Perhaps I should have called it chasing the sun

because that's what this trip has been all about.

It started to pour on my way to Saratoga Springs from New York City, and I've been racing precipitation as I've moved west.

It poured my entire drive from Saratoga to Niagara Falls (Canada).

The sun broke free in the morning in time for me to see the falls but retreated as I drove through Ontario wine country.  While I loved the rolling hills of Ontario's green corridor and its vineyards, I did not like the showers that followed me.  By the time I arrived in Toronto that evening, the weather that accompanied me was a veritable downpour.  It rained on and off the entire time I was in Toronto.

It was unseasonably cold when I left Toronto, and by the time I approached the border, it was snowing.  It was pouring by the time I bunked down in Dearborn, MI.

It rained from Michigan to Ohio, and it was raining and gusting heavily when I arrived in Toledo, OH.

In Toledo, I thought I had broken free of my precipitatious hitchhiker -- the sun always made an appearance in the morning -- but my overcast nemesis always showed itself by late afternoon.  By then, I had come to expect it.

I was not surprised when it rained from Ohio to Indiana.  Nor was I surprised when it rained the entire day and night I spent in Indiana.  Or, that it rained my entire way through Illinois.

By the time I reached Wisconsin, I was going to rename the Gray Beast to Gloomy Gus to more accurately represent her rain cloud attracting qualities.  So, it stopped raining, and it snowed.  The temperature began to drop rapidly, and it sleeted.  My particular area of Wisconsin had been affected by an unseasonably early cold front, so instead of typical 39-59 temperatures, it never got warmer than 45 my entire time there.

I was not particularly shocked when it rained, sleeted and froze from Wisconsin through Minnesota to South Dakota.  It froze and rained in Mitchell, SD.  It froze and rained in Wall, SD.  It rained in Deadwood, SD.

I've been in Hill City, SD going on two nights now, and while it's rained on and off (with small rain clouds that seem to only hover over my immediate vicinity because I can see the sun wherever I'm not), the temperatures have started to return to their October averages, which should range somewhere between 39-60, not the 30-42 its been this week.

I head for Colorado tomorrow, and I feel optimistic.  Perhaps the Gray Beast should keep her name after all.

What I've been doing the last two weeks

I've spent the last two weeks hiking, camping and attempting to surf on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica with the Costa Rica Rainforest Outward Bound School (CRROBS). I did a similar trip with CRROBS last winter and had a blast, so I decided to take advantage of my current situation and return while I'm still on the east coast.

Unbeknownst to me, I would spend the next two weeks with mostly boys between the ages of 14-18 who, once they believed I wasn't 16, took to calling me Momma because I was "old enough to be their mom."

We hiked Santa Rosa National Park, and camped and surfed at Witches' Rock and Avellanas. While I probably would not choose to re-visit Costa Rica with this particular group again, I had a fun and interesting experience nonetheless. A fun, funny, frustrating, exhilarating, exasperating, disastrous, fortuitous, infuriating, annoying and amusing all at the same time experience. I'm glad I went.

Enjoy the pictures.

Back from Bonaire

and in hibernation. It's gorgeously spring out, but after two weeks on the small sleepy island of Bonaire, I'm a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people outside. And the busyness of the city.

Give me a few days, and I'll be back to my usual self. Until then, these are usually the moments when I feel like I don't belong in this city. That I ought to be living somewhere where my life is more outside and the pace of life leaves room for reflection...

There is a blizzard outside

After 8-12 inches of accumulated snow, NYC has declared a snow day.

I have decided I will not leave my apartment today.
Unless chocolate is involved.

More specifically, Lindt's Wafer Milk Chocolate Bar. I've fallen into a habit of having one whole bar a day. They're quite delicious!

Damn, it's cold out

Here are some pictures of animals enjoying the cold weather in Europe and zoo animals trying to cool down in Australia.

see more pictures

I especially like the picture of the family of otters that try to go swimming in a frozen lake. :-)

I still have no running water and it is freezingly cold.

'Nuf said.

I have no running water

The water main on my block is broken. Copious amounts of water is gushing from fire hydrants down the street. Men with powerful lights and big machinery are desperately trying to find the source of the break. They've dug a ginormous and jagged hole in the middle of the street right in front of my apartment building.

It is freezingly cold in NYC. I have no running water or heat (we are radiator heated).

I'm reminded that I'm lucky to have the priviledges and amenities that I do have, because in some places, people must walk hours just to haul a bucket of water back to their homes. I too often take modern conveniences like running water, electricity and the internet for granted.

Ok, off to the corner bodega to buy a few gallons of water so I can flush my toilet, have water to drink and brush my teeth. I have a date tonight, and who knows when the water will be back on? Perhaps we can block off the water spilling onto the street and make an ice skating rink!

Goodbye to one of the best summers ever!

I'm mourning the end of summer. Maybe it's because it's rained four days in a row. Maybe it's because it's dark and gray when I wake up, and dark and gray when I leave work these days. Maybe it's because when it's 8pm, it looks and feels like it's 11pm.

It doesn't really matter. What I'm trying to say is, I'm sad summer's over. This summer has one of the best summers I've ever had, and ... it's done. Sigh. In the next few weeks, I'll try to backfill entries so you know what I've been up to the past few months.