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A Carrie Bradshaw Day
Today’s goal when we awoke? Spot a celebrity. We were bound for Central Park. Magazines and tabloids snap shots of exercising starlets there all the time…
I had my eyes peeled for Katie Holmes, Donald Trump, or at least an Olsen twin. No luck on this chilly Monday. We did see a Zack Galifinakis look-alike though…. so that’s something.
I harnessed my inner Carrie Bradshaw today, forgoing my flat iron for some French braid waves. I adore Sex & the City ever since E! Network started airing reruns during my long treadmill sessons :) (My favorite is Charlotte.) Today’s Carrie hair inspired another Carrie favorite: my first Cosmo.
But first, back to our Central Park stroll.
My parents and I entered the park next to The Dakota, at Strawberry Fields. We followed the pathways through the enormous park next to lakes, ponds, playgrounds and sports fields. When we came upon the Jackie Onassis Reservoir, I was ready to RUN!
I came prepared with some Nikes!
The jogging track around the perimeter of the lake is about 1.58 miles, and I cruised for 3 laps while my parents found a coffee cart. ( Now you know where my obsession comes from!) The loop was full of other joggers and walkers. I plan to return tomorrow to squeeze in a couple more laps before my consultation with my surgeons. Central Park is so GREEN, I just want to enjoy it as much as I can!
(Yes, I wear my purple pants a lot. Can you tell I like them?)
We used the Map My walk app again as we covered ground around Central Park, Upper Manhattan, and along the Hudson River. Add another 17 miles to the vacation total. We are on a roll! Walking everywhere is a great way to get some exercise on vacation, and in New York it’s often faster than driving anyways. You can also avoid the cab-induced car sickness. Triple win!
After a snack we walked westward to the Hudson River. Riverside park has a boardwalk out over the water which was disappointingly brown today.
We were ready to take a break from walking, sit in a cafe and order some coffees. (Yes, we have an addiction. No, we don’t want to fix it.) “The Great American Health Bar” boasted espresso, coffee and cappuccinos in its windows – perfect. We were seated at a table and given a menu. I picked an Almondcchino, & my dad picked a Mint Mochacchino. When the server took our orders, he said we could not stay for coffee because they had a $10 per person minimum. He literally grabbed our menus back and picked up our silverware. I guess that was our queue to leave….
No worries, Cafe Europa let us make our simple order and we were caffeinated in no time ;)
By 6:00 we were ready for a cocktail and dinner. Since I’d turned 21 at school this year, my parents and I hadn’t properly celebrated with a drink together! At Delta, a Cajun bar & restaurant, we toasted to another successful semester.
I knew that I wanted to try a Cosmo at some point on our New York City ” vacation” because of Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda’s infamous girls nights out. The lime & white cranberry made this one a little tart, I loved every sip!
And here I sit in my apartment blogging. What a very Carrie way to end the day. :)
a GRAND adventure.
Okay okay I don’t want to drag out my spring break adventures but there’s also so many awesome moments to share….so cram them into one photo-packed post I will!
I haven’t done homework in 9 days. I haven’t so much as looked at a textbook. I don’t even think I’ve looked at what’s due. I have thoroughly enjoyed my spring break as an extended recharge moment.
The last time I traveled to the Grand Canyon was on a camping trip with my parents about 12 years ago. We were caught in the middle of a huge monsoon driving in and the hail and thunder stunned us. I don’t remember much of our hike or time in the Grand Canyon so I was stoked to go back this week with my friend Kerri. It was her first time to the most-visited Wonder of the World (and she’s an Arizona native!). Say no more. To the giant crater in the earth we go.
Just hangin’ out!
We took the shuttle to the Kaibab Trailhead. “Steep and Slippery” is an understatement.We were taking baby steps to keep from sliding. 4 month-old running shoes do NOT equal hiking shoes. ;)
“What can I say about something that blows me away without sounding like another cliche?”
The epicness of the grand canyon cannot be captured in a photograph. You just can’t see the depth and vastness of the thing in 2D! As much as I love taking pictures, it really is better just to enjoy this one with your eyes.
Kerri & I got a late start to our hike, and we were warned “It takes twice as long to get back up so give yourself plenty of time.” We turned around after 90 minutes,expecting to take about 3 hours to get back up. It is STEEP, like doing the stairmaster for 2 miles straight……but it didn’t take us any longer to get back up than it did to get down.
THEY UNDERESTIMATE US AND OUR RUNNER LEGS.
Just bear with me for a couple more pictures. I was totally digging the new environment. I like collecting my memories in photographic form.
Feeling on top of the freakin’ world.
That bottom picture was our view driving back to school. Kerri took probably 90 pictures while I drove. No one can accuse us of not appreciating our surroundings….we gush about that mountain like it’s our middle school crush.
**Hey we reached the halfway point of this recap post! (I told you it was going to be jam-packed.)**
My mom must have been inspired by my Sedona & Grand Canyon pictures because she wanted some of her own. She drove up and stayed with me for the end of Spring Break.
My pass into the Grand Canyon was good for 7 days. Naturally I had to go back before it expired. So I made the journey again with my mom, this time with the goal of reaching Skeleton Point. Even though the distance is only 6 miles round-trip, coming back up 3 miles is so steep (and at 7,000 ft elevation).
We reached the turn around point, but it’s hardly “half way.” The trek down is nothing compared to the hike back up. So awesome! Being out on Skeleton Point really felt like being IN the Grand Canyon and I felt so small.
Sedona was a little less dirty, a little more red, a lotta bit warmer. We spent another nature day climbing rock stairs to picnic on Devil’s Bridge.
Crazy amounts of sunshine on this spring break and I tried to absorb it all! Can you store extra vitamin D for later?!
We were NOT ready to head home yet so we pulled up a table on the deck of a cafe and sat until we felt the start of a sunburn.
We also made a bunch of healthy recipes this week that I’m definitely going to have to share soon! But I think I’ve carried on with this post long enough :)
Spring Break had a thousand memories and now we’re back to reality. Time to make up for my lack of educational stimulation over the past week and half.
But, but….Sex & the City is on. To homework or not to homework? One episode won’t hurt…
Running Scared
Once we left Bozeman, MT we took the scenic route to Yellowstone National Park. I have never been to the park, didn’t even really know much about it so I was quite surprised and amazed to see that there were hundreds of miles within the park. Who knew?!
Part of the appeal of this summer vacation was a road trip with lots of scenic sights and hiking some trails. I’m sad to say that today I learned that I like the idea of hiking more than actual leave-civilization-and-walk-among-the-wild-creatures hiking. The “Caution: Wildlife is Dangerous” signs didn’t scare me. Seeing this entire herd of buffalo next to the two-lane highway didn’t scare me. But walking along the boardwalk to view the Mud Volcano and happening upon two wild Bison had me panicked and squeezing my mom’s shoulder, begging to get out. That’s the moment when I realized I was way closer to nature than I wanted to be.
The first night in Yellowstone I asked the ranger in the visitor’s center for recommendations of running trails. So many things wrong with her answer; she said I shouldn’t run. That if I did encounter a bear, my running would trigger their predator instinct and I would become their “prey.” She also said that I should never run on trails, but that running on the road is dangerous too because the road is narrow and people suck at driving. Oh and don’t run with an ipod. Don’t run by yourself. Don’t run early in the morning. Basically: there is no safe way to get in your run. BUZZ KILL.
We were on the half-mile loop that encompassed Mud Volcano, Dragon’s Mouth and some other mud pots when we saw a lone Bison in the center of the loop. The boardwalk did not have hand rails separating the humans from the animals, and he was getting awfully close to the walkway. At one point, it looked like he was going to walk along with boardwalk with us. I was a little leary of being so close to something so wild, but the full on panic didn’t set in yet. That wasn’t until we saw the second bull, a few yards away sitting idly. Until he wasn’t sitting anymore. He stood up and made a huge cloud of dust as he pawed at the ground, then faced the first bison. The first bison started walking towards him, grunting, a woman in front of him. All I was thinking was “Oh snap, they are going to fight and I’m glad I’m not that poor woman sandwiched between them.”
A few moments before they faced each other….by then I was a little too preoccupied trying to SAVE MY LIFE to snap pictures (melodramatic much…?) ;)
I watch Planet Earth; I see what those things do for survival. Mad dash to the car, please!
My goals for the day went from “Get in a 10-mile run” to “Run a few miles but get in at least 10 miles of hiking” all the way to “Get me out of here alive.” Dramatic? Probably. But seeing a 2,000-pound animal literally ten feet away and coming closer, making suspicious grunting sounds and kicking up dust with its legs doesn’t exactly scream “take pictures of me, I won’t bite.” I wanted out of there and quickly nixed the 6-mile hike we had next on the agenda. I wish I was a little more fearless but I can’t help the fact that the possibility of getting closer to a wild animal than a zoo exhibit sends my heart into a panic. I got my cardio exercise today from bison sighting’s alone!
This ain’t no petting zoo.
Hiking along the coast line in Southern California is a tad different than in the pre-historic lands of Yellowstone.
I was hoping to see a Moose though. I’m sure they’re no less dangerous than a herd of buffalo but a moose just looks so chill, like “Let’s just hang out and watch the river flow, guys.” Whereas a buffalo says “Mess with me and I’ll head-butt you into a coma.”
The way people would pull off to the side of the road, get out of their cars and start approaching the animals for photos reminded me of Jurassic Park. We just needed some super cool Jeeps to tour around in. When two bison crossed the street in front of us, cars backed up for a mile. My dad goes, “Welcome to Nature. It’s a traffic jam.”
The lodge we stayed in was super cozy, back to the good ole’ days of no TV, internet, microwaves & cell phone service. We actually played cards, read, drank instant coffee…. and watched movies on our laptops ;) Can’t stay completely out of this century. Yellowstone is a place that everyone should get to see, to appreciate the beauty. Nature can do some freaky stuff! But next vacation I would like to do something a little less rustic and woodsy. Preferably somewhere I can run without seeing Warning/Danger/Caution signs along my route ;)
If you think my fear is exaggerated and bison look as casual as cattle, just Youtube “Bison attack at Yellowstone”! Probably not the night before entering the park though…
