Road Trip 2015

Hi!

I'm back!

Back from a two-week road trip. Back from several thousand kilometres of driving. Back from palm trees and golf courses and stores that sell guns and ammo (and craft supplies!?!) and lots of 'how y'all doing?'.

We went to get a brief break from a rather tough Canadian winter. We went to visit our friends. We went to revisit some of our favourite places in the United States.

Here are a few of the highlights for you.

We learned how Floridians protect delicate fruit such a blueberries when the temperatures dip below zero. Cover them in ice. 

We discovered a beautiful golf course called Providence (not in Rhode Island Jeff!) and I posted my best golf score ever! 

We went to Bay Hill to play a game and ran into its very famous and very charming owner and designer. (In case you don't recognize him, his name is Arnold Palmer.)

We spent as much time photographing the Bay Hill golf course as we did playing it. Such a beautiful place. Oh, and I got a par on the 18th hole. Which will make it fun when we watch the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and I get to see how the pros tackle that same hole...from a few feet further back than where I hit from. 

After Florida, we drove to Pinehurst, North Carolina for a few games of golf but the weather had other plans. So we gave up on our golf games and photographed the snow and explored the charming little town instead. 

The very old and very famous Pine Crest Inn where we stayed. We even got the same room we did last year. 

We headed north to Washington DC, one of our favourite cities for two days of exploring. First stop, the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.

Stealth Bomber

I spent a lot of time checking out Discovery. Such a beautiful old gal. 

It was nice to see the Canadarm standing guard beside her. 

Discovery looking very Stars Wars-like from behind. 

We also explored the Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural Science (my favourite!). We saw Archie Bunker's chair, Dorothy's ruby slippers, Julia Child's kitchen and THE Star Spangled Banner. 

We're home and pretty much back to normal. Laundry's done, groceries are restocked and we got our first snowy run in.

Tomorrow: my February workout report.

A Bientôt!

This has not been a stellar week of blogging by any means and for those of you who check in every day, I do apologize. I try very hard to write something from Monday to Friday but there are weeks when life simply has other plans.

That being said, it's going to be pretty quiet at Running on Carbs for the next two weeks.

Doug and I are heading south in the morning for another one of our wonderful road trips. By the time we get back we will have explored five different states, played at 7 or 8 different golf courses, run through orange groves as well as by the US capitol buildings.

I have managed to squeeze clothes for every possible temperature into my suitcase.

We have a carload of healthy snacks and I have made a double batch of Glo Bars to keep us happy.

I have packed a ridiculous amount of diabetes supplies because, well, you never know how many rogue doorknobs I may encounter.

We're going to museums, gonna check out some rocket ships, explore some charming towns and drive all over the place.

I'm guessing we're going to have some pretty tasty food too.

No promises on my blogging frequency but I do promise to take all sorts of photos along the way and share some of my favourites with you.

Talk to y'all on the other side.

How to Travel Healthy-style

Day one of work travel is complete.

On Monday I worked for a half a day and then headed home, loaded the car and drove 200+ kilometres to my new home for three days.

I did not exercise before work but I did eat a healthy breakfast (see 5-minute oatmeal for details)

Every two weeks we have a soup lunch at work that members of our soup lunch club take turns preparing. Yesterday was lobster bisque which was delicious although not entirely nutritious. I planned ahead and brought veggies (celery, carrots and peppers) for a mid-morning snack and limited myself to one reasonable-sized bowl of soup for lunch and two pieces of baguette bruschetta. Plus yogurt and pomegranate seeds.

Dinner was supposed to be at Swiss Chalet (sigh) but I knew that ahead of time so I googled their menu and made my decision before leaving my hotel room. I checked out their healthy menu options and compared their nutritional info with that of a quarter chicken dinner with veggies instead of fries, and no special dipping sauce. Quarter chicken dinner won hands down. Way less sodium and calories that the salads. (No wonder people get confused trying to figure out what healthy options are).

The good news was that we decided to head into town and try our hands at a local Italian restaurant instead of Swiss Chalet. My eyes headed straight to the pesce salade on the menu. Spinach, kale, roasted turnip and sweet potato, quinoa and two lovely pieces of grilled salmon on top. It was delicious!

I checked out the fitness closet after dinner. They managed to squeeze in a bike, treadmill and elliptical into a room the size of my bathroom. I double-checked to make sure that the treadmill worked, crossed my fingers that no one else will be venturing in at 5:30am and headed upstairs. I checked out the neighbourhood but there is no easy way to run outside unless I hop in my car and drive somewhere. All the roads within several kilometres are busy with no sidewalks or shoulders. I'll try the indoor treadmill and see if it drives me batty or not. I may end up running outside before this is over.

I had a pre-bed snack of pomegranate seeds, chia seeds and kefir. I prepped my 5-minute oatmeal and tossed it in the fridge and set my alarm for 5am for my pre-breakfast workout.

Ready!

Travel Plans

I'm leaving this afternoon and will be away for work until late Thursday afternoon. I do this probably twice every year. It's a great experience and one that I enjoy doing but these weeks tend to wreak havoc on my body and my blood sugar.

The days are long. As in 7am-11pm long.

The food is often not so healthy. As in we eat a hotel breakfast. Take out lunch. And restaurant dinner. For three days in a row. And finding a restaurant that suits all tastes usually means Swiss Chalet or Kelsey's-type food rather than the Korean, Thai or Sushi I often vote for.

I typicaly come home exhausted, with unhappy blood sugars and a rather crappy overall feeling due to lack of exercise.

Having done this several times now, I've learned a few tricks.

I called the hotel to find out what is in my room. I have a fridge and a microwave. Bonus. 

I asked what was in their fitness centre. They said an elliptical, a treadmill, a yoga mat and a fitness ball. Sounds more like a fitness closet to me but, whatever, it's something.

I have packed three changes of fitness clothes. One outdoor running outfit which I probably won't use because the hotel is on a highway-type road and the only time I can run is in the pitch black morning. Pitch black highway running on unfamiliar roads is not my idea of a safe and happy run but I'm bringing my stuff just in case. I'm planning to do something every morning before our 8am meetings and will probably end up doing it in the fitness closet. Treadmill run. Elliptical. Mock CoreFit class (oooh! maybe I should toss my weights in the car). Whatever. I'm moving my body every day.

I am bringing healthy food options. I have a container of pomegranate seeds, bananas and apples. I have a full container of kefir, some chia seeds, nuts (almonds, cashews and walnuts) as well as larabars. I plan to scout out the hotel breakfast and then bring my own stuff to the table to increase the health quotient a bit. I also packed some rolled oats and almond milk in the off chance that I can make my breakfast in my room and then meet up with the team afterwards for coffee.

I will still come home tired and worn out but I'm hoping I'll also come home feeling better than expected because I ate well and made time to move my body a bit.

Wish me luck!

(oh, and don't be surprised if I don't write much, if at all. It's gonna be one of those weeks).

Zip and the Gang are Going to Florida

Hi kids! It's me Zip. The fitbit.

Omigoodness I am SO excited. Céline, Rose and I are going to Florida today.

We are apparently going to a conference. Called Friends for Life. It's all about diabetes.

Céline is trying to convince me that there are going to be tons of people with diabetes there. She said that they have some sort of super secret way to spot the other people with diabetes. Green bracelets or some sort of thing like that. And people who aren't lucky enough to have diabetes but who are lucky enough to love someone who does get to wear orange bracelets. I asked what happens to the people who don't have diabetes or love someone who does but she didn't answer me. I'm trying not to worry about it.

She is also telling me that there will be other Roses and Lucky's and Dexters there for me to talk to.

I wonder if Rose, my Rose I mean, will be jealous if she sees other Roses. Or if she will think it's fun to compare notes. Maybe the conference is for her too. So she can learn how to be a better pump. Or learn a few tricks for being the best blood sugar monitor ever.

Céline tells me that we're going to spend a lot of time in 'sessions' and talking to people but she promises me that we're going for a run or two (outside if possible but it's apparently really hot there). She tells me that there are three (three!) pools at the hotel so she'll be going swimming too. I'll be safely tucked away in her pool bag though since I'm not that strong a swimmer. Rose is - she's a wicked swimmer and is happy to hang out in the water all day.

The weirdest thing though is that Céline keeps talking about these really big mice. They are apparently the size of humans. They wear white gloves. And they talk. By talk I mean English, not mice gibberish. Their names are Mickey and Minnie and apparently they live not too far from the hotel. Céline said that they and their friends are really cool and we might be visiting them. She's talking about a place called Downtown Disney that has shops and restaurants and other cool things and said we might spot the mice there.

Mickey is apparently on the left. Minnie is one the right. Although rumour has it that she also wears red dresses with polka dots. 

The second weirdest thing is that Céline got her nails done for the trip. She picked a bright red colour because, she said, it's the colour red of the Canadian flag AND it's the colour of Minnie's dress. And then she got white dots painted on some of her nails. She said Minnie would approve.

I think the whole thing is rather strange but who am I am to say? I mean we are also apparently getting into a big bus with wings and are flying through to air to get to Orlando. If that actually happens, I'm happy to believe in talking mice who wear red dresses with white polka dots every day.

I'll make Céline take a lot of pictures and write every day while we're there. See you soon!!

Oh, and Happy Canada Day eh?

Road Trip - Pinehurst

Last stop: Pinehurst.

Wednesday morning, we rose early and repacked the car. We were heading north again with one more stop between Florida and home: Pinehurst, North Carolina. A place I had never heard of until I met Doug. A golf lovers mecca of sorts.

When we drove south, five days earlier, there was a blizzard in North Carolina and it was -5 in Pinehurst. By the time it was over, they ended up being buried under an inch of ice and a foot of snow.

Five days later we were back. It was 23 degrees and they had just reopened the golf courses two days earlier. There had been so much snow that it had not yet melted completely and we laughed as we walked past piles of snow while wearing sandals and shorts.

We had two days in Pinehurst. The goal was to fill it with golf games and strolls through golf history. And fill it we did. 

We played the Pine Needles course - designed by a women, with women golfers in mind. It was lovely and felt very much like camping in northern Ontario with all the pine trees and pine needles underfoot.

After that game we headed into the club for lunch where we caught the end of the Women's Olympic gold medal hockey game. Canada versus the US. Tied 2:2 and in sudden death overtime. Several nail-biting minutes of stress followed by a very muffled but still audible whoop of victory as Canada scored the winning goal. No one else in the club seemed to echo our excitement so we kept our Canadian citizenship quietly tucked away and tried not to grin too broadly.

I learned all about Payne Stewart, his victory at Pinehurst and his tragic death. 

I learned about the famous Putter Boy of Pinehurst.

And I was introduced to the biggest pro shop I have ever seen. They had everything, in every colour. 

Hard to believe a snowstorm had blown through only a few days earlier. 

Pinehurst, as Doug had promised, was a beautiful, quaint little town. Quiet sidewalks, tiny shops, history oozing out of every corner. It was a wonderful final stop on our two-week journey. 

The final drive home was twelve hours long and took us the better part of Saturday. We drove through  a mountain range and five states. We watched the temperature slowly drop from the low 20s when we left and finally settle at 3 degrees when we crossed the border. The speed signs changed from miles/hour back to kilometres/hour and the five-dollar bills went from green back to blue. And funnily enough, as soon as we left the customs officer and began the final stretch of the journey on Canadian soil, Blue Rodeo came on the radio. 

We were home again. 

Road Trip - Florida

Our third 'car day' was the easiest by far. Instead of 8 or 10 hours of driving, we only had about 5, including a Starbucks stop, gas refill and lunch break.

The best part of that drive was watching the temperature change by the minute. Doug's car shows the outside temp. When we left Jekyll Island around 10am, it was hovering around 5 degrees. We watched it climb slowly to 6, then 7, then 8, then 10. Then it went kinda looney tunes and, by the time we arrived, it was in the mid-twenties and I was complaining of the heat in the car.

Florida was the longest part of our trip and we had five days to fill with sunshine, golf games, dinners out and les Olympiques.

Here are a few of the highlights.

The Salvador Dali gallery in St. Petersburg. I went there about 20 years ago with my grandmother when it was is a tiny, nondescript building. Things have changed a bit. 

We went to New Smyrna Beach for the day. When I was little we used to go there every summer and it was pretty neat to visit all the old haunts. 

Walk on my old, familiar beach. 

We explored

and explored some more. 

Played golf

Lots and lots of golf. 

Chased birds with cameras

And strolled along the boardwalks. 

We also managed to squeeze in a 20k run surrounded by the delicious smell of orange trees. 

Every day was sunny and warm and every day got a little sunnier and warmer. After so many months of Polar Vortices it was surprisingly good to feel the sun again. The days were packed but not frantic and we enjoyed long hours on the golf course, lazy afternoons and plenty of time to explore. 

We also, thanks to Doug, were able to stream Olympic coverage from his laptop to the television and watch the Canadian men and women battle their way to the curling finals. 

Road Trip - Jekyll Island

We left Washington DC on Tuesday morning and headed south as quickly as we could. We had a long drive to Jekyll Island, Georgia and we were excited to experience a bit of warmth. We had left temperatures of -15C in Canada. Washington had not been much warmer. In fact we were downright frozen at times as the wind blew and the temperature hovered around zero.

Georgia, we figured, had to be better. Plus Jekyll Island is less than an hour from Florida. The land of palm trees and orange groves.

Before we reached Jekyll Island, we had to drive through the beginnings of the winter storm that was bearing down. It didn't take long before we saw a few snowflakes, then a few more. And finally, we were driving down the 95 in weather that could rival any Canadian storm. I drove and Doug stalked the weather channel. We could see from the radar map that, just before Savannah, the snow would turn to rain and then, by Jekyll Island, it would all be over.

As we headed south, we passed fleets of snow removal trucks and hydro trucks heading north, ready to help. And when we stopped for lunch at a little restaurant, people were taking pictures of the weather that they were just not used to seeing...or driving in.

We made it to the island just before the sun set. It was not exactly the balmy weather we had hoped for but it was dry and safe which was, by that point, much more important. The weather network over the next two days told us how lucky we were to get out when we did. The capital was shut down. Cities ground to a halt under an inch of ice and a foot of snow.

We had made it safe and sound and we had a day and a half to explore. So explore we did.

We found the famous driftwood beach.

We visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Centre where we learned that the cold weather we were in the midst of was causing all sorts of turtles to experience cold shock. Cold shock is like hypothermia and the turtles become so cold that they can't move. They just float to the surface of the water. If they are rescued in time, they can be rewarmed and saved. Three large turtles were arriving at the centre later that day. 

We had a lovely lunch at the famous Jekyll Island club. 

And we braved the elements to flex our photography muscles. 

Thursday morning, we got up and headed out for our second run of the trip. A 12k run took us on a loop of about 3/4 of the island. Afterwards, we packed up the car and headed to our third destination: Haines City, Florida. 

It had to be warmer there. 

It just had to. 

Road Trip - Washington DC

Hi folks!

We're baaaaaack.

5000 plus kilometres. Weather that went from -15C to +28C. A winter storm that shut huge parts of the country. Eight states. And all sorts of adventures.

We left Canada at the crack of dawn on Feb 8th and headed straight for Washington DC. Nine hours later we were checked in, unpacked and strolling to Georgetown for dinner. Doug had been to DC many times before but this was my first experience in the capital. To prepare, we had watched Season One of House of Cards and Season One of West Wing. So I was all set to go and fully expecting to spot Frank Underwood or President Bartlett on every street corner.

We went to Whole Foods to stock up on a few things. We also went to Trader Joes. I had heard about this store but never been to one. I'm definitely a fan. All sorts of health foods, delicious snacks AND a decent bottle of red wine for $2.99. Sold!

Sunday morning, we got up early and headed out for a run. Doug took me on a route that took in all the major sights. It would have been too cold to walk it all but exploring at a running pace was quite comfortable. Not our fastest 10k ever but certainly one of the most interesting and historic.

The Capitol Building

The Canadian Embassy. 

The White House - which really is a lot smaller than it looks on TV. 

From the front. They were preparing for the arrival of the French President (without his wife) and all the local papers were a twitter with the scandal of it all. 

On our run we also saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the reflecting pool ('member that scene from Forest Gump where he and Jenny run through the water?), and all of the museums in the Smithsonian. 

We spent the afternoon exploring the Museum of Natural History (my choice!) and Doug did a fabulous job of listening to me natter on about genomes, mammals, marine creatures and how to tell if an animal is a predator or a prey based on where their eyes are positioned on their head. 

The marine exhibit. All my marine biology knowledge came flooding back as we explored. 

Remind me never to take on a great white shark. 

The three special exhibits at the museum. There was so much to look at that we never made it to any of the ones they were advertising. 

Monday, we were up early and, having mastered the subway system, were making our way back downtown. Doug had booked us a tour of the Capitol Building. We joined a tour group, made our way from room to room and I learned all about the House and the Senate. I think I may have actually figured it out. 

This room had paintings of historic moments around the walls as well as statues to represent each of the 13 original states. 

The ceiling could rival (almost) the Sistine Chapel.

The details were exquisite and everywhere we looked we spotted more intricacies. 

Rosa Parks - the latest statue added to their collection. 

After the Capitol Building tour we headed across the street, by way of an underground tunnel, to explore the Library of Congress. 

And at night? Well we headed to the Verizon Centre to watch the Georgetown Hoyas take on the Providence Friars. My first NCAA basketball game. 

 

Washington DC was as wonderful as I expected it to be. We could easily have spent a week there. Sadly, and yet happily, we had many more stops on our journey. We also knew that a major winter storm was brewing and scheduled to hit the Eastern US on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. So we packed up, headed to bed, and planned to get out early Tuesday morning to beat the snow.