I've now been surfing for a little over 10 months straight. It's really an amazing thing to do. There really is no feeling like paddling into a wave, making the drop and riding to the shoulder and paddling back out. Even when my arms are their most tired, it just takes one good wave to keep me going for another hour or two in the water. One of the subtle things that makes surfing great, no matter how big the wave, you're still falling into water. So you worry less about how you fall, especially at the local beach breaks. Since we don't have any really sharp reefs, there's really nothing to worry about. That's what I though till Friday afternoon. It was my first time surfing up in Orange County. One of the guys I work with and I went to Huntington River Jetty's for an after work session on Friday. There was finally some waves although it was pretty windy, it was still fun. We had been out for about an hour and half when I took off an a 4 foot wave that was coming through. No biggie, paddled into it but could see that it was just going to closeout on both sides and with nowhere to go would be a waste of energy. So I put the brakes on hard but unfortunately was too late and went over the falls. Not too bad of a ride, feels like you're in the washing machine. But this time and I came around once, I felt something hit my head. I knew almost immediately it was the board and that it was the most dangerous part, the fin. For those who don't surf, the fins on surfboards are pretty sharp and when they move through the water, they can slice through your skin like warm butter. After a few more seconds of the spin cycle, I popped up at the surface. I immediately put my hand on my head to check for blood. Nothing. Feeling a little relief, I checked again and left my hand for a second or two longer. When I pulled it back, it was completely covered with red. Now, this is a problem for a couple of reasons The first of which, cutting your head with your fins can get really ugly and since I couldn't see it, I didn't know how bad it was. But what's worse is bleeding in the ocean, at a river mouth, in the evening. I was inside a little and the paddle to the line up is far, so my buddy was still pretty far out. Since I wasn't sure how bad it was, I decided to paddle back out to see if he could take a look and make the call on what to do. As I paddled up, I said "hey man, I think I just cut myself" and got the response I was worried about "oh sh$t, we need to get in...NOW." I was lucky to catch the next wave, body boarded all the way to the beach and was out. We headed for the car to get a towel to wipe it off and decide whether to head for the hospital. After washing it off, take a picture with our iphones, I decided I was okay to drive home and wasn't in need of stitches. So since I cut myself, I've stayed out of the water for the weekend and done housework, which actually worked out really well. Built a surfboard rack today and got our master bedroom completely painted. Anytime I hit or cut my head, I can't help but laugh. I always think of when I was a child and would do the same, look at my dad and get "well, where's there's no sense, there's no feeling" as a response. I guess he's right because this one didn't really hurt. Enjoy the pictures!
Here's what it looked like about an hour after it happened
Healing up nicely.....I love pouring hydrogen peroxide into this bad boy!
Ready for more of the story from the East coast? I know I am! On Wednesday we caught the first ferry off of Isleboro. Unfortunately what we didn't realize when we requested the first ferry is that it leaves at 7:30. Sweet, nothing like getting up super early again. So far for this week we have woken up at 3 am and then 7 am eastern the next morning and then 6:15 for this ferry. One thing we've come to realize about our supposed "vacation" is we never end up getting any rest. Somehow we always come back more tired than when we left. But we headed back for Connecticut that morning and made pretty good time. It rained for most of the drive, which can get interesting especially on two lane roads in Maine. Luckily there weren't too many people on the roads so we there were no issues. The time we spend in Connecticut is always entertaining and now with Shelby and Peter both being toddlers, it's gone from sublime to ridiculous. The two of them wake up in the morning and just go, no naps all day, just rally right until they have to go to bed. I'm also pretty sure that Shelby has yet to learn to walk. It seems that she went directly from crawling to a full sprint. With that kind of entertainment, it's no wonder that when we get off the plane coming home, we both look at each other and say "wow, we need another vacation." We managed to play football, baseball, ride bikes, run slower than their dad, eat ice cream, go tubing, and swim....all before noon on Thursday. Our yearly trip also includes a trip to the casino where I proceed to donate to Mohegan Sun. It's a really nice casino for being in Connecticut and the new martini bar that I paid for is really nice. Our last day, Lyndsay and Emmy came up to hang out for the day. We sat on the beach, talked pregnancy, I mostly had "ear muffs" so I didn't have to hear the gnarly parts, and then headed out on the boat for the fireworks in New London. We made it home from our 3 hour tour by midnight then it was off to bed for another 3 am wake up. Nothing like getting up at midnight pacific time for your travel day that ends at 11 am pacific. Next time, we're not going to get such an early flight. All in all, this was a great vacation. As usual it was great to see everyone and spend time with them. We missed this trip last year.....for obvious reasons.....so it was great to get back in the swing of things. Little side note on this post, it's taken me all day to write this, so I'm sorry if it reads like a third grader wrote it. Lots of house stuff going on today but I wanted to make sure this got posted. Here's the pictures from the 2nd half.
Every year around the 4th of July Christine and I migrate east for a week long vacation. We always break up the trip and spend some time in Connecticut with her family and the some time in Maine with mine. The last two times that we've done this, our families have been to each others house. Since Adam finally decided to pull the trigger, we head north first to see Callie and Adam for a short amount of time before they headed back to the city. Luckily we were able to bring the nice weather with us from the west coast. Another awesome aspect to this years trip was that Goody and Jessica came up to visit us in Maine while we were there. So we knew that Maine had a chance to really shine this year. I digress here to explain my last statement a little. See the Maine house is located on a small Island just off the cost of Camden Maine. It's very quite, very remote, no distractions whatsoever, and very little to do once the sun goes down. Literally, nothing. Since you have to take a ferry to get to the island and it stops at 5, it can start to feel very claustrophobic. At least these were our feelings in past years. We started out by meeting Goody and Jessica at the ferry dock to get over to the island on Saturday about 3. Chris and I had ordered a lobster roll and some drinks when they dropped a bomb on us, Jessica was pregnant(Sorry Jess if you didn't want it out there). Wow, I'm so psyched for them and it was great to get this news in person! I can't wait to see them in January with their new baby. So we headed over the island and met up with the rest of the family. It immediately led to cocktails, toasts to the Goodman's, and Callie and Adam. Then it was time to slaughter the lobsters. If you've never seen what this process looks like, I was able to take this very grainy video of my father putting them in the pots. Enjoy!
After the lobster feast, we took in some blueberry pies from Moody's diner. If you're ever in this part of Maine, I highly recommend stopping at Moody's for some blueberry pie. Nothing else that they serve is worth your time, but trust me, I don't like pie and I love this pie! Then we all headed outside for some time with the 12 sparklers that my father purchased. These were only slightly better than the ground fireworks that we were always so excited for when we were growing up. Fireworks that you purchase at stands always seem like a little bit of a letdown but these sparklers were fun. Sunday was beautiful in Maine, it was warm, sunny, and perfectly clear. We took this opportunity to get the boat out and show the Goodman's the Island. We drove all the way around, saw glass beach where Adam proposed, and then headed back. Monday the Goodman's headed back to Connecticut and then that evening the Liashek's came up. Unfortunately it started raining again on Monday afternoon and so we weren't able to get the boat out for the rest of the time so we headed into Camnden for the day. Camnden doesn't have too much to offer, it's a quite little town on the water. Great little New England shops with some restaurants on the water. They did have the biggest rabbit I've ever seen at one of the pet stores named Winston. It was only slightly smaller than Yeti and had pretty much chewed up a head of broccoli. Wednesday was our last in Maine for a year and I've got to say, this was far and away the best Maine trip we've ever had. It was full of great fun, great family and an all around good time. I never understood why my parents had chosen this island in Maine lined with rocky beaches and bitter cold water. I can safely say that I finally get it. Good choice guys! Here's some pics, stay tuned for the Connecticut 1/2. There's less pictures because I forgot to turn the camera off and killed the battery.
Ferry dock in Lincolnville
The big guy
Still can't believe this guy's going to be a father. Yeah Buddy!
Ken and Bob came in on Tuesday. Great seeing them again!
July 3rd 2009 will go down as another exciting day in Castellani history. It marks the day that Adam proposed to Callie while in Maine. Luckily Callie recognized how awkward a weekend on Isleboro would have been if she'd said "no," so she said "Yes." We're super excited for Adam and Callie. We are still not far enough out of the entire wedding planning process not to remember everything. It's a ton of fun for Callie and a year or so full of opinions that will fall on deaf ears for Adam. We wish them the best of luck with all the fun that lies ahead. This also means another thing, the race is now on for which daughter-in-law will become a Castellani first. I know what you're thinking, Chris has a year on Callie, she'll walk away with the title. Callie has always seemed like someone who likes a good competition, so I'm not counting her out. I've been thinking about way to incorporate this into the blog as more than a post and I've come up with a way, we're doing another poll. This one will run for a month and we'll see what everyone else thinks. So vote away, vote multiple times if you want(not you Chris or Callie, you should only vote once).
Originally from Washington D.C. but I've spent the last 6 years living in the Mountain West. From Jackson WY to Boulder to Park City, I've shoveled my fair of snow and so now I'm residing about 100 yards from the Ocean in SoCal. Now my arms will only be tired from paddling.
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