Thought I’d share some recent photos taken of me in the last month. The first is from my trip down to DC for the screening of my documentary, Up Heartbreak Hill. Rosie (my lady!) and I finally got to meet the kids in the film. It was a surreal experience because although I am a complete stranger to them, I feel like I know these kids. That’s what happens after spending a year watching 250+ hours worth of footage of someone’s life.
The second photo is from the Storm Chasers Season 4 premiere party. The gang from TVN (Reed, Joel, & Chris) who drive The Dominator on the show were there. This photo was taken with Reed before the evening got a little blurry.
After climbing and wandering the dunes (pics 1-3), we finally found our way to Bear Lake, and had lunch with the g/f’s Aunt and her family. I noshed on some local lake perch and sweet corn while getting to know future family. On our drive back north we stopped on the side of the road to pick some fresh blueberries, which are perfect this time of year in Michigan. We hauled in around 8.5 lbs before the thunderstorm that had been threatening us began to drop some rain. We got back to the house just before the storm really opened up with intense winds and lighting. We watched it roll in over the bay through the huge windows in our tower bedroom for about 20 minutes before it finally dissipated.
The next morning I went for a 4.5 mile run at a great 8:40 pace. After a quick shower and a shave it was off to a wedding (the real reason we had come to Michigan) and the rest of the day/night was spent dancing, eating, and drinking local wines and beer.
The last two days of our trip were spent re-thinking our own wedding plans. Without going into detail too much, we had originally decided (in June) to elope to Bar Harbor, Maine in early August of this year. But once both of our mothers caught wind of our plan, we had to nix that idea. We then settled on doing it in the same location, but inviting our parents and siblings only and rescheduling for Aug 2011. Once again, the family was not thrilled with our idea of a destination wedding.
After an intense conversation, we decided to take a look at spots in the northern Michigan area for what now turned into a larger wedding than either one of us had planned on having. By deciding to have the ceremony and party in Michigan, a location that is much closer for both of our families, it became conceivable for us to invite more people. By the end of the day, we had gone from a small family only ceremony in Maine, to a much larger full-on ceremony in northern Michigan. We had also finalized a date, picked a location, decided on a preliminary guest list, had our meal planned, and were looking into lodging options for out of town guests.
Our last day was spent wine and beer tasting at various local vineyards and breweries across the area (pic 4) while still looking at lodging for guests. By the end of the day, I needed to unwind (and sober up) so I went for one last quiet evening swim (pics 5-6) before returning to the hustle and bustle of real life back in NYC.
All in all, it was a very relaxing and productive trip. While I may not have eaten the healthiest, I remained fairly active and still got a few runs under my belt. We also made great strides in planning our wedding. And I came home feeling refreshed and ready to start working, and working out, again.
I promised an update when I got back from my vacation in northern Michigan, so here it is…well, at least part of it.
The flight there was great. But of course, it’s always more fun flying anywhere with your best friend ;-) The g/f’s mother and grandmother picked us up and took us out for a late lunch at Scott’s in Traverse City. I was in dire need of a local Michigan brew (b/c I am a craft beer geek) so I opted for a few Right Brain beers with my local whitefish taco.
After heading up to Northport, where we would be staying for the duration of our trip, I spent a quiet hour sitting on the beach (pics 1-2) enjoying the breeze and listening to the sounds of the waves lapping the shore.
The next day I did a sort of mini-triathlon. That sounds more intense then it actually was…we biked a good 20 minutes to a national park, hiked a trail to the shore of Lake Michigan, and I went for a 1.5 mile run on the beach. I found a secluded spot and caught up on my burpees in the sand. Afterwards, I took a dip in the crystal clear waters of the lake, then we hiked back to our bikes and rode home. Dinner was a very rich pesto pasta with local sweet corn on the cob and a fruit salad.
Day 3 was probably my favorite day. It involved nothing but relaxation. We took the kayaks out into Grand Traverse Bay on mildly windy day. I bruised my right shin really bad while getting into the kayak because my leg slipped as I was sitting down. It swelled up and had a nasty scrape on it, so I iced it for a bit while holding a frosty Bells Amber in one hand and a book in the other while soaking up some sun on our beach. Then I took a few laps out to the swim raft in the water to cool off. We rode our bikes into town (a good 3 mile trip) for some BBQ and then rode back to play some backgammon before retiring for the evening.
Day 4 is where the majority of these pictures are from. We were driving down to Bear Lake to visit some of my g/f’s family that I had never met before, when we passed by the Dune Climb at Sleeping Bear Dunes. I hadn’t been here since I was a younger lad, so we stopped and climbed the dunes (pics 3-9) for a bit.
I have more pictures but I guess I’ve reached the maximum limit, so I’ll continue with another post…
So I’ve decided that I have nothing to lose in posting these OLD FAT PHOTOS…because I’ve already lost it! The weight, that is ;-)
