Merry Christmas!!!!

I haven't been getting out much, but I have been getting out a little :) It is a season of happiness and here are some bike related things that make me happy.

In MK they have a trailer type building that provides showers, changing facilities and bike storage for commuters (their web site isn't working at the moment but it was www.gear-change.co.uk). I saw it last year and I was glad that someone was thinking about alternative transport for MK. MK may be the city of the future but they are not very good about trying to get people out of their cars! They have a great redway bike route system but hardly anyone uses it - I often feel like I have the redways to myself. It does require a bit of local knowledge (I learned it pretty quickly, but then I navigated us around India and China :) but it is great once you get the hang of it. The local buses in MK are next to useless unless you want to go to the city center from where you are....and there is a bus from where you are.

All that negativity aside...they have changed the bike parking outside the MK library (somewhere I spend a lot of time :) from the standard row of poles to new *lockable* bike parking poles.

It is great that they provide the locking facility because I see the cheapest looking locks on a lot of bikes and they seem to be asking for a bike thief to snip through them. Even cooler? The bike locks are FREE! You put the chain around your bike (through the wheel and frame, please :) and the the end of the chain goes in a slot and you drop your pound coin in and remove the key. When you want to collect your bike you unlock it with the key and your pound coin drops out the bottom. I would think that you could even use one of those coin substitutes that you use for trolleys at the supermarket.

The other thing that I saw recently that was bike friendly was on a parking meter in London. Apparently they are phasing out parking meters and you can pay to park using your phone. They went to an extra effort (and cost) to let the cyclists know that they are removing the poles. They didn't have to but I'm glad they did (THANKS!). It would have been totally pants to come out of where ever you are to find your bicycle (or not to find it!) locked where you left it...I hate it when that happens!!!!! :(


That said...here is more news :) I am no longer unemployed, and neither is A. I will be starting my full time job in the new year and A has been temping already. We are getting settled back into real life again, and it's good. We do not forget our travels - they are there in the back of our minds, content and comfortable. It will be awhile before we set out on such a big undertaking again, but one day we may have the passion to do another big adventure. For now we will be content with smaller things, like going skiing (A is going to learn to ski in January!) and riding in the 24 hour bike races this summer and doing some smaller trips in Europe and the UK - all things we have put off because we were on the big trip.

Catch you all later, have a great holiday!!!

Wow...a year of travel!

We survived it, though. We would have posted more but we just didn't have time. I have some photos for you and some of the story. We did so much it was amazing! We never got on bicycles in Boston, but we did sit on motorcycles in Daytona Beach and we rented bicycles in Key West.

We started in Boston and it was lovely and HOT! Such a nice change from the cold UK. I was missing the Rugby World Cup (no one had it on television!!!) but the Red Sox stepped up to the plate and I was not even a little bit sorry (sorry England Rugby, but I thought you were down for the count when I left :). A and I walked down to the pub on game nights, drank some lovely beer and watched the baseball as the Red Sox made their way through the Division Series and on to win the American League pennant. Then it was World Series time and they did not let us down there, either!!!! My friend Michael had just set up his new TV - a 6 foot monster!!!! - and it was perfect for watching the game. The players were almost life sized there in his living room! We rooted for the heroes Dustin Pedroia and Mike Lowell, and Youkilis (who reminded A of a friend of hers), and of course Ramirez and Ortiz. The pitching was right where it needed to be....ah, it was amazing. And A has a first class education in baseball now...and a shirt with Varitek on the back :)

It was great to spend time with my Uncle and my friend Lucy was such a star - she drove us all over Massachusetts so that I could see where I went to college and lots of places I used to hang out (Northampton, Salem, etc.) and A could see my old haunts. We topped it all off with the most delicious fried clams you can get - from Woodman's in Essex, MA. YUM!!!!

This is the day we walked in the North End and along the harbor. The tea party ships were again not at their dock


Check out this beautiful fixed gear bike!!!! Sweet! That fork is a beauty.



We saw a glass building reflected onto its brick neighbor...


Then it was off to Florida to visit with my parents....and Charlie! You would throw the ball for this guy, wouldn't you? With those pleading eyes???? :)


We did a little road trip (2000 miles :) to see my sister and her brood in Tennessee and my aunt and cousin in North Carolina and then we came back down the Florida coast. My nephew Nicholas stole the show in Lil' Abner, a school production, and A was wowed when she saw her first American football game and marching band performance. Then it was off to North Carolina. The countryside was beautiful! We arrived at my Aunt's house in the wilds of North Carolina - it was quiet! Then it was on to Charleston, South Carolina for our first tourist stop :)

In Charleston A and I went down to Patriots Point to catch the ferry to Fort Sumter, where the US Civil War started, and we also took some time to explore the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and the submarine Clamagore. Then we took my Mom out for her birthday dinner at the Charleston Crab House (I had some excellent tuna!!!!) and the next morning we headed for St Augustine. A and I walked around St Augustine and checked out the old fort and the small village area - it was nothing like I remembered from when I was a kid! Still cool, though :) Then it was on to Daytona Beach where we shelled out for a hotel on the beach....and it was fabulous! The drive down the A1A to Dayton took us right on coast but we still hadn't had enough of surf and sand.

The afternoon we were in Daytona A and I made the pilgrimage to the Harley store...you just have to, don't you???? We had rented a Harley the last time we were in Florida (a Road King) and we had a great time riding to the Everglades and seeing the alligators :). I will say the Harley shop was impressive - 100,000 sq feet and a few hundred bikes on the sales floors (yes, there were 2 floors!!!!). We had a better time in the other bike shop in the area, though - a Triumph and Ducati dealer! A could finally sit on the Street Triple she has been drooling over (it wasn't out yet when we left the UK).

She looks great on the bike, don't you think????


I was liking the Ducati Hypermotard A LOT! Another sweet looking bike. Anyway...as we drove out of town we checked out the Daytona Speedway and then headed for the Kennedy Space Center.

Our timing at the space center was perfect - that morning they had rolled Atlantis out on to its platform and there was a rocket on another platform ready for launch that night. We did the tour (which was amazing - more photos coming!) and saw the IMAX 3D movie about the moon and then headed back to meet my parents for dinner at the steakhouse :) Then we watched the rocket launch it's fiery trail across the sky - WOW. The next morning we headed back to the space center to do the shuttle launch experience and finish up the last few things and then it was time to head home.

Here's A at the space center...


We hung out for a bit at my parent's house and then A and I went off to Key West (my birthday present :). My Mom dropped us off early and we hopped the 3 hour ferry to the island.


We rented some bikes when we arrived, found our hotel and then headed out for margaritas!!!!


It's Margaritaville, so there's no excuse :) These are lovely!


We rode around on the bikes, A downing *5* margaritas!!! I got A up early (and without coffee!! miracle, I know :) for the gorgeous sunrise...sorry, I wasn't awake enough to remember my camera, but I have sunset pictures for you :) After a good breakfast it was time for a ride around the island - and it was amazing! We stopped at a beach and rented a 2 person kayak and headed out into the surf for an hour. Then it was back to town for the last wander around before we hit the key lime pie shop and then headed for the boat...stopping along the way for an order of chips and some Cuban black beans and rice :) It was a fabulous trip!!!!

More photos coming! Thanks for reading.