Journey to SWF

On that particular Saturday,  the day that I planned to begin the journey to FL, with an overnight in CT to visit Sean and company, there were a few exciting events happening in Hamilton. One was the Break Out Clinic with Josh Davis, Olympic swimmer, and the other was the Habitat for Humanity Half Marathon.  Even though I was not there in person, I received a few photos of kids that did go, who were very thrilled to wear Josh's gold medals!!

I am so glad Molly, Liz, and Gavin had a blast with Josh!!

Yigo would have preferred to be running the half marathon with me, but the road was calling our name. The first pit stop was a pleasant park in the Catskills that had a place for Yigo to roam,  and enjoy the view of the rushing river. 

This train was across the street from the Park. There were deer antlers attached to the top, and a keg on either side.  Very unique. 

We continued our short trek to CT on the lovely crisp and sunning afternoon.  This was our first visit to Christie's home, and the setting was quaint and cozy against the forest along the shores of the Saugatuck reservoir.   We spent the afternoon meandering in the woods down to the water. Yigo had a blast swimming in the chilly waters!  I was so happy to see my bro! 

Paige and Brin were having a happy day too!!

We had a wonderful dinner was able to commandeer the remote from the kids in order to catch a glimpse of the Masters!  Way to go Justin  Rose!

After a good nights sleep, Yigo and awoke at daybreak to take it on the road again and tackle this road trip.   I was not a fan of traversing through the 4 major cities along the I95 corridor, so opted for the Tappan Zee bridge, cross West on 78, then head South on 81.  I think I made the right choice, because the hotel reviews on 95 were pretty bad, and I wanted better scenery.  See Tappan Zee!

The weather was warming up nicely as we continued further south.  I can always tell when Yigo is getting cramped up and anxious to get out, so I saw a sign for Starbucks along 81 and decided to pull off the Hwy, and discovered a little hiking trail, which made for an added bonus for Yigo to stretch his legs. I never found the Starbuck's!  :-(

The next 5 or so hours was pretty tiresome, but I was grateful not to be driving North, as there seemed to be double the amount of cars in the N. bound lane, so I figured they were all the snowbirds returning North. The closer we got to Hwy 77, our turn off, the traffic came to a stand still on the N bound side. Again, very grateful to be heading South!   Yigo gave me the signal that at about 5:00PM he was ready gave me the signal that 11 hours was enough, and let's find a place to stop for the hight. I called the the Hilton Garden in at Rock Hill, NC to see if they accepted dogs, and they did not, however, the nice gentleman said that the Hampton Inn does!

Great - so I called them, and they do, and they don't charge extra, and they had a very nice pet area. If I were to write a review on this Hotel, it would be glowing!  Clean, friendly, good breakfast (Yigo had the eggs), and very quiet.  Even though it's close to the highway, if you get a room away from the Hwy it's no big deal, besides, the AC unit will drown out the Hwy!  

Yigo's gives the Hampton - 4 paws!!



I ordered a salad with grilled chicken from Ruby Tuesday's and we went to pick it up, which was across the street.  Yigo was so cute running down the hallway, because he looked like a little kid, trying to figure out what room we were in.  You know how little kids are in a hotel that they have never been to before, and they have this skip in their step down the hall way with a little grin on their face, well that is what Yigo looked like!!  Then the parents are dragging the heavy bags, and legs that can barely walk due to sitting for over 10 hours!  We turned in at about 8PM, and woke up refreshed at 5am, ready to do it all over again.  We started driving at 5:22am. Dawn broke to cloud cover skies in SC and GA. As the day became sunnier, and the fact that we were making good time, I knew that going to Jekyll Island, GA would be so worth it and nice diversion to the trip and a treat for Yigo to see the beach!

It's only 11 miles East of 95, and he loved it!!

I wish I wore my suit, I would have gone for a swim!  The water was warm. Okay - beach walk was done, and the last leg of the trip was awaiting us.  There are a few different choices you have when going to Naples from the top of FL. One is to take I-10W all the way to Hwy 75, then head South. Or you can take 10W to Route 301 to Gainesville or Ocala then cut over to 75. Or you can go down 95 further, then cut across. (not the preferred route)  I decided to take 301 South and go through Gainesville, then get on 75.  That worked out fine. 301 is a speed trap according to my dad, and since he likes to speed, he prefers all Highway.  Most everyone is going a minimum of 80 mph on I75, so it's fast going, but can be congested between Tampa and Ft. Myers.   We finally arrived at 4:30pm which is pretty good timing considering the stop in GA.  I was feeling a bit dizzy when I got out of the car. I think I was dehydrated.  When I pulled into the neighborhood in Pelican Marsh, mom was standing there with her dog, Murphy.  Murphy LOVES Yigo.  Yigo when for a swim in the pool, and we have to teach Murphy how to swim.   

I was so looking forward to swim practice this morning with the T2 Aquatics at 5:30am that I thought practice was at 5!  There was a new coach running the practice, whom I have never met before. Her name was Jenna.  She gave us a solid LCM work out. Here it is:

Warm:

300 swim/ 100 K/ 100 P

Preset: fins

6 x 25  kick with perfect body position. face down. (I used snorkel)

6 x 50 (25 -  3/4 catch up / 25 - catch up) 

Main - 2 times  (not 3 - as she originally wrote it!)

5 x 200 pull ( 10-15 sec rest) I had 20. @ 3:10

6 x 100 (10 sec. rest , I had 15)  @ 1:45

#1 - easy

#2 75 ez/ 25 hard

#3 50/50 (EZ/Hard)

#4 25 EZ/75 hard

#5-6 - fast

Cool 200-300

Very fun morning!

Happy Laps!