A weekend on the bayou!

It's funny how my travels always take me full circle! I spent the most amazing two days back in Louisiana with some of the people who mean the most to me in this whole world. What had originally started out as a grandiose plan to gather my friends down in Mexico to celebrate my 40th birthday in January turned into a belated celebration of family and friends on the bayou this weekend.

I love to travel and to experience new places, but my soul and spirit are grounded back in Terrebonne Parish. I wasn't really all that disappointed when the plans for Mexico didn't work out, I only chose that location because it would be warm in January. Things have a way of working out for the best though; we enjoyed two 80 degree days under cloudless skies with only a slight breeze to remind us it was spring.

The only two things on our agenda for the whole weekend were a crawfish boil on Saturday and the Boat Blessing (AKA Blessing of the Fleet) on Sunday. We did our best and were quite successful at sticking to the itinerary! We chuckled all day Saturday about how the only effort we expended the whole day was to eat and to move our chairs to chase the sun or shade depending on your preference. The first of our two-day retreat consisted of eating breakfast, eating boiled crawfish and birthday cake, playing horseshoes, laying around in hammocks, riding in the back of a pickup truck a couple miles up the road to get snowballs, go to "town" for supplies for Sunday, then eat dinner. Whew, it almost makes me tired just repeating all we got accomplished! As you can see in the picture, Kathie awarded me with a tiara graced with the number 40 which I proudly wore all day long. The fact that I allowed Kathie to put it on my head and then kept it there all day left many of my friends and family perplexed and wondering if this fourth decade will see a softer Karen! I wouldn't count on that just yet! I was so happy to be home and surrounded by all these people who love me (although most of them think I'm a little crazy!) that I would've worn a dress and glass slippers and would not have batted an eye! OK, I might have taken them off when we went to the back bayou to dump crawfish shells and to skip rocks!

Sunday turned out to be just as relaxing and extraordinary as Saturday. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed "down da bayou" to Chauvin for the Blessing of the Fleet. The tradition of priests blessing shrimping fleets started in Europe and was carried to Louisiana by Catholic immigrants. The Boat Blessing in Chauvin dates back to the 1920s. The ceremony is quite simple: there is a Catholic Mass followed by the priest sprinkling holy water on the shrimp boats and saying a blessing for a bountiful and safe season. The priest then rides the lead shrimp boat and blesses boats along the bayou as he makes his way towards Boudreaux Canal. The bayousides are lined with friends and families gathered with food to celebrate the day and take in the sights. Oh, and are there some sights! Only in Louisiana can you see a Catholic priest on the lower level of a shrimp boat casting holy water in the direction of boats lined up along the banks while teenage girls in bikini tops and cut off shorts dirty dance on the deck above!

It was a small procession of decorated boats that made their way along the bayou yesterday. I assume that the rising cost of diesel didn't do much to lure the dwindling number of Louisiana fisherman and shrimpers out for a day of cruising and merry-making. The offshore season, which applies to the waters off the central Terrebonne Parish coast, is set to open tomorrow so there's not likely to be much change in prices before then. The opening dates for the inland spring season will be decided by officials on May 1st according to an AP report released last week. Hopefully diesel prices will come down to help keep the operating costs of the fleet reasonable.

Thanks for checking in and feel free to scroll down to view the two slide shows of pictures from my trip home. If the slideshows take too long to load, just click on "view all images" and it will come up in another window. Thursday I'm off to Lexington, Kentucky for an Equestrian event. I'll post again soon- Have a great week!

40th Birthday Bash: Cajun Style (Part 1)

40th Birthday Bash: Cajun Style (Part 2)

Riding the roads of east San Diego county

After strolling the neighborhood on Saturday, I hung out at the beach reading a book for a few hours and enjoying the sound of waves and the smell of salt air. There were a ton of people on the beach which added a festive air to an unusually hot April day.

Sunday morning greeted me with another sunny, hot day. As I sipped my morning coffee, the thought of taking my Harley out for an all day spin caused a smirk to creep across my face. What a great day for a ride!

I grab my keys and half helmet and look in my wallet. Gonna need a few bucks in my pocket for the ride I think to myself, so I roll on up to the ATM on the corner of my street. As I'm pressing buttons in an attempt to cajole the electronic teller to give me some spending money, I glance over at my bike and see a guy sipping a coffee and admiring the customized Sportster in front of him. He looks up and down the early morning street for the owner and deduces that the woman in front of the ATM machine must be it. I can't help but grin every time I see the look of realization on a guy's face that he's just been admiring a chick's Harley!

We start talking bikes and I ask him if he knows of any good rides around here. "Are you going today?" he asks. "Well hell, I'm going right now. Want to come along?" is my response. He takes off down the street and assures me he'll find me by the beach in about 15 minutes. Sure enough, 15-20 minutes later, Fred rumbles up on a spanking new 2008 bagger. I can sense that he's a little skeptical of my riding abilities when he asks how I am with riding winding roads. I'm pretty proficient in the hills actually, I learned to ride in the Rockey Mountains after all! He pulls out a map and outlines a ride that will take us up to a town called Alpine. "Um, there's something you should know. I'm a wuss in the cold and I don't like to go above 2000 feet." I'm sure at this point he must think I'm lying about learning to ride in the Rocky Mountains! He rolls with it though and says that we'll turn around if I get too cold. I cheerfully agree as we mount up and start our engines.

It felt great to finally be able to ride in jeans and a t-shirt with no gloves and just a half-helmet. I love my leathers, but it's so much more comfortable to ride without all those heavy layers when the weather allows it. About 50 miles later, we ride through Alpine and stop at a place called Janet's Montana Cafe. Although we didn't partake of the amazing dessert selection, we did enjoy hanging out in front of it under the nose of a moose!

After brunch, we decided that a little more riding was in order. A stop at the gas station produced a map of east San Diego county that proved to be invaluable for the rest of the afternoon. We headed north on Hwy 79 towards Julian. This road took us past a pristine lake and straddled both Anza Borrego Desert State Park and Cleveland National Forest. We climbed up through the National Forest towards Mount Laguna. The familiar feeling of ascending roads = descending temperatures came over me the further we went. Although we pulled over and I put a sweatshirt on, it wasn't that bad.

As we crested a pass at around 5000 feet, we looked up and saw some para-gliders hovering on a breeze. We found a road that seemed to head in the direction of the human kites and followed it to a little parking area. After parking the bikes and staring in awe with the other folks congregated in the parking lot, we hiked up a ways and found what must've been the "jump off" point. The view from up there was amazing!

Back on the bikes and cruising down the road, I spotted an elevation sign that indicated we were at 6000 feet! I looked ahead of me and spied Fred looking back in his rear-view mirror a little nervously. So much for my 2000 foot ceiling! It was still a gorgeous day though and I don't think the temp dropped much below 70 degrees even at altitude. I don't mind 6000 feet when it doesn't require a jacket!

The rest of the day was spend on winding back roads until we ended back up in Coronado. I'm always amazed at how little adventures continually present themselves to me. With an open mind and cautious sense of adventure, I added a memorable day of riding and a new riding partner to my life!

Next stop: Louisiana! If all goes well the next post will be about a crawfish boil on the bayou! I leave on Friday where I will join up with Whit & Kathie and Jim & Karla at my parents' house in Houma for some Cajun-style relaxing! Stay tuned. . .

Coronado yards for my momma!

I awoke Saturday morning to a perfect weather day. I rolled out of bed and made a cup of coffee (OK, an espresso actually). I mossied outside and felt a significant increase in temperature from previous mornings. Wow, it feels warm today! For my friends further north or out on the east coast, you are probably snickering at this point and mumbling under your breath something about how the weather is always warm in southern California compared to where you live. To that I will remind you that my frame of reference is south Louisiana! Although being greeted by a morning temperature of 50 degrees may seem balmy to my east coast and mountain dwelling friends, I assure you it is nothing of the sort to my family down in bayou country! So when I stepped outside and experienced 60s first thing in the morning, I knew this was going to be a special day! As if the weather Gods decided to compensate me for 4 winters I endured living in Colorado, record-breaking heat and a cloudless sky was bestowed upon me this whole early April weekend!

After savoring my cup of dark roast, I threw on some clothes and running shoes and headed for the beach. It was still early but there were already a few like-minded early-birds out there taking advantage of the low tide. The packed sand provided the perfect running surface for my tri-weekly 30 minute therapeutic jog.

I came back to my apartment, took a shower and again headed out the door. There was a cloudless sky and high temperatures out there and I wanted to be enveloped in it! Every morning I ride the mile from my apartment to the Coronado bridge that connects the "island" to San Diego and head out to work. Every morning I ride extra slow and take in the smells of jasmine and honeysuckle and admire the explosion of flora as I make the journey towards the location of my livliehood. I decided that this was the perfect day to get an up-close look at what I can only glimpse while doing 35 mph with a helmet on my head on the way to work.

I'll start off by saying that some of my favorite flowers in the world are magnolias (for fragrance and the sultry reminder of the south), birds of paradise & plumeria (my tour on Hawaii), and azaleas. Every respectable yard in the Gulf Coast region has an azalea bush. For several years during my college days, I ran a race in Mobile, Alabama called the Azalea Trail Run. There are few things that I associate as strongly with spring in the Gulf coast south as I do azaleas. My Mama had a few bushes in her yard as does my mom. I have to admit being slightly offended at seeing them out here in California. It only seems right that azaleas would refuse to bloom anywhere where the humidity is less than 60%!

So on my stroll down my street with camera in hand, I stopped to smell many flowers along the way. As luck would have it, judging for the Coronado Floral Association's home front competition was this weekend! The yards (or lawns as my Yankee friends like to call 'em) were decked out and fussed over to competition worthiness!

It seemed as if there were ribbons in every house window I came across! I stopped to chat with a few older ladies sitting in lounge chairs in their front yards. They were full of information about their flowers and neighborhood goings-on. All three of them had lived on Coronado for many decades and were eager to fill me in on some history. When I complemented them on the red ribbon hanging in their window, "Betsy" (I've changed her name just in case the judges are reading this!) scowled and commented that it should have been a blue ribbon. "Hmm, what's the judging criteria?" I inquired as I gazed around a neighborhood full of lawns that I would've awarded blue ribbons to. "Well, may I bring to your attention to the house across the street?" she asks. I look across the street at a well manicured lawn lacking flora but for a lone potted plant on the stoop. She prompts me with "What do you see?" "Well, I see a blue house" I tell her. "AHA, that's exactly right!" she exclaims triumphantly. "A blue house owned by a woman who is very active in the Coronado community; it's all political." Wow, such drama right on my own street, who would've known?!

I chatted for a bit longer then continued on the floral tour of my street. I've often heard coworkers joke that Coronado is a kind of utopia. Perfectly manicured lawns, no crime to speak of, everything within walking distance and surrounded by beaches. It's easy to see what they're talking about as spring blooms on this little oasis in Southern California.

Wildflower Quest

With all the rain we've been having in Southern California since the wildfires, we heard that the desert would be an explosion of color during the spring. With all of our busy schedules, we couldn't make it out to the desert at the beginning of March when the color spectacular was supposed to be at its peak. Not to be deterred, last weekend we decided to head out to the desert and see what was left.

We took Whit & Kathie's car instead of the bikes this trip since it was chilly and very windy. I was thankful that we weren't on two wheels as the wind howled and nudged the car on the winding mountain roads as we made our way towards Borrego Springs out East. The temperature dropped as we climbed up in altitude and promptly climbed back up as we descended towards the dessert. Although the temp was low 70s, the wind added a little chill.

Too late for the wildflowers, we decided to head towards Anza-Borrego Desert State Park that Whit & Kathie's friends recently recommended. We were a little nervous as we turned off the pavement onto a sandy road in the VW Jetta. Seeing the assortment of dirt bikes and 4-wheel drive vehicles all around didn't put our minds at ease as we embarked on the 4 mile jaunt on soft sand to the scenic outlook.

After a few tense moments, we pulled up at a make-shift parking area and joined the few other folks who were walking up a path. We had no idea what was on the other side; we were hoping for the final burst of color from some late blooming wildflowers! What we saw made the trip worthwhile, even without flora. As we crested the path, we found ourselves looking over the Carrizo Badlands. It was a kind of mini Grand Canyon! You can get a feel for the scope of this scene in the pic with me standing on a rock at the overlook. In the group picture is Laura, Kathie, Whit & me.

The day was not without color though. All along the roadside were brilliant yellow flowers and interesting looking cactus. We also kept seeing these very tall weeds topped with red flowers. We took a closer look at the plant known as Ocotillo. It was taller than Whit with long stems with leaves and spines. Each stem was topped with a cluster of little red flowers, it was actually quite pretty.

It was nice to get out and see a little bit more of Southern California. I work and travel a lot, but I'm determined to see as much of southern California as I can and to not waste a moment taking this place for granted!