Vacation Report Back

Well, our trip was even better than I hoped. Perfect amount of bikes, beer, and climbing on boulders. Highlights:

-Every single brewery in Fort Collins: Cooper Smith, Equinox, New Belgium, Odell's and Funkwerks. Why couldn't FC be in the Northeast? I'd take weekend trips there all the time. Too bad there's not much else to do in the city besides go to the plethora of breweries. (Perhaps that's why people drink so much there.)

-Wildlife in the Rockies. There was so much! Elks galore, coyote pups playing with their mom, pikas gathering wildflowers; they popped up on every walk, hike and drive.

-Bike shares in Denver and Boulder. In Denver, it made carrying luggage a cinch. In Boulder we did a ride down the Boulder Creek, which was beautiful and overflowing from the rain. It was nice not to have to have total withdrawal from biking on vacation. Though Fort Collins didn't have bikeshare, I got my fill of looking at bikes. New Belgium bikes and bike parking were all over the city!

Damn, Amsterdam!

Well, let's just say if you combine, bikes and water, you get my ideal city. This is perhaps one of the reasons I loved living in Miami so much. But I've found that even in colder weather, I enjoy the speed of a bike and the lapping of waves.

I've many pictures and more to elabotate on further, but for those of you reading at home, yes Amsterdam and Brussels are all that they're made out to be - and more.

In Brussels we partook in wonderful food and drink. We endulged in an amazing home-grown beer at every meal and at different 'Brown-Bars' every night. Every single one was spectacular. We toured a brewery that does not add yeast or sterilize it's equipment, but rather allows the yeast in the unique micro-fauna of the air to make their beer. The spiderwebs weren't for show - they were to catch the bugs flying about! We ate pralines and fabulous meals and walked through spendid old squares.

Amsterdam seemed to have more to say - the architecture is wonderful and all jives. With more canals than Venice, every other street is a view to more of their beautiful buildings. We've had good pancakes, and some beer. (The breweries here are colorful, but no where near as good as Belgium.) The highlight has been the easy-breasy riding of bikes around in well-marked lanes.

I always do remark that bike riding is the most efficient mode of transportation in Boston and here, the people have realized this en masse. I could spend days watching all the beautiful people on their beautiful bikes.

Or just being one of the beautiful people myself . . .

Karma, Boston style?

I had an awful morning. Biking has become not only part of my daily routine, but something I love and do to feel connected to my city. So when I lost my headlamp - my only light and way to hold on my hat in this god-awful weather and make it possible to bike - I was pissed. After a frantic 15 minutes tearing apart the house, I found it under a pile of coats in my car.

But then one mile into my ride, pedaling face first into the wind, I regretted biking. It was cold, I was barely going 5 mph and my pants and feet were soaked. I wished I hadn't found my g-d headlamp.

So the Gods send me a sign. Gah-dunk. I get a flat tire. Thankfully I'm just 4 blocks from a bike shop. I park my bike out in front (it's not open yet) and walk the last mile to work in the rain. I've been reading Eat, Pray, Love, so on my way I do what the character, Liz, does when things go wrong. I pray, or sort of. I'm not the God believing type. I offer up an apology to the thing overseeing the karmic balance of the world.

I'm sorry I crazily ransacked my house in search of my headlamp.

I'm sorry I regretted biking to work.

I'm sorry I'm acting as miserable as the weather.

I made it to work, wet and cold, but at peace, and what happens when I check my voicemail? I've won an in-office massage party for me and 7 co-workers. I call the massage center back. They'll come by any day we'd like and give us chair massages in the conference room.

Thank you, universe.

Free Weekends

Spring in Boston means free stuff galore. Keep your eye on my Boston on the Cheap calendar for future free stuff. Here's a sampling of my recent adventures.

Free doesn't get much better than free sailing. That's right, the hi-brow leisure activity which normally costs hundreds for lessons (let's not even talk about actually buying a boat), was free last weekend Courageous Sailing offered free trips around the Boston Harbor with a barbecue on the dock.

Monday I enjoyed the Museum of Fine Art, which has an extror extraordinarily dinarily high admission fee of $17 for free. The museum was celebrating it's annual event, Art in Bloom, in groups submit floral arrangements inspired by art in the museum. Yes, it's just as strange as it sounds, but really I'm there to see the art anyway. The new Tomb exhibit was amazing and well worth dodging the flowers for.

The world is practically your free oyster when you have a bike--any beautiful day turns into a bike ride into an event in itself. Friday I rode around the historic North End, picking up produce, fresh fish and spices for the weekend bbq. My search for phyllo dough led me to the Golden Goose on the waterfront. They had the phyllo dough I needed and a free wine tasting, hosted by a Southie-type, whom you'd expect to know about types of Miller than the Lorraine region of France. I topped off the beautiful day with a near free meal alfresco, thanks to my Groupon.

Saturday was Wake Up The Earth Festival - over 30 live acts of musicians, dancing, circus performers and all manner of hippie craziness right out our front door. I started off the day, though, with a free tour of orchards in Boston by Bike, which showed where I can get free fruits all summer long. Only the rhubarb is pickable, so far, but stay tuned for updates as I venture out picking in a few months.

Leave the Cahr at Home for visiting Southies

Monday of Labor Day weekend was another bike-full day. I pulled out my Walk Boston book and biked the South Boston tour. When you think working class Boston, The Departed, that retahded accent: you're thinking South Boston. Once a not-so-nice neighborhood. It's rising in status considerably as the yuppies who like being close to the center have moved in and renovated homes.

It's also really hilly, so my calves got quite a work-out. First was one of the highest points in Boston: Telegraph Hill. The site of where Washington ordered a cannon to be placed and how we won one of the first battles of the revolution. You can see how close the neighborhood is to downtown from this point, and the water that surrounds the neighborhood. How did they get that cannon up here anyway?

Next stop: Castle Island. Not technically an island anymore and nothing like a castle. Our kind Southie guide gave us a free tour of the fort and all it's history since the Revolutionary War.

The fort has a big park around it . . . with lots of lovely people enjoying the holiday. It reminded me a bit of Montjuic in Barcelona, until I saw these two lovely ladies.

Definitely America. You can see here how the park curves around. Castle Island is now a park and beach with a ring of land around it--perfect for biking of course.

I ended my Southie adventure with a pint at the bar where Good Will Hunting was filmed, chatting it up with a local on a work break about home prices in the area and in Miami.

All in all, a beautiful day, a good workout and an authentic Boston experience.

Many minutes on the Minuteman

Third installment of my labor day weekend now that I'm through with some of the days' labor.

After a late night at the Donkey Show on Friday and a long day looking for whales and checking out the brewery on Cape Ann on Saturday. I was ready for some time alone. I took the T out to Alewife and rode the Minuteman Bikeway out through Arlington, Lexington and to Bedford. The trail is wooded and generally away from civilization, with nice little interludes through downtown Arlington and Lexington. The ride didn't take very long and once I got to Bedford and hit up their little old-timey railroad display I felt like I could go anywhere. I started planning cross-country trips in my head.

Back in real life, I decided to bike as far as Concord, another 5 miles. Concord, the town where Paul Revere rode through warning revolutionaries "The British are coming!" (I have new respect for how far they walked now!) I had an an amazing crab cake sandwich at the Main Street Cafe. A decidedly non-chain bar, coffee shop meeting place, the Main Street Cafe, does not allow cell-phones or laptops (take that Panera's!). I read books at the fabulous local, independent book store and had ice cream at the Bedford Depot. Nothing beats homemade ice cream after a 16 mile ride.

I hopped on the commuter rail back to Cambridge. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with this idea. The front of the car I was in was packed with bikes. I slept all the way back to Porter Square and didn't even get charged. I had another 5 mile ride back home and stopped to run errands along the way.

A lovely day in all. I'm really in love with my bike. It's my gym, my transportation, my meditation. Nothing has been better than bike riding lately, and I know that come first snow-fall in Boston, there'll be a huge a hole in my life.

For now, I'm taking advantage.

View Larger Map

A map of my ride.