Bridges Through Life

Acadia National Park Bar Harbor Maine

August 26, 2020 by Alicia 1 Comment

The next stop on our trip was to Bar Harbor, Maine. We arrived in the evening to our hotel and we had enough time to drop off our bags and then drive up Cadillac Mountain for the sunset. It was a perfect clear night to watch the sunset and we knew rain was in the forecast for the next day, so I was glad we had the time to go up and check out the views.

Tuesday, the 18th, we woke up to rain as expected. We had a nice kitchenette in our room so I made breakfast #1 of oatmeal. Once Brian was up and ready, we headed into town to Sunrise Cafe for breakfast and coffee for Brian. He got a blueberry crepe and I saw the fresh blueberry muffins so I got one of those. The muffin was so light and fluffy. So good.

Due to the rainy morning, we took the morning to relax in the hotel room. We knew the rain should pass by lunch so it was nice to have some reading time. We then grabbed some lunch in town. I had some fish and chips and the platter was huge so we took some back to our room before heading out to Acadia National Park, Sand Beach. As the sun was coming out, it was nice to change into shorts, but it was still in the 60s so not really beach weather. Brian noticed a hike near the beach though and we decided to check that out. It was the perfect temperature for afternoon hiking.

We didn’t realize how much climbing we would be doing on the trail or how long it was. In fact, after a good amount of time, we looked up where we were on the trail map and decided where to cut over, only to miss that turn and make it a bit longer. Luckily, the end of the trail was flatter and easier, so it went much faster as we looped around and landed back on the beach in a slightly different spot, but we knew where we were.

Brian was determined to jump into the water so he did. We later learned the water temp was 58 degrees. He is slightly crazy. I enjoyed taking selfies of my bridge moves on the beach.

After that, we drove the Park loop around and headed to the Bar Island Trail as it was low tide and you can walk across to Bar Island.

After exploring that, we headed back into town then went into the Del Sol shop (the shop that sells items that change color in the sun). Brian noticed a bee or wasp in the shop and the lady took it outside. Then just moments later, I felt a sting on my neck and freaked out a bit, but tried to remain as calm as I could being in a public shop and a wasp stung my neck. This was my first wasp sting ever and on my neck no less!! It definitely felt like a zap to my neck. Luckily we were in town and we took a quick walk over to Walgreens and got an antihistamine spray.

Brian drove us back to the hotel and we had a salad mix for dinner and my leftover fish. A light dinner was perfect and then we had to check out the pirate mini golf across the street. We decided to walk over. There was a chance for rain, but it never came and we finished the 2 courses of mini golf which was fun. Brian won both times, but I was only a few points away in each game. I also got 2 holes in one in the first round!

Since we had an early and light dinner, we went to the ice cream place across from the mini golf. They had some soy based dairy free options so I got the mango peach to try. It was super sweet and I only ended up eating half of it but it was good. Brian had cookie butter ice cream and I tried a chunk of the cookie butter. That was amazing. It made me think about how Brian bought an ice cream maker we never use and maybe I should try making almond milk ice cream in there with cookie butter.

The beauty of hotels and vacation now is the fact that hotels still have cable TV. This is such a treat now that we live off of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. We discovered Big Bang Theory on TV and watched for a bit and then it was time for bed.

Wednesday Aug 19

We decided to grab breakfast at the Sunrise Café in town again. I got a blueberry scone which was amazing and fluffy. Brian got the lobster crepe. I decided his breakfast so I could try some lobster while in Maine. The crepe was packed full of lobster and it was pretty good. Not super fishy, just kind of an after fishy taste.

We then headed back to the hotel to pack up the car and check out. We wanted to get on the road with an almost 7 hour driving day to Cape Cod. First stop though was about 2.5 hours in at the LL Bean Flagship Stores. I ended up getting some pj pants because I wanted a new pair of warm pj pants anyway. Brian got some shirts. He needed some new ones, but now we need to sort through his pile at home to get rid of the old.

From there, Brian drove and we stopped in Portland, Maine. Brian wanted to try some beer there, but we found out the one place wasn’t currently having tastings. He bought a couple bottles and we headed across the street to another place where he was able to try some beers.

I will say the hardest part with traveling during COVID is that in some states, the inside dining is not open which means less bathroom opportunities. Usually you can stop at a Dunkin Donuts to use the bathroom, although I have noticed that sometimes McDonald’s is more reliable. In the beginning of our trip, especially, there were small towns we would drive through and you couldn’t even guarantee the gas station having a bathroom so it was challenging at times.

During this trip, we had to find a gas station along the way and it said customers only for the bathroom. Wanting to follow rules and when you really need to pee, I will happily hand over a couple dollars just to pee. We bought peanut butter m&ms which basically became our dinner and Brian tried sugar free root beer. The random gas station buys.

We arrived at our hotel around 7pm. It was quite a long day in the car with multiple stopping points. We were happy to just settle in and get to bed.

Next up Cape Cod, MA.

Mt Washington New Hampshire

August 24, 2020 by Alicia 2 Comments

We finally got a week of vacation in this crazy 2020 year. This past week was my one week off from school until December holidays so we planned this week off back in January before we knew what the year would bring. While we had the time off, luckily we didn’t have anything booked and we put a plan together of places to stay just a week before. I’m not usually a last minute planner, but right now, you have to be to know where it is safe to travel.

Saturday, the 15th, we left the house between 9 and 10am. We had a long 7 hour drive ahead. We took a long lunch break in Troy, NY and arrived to our hotel in the evening. While driving, Brian booked tickets for the Cog Railway Mt Washington train for Sunday.

covered bridge near our hotel in Jackson NH

Sunday morning, we hoped to get breakfast, but we were not out the door soon enough and didn’t have time since we had a 9am train scheduled. Luckily I had made some protein bars for the trip so we ate those and some snacks in the car on the way.

We made it to the train on time which was the important thing. The train goes at 5mph up the mountain so it’s slow, but we had amazing views and learned some of the history of the train. It was designed just for tourists to get up to the top without needing to hike.

We dressed in layers and it was probably 50 degrees at the top and very windy. We couldn’t see a thing once at the top as we were in the clouds. However, the train ride was worth it for the amazing views up and some history.

Steam Engine Cog Railway — This was the steam engine train which you have to pay extra to ride

After about an hour wandering around the top, we took the train back down. The average incline was 25% with the greatest being around 38% so it’s quite steep.

By the time we got down, it was nearly noon and time to think about a decent meal. On our way to find lunch, we stopped at the Old man of the Mountain area for a walk.

We stopped for lunch in the Woodstock/Lincoln area. After getting in some food, I drove us on the Kancamagus Highway which is a scenic highway through the White Mountain National Park area. This took us into the town of Conway. We stopped for a salad mix from the grocery store for a light dinner and then went to REI. I noticed my Keens were starting to fall apart so it was time for some new ones and since we happened upon a large REI store, I was able to try them on and purchase them. I was so glad that I could try them on since a size 9 was definitely too large. You forget your size when you have had the same shoes for 10 years. The 8.5 seemed right and I compared them to my current pair and they seem the same, so that is good. Now I just have to break them in.

Once we got back to the room, I put together our salads. We added some meat we had in our mini fridge that we brought along. It was the perfect light dinner and much cheaper than buying a salad out. At night, we just relaxed in the room. I did some reading and then headed to bed.

Monday the 17th, we were heading to Maine, but since it was a shorter drive, we decided to take a drive to Willey House once we checked out.

Our last attraction in New Hampshire was riding the alpine slide at Attitash Mountain. They usually have many summer attractions, but due to COVID, they only had the alpine slide open. It took a while to get through the line and sign the waivers, but eventually we made it up. It was quite the slide and I would definitely do it again, but once we finished it was nearly noon and time to find lunch and then get on the road to Maine for our next stop.

Watkins Glen State Park and Weekend

August 10, 2020 by Alicia Leave a Comment

It was a wonderful relaxing weekend without any homework to do. My friend Ashley has been quarantining in New York with her family and we decided to meet at Watkins Glen State Park. I have driven by the park many times, but never stopped to walk the trail. The Gorge Trail leads to Rainbow Falls which seems to be the popular trail. Honestly there were so many people on the trail and it was crowded. I didn’t stop to take too many pictures as people were stopping along the trail and holding people up. Plus, I didn’t want to stand next to too many people at once. I didn’t realize that the trail was mostly steps ,so it was basically a mile or more of steps. My Garmin automatically sets my stair goal to 10 flights and I got 40 flights hiking the trail. I definitely got in a workout and while wearing a mask, I started to sweat a bit. However, the weather was beautiful mid morning as we hiked up. It was cloudy but warm, probably about 80 degrees.

We came back down on the South Rim Trail and that was flatter and had less people so at parts we took photos and took off our masks if no one was around us.

Watkins Glen also has a pool, but by the time we got back down to the main entrance, we decided to grab a late lunch in town. Brian and I had stopped at a BBQ place back in December when we were passing through so we went there. The outdoor seating was full, but their door and windows were open with a breeze you could feel. The tables were spaced far apart and we felt ok dining in. It is definitely still weird to dine inside a restaurant as you try to take all precautions. We both got combo platters with a meat and sides. We also started with fried pickles which were delicious.

We were non stop chatting and sharing stories and it was so nice to be out in nature and also with a friend for part of the day. After eating, we headed back to our cars to drive to our respective houses. It was an hour and a half drive for me. I decided to stop at Wegmans on my way back since I didn’t go in the morning and picked up some things. When I got home, I had a slight headache, which grew worse in the evening. I was pretty sure it was from my lack of not drinking enough water and my car said it was 90 degrees when I left the park. We were happy we hiked in the late morning since it was cooler with the cloud cover before the sun came out. I spent the evening just relaxing on the couch, taking a mini nap for my head and then around 8pm, I moved into bed to read until 9. I was deep into a book that I was trying to finish, but ultimately I chose to sleep shortly after 9.

Sunday morning I was up bright and early without an alarm. I think my mini nap affected my sleeping in. After tossing and turning a bunch, at 5:45am, I just decided to get up. I decided to make some lemon water and honey because my stomach just felt off and I relaxed on the couch doing my 10 minute meditation and then reading. I then made some toast and bacon for breakfast and finished my book shortly after Brian got up.

At 8am, I went out to the back porch to workout. I had Brian assist me as I wanted to do some glute bridges with the barbell, but my weights are light so I needed some help getting set up for my sets. Plus, it makes Brian work a little haha. I definitely miss our Sunday morning workouts at the gym together. At this point I am really thinking I will need to get a squat rack and bench as we set up the garage for a workout area for winter.

Most of Sunday was laid back without plans (as Sundays should be). I did some much needed cleaning around the house and caught up with my sister on Facetime. We try to Facetime each weekend, which has been nice. In the afternoon, it was time to start reading the newest Twilight Book, Midnight Sun. I preordered it and it arrived last week. I am hoping to finish it before my fall classes begin and then mail it off to my sister to add to her Twilight collection and read.

My Workouts During A Pandemic

August 5, 2020 by Alicia Leave a Comment

I’ve been thinking about this post for a while. Sharing my thoughts on my workouts through this pandemic period. For the most part, I would consider myself highly motivated to go to the gym, but workouts at home are totally different. Also with no AC and 90 degree days, the heat wore me down and I just did not want to sweat more than I was just walking around the house.

I am now in week 20 of working from home and really it has been about 21 weeks without a gym to go to. To put it simply, it has been very hard, mentally and physically. At first, in March, I was like, OK I can finally try out some of these at home workouts and I purchased the PIIT28 1.0 program as I have enjoyed the Blogilates videos on Youtube and it was a simple program laid out to follow. Also the price was around $30 which wasn’t bad for a month program.

Even though I have been working from home, I have my alarm set for 5am most mornings. I would wake up and put on my workout clothes and do the warm up and get into the PIIT program for the morning before making my breakfast. The program ended up taking me 2 months to complete though, as I started out with a little too much high intensity for myself and realized I did better doing the workouts every other day instead. I also took a few Zumba classes through Zoom on Saturdays so that was my cardio. I added lots of walking to my routine with lunch time walks and sometimes evening walks with Brian. I missed going to yoga classes and tried a few through Instagram live, but it was hard to watch on my phone screen. Here was another opportunity to try something and I got a membership to Bad Yogi Studio online which is only $9.99 a month, basically less than 1 yoga class and I had been previously going to 1-2 classes a week when I could. So on days that I didn’t do my PIIT28 workout, I would pull up a yoga class or just stretch in the morning. Sometimes I don’t do a workout and I was doing homework instead.

Week 9 hit and they had announced that gyms could possibly open at the end of June, so I had a month or so to wait. After finishing PIIT28, I felt like a break was good. The weather was warming up and I decided to start trying to run. This lasted only a couple weeks, running 2-3 times in the week as my right ankle would get really sore. I think I need to strengthen my ankles more. Then as the days got hot, I lost all motivation. I was counting down to the gyms opening, which would have been around 14 weeks.

Just 2 days before the gyms were supposed to open, they announced they couldn’t. I was crushed!! It was seriously really hard. What I had been doing was walking 2 miles in the morning and doing yoga from Bad Yogi. Both of those things were great, but NOTHING could replace my weight lifting I missed so much and how it makes me body feel. I basically spent a night crying because gyms were not opening. The gym has been my second home since college, a place to get out and also just make me feel good. A place to socialize and chat with others who enjoy lifting. I know this has been tough on many others as well.

Knowing that gyms would now have no date of opening in the near future, I needed to do something. In mid July, the number of states I am not allowed to travel to per New York, is increasing. The one thing I had to look forward to in mid July was a trip with a couple friends to Kentucky and that was quickly taken from me as their numbers rose and last minute we cancelled. I knew it was the right decision but I was very sad about it because all my plans I have tried to make this year have been cancelled (and I know so many other people out there are dealing with the same disappointment).

One thing was though, I was not feeling myself without my weight lifting. I only had 8lb and 10lb dumbbells and after so many weeks without a gym, I needed some 5lb dumbbells for some of the arm exercises. So our trip was cancelled and here I was searching for weights and pricing out squat racks online. A squat rack was 5 weeks backordered, but the hardest part seemed to be locating weights and a barbell. Brian searched Craigslist and happened to see a weight set and bar that had just been posted. Since we switched our plans to head towards the Thousand Islands, we would be heading right through Syracuse to get the weights. Luckily, they were still available in the morning and I texted with the guy all morning as we drove and scheduled a place and time to meet. Besides my Bad Yogi membership of $9.99 a month, buying these weights has been the best purchase I made in quarantine. I now could work on some moves to get some strength back. I still have not purchased a squat rack, but for now, I wrote up 3 beginner weight workouts to ease back in. I am taking things light and doing the workouts every other day in the morning. On the opposite days, I am either going for long walks or doing a 30-40 minute yoga class from Bad Yogi. I love that Bad Yogi comes out with a couple new videos each month and that there are fun, not ordinary, moves sometimes. I always love the more creative flows and vinyasa style.

So after about a month in a funk over what to do, I am in a good spot as I can work on deadlifts again. I hope to also work on my bench press from the floor (since I don’t have a bench) with some help from Brian too.

I have hopes for next year to get back to Powerlifting training and maybe hire a coach again. I know I did the best when I had a coach, but with school, my mind hasn’t been totally focused on training. If there is one thing this pandemic has taught me though, it’s how important I need to make my training, because it helps me feel the best. Right now, I am enjoying just a quick 30 minute session of some weight lifting and by starting really light, I feel I can increase a little each time and then I will work to increase number of sets or reps. I am also working on my nutrition again, focusing on protein intake to help with recovery and lots of water.

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