TravelStream™ news feed for member lsapcoe on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lsapcoe en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 17 Jan 2005 21:17:08 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1096653000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1096653000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1096653000/tpod.html Mon, 17 Jan 2005 21:17:08 -0500 To Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, California -- Lisa quits her job and starts her wild & crazy adventure!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Bodega Bay, California, United States

After recuperating at Deb & Amy's house after foot surgery and driving my car to my dad's house for storage, I flew back to San Francisco to enjoy the wonderful weekend wedding of my dear friends Deb and Amy. They had reserved the Sonoma Coast Country Inn and Spa for the entire weekend, inviting friends and family from all over the U.S.

(More to be added).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1093626960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1093626960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1093626960/tpod.html Tue, 11 Jan 2005 12:25:39 -0500 To Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, California -- Lisa quits her job and starts her wild & crazy adventure!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

San Francisco, California, United States

On August 27, 2004, I left my attorney job at Shook, Hardy & Bacon. My friends and associates threw me a wonderful and wild happy hour at Azul, a new place for us. We typically go to the Irish Bank, but perhaps because I am special (or specially good at whining), my dear friend Amir found the perfect new hot spot. The party started at Azul with great Mojitos flowing. We then headed over to Polk Street for some greasy food. The final stop was Green Street Bar, where John -- the guy I was kind of dating at the time, met up with the crew. Surprisingly, at least for those who know me, the evening out was not a late one . . . well at least not with the gang! : )
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1097348340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1097348340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1097348340/tpod.html Tue, 11 Jan 2005 12:20:35 -0500 To Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, California -- Lisa quits her job and starts her wild & crazy adventure!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

With time to spare and heal, I went to visit my good dear friends and godchildren in New Mexico. It was Maja's birthday. She just turned 13 and a celebration was had by all.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1095097500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1095097500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1095097500/tpod.html Tue, 11 Jan 2005 12:16:04 -0500 To Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, California -- Lisa quits her job and starts her wild & crazy adventure!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Los Gatos, California, United States

After making it back to San Francisco, I was headed immediately into surgery at Los Gatos Community Hospital. What an experience. Can I say how much I hate hospitals?? Although the surgery was uneventful, and relatively non-painful, the worst was my roommate. Can we say the "patient from hell" loud enough? I arrived in my room and was comfortably settled in when prima dona and her entourage arrived. Soon, I find out that my belongings have been put on her side of the room. Piece by piece I receive my items. AND thank good among them was my IPOD, which later became my savior. Somehow, though, my fleece jacket did not make it to my side. My conspiracy theory is that prim dona's family stole it. Anyhoo, prima dona had some kind of surgery that apparently made her the most special patient of all and me, the most miserable. She and her family were rude, obnoxious and every other adjective that starts with "fu@#*@g." The prima dona and her family seemed to have no problem bumping my bed, speaking loudly or occupying all the nurses' time. All I wanted was some sleep, but NOOOOO, that would be a luxury. Ms. prima dona yelled at the nurses, complained of the conditions and refused the security guard's request that her family leave at the end of visiting hours. In the end, after begging for a sleeping pill, I was able to get a few hours sleep starting at 4 o'clock. Apparently, the nurse failed to see that my doctor INDEED had prescribed one (I had to wait for that, and a benedryl for my reaction to the morphine until they could reach my doctor for approval). Who knew morphine can cause you to itch like crazy?? I almost hopped out of bed and headed to Walgreens to get some by myself.

Needless to say, I was most happy when Trent picked me up and took me back to his palatial house to stay in the most wonderful bed. I hoped the evil eye I gave my roommate would be enough to put her in a year of bad luck (ok, maybe not a year, but at least a day). Lori and Trent kindly opened up their home to me and offered their place for a week while they went to Maui. Gracious and inviting as that was, I thought it better to head to friends in S.F. to recover. I stayed with Deb and Amy before heading out for New Mexico and then Arizona again to recuperate. I had plans to make before I headed to Southeast Asia. Although my doctor was a bit hesitant on the plans, he was pretty accommodating to my wishes. Two weeks delay was realistic -- at least for me. Luckily, I had a good doctor, Dr. Colyvas, who performed an awesome surgery and with exercising, I was healing fast. There was no way anyone was going to stop me on my travels. Yes, I know I am hard-headed. : )
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1096566000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1096566000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1096566000/tpod.html Tue, 11 Jan 2005 11:46:10 -0500 To Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, California -- Lisa quits her job and starts her wild & crazy adventure!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Glendale, Arizona, United States

I left San Francisco for my first stop -- Glendale, Arizona -- where my dad lives. My dad was going to help me retrieve my stuff from storage in Kansas City, Missouri. I had left it there for two years thinking I would move it out to San Francisco when I bought a place. After seeing the property values of San Francisco, I knew it might be some time before I could move the stuff out, if ever? For some reason, I just couldn't come up with the half a million it would require to buy a one bedroom condo in the city -- go figure? Anyway . . .

I finally met Vicki, the woman my dad has been dating since April. What a sweetheart! I am so happy for my dad. My mother passed away from lung cancer over three years ago and he has not been able to bring himself to date until now. He seems to be very happy now. Retired, traveling and dating. : )
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1094792400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1094792400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lsapcoe/unitedstates1st/1094792400/tpod.html Tue, 19 Oct 2004 04:08:10 -0400 To Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, California -- Lisa quits her job and starts her wild & crazy adventure!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Tahoe, California, United States

The last ride of the summer up at our ski cabin was suppose to be a weekend of fun and frolic. It was part that but also part pain in my butt. I went ahead and joined the group for the trail called "Hole in the Ground" -- very technical with single track, rocks, loose gravel. It was more like I had a "A Hole in My Head" -- After struggling up the switchbacks to the top of the mountain an hour and a half later (and out of breath from lack of any recent biking), I was finally enjoying the speedy ride down. I came down around a corner and saw a small boulder on my left and another rock on my right with a small trail between -- I decided, instead of popping right over the rocks (which my friend Trent would have said was the way to go), to go right in between the two. I think my tire slipped and hit the rock and down I was going. I couldn't get my foot out of my clip fast enough. I fell on my bike while my foot was still in the clip. I heard the pop in my foot, the clip finally release and then found myself rolling head over heels off the road. As I laid there, I hoped that I had just sprained my ankle badly because I had a big trip to Southeast Asia planned. . .

Well, I caught my breath, took a look at the foot to make sure no bones were sticking out, tried to put pressure on it (NO WAY!!) and then started to yell at my biking buddies ahead to get their attention. Deep in the woods, I guess my voice did not carry well. So, I decided, to lay back, put my foot up on a rock and wait, knowing that eventually, the girls would wonder where the heck I was and come back for me.

Two other bikers were coming up behind me and saw me laying on the side of the trail. They stopped to help. One of the bikers seemed a little out of his element, while his buddy was a pro. The pro agreed to go ahead and alert the girls while his friend checked his bag for anything of use. He was quite funny, telling me that his friend was such a good biker that before they left, he put everything he could in the pro's pack to try to weight him down some so he wouldn't go too fast. Luckily for me, that meant there was an ace bandage packed away (although, I don't think that added much weight, but who was I to question under the circumstances?). With my ankle wrapped, I took a couple of aspirins (then some ibuprofins given by some other bikers passing by) and started to realize my predicament. How the heck was I going to get out of here?

Lori came bolting back on the trail within no time. Following her was Sue. I later learned that JoAnna agreed to take the trail out off the mountain to get the car, notify the others (who were way ahead of us) and meet us back at the fire road. We had three bikes, one lame duck and two healthy chicks. It was quickly decided that we would not keep going down the mountain as the trail was still 10+ miles ahead. The shorter distance was to go back the way we came. Up and over the mountain about four miles. And let me emphasize here the word "UP." We had not even begun to appreciate the task at hand (or maybe others did, but I was oblivious). The thought of sending for help was short lived, as I could just see the bill for the helicopter rescue team. With no job and dreams of traveling, I was going to have to suck it up and crawl, hop and pray to get out of there.

The first plan was for Sue to walk two of the bikes out and Lori to walk the other, with me leaning on her. Sue also thought I might be able to ride out once we got over the hill (yeah, no way). Ok, this plan lasted less than a minute, when we all realized that there was no way I was going to put any pressure on the foot and the trail was a single track of rocks, roots, dust and gravel. Just when my predicament was beginning to settle in, we heard the swift walking of a pair of hikers. They became my salvation. Rick and Robin had just moved to Reno and were enjoying a day of hiking in Tahoe. I am sure by the end, they had wished they had just stayed home and watched some lame football game on tv while eating chips and sipping cold brew -- or had their arms cut off -- anything but was to transpire . . .

Rick, a lean, mean, muscle machine agreed to help me out with assistance by Lori, another lean, mean muscle machine. The plan quickly turned into the thought that Sue and Robin would get the bikes off the mountain, while Rick and Lori would help me hop out. We later learned that Robin and Sue had met up with another hiker (also a biker) who offered to ride one of the bikes down. I heard they had a great ride down, while back on the trail, I was attempting to hop over rocks, up the hill using Rick and Lori as human crutches. Can anyone say OUCH? My armpits grew quickly tired and we could only go a few feet before I needed to rest. Lori was her ever bubbly self, never complaining (especially considering I ruined the fun part of her ride), and simply stating at ever turn, "we are almost to the top, really." By about the third time, I knew she was just sugar coating it. As the hours passed and they patiently tried to help me hop up the mountain, Rick suddenly offered to "piggy back" me for awhile. Now mind you, Rick is a power horse, but I am 5'10 and a good 160 pounds (on a good day) and he was shorter than me. AND we are talking going straight up hill. Nevertheless, he was trouper and we gained some ground alternating between the two tactics. I can't tell you how many times that day I had wished I suffered from anorexia and was 5 foot 2. At one time, I offered to crawl on my hands and feet, but Lori nixed my moment of insanity.

About three and half hours later, Lori was finally right, we had reached the top. At this point, the other guys we had been riding with had finished their ride and were informed of the situation. Two of them, Trent and Dave, came bounding up the Mountain to help out. They were adamant that the way to go down was to piggy back me out in shifts. I think they wanted to change their minds after the first round . . . but they huffed and puffed and tooted a little . . . to get me off that darn mountain. I was never so happy in my life to see a small group of fellow bikers waiting for us at the bottom with cold brew.

By the time we got back to the cabin, the rest of the clan had hit the showers and were lounging on the deck. Genuinely concerned, they helped me over to a seat and encouraged me to go to the hospital to have it checked out (I was still under the illusion that perhaps I just sprained it badly). Trent wisely insisted I go the hospital. Good thing he did because I had really messed it up. The ankle was dislocated, I had a torn tendon and a severely broken ankle that would require surgery immediately. What a way to end the weekend, I'd say. Initially, I was horrified to hear that the doc needed to reset the ankle by yanking it back in place. My response was, "not while I am awake." With the help of some amazing drug of which can't seem to recall the name, they set it quickly and wrapped it up without me having any memory of it or feeling drowsy. I need to invest in this drug!

After receiving the bad news, Trent was kind enough to stay with me at the cabin for the night and drive my car back to the city the next day. He and Lori were so great to me and I owe them and all my biking buddies some great thanks. Rick, on the other hand, can have my first child . . . : )
]]>