Wal-Mart and Swimming

After dinner Friday night Kary and I did the Longmont Wal-Mart tour.

There are two: 1) the first off of Hover Avenue, and 2) the second off of north Main Street.

Longmont has a regular one and a Super Wal-mart.  The first stays open till 10 PM on Friday nights and the super-dooper one stays open 24 hours a day.

There's quite a bit of community to Wal-mart on a Friday night. You might think that these convenience centers might be dead-quiet and lack foot traffic.

The one off of Hover had two women discussing one's 17 year old daughter. Also there seemed to be some traffic in the electronics section with some kids playing console games.

The Super Wal-mart definitely had even more traffic than the first. People were buying all sorts of goods to fill up their plastic shopping bags.

It seems that Wal-mart has replaced an element of the community center or just local indoor shopping mall. People now can feel comfortable by congregating (and consuming) at their local Wal-mart. It's very sociable and acceptable to go there during later evening hours and you'll probably encounter a friend who's doing shopping there too.

For something a little more enjoyable we did go swimming both Saturday and Sunday at the local swimming pool.  We've had 15+ days of 90 degree heat on the Front Range and swimming can definitely be a fun activity. Although it's smaller than a community pool it was quite fun to take a dip, sun ourselves and then repeat.

Yes, Colorado even needs swimming pools during those hot days of July and August :)

30th Anniversary Bolder Boulder

Monday morning the 26th of May, 2008 I did my second Bolder Boulder.

My average time for each mile was 7:42; only 1 second off the pace of last year. I completed the race in 47:47.

Although I felt better for this race compared to last year's I seemed to have gotten my max heart rate up to 195 beats per minute; if my heart rate monitor didn't malfunction.

There is something about getting up before 7 AM on a holiday and joining 50K plus people for a foot race right in my home town. Can't beat it.

I'll probably do it next year.

February 21st - 24th - Salt Lake City

Two weeks ago I took an extended weekend to fly out to Salt Lake City.

If you've never been to the Wasatch Front to go skiing you're definitely missing out.

One of the nicest resorts to ski is Solitude. It's a 12 mile drive up big Cottonwood Canyon but it's well worth it; especially the Honeycomb Bowl. If you consider that a long drive then you've never had to do the Front Range madness commute during the weekends - or even the weekdays. When you have to do 25 miles versus 80 miles it makes for a more pleasant skiing day and makes you more motivated to go skiing too.

The fact that it snowed while we were in Salt Lake didn't hurt either. On Friday and Sunday when I skied the conditions were amazing since it was snowing while we skied and the prior nights had left plenty of untracked fresh powder.

Belize - December 30th, 2007

This was my last day in Belize this trip.

I had a good sleep since the prior night I shared the same room as Richard and he was snoring quite loudly.

Lisa, Rich, Talia and Will had a day trip planned so after breakfast we said our goodbyes in the suite and then proceeded to pack

I was able to leave Maya Mountain Lodge around 10:30 AM.

I did do a circuit of San Ignacio to fill up on gas. I made the mistake, which seemed common by other tourists too in trying to go over a one way bridge the opposite direction. I had to retrace the road back a 1/2 mile to see where it went to the right.

The central part of San Ignacio has a counterclockwise one way loop with two bridges. After crossing the correct bridge I was able to find a gas station and fill up the tank. Since I wasn't used to automatics I tried to start the Suzuki again but couldn't. With the help of an attendant I did have to press down on the break to get it to start. I'd done the same mistake a couple of days before but hadn't realized then the requirement to step on the break to start the ignition.

On my way back to the coast I did stop by a crafts shop - the most comprehensive and high-end I'd seen; just a few miles outside of San Ignacio. I did buy a couple of gifts and then drove further east.

On the way, I was able to stop by the Belize Zoo and spend a 1/2 hour there seeing some of the wildlife. If you have a few extra hours then the trip to the zoo is well worth it.

I did make it back to Ladyville with plenty of time to spare and I had no issues with checking the car into Crystal Auto Rentals. There were no extra fees and I would definitely use them again.

Inside the airport, it was nice thatDelta Airlines flight paid for my departure tax so I didn't need to pay any further monies.

With some extra Belizean dollars in my wallet I did buy a t-shirt, mug and a couple other small items to pack in my carry-on.

The flight left on time and the view from the airplane of the northern Belizean waters - including Ambergris Caye - was spectacular.

One thing that I'll never forget though, is the crazy airport scene in Atlanta. We disembarked, had to retrieve our checked in baggage, go though customs, recheck our check-in baggage and then got on another plane for Denver.

Our flight was late by an hour and I didn't get into Denver until after 11 PM. When I finally got my luggage from the baggage carousel it was too late to take a bus and there were no further shuttles to Boulder.

Luckily I found a ride to share with two other Boulderites so instead of paying $80-100 dollars myself I was able to split the fare for about $35 dollars + tip.

All in all, I would recommend Belize as a great country to visit - although the Christmas holiday season is the most expensive time to go.

Belize - December 29th, 2007

For my only full day in the Cayo district of Belize we traveled to the Mayan site called Caracol.

It was another full day guided trip so we left Maya Mountain Lodge about 8 AM.

We traveled south of San Ignacio on paved and unpaved bumpy roads. There were a few small towns along the way and eventually we made it to an area where we would meet up with a military escort. Military accompaniment was required since there were bandits that had robbed tourists a couple of years before.

While we waited for the official departure time our tour bus took a small side trip down to the Rio Frio cave. The attraction of the cave is it's enoumous mouth and ease of travel to fully explore it's 1/4 mile length. We were able to go in about an 1/8th of a mile to look around, take photos, examine some species of trees at the entrance and then return to our van.

With our miliary escort we were able to travel further into the Pine Mountain Ridge. If you think you'll see jungle everywhere you travel in Belize you'll be in for a surprise. The Pine Mountain Ridge area is at a higher elevation and feels a lot more like places in the northern latitudes. If you've ever been to the Pine Barrens in New Jersey - or have heard about them - then this region will remind you that northern ecosystem.

Caracol

The final few miles of the road became paved again - although narrower than 2 lane roads in the states.

When we finally arrived at Carocol's entrance and grassy parking lot a more jungly ecosystem was readily apparent. There were no major Mayan ruins within eyesight of where we parked so we did have to hike in (1/2 to 1 mile of hiking) to see some of the more famous buildings to this huge archaeological dig.

Since this was our 6th full day in Belize we were eventually going to get showered upon and our visit to Caracol provided us the precipitation that we didn't get while down in the Toledo district.

Although we were officially in the dry season some locals felt it became a drier season in the Cayo district from February through May. Regardless, it was nice to have some rain while visiting Caracol. It gave the ruins and the surrounding forest a more dreamy feel.

The ruins were great. The A and B groups were terrific. We hiked the tallest structure in the site (located in B group): Canaa, while the rain was really coming down. The structure is almost 150 feet high and once you got to the top the view to the surrounding forest and lower structures was spectacular.

We did have lunch after our tour and then headed back on the bumpy road back to San Ignacio.

On the way back we did stop at a river to swim but it started to rain again our group quickly got back into the van. We did stop by a craft house for local artisans and then finally got back to Maya Mountain a little after 4 PM.

Dinner was great. One of the best features to Maya Mountain is their food and dinner is quite good. Their packed lunches were also quite good too.

Belize - December 28th, 2007

Friday I awoke early to Will throwing up on and by the side of his bed. He had gotten some form of food poisoning. I did some initial clean-up and awoke Lisa so she could come over to check on Will.

We were able to get back to bed and sleep for the rest of the night.

Friday was a travel day to the central western part of Belize. Since I had a car rental I was able to pack the whole family in the Suzuki SUV.

We had breakfast at Machaca Hill and finally left - albeit late - around 11 AM. We settled our bills, packed up and said goodbye to some friends we made at the lodge.

Our total distance for the day was about 175 miles from Punta Gorda (P.G) to San Ignacio in the Cayo district. There were three roads to take: The Southern Highway, The Hummingbird Highway, and then finally the Western Highway.

Along the way we were able to stop at a nice Mayan craft shop and then also explore the Blue Hole National Park just south of Belmopan on the Hummingbird Highway.

The biggest draw for me to Blue Hole was the cave adventure that Lisa and I took on the northwestern part of the park. We were able to pay a small park usage fee, rent a flash light and hike about 10 minutes down a trail to enter the cave. The steps down were quite slippery and dangerous so caution was needed. Without a guide we were told to go no more than 300 meters into the cave.

It got dark quite fast as we descended and traveled further. Eventually we got to the point where a sign advised visitors to turn back if they didn't have a guide - the cave was pitch black but the light helped illumate some cool features to the cave and the light on my Canon HV20 camcorder also provided a means for me to move around without the use of the flashlight my sister rented.

I enjoyed the spurlunking and it was good to go underground and see some underground scenery including stalagmites and stalagtites.

We finally got to Maya Mountain Lodge around 5 PM.

Belize - December 27th, 2007

Thursday was a more open-ended day since we hadn't formally planned a group trip through Machaca Hill.

Richard decided to a full day of fishing with a local guide named Sully.

I wanted to get a day of scuba in so I had Machaca Hill arrange a day of scuba with a local scuba master named Dennis; Sully's brother.

Wake up time for both our trips was around 6 AM. Richard left before me and then I got a ride down to P.G. (Punta Gorda) about twenty minutes later.

Once I arrived I was sized up for my scuba BCD and Dennis had to go to another location in town over and get the air tanks filled. Since I wanted to do three to four dives for the day he filled out about six to eight air tanks.

We finally made our way out of P.G. toward the Sapodilla Cayes closer to 8:30 AM. Since the Sapodilla Cayes are about 36 miles off-shore the boat ride can take up to 1 1/2 hours. Since the water was a little calmer the trip time was closer to an hour.

On the ride out I got to talk to Dennis, review scuba technique in my PADI book and also show Dennis my open water certification - to make sure I was up to snuff; at least in training.

Once we got into the cayes we were able to register at the main ranger island where a park usage fee was paid (20.00 Belizean). Dennis then took me to our first dive.

Our first dive was quite exciting since I'd never dived in actual open water before. Total time was about 25 minutes and our deepest dive for the day: we dove to 72 feet below water.

I had a problem with my mask filling with water and didn't want to try and blow out the water through my mask since that had been the most difficult technique to master during my training. Fortunately, I was able to finish the dive but I certainly wanted to have better confidence with releasing water from my mask for the remaining dives in the day.