WIND

First Race Pictures

This past weekend was my first sailboat race. Loads of fun and was exciting, periodically scary, mind-numbingly hot but never dull—even when there was no wind and it was more of a bobbing contest and less of a sailboat race.

Saturday: My Captain (Kristi) picked me up and we boogied down to the docks where I met the rest of the crew of the Cal Tipn (not sure if that’s spelled right!)—Carolyn, John and Eric. Carolyn and Eric have sailed with Kristi quite a bit, John a few times and me –NEVER.

Of course I was a little nervous. I was such a newbie. Hell, I still am. So much going on in my head…will we win… will I fall overboard…will it be crazy-fast.

Answers: No. No. No.

The first day was blistering hot and NO WIND to speak of. Kristi said that people tend to ask her how long a race is. Days like Sat make it impossible to tell. We left dock at 8am. Motored to the starting point. They shortened the race due to NO WIND. Motored again. Began race at 12:30. Since no one was going anywhere fast, everyone started dropping out at around 6. We dropped out and motored to the rendezvous and arrived around 6:30 (I think) with the other boats, where we all swam, ate and listened to the band.

And while the sailing/no wind part of the experience might sound dull—there was beer, food, good company and hey—we were on a sailboat. Still beats almost anything else I can think of.

Saturday Night: —Slept on deck, listened to the approaching thunder and prayed we didn’t get rained on.

Sunday: Thunderstorms rolling in so hey--we had wind. And with wind comes sailing. We put up the spinnaker and raced!! Loads of fun and I tried to fly the spinnaker. I say try because flying a spinnaker is an art. When people say it’s like flying a kite they are not kidding. Of course, that makes me want to learn it even more and I think something I’d like to work on and even excel in oneday,

What a great weekend. There is nothing that beats full sails and good company.

Monday: Back at the day job. Tired. Tanned. And the ground is still moving.

Give me Air!

Sailing with Sue

I sail most Thursdays with Sue, Murph and Steve, Loads of fun and I am slowly learning the ins and outs of how to read the wind.

This week was decent air—nothing as exciting as last Sun but still—a decent day on the water is far above and better than the best day behind a desk.

Defying the Laws of Physics

As you might guess--the past few weeks have been busy so no blogging. What can I say--I'd rather be out having fun. This weekend was no exception but it did have a very yin/yang feel to it. First, the yin: I rarely talk about dating on my blog but I am compelled to due to a date I had on Sat. Suffice it to say, that if you smoke, don't lie about it and then light up on the first date with the excuse that 'everyone lies about it'. It's one of those 'deal breaker' issues and only sets a bad precedence.

Now, the yang. Sue and I went sailing yesterday and had fab-u-lous air. We headed cruised to the Bay and back. The funny thing about Sue's boat is that it defies the laws of physics. No matter how far we're heeled over, it reads as 10%. And I am sure there were a few times (at least) we were way past the 10% mark. All I can say is that the more I sail, the more I love to sail. It is the best sport EVAH.

And afterwards, cocktail hour!

Lemons

Todays thought: When life gives you lemons. Freeze them until they are as hard as rocks then throw them back at life. Hard.

First Day in DC

Another fun weekend and here are the pictures to prove it. I decided it was time for me to venture into DC. I’d been planning to go but bad weather then sailing then kayaking got in the way. Sat—I went.

DC is huge and there is TONS to see so I am parceling it it. This weekend, I chose the Washington Monument, The WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

Even though it’s summer, the Mall area wasn’t as crowded as one might think. It was blazing hot and muggy as hell but I can live with that.

The Washington Monument was…well...Large. Long. A giant phallic symbol, as it were. Still, very cool. Walking up to it I remembered a Universal Truth—no matter the nationality, a family of four will walk side by side down the sidewalk, taking up the entire space. So irritating!

Next was The Wall AKA The Vietnam Memorial. Row after row and column after column. It breaks your heart. Walking along The Wall, you'll see the occasional laminated picture. These are put out on the anniversary of the soldiers death. The experience of The Wall is beautiful and touching and hard to take. So instead of taking many direct pictures, I focused on reflections.

The WWII Monument also carried an unexpected impact because my grandfather was a chaplain in WWII. Stationed in France, Germany and England, he didn't talk much about it but I always loved to hear what he had to say. And he even wrote a little. and I have one of his poems. I’d publish it here but it’s in storage so that will have to wait.

Finally, I went to the Lincoln Memorial. Interesting but too crowded! I’d like to go back but when it’s quiet. It’s too hard to soak up an experience when there’s hoards of people pushing for a better look.
Next---the Smithsonian.

Eastport and Kayaks--Rockin on land and water

Pictures from Eastport-a-Rockin 2006


I love the water—that’s no big secret. Sailing is amazing but without owning a boat or having a lot of friends who own boats—it can get a little pricey and not always practical.

In keeping with my love of water, I tried kayaking this weekend and I have to say that kayaking rocks! You don’t get the speed you get with a sailboat but you are much closer to the water so you feel everything, you’re more maneuverable and with practice you can do fun things like kayak white water. And how cool would that be?

Of course, I also had good friend which makes kayaking that much more fun. In this case, he also helped keep the (dbl)kayak stable—something I didn’t know until I went out by myself today and realized just how wobbly I was on the water when left to my own devices.

NOTE: This is not me in the picture. These people are what?Twenty-five?
After kayaking, we went to the Eastport-a-Rocking music festival. Local bands, good beer, and interesting drunk people. One man kept saying “yes!” to people as they passed. Not sure if he meant ‘yes’ to them or ‘yes’ to their beer, but whatever it was—he was very upbeat about it.

What I truly liked about the festival though was the array of people and that all were having a great time. Age, income, etc nothing seemed to make a difference in attitude. All simply wanted to drink beer, listen to great local bands and dance.

Boat Boat Boat Boat Boat

I went sailing last weekend on an amazing boat--a 40 foot Hallberg-Rassy. She's swift. Plushy. Breathtaking. There were a few mishaps but no one died so all-in-all, the day was a success. But for the first time in along time, I forgot to take pictures. I know what you're thinking --SLACKER!

Sometimes you're enjoying yourself so much that you don't even think about picking up the camera.

Maybe next time.

Sailing 102

Slide show of Sailing 102

One of the reasons I moved to Annapolis was to learn to sailing and finally—the day arrived.

You know how you think about something, dream about it, and build it up in your head. Then when it arrives, it’s a bit of a let down because what was in your head was so much better than reality?

This was nothing like that! Reality far surpassed my fantasies.

Sailing ROCKS!

From rigging the sails and completing a needed job well done to slicing through the water—it is all amazing and wonderful and offers everything from supreme bliss to moments of almost panic (because I really don’t have a clue sometimes).

However, the best part (for me) was when we simply sailed. Cutting through the water, sails filled with wind and the speed of the boat making me smile like a maniac.

Perfect. I can’t imagine life gets much better than that.

I also learned a lot. Sure, I learned the technicalities of sailing—tacking, man overboard, coming about, etc. But I also learned:
1) Sailing is a TEAM sport. Treat it as such and everyone will have a better time.
2) There can only be one Captain at a time
3) As long as everyone is okay--hitting another boat is not the end of the world
4) ...neither is running aground
5) Mistakes will be made. Make them. Move on.
6) The occasional verbal smack-down in necessary. Say what needs to be said. Then move on. Unless it doesn’t stop. Then say it again. If the offender still doesn’t straighten-up,I am fairly sure that tossing them overboard is permissible.
7) Speed is good. Okay, I knew this but wow—it’s so much more fun when sailing

This summer is going to be amazing.

boat boat boat boat boat

Where the Old Things Are

Slide show of Calvert Cliffs State Park

What a glorious day! There is so much to see in MD and the surrounding states that I decided it was time to get started. Of course, having perfect weather doesn’t hurt.

A friend suggested Calvert Cliffs State Park. About 50 miles form my current home, Calvert Cliffs feature was once covered by a shallow ocean. And by once I mean 15 million years ago, give or take a million I suppose.

Anyway, what was left behind is a great beach, swamp and cliffs with fossils imbedded into the strata. Very cool! I walked along the cliffs (the safe side that didn’t have the warning, the cliffs are unstable sign) but still kept my eyes and ears open. Watched the ground as I walked, even sifted through the sand, and I found...not a damned thing.

Although I did see an adorable snake--if one likes snakes. Which I do. Kinda surprising when you read about my fear of mice, huh?

Even without finding one freaking sharks tooth (curse you fossil gods!!) I have no complaints. The beach was quiet. The water was cold. The sun was warm. I had a foccacia sandwich with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, and I spent a significant amount of time lying on a red rock listening to the waves. All-in-all, a good day. How can one complain when you have a rock and the beach all to yourself?

Word of advice if you plan to visit on a Saturday, get there early. When I walked back to my car, I passed numerous people walking to the beach. I left in the nick of time!

Update on Annapolis

Slide show of Annapolis-Streetcars, Sunsets, and Cherry Blossoms


Life has been a little chaotic since I moved to Annapolis. New job. New place to live. New people. You name it and it's been happening. Whew! But there has been some fun along the way. First stop--the streetcar graveyard. Okay, I'm not sure what the real name is. There is a streetcar museum, but this was not it. I was tooling about Baltimore with a friend and we happened to drive past this place when we were trying to get back to the highway. It was on the side of the road and was a mishmash of falling-apart streetcars, giant gears, etc. I had to stop. The light was good and there's something about pieces of the past that interest me--must be the archaeologist in me (she's screaming to get out but I shut her up with beer!)

Cherry Blossoms: Same friend. Different day. We went to see the famous cherry blossoms of DC. Well, kind of famous. We didn't go into DC since it’s a NIGHTMARE during that time with every tourist in the vicinity coming to gawk at the blooms. Instead, we went to a neighborhood called Kenmore. Tons of trees and a fraction of the tourists. Gorgeous! There was a cute kid/entrepreneur selling lemonade and cookies. Of course we bought some.

Sadly, there are no pictures of the DC yet. Not nearly enough time by the water. No sailing. I blame it on the weather. Tues, it was 80 degree. Friday, it snowed. But soon...really. I swear.

Welcome to Annapolis

I’m not back on the road again but I am in a new place—Annapolis, Maryland. The NJ beach was fun, there wasn’t much there besides the opportunity to meditate on the beach.

While Annapolis and DC has everything! History. Government. Interesting people. Intrigue.

Beside the above mentioned, Annapolis gets wonky weather. This week—in the fifties. Last week—ice storm. After living in TX and Mexico and Hollywood, sleet and icy rain was new and different. Very pretty but I have to admit that driving in it was less than desirable. I think ‘terrifying’ is the actual word! So, I didn’t drive. I skipped work and took pictures.

FAV Travel Sites

I miss my camera. I'm having a great time and wish I could share them with the world via pictures but my camera broke. In the meantime--some of my favorite travel sites:

Where the Hell Is Matt: A GREAT site. I'd love to do something like that. If someone can think of something other than dancing that I could do--I'd love to hear it. I can only come up with twirling and kissing strangers.

BootsnAll Travel: a community of those that like to travel the Unbeaten path. I've gone here to the Boards for question and information more than once and people are always helpful. Great information on hostels, hotels, out-of-the-way places to eat...whatever you need in a foreign country.

Journey Woman: For those women who travel alone (like moi!) Articles, suggestions, Tips and Tales!

GoNOMAD: For those that want to travel AND get involved. Anything from training elephants in Thailand to Volunteering in Nigeria.

Conshohocken, PA—I Vote it the Best Place to Break Down in a Car

There I was, driving down the Penn turnpike, dodging trucks and thinking, "wow, this trip is truly uneventful so far," when the gods-of-travel decided to make me eat my words.

That ended me up on the side of the road, calling for help and after towage-- paying 300 dollars for an alternator.

All in all, a pain in the ass, but not the worst thing in the world because I got to hang out with the lovely men of Coshohocken, PA (at the Conshohocken Exxon ServiceCenter) for sic hours.

George. Older man. Hangs out at the gas station/garage where my car was getting worked on. For two hours he talked to me. He worked at the Pentagon during the war (not sure which one was). Made a fortune. Lost a fortune. Married for twelve years. She walked out. He refers to the owner of the station and his son as Bill and “The Boy”.

Bill Ivens: Nicest man ever. But gets seriously wigged out when a woman cries. Seriously. I think he got a little freaked. But a classic alpha male in that if you ask him how the work is going, he'll tell you the truth.

Me, “How’s it going?”
Bill, “Not well.”
Me, “What?!”
Bill, “Would you rather I lie?”

How do you answer that? What I really wanted was to not have asked the question. After I started crying, I think Bill felt much the same way.

The Boy: Also known as Raymond. Good kid and a total cutie. Doesn’t drink because he thinks woman wont want a man that drinks. Ray—you’re right. Women do not like drunks. But learning wine is always a good thing.

Also told me that George checks the pay phone when he leaves. Does it everyday. I love details like that.

And I love small towns. This one is worth checking out. Especially if your car breaks down.

Adventures from the road

I am traveling to NJ. A long way from Oaxaca but there's a beachhouse for me to stay in. Bonus!

I decided to drive my car from TX.

Up until about an hour ago (before my car broke down on the Pennsylvania turnpike) this was a fairly uneventful trip. Which is what one looks for in a roadtrip. While breakdowns in small towns are great for movies, they suck in real life.

But let’s start with the nice stuff first. I’ll get to the breakdown later.

Sharron’s Random Observations along the way:

1) 1-40 is (in my head) is now, officially, the Corridor of Porn. You want to find an Adult book store? Just drive down I-40 in the south. My favorite one was the store at the top of the off-ramp and at the bottom of the ramp was a big sign that said “what you lose when you read porn...EVERYTHING” .

I can just imagine the town meetings. The chaos. The name calling. The giggling in the back row.

2) We’ve all seen weird road names. And even driving at 75 mph, a few are memorable. My favorite road names? Bucksnort Rd. and Scratchy Gravel road.

And let's not leave out 'Hungry Mother State Park.'

3)I was at a gas station in Arkansas and went to the ladies room., There were two toilets. No stalls. Just two toilet side-by-side. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know anyone well enough to sit next to them without a wall between us.

4) Biggest thrill: A herd of tiny horses. Yes! One of the highlights of the trip. A herd of miniature horses on the hill. I wanted to stop and just shove one in the trunk. Or a pocket.

5) Worst hotel: Motel Six. I used to stay at them all the time. But no more. I stayed at one in TN and it was questionable. They charged extra for me to have a ground floor room and the tub didn’t drain. I thought it sucked. Then I stopped at on in VA thinking that the bad experience was an aberration. Nope. There was one towel, the room had a funky smell and the sink didn’t work. The best part? There was a no-smoking sign on the door and an ashtray in the room.

Seriously uneventful. Until now...

Update on Oaxaca

A quick update on Oaxaca. I spoke with a friend who lives there and it’s tough. 38 hotels have closed and around thousands of jobs lost. The police arrived yesterday and the zocolo is closed.

On the upside, people are still traveling into the area as there is a lot to do and see outside of Oaxaca.

A part of me wishes I’d stayed but I guess I got out at the right time. I still miss the city though. And the people. And the food.

I hope this ends soon!

Not about travel but all about friendship

This has nothing to do with traveling but everything to do with my best friend, Cathy Pegau. Also a writer, she is a finalist in the American Title contest--figure that it’s American Idle but for writers. Anyway, voting has begun and this round is on the first sentence of the book. While I could be all politically correct and say “Vote for the Best’ what I am going to say is Vote for Cathy.

I don’t know the other writers, and I am sure they are fine, fine people, but they’ve never had my back on a recon mission.

Wait! Neither did Cathy…so that’s beside the point. Anyway, I’ve read the book and it’s worthy of being published IMHO.

So please go vote. Here’s the website: http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle.php

And all you have to do is Email the Webmaster with her title in the subject line: HAUNTED

And if you want to see just how freaking amazing she is as a writer (and as a person but we’re not voting for that) go read a short excerpt on her site: http://www.cathypegau.com/

Seriously, the girl is a hoot!

Yahoo Time Capsule

Yahoo.com is making an electronic time capsule: Yahoo Time Capsule

I think it's a great idea and have already made a contribution:
Teotihuacan


And plan to do more.

The time capsule is only open for another month. Take the time to send something!

Where in the World is Sharron?

Wow...and just when you thought I got caught in a riot and was lying in the gutter...I pop back up!

And right now, I am NOT in Oaxaca. I am in Los Angeles visiting my sister. Why? Because I got tired of the smell of burning tires. The lack of buses. The trash cluttering the streets. The graffiti. The riots.

I said it before and I'll say it again...I MISS MY OAXACA! The one I found when I first went there. The CLEAN place that didn't smell.

Anyway, I arrived in LA about a week or so ago and I have to say that it's not unlike living in a foreign country or perhaps, another planet. I haven’t done much besides write as I have a book due in a few weeks so the travel info might be a bit more spread out.

As weird as LA is, or LaLa Land as Cathy calls it, they have some fun things here. La Brea tar pits. Stripper shoes. Disney. Movies Stars. (Oh! I saw Juliet Landau at the store—she played Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Wow, is she short!) There doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of archaeology here, but I’m looking. The Sunday scientology buffet...come on...you know it so would be something interesting/bizarre to blog about!

But as fun as this is, I have to confess, I miss Mexico. The people. The archaeology. The food.

Still, there is something to be said for showers with water pressure...

Teotihuacan-The City of the Gods

Yes, I went there a few weeks ago and this is late in being posted, but I've been busy with riots.

Pictures of Teotihuacan

Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Moon
Living Areas
Statues and Murals



Day One. Getting there.

Ah, the Mexican bus system. While it’s very efficient, it can get on your nerves. My Dad and I took a first class bus to Teotihuacan. And while it sure beats driving through Mexico City, it did leave a few things to be desired.

First. I’d like to say that it is NOT first class when compared with First class with like...the airlines.

First, they play HORRIBLE movies. Not even B-rated but movies with a budget of a few thousand at best. The first was French. There were orphans and singing. Enough said, The only movie in English was about a fictional rock group. They were cloned. And after hearing them sing, one can only wonder WHY.

Finally, the seats recline so far back that the person in front of you is in your lap. If the guy in front of me turned over we’d be have sex right now. And considering he’s rather cute—not a bad idea. At least it would kill the time because the screaming baby and the girl singing behind me are NOT helping pass the time on a six hour bus ride.

BUT the trial and tribulations of riding on a buss for half-a-day were worth it when we arrived at Teotihuacan. There are no words for a site this large and complex. Breathtaking? Awe inspiring?

I think the best word is humbling. To think that people built this complex without the help of machines make you realize what people can accomplish when motivated. Or are slaves. Or if a government is simply looking to keep it’s population working. Or if they have alien help.

One thing about Teotihuacan is that they don’t know who built it and so all of the hypothesis about it’s people are just that—hypothesis

Day Two:

Our first day at Teotihuacan and Dad I went early in an effort to see the place before it was overrun with tourists. It was a good move. We hiked up the Pyramid of the Sun, and other than a French guy, we were the only people there. Very well worth it. The view. The construction. The sheer effort it takes to hike up a pyramid where the stairs vary widely in height and steepness…

It does make me wonder how long it took the people to contract such a monolith. Generations is my guess.

Next, we walked over to the Temple of the Moon. While smaller than the Pyramid of the Sun, I think it’s prettier. It’s also situated at the end of the Avenue of the Dead (the pyramid lined street that goes through the site) which make the view more impressive.

Much like the pyramids at Monte Alban in Oaxaca, the stair that scale the initial level of the Pyramid of the Moon are over a foot in height. What the hell is that about? From skeletal data, it looks like the people were short. Did they climb up? I can’t think of anything else unless there was a race of giants that we don’t’ know about…

The rest of the day, we spent wandering around the site. Now I know what doesn’t sound like much, but if you saw the site, you’d understand the scale of what ‘wandering’ means. The site is X in length and X in width and there are STAIRS everywhere. You can’t throw a rock without hitting a set and I think we’ve gone up Every. Single. One.

We also ventured off the beaten path and hiked up a few pyramids that were not excavated as of yet. VERY cool. Granted, we didn’t find anything (not like we were digging or anything) but we did see walls and the like. I know some of you are shaking your finger at me and saying “Bad Sharron.” Hey, it’s not like we excavated anything. And we even left the pot shards in place (and they are everywhere!)

Dad estimated that we walked about ten miles and it sure as hell felt like it. I was crippled by the end of the first day. I mean crippled!

Day Three:

I explored more ruins—saw a dwelling that still had the remains of murals. What stunned me (like a monkey) is that a thousand years ago, some woman had these painted. I could see her standing there, haranguing the painter (or not) but basically getting the house to look like what she wanted. Perhaps making her husband nuts in the process

I finally came home around 4 because OH MY GOD my feet were KILLING ME. I had blisters on top of blisters and I am NOT exaggerating,. I just don’t get it. I have worn these hiking shoes umpteen times but I got blisters where. Perhaps it’s the fact that I was walking on stone all day. Wined helped. Even better, was that sitting by the pool, under a covered area with a thunderstorm going overhead. Thunder. Lightening. The sky raged!

...time passes...

A slice of chocolate cake later, a glass of red wine, a raging thunderstorm later, and memories of one of the most spectacular sites in the Americas…. and I didn’t ever care that my feet hurt.

Time To Go To The Beach

They’ve decided to bring the Army to Oaxaca on the idea that it will imprive the current political climate. Sure....it might. Perhaps it’ll make things better. Quiet the protestors. (picture me rolling my eyes while I type that) The last time they tried force i.e. tear gassing the teachers, it only escalated the situation.

I am betting military men in uniform is going to have the same effect. CHAOS.

I miss Oaxaca.

Right now, the streets are filled with garbage and I don’t think there is a single building that doesn’t have graffiti all over it. Tourists are few and far between.

On a really odd note that has nothing to do with the protestors, I was with my Dad yesterday (going to the zocolo for lunch) and we’re walking downtown and there was a man either asleep or passed out on the sidewalk. Something you see in every city. Sad but a reality. What made this different is that he had NO PANTS.

I mean starkers from the waist down.

Here’s what I wonder...what do you do when you wake up on a crowded sidewalk with no pant? Do you act like it’s normal? That it was planned? Do you care?

Or do you widen the hole in your t-shirt and wear it as a skirt?

I am praying I NEVER find out!