my first long bike tour

my friends and i set off for a 2-week long bike tour up north east through New England a couple weeks ago.
it was hands down one of the BEST real vacations i've ever had.
oddly enough, despite constantly moving and visiting a new place each day & night,
it felt insanely short compared to the amount of mileage we covered (400+ miles),
especially if i think about a week or 2-week long trips i'd had to one or two cities.

some photos that have been instagrammed along the way :


▴Day 1 : raspberry picking along the rail trail in NY.

▴Day 1 : first night of warmshowers.

▴Day 2 : sweet julia looking super cute on the sail boat our host, Bob, took us out on! (Norwalk, CT)

▴Day 4 : non-antique, real-working penny farthings in New Haven, CT

▴Day 5 : Sleeping Giant Park trail break, en route to Middletown, CT from New Haven.

▴Day 5 : beautiful place we stayed in South Glastonbury, CT.

▴Day 6 : beaver dam sighting along the airline trail, en route to Eastford, CT from Willimantic.

▴Day 6 ended with a heavenly dip into a pool at our host's place in Eastford, CT!

▴Day 7 : pink sighting - Roseland Cottage in Woodstock, CT

▴Day 7 : taking a break at Woodstock Academy, Woodstock, CT.

▴Day 7 : greeted by our host of the night, Denny, the dairy goat farmer in Manchaug Village, Sutton, MA!

▴Day 8 : Walden Pond!

▴Day 8 : Passing through Andrew Wyeth-y fields alongside a trail, between Concord - Bedford, MA

▴Day 10 : New Hampshire country farmland.

▴Day 10 : New Hampshire country farmland (there was a goat in there somewhere).

▴Day 10 : we stayed with a friend of Kristina's (one of our tourers), who had the best dog in the world. Exeter, NH.

▴Day 11 : Stopping by Newmarket, NH, then riding into Portsmouth, NH.

▴Day 11 : field of alfalfa, en route to Portsmouth, NH.

▴Day 11 : quaint new england farm, en route to Portsmouth.

▴Day 11 : spent the dog day afternoon in unbearable heat walking around (!!) Portsmouth,

where we encountered a few Herakut murals.

▴Day 11 : walking in 100ºF weather, the waterfront didn't make any difference.

▴Day 11 : walking over the bridge to Peirce Island, Portsmouth. my brain was melted at this point.

▴Day 12 : unfortunately, the heat index was at 110ºF, our plan to ride to Portland, ME had to be folded - but we rode up to York, ME, where we got to dip our feet into the frigid ocean. it was so hot that our host, Jeff, who rode with us nearly passed out from heat stroke!

.....................................................................

i had to jump back into work right after getting back, which was so weird after

being on a bike for 30-40 miles a day (which isn't much but it was everyday).

coming back to a 105ºF city wasn't fun either.

it was really amazing to meet all these different people living different lives,

not even that far from us. and their kindness and generosities!!!

that was the most amazing thing i took from the trip...

(also thank you so much, julia, kristina & angie (& matthew) who made this trip so great!)

although i did miss drawing and painting a lot, i'm still having a hard time getting back

to the swing of things since the tour - but i'd gladly jump on my bike again for any tour

from now on. (also highly recommended for anyone contemplating or hesitating).

now if i could train our cats to clean the litter and fix their food themselves...

+ some of the food consumed is documented here!