Grizzly's Wintertime (?) Visit to New England

The last day of January we took another overnight flight leaving LA and arriving on the East Coast in Boston with Grizzly early the first day in February. Griz is a great traveler; in Boston, she and Shawn snuggled down on the airport floor for 1.5-hrs next to our bags loaded with winter clothing. At the same time, Chris bravely worked his way from the airport to catch connecting T-trains, then walked to the location our chariot-to-borrow was parked, and finally made his way back to pick us up (many thanks to our smart phone). Another 2-hrs later after a stop at Pet Smart for a new litter box and Panera for much needed food, we rolled into Jane and Abe’s West Barnstable Cape Cod home, turned on the water, fired up the heat, got Grizzly settled, and finally crashed.

Our month overlooking the Atlantic was idyllic and quickly slipped by. We both practiced yoga near daily each morning and the rest of each day, Chris studied for the GRE (one long term plan includes earning a Maters of Education) while Shawn taught at Bikram Yoga Cape Cod (5 classes a week) and studied for two HAM radio exams. We spent our first Valentine's Day in years ashore, and celebrated by having dinner at Inaho, our favorite Cape sushi restaurant and even went for a bundled up beach walk. Jane and Abe visited us for nearly a week at their Cape house and we even managed to fit in a visit with Michael and Scott at their home in Boston. It was supposed to be the heart of winter and we did fire up the wood stove (which all of us loved, especially Grizzly) to ward off the chill of cold temperatures and a little snow, but the overall weather was more late-spring-like and by the time we left in early March, snow drops were blooming!

It was great that BYCC and its wonderful yogi community was 1.8-mi from the house, and it was also fortuitous that weather was good enough to allow Shawn a weekly Tuesday trip 1.5-hrs north to Bikram Yoga West Roxbury in Boston. A weekly beginners class from senior teacher Diane Ducharme, followed by advanced class, and culminating in yoga talk over lunch, enabled Shawn to learn an incredible amount. Amid studying and a trip to Boston to visit the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Chris also took a Sunday off to accompany Shawn and several students from BYCC the 2-hrs north to BikramYoga Portsmouth in NH to attend an inspirational and informative all day posture clinic from Diane. Both of us really enjoyed her attitude toward making doing Bikram Yoga a fun lifelong practice, she patiently answered many of our questions in a knowledgeable and loving manner. We enjoyed our month on the Cape immensely and all too quickly Chris's GRE date of March 6, and hence the end of our visit, was upon us.

After a focused day of taking our last BYCC class, scouring the Cape house, and taking the car for an oil change, on Thursday March 8, we took a road trip to Ithaca (aka Shangrila-de-Judy to Grizzly). Originally worried that winter weather might make the drive difficult on either end, our streak of beautiful conditions continued allowing us to maximize visiting with Shawn’s family. We spent the first weekend up in Syracuse with Chuck, Maura, Liam (5-yrs) and Ainsley and Campbell (3-yrs). We did have to weather a winter “storm” Saturday morning, but it cleared up enough for Chuck and Chris to take Liam to basketball, Maura to take Shawn bridal dress shopping (?!) that afternoon, and for the girls to run around outside in swimsuits and boots on Sunday. Great visit, and thanks for the celebratory engagement champagne and sushi dinner too!

The next week we based out of Judy’s house, consuming lots of great Mum-food including a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dinner and thoughtful early birthday celebrations for both of us April babies. We also visited Shawn’s father’s house twice to help with a pellet boiler tank installation, and enjoyed a nice evening with Leah, Gretchen and their twin boys (already 1.5-yrs!). We managed to fit in a few yoga classes, but spent much of our time in final preparation for our trek back to Hawaii including cuddling/playing/photo shooting with Grizzly as our separation date drew near. Chris fought an ear infection/cold, apparently we both had to get sick at least once while back on the mainland. Sunday morning March 18, we packed up and with hugs and extra Grizzly snuggles (since she's staying with Mum for the next leg of our adventures), we got on the road and headed back to Boston. We made it there in time to get our borrowed car to a full service wash and clean, for Shawn to grab an 1800 BikramYoga Harvard Square yoga class, and to crash for a few brief hours of sleep at Abe’s Cambridge apartment. Many thanks to all of our family members for offering and allowing us to visit and stay in their respective homes for a wonderful trip to New England.

O-dark-hundred on Monday morning (0315) we were up and ready for the airport shuttle. We flew from Boston to Atlanta (2.25-hrs) to LA (5-hrs) to Kona (5.25-hrs), and having traveled nearly twice as far and so unbelievably much faster than we sailed across, a mere 19-hrs later after waking in Cambridge, we once again deliriously landed in Hawaii after exactly 2-months away. The next few days will be quite busy, but once we’re settled onto the water again, we promise, this season’s cruising plans will be elucidated.