostal (not fancy, but not bad. nice courtyard, decent private rooms) $20?
Ruins at Tulum – gorgeous beachfront ruins and swimming!
Eat lunch at hammocks at local taco stand
Swimming in caves at Grand Cenote
El Capitan – another amazing meal, with more margaritas and more ceviche!
Zamas Hotel on waterfront for drinks and dinner
Gelato at Zamas – yum!
Bar 307 in town with lots of expats, friends of Savitha’s
Spent one decadent night at Hotel Zamas with hammocks, fancy shower for $75
Tacos for breakfast at street side stand
Rental car for the week from Payless. Seemed like a sketchy company, but our tiny car worked great! Words of advice: don’t pay for gas with credit card. People tried to scam us both times. Pay cash whenever possible. Flew home though Mexico City and DFW to SeaTac. We were only gone 8 days, but it was a terrific eight days of warm weather, awesome sun, good adventures, great food, and one very sweet boy.
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David and Cat in Mayapan, Mexico in Feb 2010
My boyfriend David works for a large company where half of his team works in Seattle and the other half works in South Africa. He was just approved to spend 3.5 weeks working in Cape Town and has asked me to come with him! I couldn’t say no! I was just offered a new job, and my boss approved unpaid leave, so I decided to make it an even longer trip! I decided as long as I was going to be in the region, I should also make time to go to Kenya. I just bought my plane ticket this weekend and am super excited to return!
Kenya – May 2-16, 2010
I plan to visit friends in my old village, Malava, and hope to see many SNDs as well, in both Nairobi and Malava.
South Africa – May 16 – June 8, 2010
We’ll stay in Cape Town near the V&A waterfront in Green Point. David will work a normal work week from his company’s Cape Town office, and I might work remotely during the week days if there are projects I can do remotely. Hopefully we’ll get to explore the Cape region on the weekends. No plans on what to do yet, but we’ve got a tiny bit of time to figure it out. (First step, do dinner with Maggie and Jim tonight to hear about the month they just spent in Cape Town!).
I am very excited to return to both Kenya and South Africa, I’m very excited to travel with David, and I am very excited about making new memories on this return trip to Africa!
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