Well, it certainly pays to check out racks of travel and tourism brochures! There's home delivery of oxygen to cure what ails you in the high Rockies. How nice of them to list several tips for acclimatizing to such an environment. Some of them are new to me, so let's list them all here for you.
* Avoid maximum physical exertion for the first 1-2 days
* Catch up on sleep
* Stay hydrated with sports drinks
* Limit alcohol and caffeine
* Limit time in hot tubs
* Eat small low-fat, high-carbohydrate meals
* Eat dinner at least 3-4 hours before bedtime
So far, I'm needing at least two days to get used to the altitude. By which time, I'm leaving! The car is loaded up with bottled water, vitamin-water, green tea. Sports drinks, with all those electrolytes, are something I'd missed. The high-carb diet is another unfamiliar tip.
Starting to feel a bit better, though still in need of another nap before dinner. Horizontal remains the only good position to be in for the moment. But there's so many exciting things to tell you about, I'll be back after a bit of a rest!
May your road rise to meet you - with helpful hints along your way!
Ann
Friday, October 4, 2013
Some People Are Not Meant for Mountains!
There are so very many things to write about - including surprises and the spectacularly delicious! - at the moment. I can't breathe. Can hardly sit up. Totally horizontal is the only position where my heart is not pounding so loud it must be heard all the way to the Himalayas.
Denver altitude was a tough adjustment, not met within a couple of days. Despite some articles to write, beer tastings were conducted very cautiously. Tiny sips, savored long on the tongue, rather like wine-tasting. Drunk on low-oxygen, alcohol was totally unnecessary. More about Suds City to come as despite little sips, as opposed to desired "big glugs," ooh-la-la, there's lots to share with you!
And don't forget a bigger surprise . . . coming as fast as fingers restart proper functioning.
Yesterday, it was up into the mountains. Darling Little Baby-Car was not particularly happy about it, but made it. Not so sure yet about my survivability of another 24 hours way up in the mountains. Worse, it's snowing. Supposed to melt by tomorrow, and it better. Ski season has not started, won't with this piddly-bit, and I wouldn't be joining anybody on the slopes anyway. Skiing is not my thing. Seems just plain old mountains in general aren't, either.
We each have our sense of some ideal location where we feel most at home. Seashore, prairie, mountains, desert, forest or rainforest - even out to sea - whether we're at home or traveling, that's the sort of environment we tend to seek. That's "the kind of place for me," whoever's talking. We each tend to feel more comfortable, at home, in a certain kind of environment.
It's a good thing all 7.3 billion of us don't want exactly the same thing! But mountains are definitely not for me. Himalayas? Probably never go there since it tops a very short list of "places I will not go." They're better viewed from a distance, towering over northern India, while I stay where the air still has some oxygen left.
Headed "downward" tomorrow, and I'll breathe easier then. Meanwhile, a little rest, and try to write some more or I'll never catch up with everything there is to talk about!
May your road rise to meet you - but not to-o-o high!
Ann
Denver altitude was a tough adjustment, not met within a couple of days. Despite some articles to write, beer tastings were conducted very cautiously. Tiny sips, savored long on the tongue, rather like wine-tasting. Drunk on low-oxygen, alcohol was totally unnecessary. More about Suds City to come as despite little sips, as opposed to desired "big glugs," ooh-la-la, there's lots to share with you!
And don't forget a bigger surprise . . . coming as fast as fingers restart proper functioning.
Yesterday, it was up into the mountains. Darling Little Baby-Car was not particularly happy about it, but made it. Not so sure yet about my survivability of another 24 hours way up in the mountains. Worse, it's snowing. Supposed to melt by tomorrow, and it better. Ski season has not started, won't with this piddly-bit, and I wouldn't be joining anybody on the slopes anyway. Skiing is not my thing. Seems just plain old mountains in general aren't, either.
We each have our sense of some ideal location where we feel most at home. Seashore, prairie, mountains, desert, forest or rainforest - even out to sea - whether we're at home or traveling, that's the sort of environment we tend to seek. That's "the kind of place for me," whoever's talking. We each tend to feel more comfortable, at home, in a certain kind of environment.
It's a good thing all 7.3 billion of us don't want exactly the same thing! But mountains are definitely not for me. Himalayas? Probably never go there since it tops a very short list of "places I will not go." They're better viewed from a distance, towering over northern India, while I stay where the air still has some oxygen left.
Headed "downward" tomorrow, and I'll breathe easier then. Meanwhile, a little rest, and try to write some more or I'll never catch up with everything there is to talk about!
May your road rise to meet you - but not to-o-o high!
Ann
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
The Joy of the Road Trip
This time, it's a road trip. No TSA, no keeping other people's schedules, just footloose and fancy-free, as they say. It's a great way to leave whatever ails or irks you behind.
By the time I drove across a big bridge, I was smiling at river scenes and boat traffic below. By the second state-line crossing, I was grinning! Fall foliage in the Poconos is already a searingly beautiful flame color. Leaves actually sparkle in sunlight. Once I hit farmlands and the Great Plains, the harvest is almost all in. Colors of browns, beiges, and evergreen windbreaks surrounding farm buildings - along with brilliant glints of light off silver silos. (I could do without smelling the cows, however! A stockyard-full was particularly intense for several miles.)
Now it's the foot of the Rockies. There's some snow up there, particularly atop what Coloradans call "the Fourteens" - those 14,000 feet and up giants. Surprisingly, there's less fall color than back East! Mornings are crisp (to say the least) but the sun is brilliant and downright hot.
Before I left, friends were all in a panic. They love me dearly, worry about me. But I've lost count of the number of cross-country road trips I've taken. This is not even all the way across. No big deal to me.
But it made me wonder why so few woman drive solo cross-country, in foreign countries, or wherever it takes more than a day to get where you want to go. Probably fear, I guess. Perhaps time constraints. Definitely the sore butt after driving 500 or 600 miles!
Have you driven long-distance yourself? If not, why not?
Considering how wonderful road trips are, why not give it a go?
May your road rise to meet you - with freedom and pleasure!
Ann
By the time I drove across a big bridge, I was smiling at river scenes and boat traffic below. By the second state-line crossing, I was grinning! Fall foliage in the Poconos is already a searingly beautiful flame color. Leaves actually sparkle in sunlight. Once I hit farmlands and the Great Plains, the harvest is almost all in. Colors of browns, beiges, and evergreen windbreaks surrounding farm buildings - along with brilliant glints of light off silver silos. (I could do without smelling the cows, however! A stockyard-full was particularly intense for several miles.)
Now it's the foot of the Rockies. There's some snow up there, particularly atop what Coloradans call "the Fourteens" - those 14,000 feet and up giants. Surprisingly, there's less fall color than back East! Mornings are crisp (to say the least) but the sun is brilliant and downright hot.
Before I left, friends were all in a panic. They love me dearly, worry about me. But I've lost count of the number of cross-country road trips I've taken. This is not even all the way across. No big deal to me.
But it made me wonder why so few woman drive solo cross-country, in foreign countries, or wherever it takes more than a day to get where you want to go. Probably fear, I guess. Perhaps time constraints. Definitely the sore butt after driving 500 or 600 miles!
Have you driven long-distance yourself? If not, why not?
Considering how wonderful road trips are, why not give it a go?
May your road rise to meet you - with freedom and pleasure!
Ann
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