Blogging, St. Kitts, and Upcoming Events

I've been taking a break from the blog lately.  I have a good reason, though: I've been on vacation in the Caribbean - St. Kitts to be exact.  Sometimes, when you have a blog, you get behind in your stuff, you start to think that you need a really, really good post to come back with, and you end up letting your blog fade away.  And sometimes the opposite happens - you come back with a really, really wordy post that bores everyone and drives the few remaining people who follow your blog away.

So I'm not going to do that.  Here are some pictures from St. Kitts:

It was definitely a good trip.  Played some golf, did some snorkeling, rode a mountain bike with the Triathlon Champion of St. Kitts - Nevis, and got some quality beach-laying in. Plus there was this:

Sugarloaf Sticker in a beach bar in St. Kitts?  Nobody can stop Eastern Skiing!

Now, I'm back at work (and back on the road - at a hotel in Ellicottville, NY for 3 days).

I'm a little bummed because I wanted to get some bike time in.  The first few weeks of June, I have a two week stretch that includes the 100 mile Tour de Cure and the 40 mile Black Fly Challenge.  I haven't been the model for athletic training lately.  It's not technically my fault, the food in St. Kitts was really good and the beach-laying was so relaxing.  Then today, I had to hit up the Ellicottville Brewing Company, one of my favorite ski town bars in the east.  Great food and beer, but I had no energy to hit up the exercise bike in the hotel - Gotta get that energy up if I'm going to be ready for 100 miles on June 5th.  Time to get to work.

Beachin' it

I've been down on the "Delmarva" Peninsula for the past few days getting some beach time in. We started on Assateague Island for a couple of days of car camping, then we moved on through Ocean City and Bethany Beach to a hotel in Rehoboth Beach, DE (which is a really nice area). Selected Pictures:

All in all, it was a great trip.  Highlights included the Assateague Crab House (where we sort of learned how to eat crab), Camping with some really interesting people (although the mosquitoes were no fun), body boarding in the crazy rip currents, and hanging out with friends in Rehoboth (Fish tacos in Dewey Beach were tasty).

It was our first beach trip in a while (a really long while - in fact I don't really remember when we went last).  And I think I'm pretty good for the next couple of years as far as Beach Trips go.  I'd much rather spend my money on a sweet ski vacation, or even a new pair of skis.  It's not that I dislike the beach (like I said, we had a great time), but I like the mountains more.

Also, I said a couple of times over the course of the trip that I don't like going to the same place over and over again.  And beaches all seem pretty similar to me.  There's some sand, some waves, some cheap beachwear stores, some salt water taffy stores, and some pizza places.  Assateague was different (although we learned that it might have been the exact same, if not for random events), but every other place we went seemed like a repeat of the last place we were.  I don't know why, but every trip to the mountains seems different to me - especially if I'm exploring a new area.  It just seems like there are so many more options.  For example, there are a bunch of different ski areas in the east.  Each of those areas has a bunch of different trails.  And each of those trails has a bunch of different lines.  Even if I'm skiing the same hill over and over again, there's more than enough variety to keep me entertained for season after season.  This works for mountain biking and hiking too (there are a lot of ways to climb Mount Marcy).  At the beach, I just didn't get that feeling.

I'm not trying to say that if you've seen one beach, you've seen them all.  There are a lot of beaches that I've never been to that I'd like to go to (these seem like a good start), and I'm sure I'll take another beach trip eventually.  I just want to state once again, for the record, that if you're looking for an exciting, varied vacation, the mountains are the place to be.  And if you're looking for an exciting, varied life, the beach house might not be the best way to go.