angledge | Entries tagged with travel

Alan & I got back home on Thursday from our delayed honeymoon to Costa Rica. We spent four nights in Tamarindo & three nights in Playa del Coco. Overall, the trip was good but not great, in large part because Alan got traveler's diarrhea at the end of our time in Tamarindo & is only feeling better today.

My highlights from the trip:

We went on a snorkeling trip on a catamaran that left from the harbor at Tamarindo. The snorkeling was unremarkable, but the trip became an impromptu whale-watching trip on the way home when we encountered a humpback whale. Alan had never seen a whale before & the look on his face paid for the whole trip.
On our last day at the beach in Playa del Coco, I was swimming laps to a platform anchored off-shore when I started talking to an older Canadian gentleman. His name was Robin Lajoie & he is a world-record holder for long-distance butterfly. We talked for a little bit while sitting on the platform & then he casually mentioned that there was a shipwreck located about a quarter-mile further out from the platform & would I like to go free-drive around the wreck?

UM HELL YES

We swam out there & had the place to ourselves (because, half-mile swim to get there). There were thousands of fish & the wreck sat in about 20-25 ft of water. I had so much fun that I kept coming to the surface, floating on my back, & just laughing into the sky.
In general, the food was delicious. Lots of seafood & tropical fruits, obviously, but there was also a lot of incredible beef. Also, fried plantains. I love fried plantains to an incredible degree & I ate some every day, nearly with every meal.

I want to capture some thoughts on how I can improve future travels:

Get a backpack to use as a suitcase. Currently, I have a gigantic Samsonite suitcase. I always end up overpacking because the darn thing is just so big. Then I end up hauling a 45+ pound suitcase all over the place, because if it fits, I pack it.
Do your research. I have gotten lazy about researching places before visiting, telling myself that I want to be "open to experiences" or "relaxing, not checking off tasks". But I have taken this too far. On this trip, I would've been very well-served to do more research on destinations (which hopefully would've had us avoiding Tamarindo) & things to do. I'm not saying this wasn't a fun & relaxing vacation, but we also left a lot of experiences un-experienced. Alan says we should've done more research TOGETHER, because different people will think of different questions & have different priorities.
Be incognito. I learned from a travel blog (too late to help on this trip) that it is a good idea to do all your travel research & bookings while browsing incognito. Apparently, many travel websites (including AirBnB) change their offered prices based on your browsing history.
Get more diverse. We booked stays in two beach towns, back-to-back. While we did end up liking one a lot more than the other (Playa del Coco >>> Tamarindo) it would've been even better to have had a few days inland in the cloud forest/mountains.
Put more thought into transport. We didn't rent a car & I think that was the right decision (driving in CR is a little wild), but once we got to our AirBnBs, we were kinda stuck there because we had done zero research on buses, taxis, etc.

Since I chose the country for this trip, Alan gets to choose the next destination. He has selected ICELAND. September 2025, bitches!

music link

Alan & I spend the weekend before Valentine's Day in Albuquerque. On Friday night, we took a tram up Sandia Peak & ate a great meal at Ten 3, a restaurant that boasts views encompassing approximately 13,000 square miles. We could clearly see the lights of Santa Fe, which is about 40 miles to the northeast. It was a great date night.

On Saturday, we walked around Old Town, which dates back to the beginning of the 18th century. Our plan was to shop for wedding rings, but the jewelry available was exclusively silver/turquoise in the Navajo style, which wasn't what we want. Saturday night, we had tickets to the New Mexico Philharmonic. They played two pieces which were totally different. The first was a new composition by Ellen Reid called "Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and Today", which Reid said was supposed to catch the tediousness & tension of life during the COVID lockdowns. I suppose it was successful, because it was tedious to listen to it. Alan described it as "20 minutes of pure anxiety". We weren't fans. The second half of the performance was Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, my all-time favorite piece of music. The conductor did not use sheet music as he conducted the entire symphony! That astonished me. Listening to this beautiful performance was so moving: soaring joy, excitement, a genuine uplifting of the spirit.

Sunday morning, we attended Mass at San Felipe de Neri Church, founded in 1706. Then we ate breakfast at Church Street Cafe & headed out. We were in a hurry to get home in time to watch the Super Bowl: I'm a big Eagles fan & Alan is a lifelong Chiefs supporter, so our teams were facing off in the Big Game. OBVIOUSLY I wish the Eagles had won, but the Chiefs just flat outplayed us, especially in the second half. It was moderately infuriating to be beaten by our former coach Andy Reid, particularly at the end of the game when he throttled us out with textbook clock management. Coach Reid's greatest weakness when he was the Eagles' head coach was managing the clock. He's been working on it, apparently. Alan was very gracious in victory.

Ang likes the Eagles and Alan likes the Chiefs

And now, I'm looking forward to baseball. Surely the Rockies won't let me down again this season!

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Ridgway, CO
Current Music: “Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Sleep: 11:30 PM – 4:50 AM, 5 hours 20 minutes. I had trouble winding down last night, even though I knew I had to get up early this morning. I didn’t sleep long, but at least I slept well.

Program: I prayed at the gate at the GSP airport. I meditated in the afternoon.

Tasks: Travel day, then reset day. I made two grocery runs, started making bone broth to use in soups for next week’s AA Ladies Dinner, made a breakfast casserole, unpacked my suitcase, ran some laundry, & was generally productive all day.

Food: Before getting on the plane, I chugged a coffee w/half’n’half & ate three taquitos. When I got to Union Station I ate a second breakfast at Snooze: a 3-egg omelette with sausage, bell peppers, & spinach, a bowl of (really good) fruit, & a thick piece of rye toast with a thin smear of jam. More coffee. Pre-church snack: celery w/almond butter. Hot chocolate at Advent service. Dinner was chicken involtini & a green salad w/Primal Kitchen Caesar dressing.

Exercise: I bought a 28-day yoga program off of a Facebook ad. Today I practiced the “bonus pre-hab exercises”. They are pretty hard! I’m hoping the program isn’t way above my ability level. 9,711 steps & 96 minutes active – mostly walking to King Soopers & church/Natural Grocers.

I feel like I somehow deserve some exercise credit for the flight home - I swear, there was NO heat on the plane! I've never been so cold on an airplane. I had my hat & gloves & coat on, & I was still cold for the entire flight. No love, United.

Also -- I am really, really sore.

Mood: Decent. I’m glad to be home, I got a good amount of stuff done around here, I’m looking forward to December’s activities.

Grats: 1. Made it home safely & didn’t spring for a Lyft (yay sticking to mass transit plan!). 2. It was good to see some familiar faces at church tonight. 3. I’m full, clean, safe, warm, & ready to sleep then go to work.

Current Mood: content
Current Location: Haert-bed
Current Music: HFASS hymns

Sleep: SH said 11:20 PM – 6:30 AM, but I definitely stayed in bed later than that. We’ll call it 8 hours. Headache was gone when I awakened.

Program: I tried to attend an AA meeting in Traveler’s Rest, but Google Calendar helpfully changed the meeting time from noon to 10 AM because it thought I entered it in MST. Grrrrrrr.

Tasks: I tried to be helpful around the house today. I cleaned the spare bathroom. I did some laundry (mostly mine). I took Mom shopping in Hendersonville. Then we watched a bunch of college football.

Food: Potato pancakes & bacon (& coffee w/milk) for breakfast, snacked on mint Oreos & taquitos, then dinner at Yellow Ginger – I had Malay sweet & sour chicken. It was a citrusy version of General Tso’s chicken. I skipped the rice.

Exercise: A mashup of rowing, arm weights, & stationary bike. My left arm – particularly my triceps – is noticeably weaker than my right arm & the muscle twitches when under strain. I’m trying to decide how worried I am about it, & who I should ask about it. I suspect it is related to the pinched nerve I had in my neck last… Year? Two years ago?

Mood: Definitely ready to go HOME.

Grats: 1. Dogs! 2. I got to chat with A* briefly. 3. B* & I are going to be workout accountability buddies.

Current Mood: cuddling with Gunther
Current Location: Exclusive Ledgerwood Resort, Carolina Resort
Current Music: "I Alone" by Live

I'm in Pierre, SD this evening, the first night of a two-week work trip. This is my first work trip in a long while. Since.... Gold King last year, I think. I had an attack of nerves this morning, but today was quite low-key, just a mobe day.

Made it to an AA meeting this evening.

Self-care. Do the next right thing. Rigorous honesty.

Breathe.

I did an apheresis donation today. For the first time EVER (& I've been a blood donor for decades), I felt shaky & sick afterwards. I laid down with my feet elevated for about ten minutes & then went on my merry way. My blood pressure was a little low when I went in (112/62) but that's within my normal range. So I'm not sure what was different.

Friday I finished up my first field work trip of 2015 - two weeks on Arapahoe. It went fine - even less eventful than usual. We didn't even see any rattlesnakes. Shadeaux came with me again, since

hotpantsgalore is still in New Orleans on a month-long work contract at Touro Hospital. I like having the little furball with me in Sterling - she's happy going to doggy day care all day, & she makes the hotel feel more homey in the evenings.

I was very happy to be back in Denver over the weekend. On Friday night, I met up with Bobo Bro & checked out his new condo. Saturday morning, I went to swim practice & then went out to brunch with the swim team. Saturday evening, reunited with Bobo Bro & went to the Rockies-Giants game at Coors Field. Sunday was a cold, rainy mess, so I stayed in all day & did food prep. I made fish tacos with an avocado/lime sauce that were delicious, & I refined a Whole30 version of the Kashi Mayan Harvest bake frozen dinner (removed grain, added shredded chicken). Of course, after a full day in the kitchen, my dishwasher stopped working. Still working on getting the landlord to fix that.

WHOLE30-FIED MAYAN BAKE HARVEST

Ingredients:

• 1 very ripe plantain (yellow and covered with black spots), peeled and cut into 2” pieces
• 1 chicken breast, washed and patted dry
• 1 cup bone broth or water
• 2 sweet potatoes, washed and diced into ½” cubes – enough to make about one layer on a 9"x 13" pan
• 1 bunch of kale, washed, de-stemmed, and chopped (frozen spinach works too)
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• 3 Tbsp. coconut oil (split)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 x 15 oz. can tomato puree (1 ⅞ cups)
• 1 Tbsp. ancho chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. Aleppo pepper
• ½ tsp. sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Toss sweet potato cubes in 1 Tbsp. of coconut oil and roast for 15 minutes on a baking tray.
3. Stir the potatoes and add the plantains, then roast for another 15 minutes.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp. of coconut oil in a lidded skillet to medium. Add the chicken breast and cook for about five minutes, until it is golden brown on one side. Add 1 cup of bone broth or water and flip the chicken over. Cover skillet with the lid and let the chicken simmer for 7-10 minutes, checking to make sure it is cooked all the way through. Save the broth or water.
5. Shred the chicken with forks.
6. Add another 1 Tbsp. of coconut oil to the skillet and sauté the onions and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the kale or spinach and continue sautéing until the greens are wilted.
7. Add the tomato puree, shredded chicken, ancho chili powder, paprika, and salt, and simmer for 10 minutes. Thin sauce with most or all of the saved bone broth or water.
8. When the sweet potatoes and plaintains are roasted and soft, remove them from the oven. Place the potatoes and plaintains in a 9x9” glass dish. Top the potatoes with the sauted onions/greens. Pour the shredded chicken and tomato sauce over everything and top with pumpkin seeds.
9. Return dish to oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serves 4.

Current Mood: comfortably stuffed

*blows dust off of LJ*

Wow, I haven't been here in a while. Which is a shame, really. I like having a journal. But like so many, I have been sucked into the short format version of journaling known as Facebook. It's much easier to come up with one or two sentences (especially when I can just type them in on my phone) than it is to write a full post.

Soooo.... my last post was on June 4th. Since then, I have spent 3 months on a field assignment in Conroe, Texas. We are repairing a landfill at a Superfund site that was leaking. By my standards, this has been a GREAT field assignment - Conroe is close enough to home that I've been staying at home, yet I'm getting overtime. And since we're repairing the landfill, we're not actually in contact with any of the contaminated material, so we haven't had to wear too much safety gear. This is a very nice thing when working outside, in Texas, in July & August.

(I mean, we're still wearing long-sleeved shirts, hard hats, steel-toed boots, & gloves, but at least we're not wearing respirators or Tyvek.)

It has been a pretty boring summer.

hotpantsgalore sold peaches in Austin for most of the weekends, so we didn't see much of each other - until late August, when we took at a ten-day trip to the Pacific Northwest. Then we visited Seattle & Portland, & Shay got to meet a lot of my family on my mother's side. We stopped by Crater Lake & visited Fort Rock. It was a superb trip - very fun, very relaxing, & it was great to catch up with my family. They all loved HPG, like there was any doubt about that.

Health has been.... not bad, but not great. I have put on a lot of weight since doing the triathlon in February, & this is because I am getting almost no exercise. No excuses, just pure laziness. In the last few weeks, my right shoulder has flared up something awful & I have an appointment next week with an orthopedist to weld it back together (or whatever they're going to propose to fix it).

I am still really enjoying living in Houston. Our neighbors & neighborhood are simply fantastic. The more I learn about our neighborhood, the more fun things I find to do within walking distance of the house. I have also become very involved with my church, & I will be officially joining the church next month. It's WEIRD to think about being a member of a Baptist church, but I love Covenant & I want to be eligible to be a deacon or a council member, so I'm going to join. In the meantime, I am on the Facilities Committee, I lead Bible study classes, & I'm going to be the lay worship leader during Advent. I've also been volunteering with an outreach program to homeless GLBT teens, which is heartwarming/heartbreaking.

This field project (originally billed as 4-6 weeks, now completing our 12th week on the job) SHOULD be wrapped up this Tuesday. We are working through the weekend to make that happen (boo hiss). Wednesday & Thursday are booked with doctor's appointments that have been put off all summer, & then Friday-Sunday HPG & I will be in Austin for the ACL Music Festival. The lineup is incredible: Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys, Florence + The Machine, Weezer, Rufus Wainwright, The Shins, & about 2 million other bands. After that, I will finally be back in the office - I wonder if they gave someone else my desk?

Current Mood: cheerful

I just found out 2 hours ago I am leaving for Louisiana for the BP oil cleanup!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning!

Wheeeeeeee I love consulting!

Update: I will not - NOT - be working in the field. So I will not be on the "front lines", scooping up oil or cleaning birds or anything. I will be working in an office using GIS (heavens!!) to make maps of ongoing operations. I am SO PSYCHED that I get to use my GIS degree, finally!

Update2: There may be a field component to this work after all - going out & collecting coordinates where various activities are going on. If that's going on, I'm probably going to be doing that because I have my HAZWOPER training. Maybe I should pack my steel-toes after all...

Current Mood: hyper

( OK, starting with Saturday ... )

( Sunday was not a day of rest )

( Week ends, week begins ... )

( And today )

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes

I am going to die crossing the street. I simply can't break the habit of looking right for cars. If that doesn't happen, I'm going to drown following a head-on collision in the swimming pool, because circle-swimming is done clockwise here, not counterclockwise. And if neither of these two fates overtakes me, I'm going to be trampled on a staircase, because slow people are supposed to stay to the left, not the right, & you go down the left side, not the right. SHEESH.

Tomorrow at 10.30 am I'm catching the train to Edinburgh. It turns out that it's a godsend that I'm not flying up there, because I've got an ear infection (contracted at the aforementioned reverse-swimming pool) that would've made flying excruciatingly painful. But the train should be fine - since I'm leaving from King's Cross Station, I'm going to pretend I'm catching the Hogwart's Express. Platform 9 3/4, where are you??

OK, off to repack suitcases for tomorrow.

Current Mood: mellow
Current Music: dryer sounds

I'm flying out tonight. But before I leave, I have to:

finish packing
finalize the sale of my car
close my bank account
change my address with the USPS
6 billion other tiny details

::head explodes::

I'm also trying to write a letter for Stacy, but I keep fux0ring it up. Frustration!

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Honky Tonk Woman" by the Rolling Stones

OK, I really, really, really have to pack today. Or maybe tomorrow. But the damn plane will take off tomorrow at 9:10 PM regardless or whether or not I'm abaord, so I better get going here ...

Two 70-pound checked bags & one 40-pound carryon. That's US Air's international luggage limit BTW.

Current Mood: harried
Current Music: "I Don't Give" by Avril Lavigne

1. What's your favorite "weekend" roadtrip destination (someplace within about 400 miles of home)?

Ithaca, NY, the location of my alma mater, Cornell University. Ithaca is fun for me because 1) some of my college friends have settled there; 2) it's full of strong memories from college days; 3) it's splendidly beautiful; & 4) it's an interesting little town full of strange & wonderful people. I highly recommend it as a weekend trip, even if you don't know anyone there. Also it was once picked by Girlfriends magazine as the best small town in America for lesbians - makes me wish I'd been out during college ....

2. Who taught you how to drive?

Eek. My mother. We both barely survived the experience.

3. Do you have a "dream car"? If so, what is it?

My dream is a living situation where I don't need a car. But since I've fallen in love with a determined suburbanite, that may be improbable. So barring that, I'd love either a gas-electric hybrid like a Prius, or a Cooper Mini. I also really enjoy being a passenger on Stacy's Suzuki Bandit motorcycle.

4. Do you consider yourself a good driver?

Not particularly. I speed constantly, I eat while I drive, I play with the radio. I've caused two accidents (both minor, but still). I once hit a duck at 75 miles per hour. On the other hand, I've never driven while drunk, I don't talk on a cell phone while driving, & I can drive just about any vehicle short of a 18-wheeler.

5. What was your first car?

1981 Buick Regal two-door sedan, brown on brown paint job with a brown velour interior. The car was so ugly she was nicknamed Medusa.

Current Mood: procrastinating

OK, last round of pre-arrival paperwork went in the mail to the University of Edinburgh today. I now have my dorm room secured, my classes chosen, my tuition payment plan selected (eeeep!), receptions registered for, new swim team contacted, church found, etc. Once I get there, I still have to open a bank account, get my student ID card, & scope out local features such as groceries, laundromats, & pubs.

I'm leaving for the U.K. on Monday, September 22nd, flying from Philadelphia to London. Here's hoping bomb-wielding terrorists decide to take that day off, hmmm? I'm staying in London for a few days to visit my best friend Brian & his wife Ingrid, as well visiting with my relatives who live near London. Then on Saturday, Sept. 27th, I'm taking the train from King's Cross Station in London to Edinburgh. Orientation classes start Monday Sept. 29th & the term actually begins on Monday October 6th.

I'm extremely excited about finally, finally, finally getting this adventure underway. I've been bending so much of my energy towards making this happen for nearly a year now (it was almost exactly a year ago that I began my application). And now it's almost HERE!!!

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Rhapsody in Blue

I'm leaving South Carolina this Thursday (July 10th). That will exactly one month after I got here. Mom, while not thrilled about this, has acquiesced. Basically, I told her I was homesick & that I felt she was doing well enough to manage without me. I presented my schedule as a fact, & she didn't argue. So all that strategizing was for naught.

I'm trying a different route home, so as to avoid I-85, the Most Boring Interstate Ever. This new route is also a bit shorter (640 miles, according to Mapquest). I can't WAIT to go!!

So, should I tell Stacy my leave date, or just show up on Thursday night?

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: this little tune I've been composing on the piano

Stacy hasn't been able to get any reasonably priced transportation to Greenville. USAir: $1,000 round trip for Philly to Greenville (I point out, with some acerbity, that Philly to London is currently $350). Amtrak: sold out. United: $897 round trip Baltimore to Asheville, NC. See, we were being creative. I've tried Travelocity. I've tried cheaptickets.com. Right now, we're holding out hope for priceline.com to come through. Otherwise ... no visit for me this weekend. And that possibility makes me a saaad panda.

While I'm waiting for Priceline's answer, I'm messing around with Friendster.

effrontery,

fizrep &

chaosvizier, please approve me as a friend, m'kay? Everyone else: if you want to add me, my name is Angela Ledgerwood. There, it's out there now!!

UPDATE: let's hear it for Priceline! She'll be here Friday.

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: still going with the Hives

I’m having a massive re-think on my whole summer schedule. Why do I have to go South Carolina & then directly to Scotland? Why not go down to South Carolina, take care of Mom until she’s better, then come back up here & live with Stacy until it’s time to start classes at Edinburgh? Yes, I’d love to go to the Edinburgh Arts Festival, but if I win the Andrew Mutch Scholarship, I will have to be in Philadelphia in late August to make my first presentation, which means I would miss most of Festival in any case. Besides, is Festival as important as spending more time with Stacy? No. If I did things this way, then … I would keep my car. Stay in South Carolina from late June until maybe mid-August. Then return to Philadelphia from mid-August to mid-September. Sell car, leave for Scotland from here.

This would let me spend more time with everyone here, let me go to the Provincetown Swim for Life in September, WAY cut down on the length of the LDR between me’n’Stacy, & is generally a superior plan in all aspects.

Yeah.

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Angela

The Phoenix

December 2025

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Page Summary

Costa Ric-uhhhh.
Superb Owl weekend.
Back to Denver.
Iron Bowl, leftovers, Hendersonville.
South Dakoooota.
Blood donation, recipes, & other sundries.
Dusty.
Plan change! Plan change! Plan change!
so many things
a few British notes
today's the day!
NERVES
Friday Five
deadline approaching!!
The Go-Home Battle ended today
now showing "Cranky" with 30% more crankyness
Plan change! Plan change! Plan change!

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Ang's Journal

Serving No Purpose Since 2003

Entries tagged with travel

Costa Ric-uhhhh.

Superb Owl weekend.

Back to Denver.

Iron Bowl, leftovers, Hendersonville.

South Dakoooota.

Blood donation, recipes, & other sundries.

Dusty.

Plan change! Plan change! Plan change!

so many things

a few British notes

today's the day!

NERVES

Friday Five

deadline approaching!!

The Go-Home Battle ended today

now showing "Cranky" with 30% more crankyness