#23 Ride in a Hot Air Balloon

Sunrise departure!

Several years ago my mother purchased my father a gift certificate for Christmas for the two of them to take a hot air balloon ride together. Romantic huh? It was a thoughtful gift with good intentions although in reality there is a better chance of Paris Hilton winning an Oscar than my mom ever climbing into to a big wicker basket to sail hundreds of feet above the earth. For this exact reason years went by without anyone using the gift certificate. Although on one occasion a few years ago my dad somehow convinced my mom to call and set up the ride but lucky for her and everyone involved bad weather cancelled the flight. I'm still not sure how anyone would have actually gotten her into the gondola. But I digress.

My dad Bobby K giving a hand to the crew getting our balloon full

Almost ready

This is when I get screamed at to stop taking pictures and make a run for the basket

So one night this past summer my dad and I decided while throwing down some wine that we would finally put that gift certificate to good use. We booked our flight for my 31st birthday at the end of September and kept our fingers crossed we would have nice weather. My boyfriend Jimmy also ponied up some dough purchasing a ticket to join us on our maiden voyage. We were scheduled to take flight at sunrise at the Pottstown Airport on the edge of Montgomery and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania in the Fall

My first impression after watching them fire up the propane burners to inflate what seemed like a flimsy thin nylon balloon was that this was a prime example of legit poor choices. With that said it still didn't stop me from enthusiastically climbing into the basket and preparing for take off. Once inside the basket I was shocked at how small the basket was and it felt like the four of us were packed in like sausages. I shimmied to the side making room, found my spot and held on tight and pretty much did not move until we landed safely about 45 minutes later.

We coasted along flirting with the clouds viewing the vivid autumn colors below us. Jim and my father were intrigued by the mechanics of the burner and peppered our pilot Russ Lucas with questions. In the rare few moments when we were all quiet it was amazing how powerful the silence of the sky was and then again how quickly the burners clicking on engulfed the serenity. We crept along at a slow and steady pace. Russ brought us down over a river and we cruised along it at a low altitude until we reached the next shore were we skated right above the trees. Shortly there after he set us down in a parking lot where employees from an insurance company spilled outside to photograph our landing.

Our reflection in the river

Safe landing!

The trip was pretty cool. Shorter than I had anticipated and I found it rather curious that once I was in the basket I couldn't look up. For whatever reason it gave me anxiety and made my legs feel like jello. But looking down or out into the horizon was fine. The group consensus once on the ground was that we will definitely take another hot air balloon ride but would wait and do it in a more scenic area than in our hometown of Pennsylvania. Napa or Colorado seem like legit choices. Anyway it was a perfect day to seal #23 Ride in a Hot Air Balloon into the books! Now on to the next!

#75 Walk the Freedom Trail in Boston

I LOVE history. It has a way of captivating me and holding me in it's grip almost like a moth is held prisoner to light. Since middle school I have always wanted to visit Boston and see it's historical sites. Part of that is driven from where I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Being located in a northern suburbs of Philadelphia I have grown up with visits to the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross house, Washington's Crossing, Valley Forge and although from another period in our history Gettysburg. Getting to go to Boston and walk the Freedom Trail seems like the appropriate way of filling in the gaps to the experiences of my home city besides Boston is an awesome town. So this past week Jim and I found ourselves with some time on our hands so we made the 5 hour trip north to pound the cobblestones and drink our way through the Freedom Trail.

Map of the Boston Freedom Trail

The Freedom Trail is a two and half mile walk highlighted by red bricks and red paint that snakes through the north end of Boston. It officially leads to 16 historically significant sites from the United States Revolution. Unofficially it also winds by other famous Boston landmarks, markets and bars making this an even more fun adventure. Jim and I chose to start our day by booking a two hour walking tour from the visitors center in Boston Common. The tour was given by a witty historical reenactor and took us from Boston Common to Faneuil Hall.

Freelove our awesome tour guide

Heading out of Boston Common to the Park Street Church

We spent a good portion of the beginning of our tour in the Granary Burying Ground. While there we learned about the life and death of James Otis Jr., Paul Revere's life including his two wives and his famous ride to Concord, learned about "King" John Hancock including his relationship to George Washington and his famous large signature, we also learned about the life and contributions of American patriot Sam Adams and in addition to viewing his headstone learned about the victims of the Boston Massacre whom he had interned in his family grave. Our tour guide also spoke about Phillis Wheatley who was a  slave that in addition to being a poet became the first African American woman to publish a book. We also learned about Mary "Mother" Goose. Our tour guide was informative and entertaining and made us constantly laugh out loud. She did a great job keeping everyone's attention and making the time fly by.

Paul Revere's headstone is actually that little one to the right but as our tour guide pointing 

out when you become famous you get a bigger headstone!

Sam Adams headstone with our tour in background

Instead of Where's Waldo...Where's Jimbo?  

Our tour also stopped by the King's Chapel where we learned more about puritans, the governor who had the church built on a puritan cemetery and Jim's favorite part the cat game. Then we headed to the Old State House and the location of the infamous Boston Massacre which is memorialized on the ground by a ring of grey cobblestones. I found it hilarious to hear that the "site" has been moved several times over the years and the actual location of the massacre was across the street of the Old State House in what is now a Bank of America.

Old State House

The so called site of the Boston Massacre

The other side of the Old State House with the Massacre location

And the Bank of America across the street

We continued a bit further up the street to Faneuil Hall where we said goodbye to our tour guide Freelove and set out to explore Quincy Market and have some lunch. I was completely blown away with the amount of food and the selection at Quincy. I hate to say it but I'm pretty sure it blows away the Reading Market in Philadelphia. Jim I took a break here and stuffed our faces with food and booze before continuing on our journey to Paul Revere's House, Old North Church and Copp's Hill Burying Ground. We did make a pit stop on the way at Mike's Pastry and got some gigantic canoli's. 

Paul Revere's house

Old North Church

Copp's Hill Burying Ground

We saved the north part of the Freedom Trail for the following afternoon as we already had evening dinner and theatre plans. So the next day which happened to be the hottest day of the year thus far in 2013 with temperatures over a hundred degrees we did the smartest thing any people could do....we went to the Sam Adams Brewery and drank a shit load of beer before catching a cab back to our hotel and then setting out and walking over the river and up to the monument at Bunker Hill. I pretty much thought we were gonna die so after a quick exploration of the area we set out towards the harbor and to the USS Constitution AKA Old Iron Sides.  I was a little bummed they wouldn't let you get in front of the vessel to take pictures but I did the best I could with the limitations. 

Pitcher per table....but there is just two of us!? No worries! We got this. 

Bunker Hill

USS Constitution

Loved the rigging

I've never seen so many cannons in my life. Not even at Gettysburg! No wonder

 Old Iron Sides never lost a battle! 

We had an amazing time exploring the Freedom Trail and both Jim and I agreed the highlight of our entire Boston trip was the tour with Freelove. It was a blast knocking this off the list at number #75! 

I also knocked off an other item on this same trip. Click the link to read about that adventure: #132 Eating Lobster in Maine. 

#132 Eat Lobster in Maine

Lobstey

Until this past week I had never had the opportunity to travel to Maine but with a little bit of unexpected time on our hands Jim and I commandoed up the coast 6 1/2 hours and spent sometime drinking our way around Portland, Maine. It's quite an impressive little seafaring town. The sites are beautiful, the food scene is excellent, the shopping is fantastic and the lobster is more than plentiful. Jim and I agreed that we didn't want to half ass our Maine lobster experience by simply ordering a pre-made lobster roll or by getting some lobster poutine at a local pub. What we wanted was to catch them ourselves and then eat our bounty so we booked ourselves on a 90 minute tour on a Lucky Catch Cruise lobster boat.

Heading out of Portland into Casco Bay to catch us some lobsters!

Jim all geared up and ready to do some lobstering....chicken wing and all. (He had surgery 

two weeks ago for a torn rotator cuff with bicep tear....fun stuff people).

We stopped at 6 traps that Captain Tom had put out in Casco Bay prior to our departure. After we hauled the traps up we were taught how to measure the lobsters to see if they were keepers, learned how to band their claws, we were shown how to determine the sex, and how to bait traps. Capt Tom and his lovely crew showered us in additional information during the hands on experience including their breeding, molting, life cycle and how they enter the traps. They did a great job of making sure everyone was included and got to participate. 

Lobstey in a trap

Jim baiting the traps with herring with the help of Capt Tom

Measuring our catch (Doesn't it make you want to stick your finger in 

that open claw said no one ever)

Banding the claws which is super important as it keeps the lobsters 

from going all ninja on each other 

Jim's turn banding

We also brought up some crabs in our traps. We didn't get to keep those but it was fun learning about them and the kids on the trip had a blast sending them flying back to the sea. I was a little bummed we didn't pull up any gigantic starfish but watching seals swim around the boat totally made up for that. In addition, one of the other added benefits of taking the Lucky Catch Cruise is it gets you some of the best views of the bay. 

Crab with roe

Back to the sea!

View of Portland Headlight from the boat

Spring Point Ledge Light

You may be thinking going to Maine and eating lobster is like being that guy who goes to a concert and wears the t-shirt of the band he's going to see. Not true....because lobsters aren't t-shirts and they taste amazing. And like most foods the fresher they are the better. Which is why when we finished our cruise we bought two lobsters and then literally walked with them in our hands to The Portland Lobster Company next door and had them cook them for us.

Jim handing his lobster over to the Portland Lobster Company

My amazing lunch. 

Before and after

These lobsters were hands down the most amazing and delicious lobster I have ever feasted on. Let's be honest, lobsters that have spent hours or days in tanks will never compare to fresh caught and prepared lobsters. Not to mention we sat outside on the deck on a beautiful day jamming to music and downing a chilled bottle of wine while tearing apart our lunch. Jim and I both agreed it was the best four hours we spent in Portland and was an awesome way to put #132: Eat Lobster in Maine officially in the books. So if you ever find yourself in Portland, Maine and want to have an awesome time look up Lucky Catch Cruises and book yourself a lobstering experience. I highly doubt you will be disappointed. 

# 10 Run a 5K

 

I still can't believe it took me until the age of 31 to run in my first 5K. Especially since I put this on my bucket list years ago and at any given time there are multiple 5K's almost every weekend within a 20 miles radius of my house. The problem for me has always been allocating weekend time to tackle this item. I spend almost every weekend training in Muay Thai or boxing and when I'm not doing that we are training / testing / hunting our German Shorthaired Pointers. It's amazing how few free weekends I feel I have available. But regardless the time finally arrived to commit to one. I recruited my dear friend and "Ride or Die" Maribel Estades to lace up some sneaks and run with me.

Maribel doing her best Vanna White

We choose to do J's Run in Bethlehem, PA which helps raise awareness and money to finding a cure for Pancreatic Cancer. It's named J's Run for two amazing and loved women named Joan Stein and Jennifer Reeve's who both lost their lives to this often incurable disease. Although I have luckily never been personally affected by Pancreatic Cancer I have had family members diagnosed with both Prostate and Colon Cancer. Quite frankly cancer in any form sucks so I thought it would be a great cause to support. Maribel has some experience with Pancreatic Cancer as she sells the fine needle aspiration needle (FNA) that goes into the pancreas and collects tissue samples to determine if cancer cells are present in a patient. She was just recently in an O.R. when a patient was diagnosed with this awful disease. So for her personally she was proud to run in the race to be part of the solution and not only the detection.

Please note how nice of a job Maribel did at putting my number on for me. Now look at Maribel's number....ya...not such a good job.

As far as the actual race it was a pretty cool experience. I completed the two goals I had set for myself which was to finish in under 30 minutes and to never stop running.  I ran slower than I normally do but having never run a 5K I really focused on keeping a pace I knew that I would be comfortable with. I was amazed at how much I appreciated volunteers ringing bells and cheering the runners on. I actually laughed out loud when the fella running the water station was blasting the Rocky theme song. What boxer / fighter doesn't want to hear that!? Overall it was a really good time and we both felt great when we finished. We decided that we are going to do a few more 5K's this summer and try to improve upon our times. If all goes well maybe I'll give a 10K a try and who knows maybe next year I can talk Maribel into doing a half marathon with me. :)

#67 Travel to Thailand

Very large Buddha inside a Wat in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Getting the chance to visit Thailand was a life changing and soulful experience for me. It's something I never thought that I would have the opportunity to experience. This trips good fortune found me through a dear friend of mine, Sylvie Von Duuglas-Ittu who is currently living and fighting Muay Thai professionally in Chiang Mai. Before Sylvie embarked on her journey a little over a year ago we had played with the idea of me making the 9,000 mile trip to visit her. But it was through my mother's support and persistence I found the courage to buy a plane ticket and make the trip solo.

Buddhist prayer bells at Wat Prathat Doi Suthop

Young girl at Wat Prathat Doi Suthop

Wat Prathat Doi Suthop

The purpose of the trip was to spend time with my friend Sylvie and also to immerse myself in training Muay Thai. I am an amateur Muay Thai fighter in the United States and getting to train on Thai soil is comparable to visiting Mecca. It's one of the holiest places for a fighter. While there I trained at Lanna Muay Thai camp for upwards of 7 hours a day through two daily sessions. The sessions where intense but enlightening. The amount of knowledge I received was like drinking water from a fire hose.

My Ugly Mug during training

Spinning Elbows with Den

Sylvie and I in the ring after training - Batman and Robyn

To cap off of the training experience, towards the end of my trip I took a full rules Muay Thai fight with a tough and savvy fighter. The girl I fought was a former channel 7 champ and had over 40+ fights. I won the fight in the 5th round with an elbow knockout. It was a sincere highlight of my trip not only because I won but because the entire experience was challenging and as pure as they come. To see additional photographs and read more about my experience of fighting in Thailand follow this link: #114 Fight in Another Country.

Some photos from my fight

Sylvie cornering me right before the 5th round. Photo credit Kevin Von Duuglas-Ittu.

Sylvie and I trained almost everyday of my trip but for a few hours in the middle of the day when we would take a break from training we would jet around town on her scooter exploring the sites and soaking up the culture. Thailand is an amazing place. Time moves epically slow there yet incredibly fast at the same time creating this Never Never Land vortex. Things are sabai sabai (thai for relaxed) and the people are overtly friendly. I spent the last week of my trip trying to find a way for me to prolong my trip. I'm not sure anyone is really ever ready to leave Thailand which would explain the large number of expats. Those expats and other visitors really do make Chiang Mai a cultural melting pot. At any given time while training at the gym or walking through the night market there are people from all over world...Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Korea, Singapore, India, Belgium, Canada, France ect. I met so many interesting and good hearted people.

                                        Street Market                                        Khao Soi

Ganesha                                                Rotee

Delicious dinners                               Ancient Statue

Sylvie made sure I got to get out and experience as much as I could when we were not training. We visited a handful of Wats (temples) and we managed to get blessed by a monk which was beyond awesome. She took me to the jungle so we could ride an elephant! See our awesome pictures and read about that here. We also snuggled with full size Bengal tigers and fed some cubs! Follow this link to read about that and see the pictures. And the food was exotic and intoxicating. I'm not sure how I will ever live with out Khao Soi (a curry dish that is served in Northern Thailand) or Rotee which is basically a fried dough filled with bananas and drizzled with condensed milk, magic and unicorn dust. My favorite breakfast spot was the Cafe Mong Pearl and my favorite dinner spot was Lemongrass. But all the places I ate were amazing and Sylvie and Kevin did an awesome job exposing me to as much culinary gluttony I could handle.



Wat Lok Mali

Buddha at Wat Lok Mali

Wat Morn Thean

Fasting Buddha at Wat Umong

Thailand was the first place that I have traveled to in years that I wasn't ready to leave when I did and I don't mean physically.....I mean spiritually. I never thought in my life I would get the opportunity to go to Thailand and now I know that I'll never not go back. On my next trip I'd really like to make it up to Chiang Rai, I'd like to go fishing and maybe even make it down to the beaches in Phuket. All new goals for the ever growing bucket list!!

Check out my other adventures in Thailand at the links below:

#111 Blow into the Trunk of an Elephant

#139 Pet a Lion or Tiger and not get Mauled

#114 Fight in Another Country