b-day bike tour

on the heels of the smith mountain like tri debacle, i had a birthday. i am at the point where birthdays feel more like an event to mourn that something to celebrate. i asked dianna and lindsay to go out of town. i had initially thought paris and rome. then we bought tickets to buenos aires. we ended up planning a cycling tour from providence, ri to norfolk, ct where we would hang out with our favorite man in the berkshires, vint lawrence. this wasn't the ideal plan because our favorite reporter from the berkshires, annie garrels, is working in baghdad so we can get a more realistic view of what is happening in iraq, the effect of the surge, and what can be done. we missed annie immensely, but were looking forward to spending time with her delightful husband.

the night before our anticipated departure, thru a means i am not proud to admit, so won't, i found that jennifer's new mother, bobbie, emailed lindsay after my horrible conversation with debbie and dave. in an email with the subject line "we still love you," bobbie outlined how she and debbie had come to believe that i am "the problem". she suggested that lindsay hadn't said much over the past few months (though it was lindsay who wrote a 17 page letter detailing how hard it was to be accused of all these crazy things and explaining in detail what we had done). she said many hurtful things about how i am mean and selfish and how she feels sorry for lindsay.

it was devastating, tho that word isn't strong enough.

lindsay and i spent much of the night talking about this. she said she nearly vomited when she received the email and was incredibly hurt. not only by the accusations against me and the mischaracterization of me and how destructive she knew it could be for me, but also that she had not been heard.

it was like a log falling on an overburdened camel. i crumbled. i felt betrayed, hurt, and despised. nothing could comfort me. i didn't sleep.

we had planned on leaving at 10 am. then 1:30. then 3:30. lindsay came home from work, and dianna and lindsay packed my bags. they packed the car, and then, headachey and exhausted (all of us), we started out at 5:pm towards providence. 5:pm is a parking lot on the bw parkway, but we made it through. as the sun set, and the moon came up we finally started moving. this is about one of 20 photos i tried to take of an amazing harvest moon.


we got to woodbridge, nj exhausted and hungry. we ate at wegmann's, our usual haunt. lindsay thought we might be best off staying in new jersey since we were still at least 4 hours away, but my face fell as i thought that the situation with the girls would have the power to ruin another one of my birthdays. in one of the greatest acts of love and friendship, lindsay took over the wheel. she soldiered on so that we would all have the pleasure of waking up in providence. dianna and i slept most of the way. lindsay sang to the iPod, and was most dear.

because of her, we woke up here.

providence from our hotel window

we walked around but soon realized that it was time to ride
i needed to blow off the lingering steam and cities aren't the best place for that.
so ride we did.

this is our ride

some of the scenery
this really doesn't do it justice
we saw: lighthouses, boats, fall foliage, and revolution aged homes

we forgot to take photos, but we ate a clam shop in bristol after we returned.
it was delicious
and i felt like a new woman
lindsay then again, in an act of pure love
drove us to mansfield center, ct where we had reservations at the
the fitch house

we had an compulsory tour of the house
drank this yummy birch beer soda
and got to our room just in time for the session premiere of the office

we woke up to this breakfast

it was super cute, and totally delish

and headed out

this is our path
this is what a 45 mile ride looks like

our ponies

we started near mansfield
and we should have taken photos of all these towns we went thru but didn't

climbing up one of the hills in the nathan hale state forrest

at the connecticut river in hartford
unfortunately, this part of the ride was kinda ugly
through the burbs of hartford
a forgotten town

if you can't tell, this is the connecticut river

we had to climb up an incredible hill just at the end (avon mountain)
dianna got dehydrated
i had forgotten to keep my watch on so too much time had passed between food stops
and her tea bag broke in her camleback.
we stopped at a farmer's market and got water and bananas
dianna's color turned from green back to normal and we headed out
as we kept making the ascent up the mountain we pulled over for a break,
i was worried about dianna
lindsay passed and saved the day
i rode the last 5 miles to the b&b alone
we ate the most delicious meal ever at amelias american bistro in simsbury, ct
it is worth the drive to get there
the next trip to norfolk will mean a trip to amelias

we stayed at the linden house
it was delightful
the breakfast of quiche and bread was wonderful
the irish innkeeps so sweet

here we all are suiting up.
lindsay preping as the best sag in the world, and dianna in a clean cycling shirt
lindsay left in a rush for a hair cut and a surprise makeover at cvs

here i am on the phone with aimee
this is my actual birthday and it was nice to get all the calls that flooded in

about 20 minutes in, dianna was about to die.
we had been going up another mountain the whole time
and she wasn't sure she wanted to do this anymore
we ate a cliff mojo bar
and confirmed that this was not necessary
she bravely decided to keep going
despite her better judgement

and we started seeing all sorts of stuff like this

who knew that in connecticut they make castles in the middle of lakes?

my gas station birthday lunch
please note that the egg is wrapped in plastic
why in the world is this necessary?
eggs come with their own awesome packaging

here i am talking to my grandma

my grandma always makes me really really happy

we road up the american legion state park and the peoples state forrest
we spotted this eagle
he hung out long enough for us to really get a good look
then dianna yelled at him because she wanted to see her fly
she was exquisite

it was a gradual ascent the entire day!

more of the beauty we were surrounded by

we used the connecticut state bike map which lead us to these beautiful untrafficked roads

this is colesbrook, and it is here that we saw the first sign for norfolk!
it was a wonderful site to behold

the ascent made us really burn through our lunch
we stopped here and ate apples from the ground, they were AWESOME
dianna says this photo doesn't even capture how she felt

lindsay found us near the top of our second to the last hill
it was great to see her
she told us how close we were and encouraged us to keep going
so we did
and we wisely gave her the camera
here we are on our last leg to annie and vint's

coming down the last decent

dianna met lindsay were we planned on stopping
now that is real happiness

i decided to just keep going up the hill
they came right up behind
it was so great to finally arrive!
i was starving!!!!

here is our route.
you can see i forgot to hit start a couple of times on my watch
my watch tells me i burned 3500 calories this day
rode for 40 miles
and climbed almost all of it

see
gray = elevation
red = heart rate

we went for pizza and lindsay got busy making elaine's present
we order 3 small pizzas
a salad
and bruchetta
we ended up taking an entire pizza home

we returned to jakes where i openned presents from my grandma and my trip mates

my sweet grandma gave me jewelry from her sister and lots of fun photos
dianna and lindsay gave me a crossword puzzle and a drill
i have been thinking about buying a house to fix up and they thought
this drill might come in real handy
i love all the research that went into getting this drill
and how supportive they are of any of my crazy ideas

my shock and dianna's thrill at the birthday drill