Introduction written on March 24, 2003
I'm dreaming of biking. I'm dreaming of touring...
It's been a long winter - cold and wet. Boston tends to have relatively mild winters, but this one just wasn't normal. The National Weather Service just posted their statistics for the 2002-2003 winter - through the end of February. For Boston, the average temperatures were 4 degrees (Fahrenheit) colder than normal. The snowfall total for the season was 60.5 inches, which is 27.9 inches more than normal (I know, I know, 60 inches is nothing for those of you who live in real snow country, but it's a lot here. And since Boston proper gets less snow than the surrounding area... Enough!) Of course the big contrast was to last winter (2001-2002), when Boston had a total of 13.4 inches of snow for the entire season. No wonder I'm ready for spring! I usually bike year-round (even though my winter riding is normally pretty light), but this year I have a two+ month gap. I rode outside on New Year's Day, then didn't take a bike out on the road again until March 8th. My bicycles were screaming for some exercise. (What, you don't think bicycles talk? Mine do!) I spent quite a bit of time riding a bike on a trainer in my dining room - going no where fast! I'm ready for a change, and I hope that the weather cooperates.
I'm working at a start-up company, so long trips are our of the question right now. A couple of short trips will have to do this year - so I've been dreaming about where I should go. Having more places to go than available time to travel is a good problem to have...
I'm sure that friends and acquaintances think I make my decisions about where to go next very quickly, but the truth is that I tend to mull things over for quite a while, researching different options, and going back and forth between my dreams. Once I finally get to the decision point, it looks like I made a snap decision. That's usually not the case though.
There are two places that I kept coming back to as I dreamed of my next vacation - Ireland, and Hawaii. I've never been to Ireland before, and I've been to Hawaii a number of times, so for a long time I was leaning towards Ireland as my next destination. But last week I realized that I was longing for sunshine and warmth, and I'm afraid that Ireland just doesn't reliably supply either.
So the non-snap decision - Hawaii now (in May), and Ireland later (the first two weeks of September)!
I'm dreaming of biking...
