First Trimester Road Trips - DC & Nashville

It's official.  I'm pregnant!  We're ecstatic!  Of course, constantly having the baby on my mind doesn't bode well for travel blog writing or traveling in general.  Nonetheless, we've braved some road trips, lived to tell about them, and even have a couple more planned for this summer!

If you've ever been with child, or traveled with a woman who was, you know it can sometimes be tricky depending on morning sickness and her oversion to odors.  We road-tripped to Washington, DC to visit family for the Easter holiday when I was only 8 weeks in.  I was just getting used to the idea of this living, peanut-sized person swimming around in my belly, let alone constant nausea and waxing fatigue.  "What's happening to my body!?" "Can people tell?" "Should I tell people yet? or wait it out a little longer?"  My usual I-can't-wait-to-get-there giddiness was replaced with "will I have time for a nap?" 

Some Tips for travel during your first trimester:

1. Bring plenty of bland snacks -- saltines, pretzels, granola bars, etc.  We've been told that you're better off with something in your belly, and it turns out it's true. 
2. Lots of water!  -- which results in a pit stop about every hour or so.  It's good for you though, so drink it.
3. Pack your prenatal vitamins -- You don't want to forget those, especially since we all tend to veer off course (as far as diet and nutrition is concerned) while traveling.
4. A fluffy pillow and room to stretch your legs. -- Try to share the driving with a pal so you can stretch out in the back seat.  Keeping your feet elevated will also help decrease ankle swelling and back soreness.
5. Get out and stretch your legs, walk around and get the blood flowing every chance you get.

Once you arrive, eat mini meals like you do at home, rest when you can, plan on hitting the sack early and rising frequently to use the restroom.  Bring super comfy shoes and loose-fitting clothes for walking around, and drink plenty of water during the day too!  If you're comfortable telling your news to those you're traveling with, they might be more understanding when you need to stop and rest more often than usual.  I chose to tell the family members we were with and chatting about it made it even more fun!

Next, we headed to Nashville, TN for the Rock 'n Roll Marathon and Half Marathon.  We went with a large group of friends, mostly from OU so it was difficult to hide my non-alcoholic ways in the bars.  I ended up spilling the secret to the group to make things a little easier. 

Lucky for me, after running a half marathon, the rest of the group was just as tired as I was, often leading to early bedtimes and afternoon naps. I fit right in! 

Nashville was pretty cool, but I can't help but think it's a million times better when you're able to party sans nausea and fatigue.  Maybe we'll go back someday. 

Just remember, you're still yourself while traveling pregnant, you just need to be patient, give yourself plenty of extra time for pit stops, frequent meals and naptime.  The advice people keep giving me is "get out and do stuff while you can before the baby comes."  So, that's what I intend to do!

Trips on deck :: a relaxing trip to East Hampton, NY to play on the beach; and a long weekend on a houseboat on Lake Cumberland, KY.  Stay tuned for second trimester trips!

Sloppy Snow

That determined little bud on the tree yesterday was most likely frozen last night.  Poor little guy.  You can try again next week little bud buddy!  Leave it to Cleveland to include all 4 seasons in one day.  Starts clear with a mild temperature in the morning, gradually shifts to gloom, then overcast, then rain, then sleet.  Then, sloppy slush from the sky appears, moving in at a sideways angle just steep enough to freeze only the left side of your face.  Lovely. 

Vegas can't come soon enough!  So far, the weather is calling for 75+ degrees with sunny clear skies the whole time we're there.  Woot!

Some more good news ... I think East Hampton is going to happen again this year!

Photo double-take

Last fall, we decided to walk through an outdoor art show near our apartment.  The streets were lined with food vendors, local artists trying to sell their prints and creative art and even a guy yelling to promote a Medieval revival "battle" that was going to take place around the corner.  We did not attend the fight ... but we did step into the tent of a local photographer (whose name I never thought to remember at the time).  Looking back, I wish I had. 

Anyway, her work was a myriad of photos taken from trips all over the world -- some near, some far.  They were OK photos, nothing too spectaclar, except for one.  On a canvas about 30 X 40" or so, was a photo of a long rickety pier that was roped off as too dangerous for pedestrians, overlooking a tropical blue ocean, sandy beach and white puffy clouds.  I was blown away.  Not by the beauty, but because I knew I had taken the *exact* same photo from the *exact* same spot not even a month earlier.  I had to ask this woman where this was taken.

It turns out it was true!  She'd stayed at the exact resort we stayed at in Mexico on our honeymoon, only she was there a few years before.  El Dorado Royale.  Talk about a small world.  I stood in nearly the exact same place in the sand to take an identical photo from the same point of view as did the legit photographer.  I (someone who has always dreamed of becoming a photographer someday) was in awe of the situation. 

Her canvas print was for sale for almost $500 that day, and that got me thinking ... why can't I sell my travel photos too?  I personally thought my photo was taken on a nicer day, so the quality was even better than hers ... I had to check out how much it would cost to get a photo blown up to that size canvas.

There is another photo I took in East Hampton on a stormy day at the beach in April.  The beauty of the natural setting on such an ominous day was breathtaking, so I just had to snap a few pictures.  To my surprise they turned out awesome.

My husband chose his favorite, and I had it blown up on and stretched on a canvas to surprise him for Christmas.  Now, my photo is a focal point in our living room -- a conversation piece -- my work!  To think, that photographer in the tent was selling hers for $500, and I had mine blown up and stretched for ... let's just say ... less than that (wink).

The plan for our Hawaii trip is to bring a good camera along to take some great photos.  Maybe some day I'll be able to sell my stuff too.  That'd be a dream come true!  In the meantime, my canvas print is a constant reminder that my dream could be realized some day.  But first I need to travel and actually take the photos ... and that I'm completely fine with!

East Hampton Roadtrip

While I'm thinking about it, I'd like to share a little story with you.  To this day, I believe that part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike must be cursed ... at least when I drive it.  It all started a couple years ago when we took a trip to Connecticut on a snowy December weekend to visit our friend, Dan.  He'd lived in CT for about a year at that point and we had yet to see his new place.  On the drive, I don't think the roads could have been any worse.  Seriously.  The tires barely ever gripped the road at all.  Instead, it was a constant game of slip and slide -- the ice version.  I was scared for my life for 5 hours straight!  Talk about a relief when pulling into a driveway.  We definitely need some beers after that adventure.  We'd escaped the wrath of the PA toll road unscathed that time.  But I swear, it still had it in for us ...

This time it was summer.  September 2008 was an especially long summer for me and my then-fiance, Adam.  He was working at HealthSouth in Las Vegas for a physical therapy clinical all summer and we had already been long distance for nearly 2 years.  Any time together was welcomed and highly anticipated, so you can only imagine how excited we were when our family friends invited us to use their beach house in East Hampton, NY for a week! 

Now, if you've ever been to East Hampton, you know that summer weekends are full of life, celebrity sitings, good shopping, bike-riding and beach fun.  At this point in the summer (after the novelty of heat had warn off), it promised to be less crowded and more relaxing than anything.

We were off on our roadtrip from Cleveland, OH to East Hampton by route through New York City via the Long Island Expressway.  But in order to get that far, you have to survive the dreaded Pennsylvania Turnpike -- not an easy feat.

It was midday as sun shone through the puffy white clouds, temperatures hovering right around a perfect 77 degrees as we zoomed our way through PA.  All was going well until we curved around one fateful bend near the DuBois exit, only about 2 hours from where we started.  Before I knew it, my newish black Mazda 3 was skidding across the highway on a thick iron rod scrap piece of some sort.  By the time my brakes screeched to a halt, I could feel that my car was in agony.  With metal scraping on the pavement and sparks in my rearview, I noticed there were several cars, pickup trucks and a semi pulled over on the shoulder.  Apparently, the scrap piece had fallen off the semi and a few other cars hit it as well.  Not a good way to start our roadtrip to paradise.

We ended up in DuBois, and thank goodness for the GPS.  It pointed us in the right direction to town, where we happened to find dozens of autobody shops.  It's almost as if this town only existed to help us that day, which turned out to be a blessing.  We decided that we needed a few expert opinions before we drove any further, so we stopped into a few shops.  Per the mechanics, we knew my poor car would be out of commission for at least a week for repairs.  It needed a completely new bottom!  The gas tank was dented a gallon and a half's worth, the crossbeams between the tires were bent an inch and a half (causing my tires to invert), and all of the heating shields were destroyed.  At this point I'm crying.  Not only because my car is broken and the mechanics are saying we're lucky to be alive, but also because I thought our much-anticipated East Hampton trip would have to be postponed.

After nearly 3 hours stressing over insurance coverage, weighing our options, and ultimately getting the go ahead to keep driving from 3 separate mechanics, we were back enroute toward East Hampton, with a little apprehension, of course.

Thankfully, we made it to the beach house safely and ended up having the time of our lives!

East Hampton has a way of making me relax.  Just being there transports me into a different time.  It's shabby chic beach style is so refreshing that it always inspires me to do something great.  Write a beach readworthy novel, travel to Europe, learn a new language, or take up painting ... it never fails.  I'm inspired, awed, humbled, and refreshed.

The beachscapes are utterly breathtaking, the skies are serene, the history is jam-packed and the food/shopping and bike paths are unbeatable!  You've never seen hedges around houses until you see the hedges around these mansions.  They are literally as tall as a house.  It's definitely a sight worth seeing someday.

If you ever do happen to travel to East Hampton, be sure to shop at the Citarella, stop in for a drink or appetizer at Rowdy Hall (our favorite local rugby bar), and take a bike ride to our favorite beach, Egypt Beach down Old Beach Lane.  There are some beautiful landscapes and mansions to be seen along the way, and exploring by bike is always a must-do.

We hope to travel to the Hamptons again this summer if we can find a few days to spare.  Except this time, I won't be the one driving.  The Pennsylvania Turnpike will always be my nemesis (insert fist shake here).  :)