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Just returned from a weeks vacation at Pawleys Island, SC and what a great time we had. One of the best vacation beach house locations I have ever been to. Long white sandy beaches, moderate sized waves good for body surfing and pleasant fall weather. Add on lots of Bloodies, Mojito’s and ice cold beer and you have the makings of a stress free week.

We started the vacation with a night of camping at Huntington Beach state park. The park was the former home of sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington and her husband who donated the land to the state of South Carolina after their home was destroyed by a hurricane. On our final day before we drove home we stopped at Brookgreen Gardens, adjacent to Huntington Beach State Park to check out their famous sculpture gardens containing many of Anna Hyatt Huntington sculptures. It might be catnip for old people and tourists but it was plenty beautiful.

Before leaving we ran through Murrel’s Inlet for some lunch on the water at Spud’s Waterfront Dining where I got a lunch seafood platter consisting of some perfectly poached flounder and scallops.

For starters work has been a beast lately. Beyond that I suffered through a bout of bronchitis/influenza that had me reeling for 7-10 days and required an additional 7-10 days to fully recover.

Just as I had recovered I ventured off to Big Sky, Montana for a long weekend where I learned to snowboard. Yes, you heard that correct, drewcifer learned to snowboard and experienced his first ski slope in all his 37 years. To learn this I took a lesson that was incredibly painful but after a few hours of advice from our instructor we were ready to hit the green runs the following day.

It was absolutely one of the most fun experiences I have ever had. I will be going snowboarding again in the future and hope to someday live in an area where I can do it more often without flying 3/4 of the way across the country. It was worth it though as the resort was very nice and not at all crowded. We never had to wait in lines and our group lesson became a private one as the wife and I were the only 2 people to sign up. How cool is that?

I get busy at work and I don’t even realize but I am neglecting to post anything here for weeks at a time. I hope everybody had a great Christmas and New Year holiday season and that you were able to survive the onslaught of your families with no permanent damage. Our holiday was very busy since both if us only got off the days of Christmas and New Years day. Next year we are taking more time and want to take us a bit of vacation then which will ensure we are family free (always a bonus).

Now that the new new year is here and the holidays are over it is time to start training for the next big event. I think that event for me is going to be another 1/2 marathon in March and then the 3 State 3 Mountain Challenge (100 miles) in Early May. I may opt out of the 100 miles and do the 65 miles that only requires a ride over 1 mountain but we shall see.

In addition to these 2 events I will be running 3-4 times a week until the 1/2 marathon in March. This should be plenty of time to train for this. Wish me luck.

I am back at work thinking about how much I would like to be on an endless vacation. Belize was amazing and I had so much fun Scuba Diving I am already starting to think about my next trip. Unfortunately my vacation days are done and I need to build up some new ones before I can do this.

During my vacation we stayed at the Tides Beach Resort and Patojo’s Dive Shop. They suffered some dock damage from Hurricane Dean but they had the dock rebuilt by the 3rd day or our visit. The dive masters at Patojo’s were super cool and took great care of us and I would recommend them to anybody who want to dive in Belize. Pretty soon they should have a big boat they are working on ready to make the long trips to the Blue Hole and Turneffe Istands which is where the best scuba was. If you dive in Belize make sure you do not miss these two dive locations. For our trips there we used the Amigos Del Mar and Aqua Divers to get us there and both of these outfits were very professional and planned excellent trips for us. I would like to thank them both.

After our stay on San Perdo we spent a few days in Belize City. I would not recommend this as a destination. It was not a very nice place and you would be better off finding another place to stay while on the mainland like Belmopan or Corozal. There is lots to do on the mainland and I would recommend it as part of your trip just stay out of Belize City unless you are going there to catch the water taxi to San Pedro or another of the Cayes.

I should be posting some photos of my trip soon in the photo gallery and when I do I will post a blog entry with a link. Please send me any comments or questions about you may have about planning your own trip to Belize.

Belize? Perhaps but I am waiting on hurricane Dean to run its course before I will know if I will be able to go there this Friday. It’s beginning to seem unlikely but I am crossing my fingers. If I do get to go it may become as a volunteer to help rebuild San Pedro.