Traveling the World in 2010

With the new year just beginning, I've been thinking a lot about some of the fun trips I'll be taking this year. I need something to look forward to during the long, cold winter months, right?

Obviously in April, I will be heading to Boston for the Boston Marathon and Todd will be coming to cheer me on. We'll be there from April 17-21 with the marathon on Monday, April 19. I went last year so I've already done a bunch of the "touristy" things but I'm excited to go with Todd since it'll be his first trip there. We bought Red Sox tickets a few weeks ago and will watch them take on the Tampa Bay Rays. I'm sure we'll also walk the Freedom Trail, which is a 2.5 mile red-brick walking trail that takes you to 16 historic sites (such as Paul Revere's house and the site of the Boston Massacre). Or maybe we'll just take the famous Boston Duck Tour if my tired legs aren't feeling up to a day of walking.

In June, we're hoping to head to Vegas for a long weekend. Todd knows somebody that works for Harrah's so we'll see if he can hook us up with a good deal otherwise I'm leaning towards staying at Mandalay Bay. We're hoping to just hang out by the pool, maybe see a Cirque du Soleil show, and relax.

In July, we might head up to Laporte, Pennsylvania (northeast PA) for another long weekend to stay at my family's cottage. The cottage, named "Wake Robin", was built in 1910 by my great-great grandfather. It's a great place to take it easy, go canoeing at the lake, hike at Ricketts Glen state park to see the waterfalls, and head to the Haystacks on the Loyalsock Creek to go swimming.

Wake Robin

Haystacks

August will take us to Portland, Oregon for Hood to Coast. This is a 12-person, 197-mile long distance relay that takes you from Mount Hood to the coast of Oregon. The course consists of 36 legs and each team member must run at least three in rotation. The legs vary in length from 3.5 miles to about 8 miles and the terrain for each leg can vary from level terrain to steep uphills and/or downhills. Each runner will run between 13.5 miles to 20 miles in about a 24 hour period. So yes, I could potentially be running at 2:00am on little or no sleep, considering we'll be driving around the course in 2 conversion vans. Sounds terrible to most people but I cannot wait! I should clarify too that Todd will not be running in the relay. We still have to figure out the details but I think he will be coming out to Portland after I'm done with the relay so we can spend a few days there. We're also hoping Derek & Emily, the couple who's wedding we went to in St. Thomas last summer, will also come out with Todd.

Towards the end of September, Todd & I will be joining my parents on a Mediterranian cruise. We'll be flying to Barcelona, Spain and then heading out on a 7-day cruise to see parts of Italy & France. I really don't have a lot of other details yet but will definitely be posting more about what we're going to do in each city we visit as the time gets closer.

Ports of Call

Our last trip of the year will be for Todd's 30th (!) birthday. I'm hoping to plan a trip along the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky with lots of Todd's friends. Ideally, I'd like to rent a charter bus that will leave Columbus and take us to several of the distilleries in Kentucky so that no one has to worry about driving. I really haven't looked into this much so if you know anything about renting a charter bus, let me know!

Map of the Bourbon Trail

Wheww...I'm tired just thinking about all this traveling but I know it'll be a year to remember!