Ramblings from a biker boy

Since yesterday was quite a rough day, I was going to do a relatively short day today – only 50 miles. That was just as well as the last 35 of them was in heavy rain. Of course, the opening of the skies coincided with the road starting to climb upwards:

I was soaked through when I got to the hotel, but the shower felt good nonetheless – it’s funny how nice a shower can feel after hours in rain…

I had hoped that it would feel better today, but the knee is still acting up and the fact that it was cold and raining didn’t help either. I guess I am just getting old…

You might be wondering what goes through my mind when I am out riding for hours. To tell you the truth, it is not that much. Usually, an hour passes quickly with thoughts like “even pressure on the pedals all the around”, “smooth circles” etc. Then I have found it really helpful to have the GPS – not only for navigational support, but also that it makes it easy to divide the route into several small “goals”. But today, my thoughts were mainly:

• My knee hurts…
• Rain can be quite painful when riding 30-40 miles per hour or above – it felt like my face got a pummeling by miniature boxers
• I should change the lenses on my glasses so I see better – I was riding with the dark lenses as it looked like it would be relatively fine weather
• My knee still hurts…

In addition I got a bit homesick when I passed by Stockholm:

So, tomorrow I’ll do another short day – to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – and then have a rest day there. I’ll do an assesment after tomorrow’s ride and decide what to do. If I am going to continue to feel disconfort when riding, I’ll quit and go to San Francisco by alternative means. This is my vacation and it is supposed to be fun, and the last couple of days haven’t been that fun…

I’m still hoping though that it’ll be better tomorrow. Maybe I just have to do so that I do short days and see how far I get – I’ll probably not make it all the way then as the time will run out, but… We’ll see – it all depends on whether I can get comfortable enough to enjoy the rides.

This weekend also offer the possibility to see either the Tour of Somerville Cycling Series or the US Open of Mountain Biking, so if the knee doesn’t feel better by then I might just attend one of those events – at least that way I’d get to see some cycling…

Time to go get something to eat and refuel the energy depots.

The Google Map of today’s route can be seen here.

I’m back in the saddle, and I am in New York – the state that is, not the city. To be more specific, I am in Suffern, which is suitable as today was a day of suffering. But more on that later – first a recap.

After a short ride in the rain on Friday (see Google Map here), I went to the Mates of State show in New Haven and got to see the new line-up. I had high expectations as the new record is so great, and they definitely lived up to them – the show was awesome. Mates of State complete with a string section:

Now there’s something you should not miss if you have the opportunity to see them – check their web site for the tour schedule. And they’ll also be on Late Night with Conan O’Brian tomorrow (Tuesday night).

The rest of the weekend was spent resting at Jason and Kori’s place, playing with Magnolia (thankfully, most of the games involved me sitting still and Mags doing all the “work”; on Sunday morning she spent an hour climbing up around “Mount Torkel” in the sofa and then jumping down from it…) and going to see her gymnastics show on Sunday afternoon. It was fun seeing all the kids going for it “full throttle” – doing somersaults, walking on bars etc.

The knee definitely needed some time to rest, but as it felt relatively good I decided to start heading West come Monday. I had the mapping software do a route for several days and started off early. Already from the start I felt that the legs did not have any power, but I figured it might become better after a while so I pedalled on. Then at Mt. Kisco I clicked in the left pedal after a stop at a traffic light, and the knee “locked” in a position that made each pedal revolution painful. I clicked out of the pedal and tried to get the knee to “unlock” and managed to do so after a while, but I still wasn’t comfortable. For a moment I thought that I was going to have to quit right there, but after a while it felt better (or less) so I continued on.

Then in Yorktown (NY) I got connected at a Starbucks and looked if there was a Holiday Inn somewhere within an appropriate distance (and direction) and that’s how I ended up in Suffern. The ride could have been quite nice as it went around the Hudson River with very nice views:

And, occasionally there was these signs that made me happy:

However, unfortunately it was impossible to capitalise on most downhills as there seemed to be a headwind following me most of the day. Sometimes it felt like I was actually going backwards… The headwinds, in combination with a lot of up-and-down hills, meant that a lot of power had to be put on the pedals to move forward and that was not the best for my knee.

So, all in all, it wasn’t the best day, but at least I am on my way now. Hopefully, the knee will feel better tomorrow…

The Google Map of today’s route can be seen here.

So I am back in Connecticut – decided to spoil myself a bit today and got a room at the Crowne Plaza in Southbury:

I had decided to have a long sit in the jacuzzi, but it turned out that the pool was closed. Aargh…

As I mentioned yesterday, I was considering swinging by the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield (is it THE Springfield? Hmmm… maybe that’s the next thing to do; visit all Springfields in the US to try to find the Simpson one. A daunting task as there’s probably a billion of them. OK, that might be a slight exaggeration…). Anyway, I woke up and felt like cycling and even though the weather didn’t look too great – occasional showers and a dull, grey sky – it did not discourage me. So, I booked the room in Southbury and set off without stopping in Springfield. The roads were fairly flat to begin with so the miles started rolling by easily – found a nice, steady cadence around 90-95 rpm. Leaving Massachusets and entering Connecticut I thought to myself: “Oh, oh… time for up and down hills again”, but instead I got a long, steady climb before the GPS had me turn into some nice forest roads.

Coming round a corner, all of a sudden I see what looks like a fake English mansion area. Turned out to be the Avon Old Farms, a boy’s boarding school “which challenges boys to stretch themselves and to explore untapped potential in their journey to manhood”. Impressive… Maybe I should have stopped and asked if they could make a proper man out of me, and not the overgrown boy I am now (or what do you think, Kari?)

I figured I had to take a picture of it, and lo and behold, I was lucky enough to catch this:

A perfect blend of “traditions”?

The ride went on and according to the GPS there weren’t that many miles left, which was good as my legs (and my left knee) were starting to argue with the commands sent out by the master brain. Of course, then the up and down hills started coming – it was almost like going on a rollercoaster, except that you didn’t have time to get that exhilirating speed and acceleration feeling before it was time again to do a dreary climb. And they all seemed like they were more or less 90 degrees vertical! OK, that was also a slight exaggeration, it actually looked like this today:

The last part of the route took me onto some local bicycling route, which had this happy message:

And even though I deviated from that bike route a while later it turned out to be true – easy rolling from after that hill. Thankfully… The Google Map of today can be found here.

Tomorrow it’ll be a short ride, and then in the evening I’ll get to see Mates of State’s new live line-up. Looking forward to that! For those of you who are not familiar with them, go to their myspace page where you can listen to the new album that is due out in stores on May 20th. And since you’re visiting myspace anyway, you should also check out Speedmarket Avenue – their new album is also awesome.

Today was another day where I was able to improve the biker tan. Finally, it is starting to form…

You might wonder what the heck the red dot on the hand is – it is where the glove leaves a gap when you velcro it close. Can’t wait for the questions: “You have a skin disease?”.

The cycling today was really good, and the knee didn’t feel too bad most of the time. However, I did definitely feel it once I got to the hotel – today’s route became a bit longer than I had planned due to being in “no man’s land” and having to ride on to get to somewhere where there were accomodation options. Naturally, in the final part of the day there were quite a few long, steady climbs. That was OK though – I actually prefer them to steep up-and-down hills. With the long, steady climbs you can find a gear and rhythm and just start grinding away. And, of course, they usually also mean that there’ll be a long descent. That was definitely the case today, as I soared down towards Amherst hitting 55 miles per hour.

As you might have noticed from previous posts, I have been watching the NBA play-offs (and am doing so tonight as well). At the hotel I found a folder for the Basketball Hall of Fame, which is located in Springfield, Massachusets not too far from here so I might stop by there tomorrow as the distance left to New Haven isn’t too long.

To see the Google Map of today, click here.

So, sitting outside the motel just outside Hillsborough, New Hampshire and writing this – it’s a beautiful evening and still warm outside. Today was the first day for a long time when the temperature actually allowed me to ride without arm warmers.

But, of course, that’s not what you’re most interested in? Is it over you ask:

I have actually come up with another option that, kind of, comes before any of the others. I can feel that I am getting stronger and fitter and have now adjusted to the bike, the packing etc. so it would be a shame to have to call it quits here. Especially as the knee feels OK now – well, at least as long as you not let it “sit” for too long… So, I’ll still aim for New Haven on Friday (should not be a problem) as I really want to see Mates perform the new songs live and their new live line-up. Then I’ll take a few days off for the knee, and see how it feels. If it all feels good, I’ll make a go for San Francisco. Of course, it’ll be a totally different route (sorry, mom – but I’ll call now and then to let you know all is well…) but in a way it’ll be good as I can then play every day by ear. So it would be a more direct route which would involve less miles, but on the other hand it will go through some of the states now being hit by storms and tornadoes… But I have faith it’ll have cleared up once I get there.

So, there you have it, or rather, there you don’t have it – you’ll just have to wait a while longer for a definite decision. As any avid television viewer would know, a cliffhanger is essential.

If you want to see the Google Map of today’s route, please click here.

To be continued…

The last few days I haven’t had any WiFi connection at the places I’ve stayed, but now I am sitting in a McDonalds (well, at least they have WiFi…) in Newport, New Hampshire. If you’re keeping track of where I should be you might think that I am way off, and you’d be right. But more on that later. First a recap of the last few days.

May 10 – Cats and dogs, legs like logs

Woke up this morning and thought it was raining cats and dogs. Turned out to be the AC, the weather was just fine – a bit chilly and overcast, but better than hard rain. What I discovered once I started riding though was that it was really windy, and unfortunately it was coming more or less head on. Even when going downhill it was hard getting any speed up. It didn’t help that route contained quite a lot of climbing:

As can be seen they were not that long, but in combination with the headwind they became quite tiresome. But once you get up, you can feel good (well, kind of – my legs were feeling like two logs today) when looking back:

Otherwise, this was a day of riding in Europe. I went by Poland:

I checked out Paris, before entering Norway (just take my word for it, this house was situated in Norway – I liked the spooky house atmosphere it had):

Before reaching Fryeburg – the town where I am staying tonight – I also went by Sweden, just for fun. Not sure I’d want to live there in the case of a fire though:

Once I got to the motel, I got the keys to the room, walk to it and see some pipes laying outside. I walk inside and it looks like there’s some reparation work going on. “Oh well, I don’t mind… As long as there’s a bed.” Then I think that I should verify that there is water coming, and sure enough – no water. Walk back to the store (the motel is a combined motel and deli/store) and gets switched to another room after a while – turns out that no one currently working in the store actually knows the status of the respective rooms, so they have to call the motel owner. Anyway, all turned out good in the end, and after having taken a shower and washed the bike clothes from today I decide to take a walk around Fryeburg to hopefully “loosen up” the legs a bit. Tonight there’ll be lots of rest on the schedule as tomorrow will involve some serious climbing. Hopefully the legs feel better then…

Click here to see the Google Map of the day.

May 11 – Up, up, up and away

I was a bit worried about today’s stage – according to the Adventure Cycling’s map it would involve a big ascent, and I wasn’t sure I (or rather my legs) were up for it. So I started early, just in case I would have to do some walking… And I made sure to go easy, in wait for the climb. After a short while I turned onto the Kancamagus Highway, which would take me all the way to my destination for the day – the Kancamagus Motor Lodge in Lincoln, New Hampshire.

It started off nice enough with the road being more or less flat, and running beside the Swift River:

The sun was shining, the road surface was nice, the wind wasn’t noticeable and the birds were singing. A perfect day in other words, but my mind was to a large degree still thinking about the upcoming ascent. However, the miles kept rolling by with the elevation staying more or less the same and I started to realise that unless I would “die” completely, I would be at the Motor Lodge really early.

Then the road started to going slightly upward – I stopped at the first scenic outpost to have a view of the White Mountains (I guess they’re called that because of the snow, as there was piles of snow still by the sides of the road):

After having snapped some photos it was time to start climbing properly – I quickly found a rhythm and gear that worked, and started grinding away. It didn’t go fast, but it steadily went onward and upward. And before I knew it, I was at the top:

From there on, it was an easy descent with very little pedalling. It’s not that often that you go approximately 10 miles averaging around 33 miles per hour with the heart rate being about 50 percent of maximum. So, it didn’t take long before I was at the motel. All in all, the day was a lot more easy than I had both feared and anticipated. Tomorrow, there’ll be some more climbing but it is another short day, so if it is similar to today it’ll be almost like a rest day.

The elevation profile of today looked like this:

Click here to see the Google Map of the day.

I’ll leave you with a picture of my best side (?):

Now doesn’t that look nice…

May 12 – Change of plans

Still having a hard time finding a WiFi connection – will soon go into the nearby towns and see if there’s a café or similar that might have it. I doubt it though as this definitely is rural country; at times you ride for miles and miles without seeing any people, cars or houses. Basically, the only sign of civilisation is the paved road.

Today was another day of great weather, beautiful scenery, nice climbs and lovely descents.

The last few days have been really great and I do like the New England landscape, but despite this I have decided to shorten the trip by taking a more direct route. This is mostly due to some personal reasons that I will not delve into.

As can be seen from the elevation profile above shows today’s route wasn’t long and a lot of downhill so it went by pretty fast. Tonight I am staying at a combined motel and drive-in theatre – unfortunately there’s only screenings on the weekends at the moment; could have been an interesting experience otherwise. The motel is in Vermont, so another state is added to the visited list – although I cannot say that I’ve seen that much of it yet. Took this picture from a bridge just before entering Fairlee where I am staying:

The left of the river is Vermont and the right is New Hampshire. If anyone is looking for a place to go biking, I can really recommend the New England states.

Click here to see the Google Map of the day.

May 13 – Another change of plans

So, last night I mapped out (or rather let the GPS software map out) a new more direct route. Unfortunately I forgot to check that it should avoid unpaved roads – I have is set so that it should prefer minor roads – so the day started out with some riding on unpaved roads. Nothing wrong with that per se, but it is a bit restrictive as you must be a bit more careful than when riding on paved roads. And as I was climbing up a hill and was near the top, the back wheel lost traction and the bike swayed and I did not have time to counterbalance or “click out” of the pedals so down I went. As the speed was low it wasn’t bad – unfortunately though it seems like I somehow twisted the left knee in the fall. I have had problems with it previously, and don’t want to make it worse. RIght now it is so that I can ride, but now and then there’s jolts of pain when the knee comes in a certain position. So I’ve decided that I’ll ride easy for some days and head towards New Haven, Connecticut to hopefully be able to catch the Mates of State show there on Friday night, and then call the cycling quit at least for a while. This will mean that I will not make across the country by bike, but I still need to get to San Francisco, so here are the options I am thinking about right now:

• Hire a car and drive across the country
• Fly to San Francisco directly and spend some time there
• Fly to Portland, Oregon and rest there for a week or so and then ride down the coast to San Francisco

As I know you’ll all be disappointed that you’ll no longer have an excuse to not do your work (and read my blog), I’ll give you the chance to vote for the option you’d like the most.

Time to hit the road again… Hopefully I’ll find a place to stay at tonight that offers WiFi so I can give an update. “See” you then.

Even though it wasn’t raining, I opted for the shorter coastal route suggested by the GPS software. It looked like it could be quite nice, and in parts it was. However, I never got close enough to the coast at any point to see the ocean, which was a bit disappointing. Of course, I could have chosen to deviate from the route and head for the coast, but opted not to, so I guess I only have myself to blame.

Not long after I had started, I was entering Maine. Maybe it was the route I took – mostly along a coastal highway – but the towns in Maine were definitely different from the ones I’ve went past in the last couple of days. They seemed to be centered around the highway and went on for a long, long time. Of course, US cities in general tends to be quite sprawled out, but these were more “stretched” out. I also found it funny that the first town I hit – Kittery – didn’t seem to have anything but outlet stores. Apparently, the town I am staying in tonight – Freeport – is also known as the outlet mecca.

I ended up stopping for breakfast in Ogunquit, which besides a few places to eat – including lobster places, of course – basically seemed to consist of motels and hotels. I think at least every third building was offering accomodation. While having my breakfast, two middle-aged women come in for some food. Seemed like they had had a fun night the night before; they were discussing that they should definitely eat something, but one of them wasn’t quite sure she could stomach it. But maybe a Bloody Mary would help…

I cannot say I could see why the town was so overcrowded with motels etc., but I guess it is close to the coast and there seemed to be a beach. So I guess it is more of a summer town. Anyway, I pedalled onwards and the road become worse. More traffic, narrower shoulders and in many places really bad road surface – sometimes it was almost like riding on cobblestones.

As I was exiting Portland and riding through a residential area (!) I came upon this sign:

Not sure what they hunt there, but it made me pedal a bit faster…

The final stretch into Freeport was quite easy pedalling, and thankfully the traffic was now lighter again.

I arrived at the Holiday Inn Express and got a room upgrade for being such a “valued customer”. So now I am staying in a business suite – almost as big as my flat, though that is not saying much.

The hotel is some way from the actual city centre so I am still contemplating whether I’ll go there, as there was a great Thai (!) restaurant across the road and also a big natural foods store. So, I am more or less set and it is quite chilly outside – high 50′s (Fahrenheit that is, which is around 14 degrees Celsius) – so I might just opt for resting here instead. It is NBA basketball tonight as well…

Tomorrow I’ll go back to Scandinavia, kind of – read next post to see what I mean. I’ll end with a fashion tip: helmet hair will be the next big thing.

Am I getting even more grey hair?

Started the day with a complimentary buffet breakfast, so I loaded up on pancakes with maple syrup, yoghurt with granola and strawberries and melon plus orange juice and tea. So, a good start.

Outside the rain was falling so it was time to bring out the rain gear and pack all of the stuff in the bags in additional bags to be on the safe side. Once I got rolling it wasn’t too bad though, in fact it was kind of nice. The legs didn’t feel great. but I knew I had lots of time so I took it easy. Then after half a mile, the GPS indicated I should take a right turn – I did so and immediately came onto a steep hill. Made it up, and then around the next corner waited another climb. “Hmm… This is going to be trouble if it continues like this.” Fortunately, after those two climbs the roads returned to being gently rolling forest roads with little traffic, so even though I weren’t feeling in top shape for large parts of the day the cruising speed was around 18 miles/hour so the miles went by pretty fast.

But, as we all know, you can’t have it all, so after a while I had the first flat. Of course, it had to come while it was raining… At least there was no additional surprises, so I changed the tube, put the wheel on and inflated it and was soon (well, relatively…) rolling again.

After a while it was time for a new state: New Hampshire. Truth be told, I didn’t really notice that much different: lots of houses with American flags swaying and basketball hoops in the driveway. And every time you hit a new town, there is something out riding a lawnmover.

When I had roughly 30 miles to go I started to feel that it was time for another stop. I don’t know if it was because I was due some good luck, but I entered Exeter and went by a bicycle shop and figured I could have a browse. It soon became apparent that the staff was experienced and knew what they were doing, so I asked if they could replace the derailleur and even though they were basically fully booked they squeezed me in. So now the shifting is working smoother again.

The final push into Portsmouth went by pretty fast, until I hit the final couple of miles when all of a sudden a strong headwind made the progress slow. I finally got to the motel though, and after having waited for around 15 minutes to check in (there were 2 people in front of me!) it was time to hit the shower and then hunt for food. And here I lucked out as well – there is a mall close by where there was a Fresh City. A Burrito Grande with added guacamole was just what I was craving. The smoothie I ordered was a bit of a dissapointment though – it didn’t taste much, and unfortunately, when ordering I momentarily forgot that I was in the US and ordered a large…

Sitting now and watching the NBA semifinals and contemplating whether I should stick with the Atlantic Coast tier route tomorrow or go with a shorter one nearer the coast. Will see how I feel tomorrow morning… The weather forecast is more rain, so a shorter route sounds pretty appealing. Well, nobody knows what the future holds, so we’ll see tomorrow. ‘Til then.

OK, I ”cheated” today. But it’s my vacation, and below you’ll see why…

It was another beautiful day. Regretfully, it was also another day filled with mishaps and problems… Thankfully though also with solutions. Set off early and quickly got into a nice rhythm; the legs felt good and strong. After 10 minutes or so I suddenly hear KABANG and felt “this is not good!”. Looked down to see the chain all gone. That in itself would not have been too bad, but when it split it bent the front derailleur, see picture below.

So what to do? Well, I knew I had to get it fixed, possibly replacing the derailleur and definitely getting a new chain. The problem? I had no idea where the nearest bike repair shop might be. Asked a few people who all said that there wasn’t one in Windsor Locks. So I walked back to the hotel and they let me browse the ‘Net. Found that the nearest one was in South Windsor – Bicycle South Windsor – which according to Google Maps where roughly 8 miles away. The receptionist asks if I found a bike repair shop, and upon hearing that it is in South Windsor, she says ”That’s quite a bit away. How are you going to get there?”. I could see by her facial expression that my response: ”Well, I guess I’ll walk”, definitely confirmed to her that I was crazy…

Anyway, to cut a long story short – after some running and walking I finally reached the bike shop and they could fix it for me. There was a hardware store in South Windsor as well, and they helped me fix a stability issue with the bag saddle rack. So now all should be good and hopefully tomorrow will be without mishaps and allow me to take it easier and give time for some more breaks. These first two days have mainly just been riding the bike continuously (hence the lack of interesting photos – well, I am not promising that the photos that I’ll take will be promising but hopefully I’ll have time to take some more).

So, South Windsor rocks! Although, truth be told it didn’t look that exciting otherwise. There was some good advice though:

Anyway, all of the above problems meant that I didn’t start my riding again until close to noon. And then I still had the full 100 miles of the day left… I got going – a bit apprehensive with regards to the shifting of gears – and soon entered Massachusetts. Lovely forest roads with very little traffic and (thankfully) less hills made the pedalling easy. The miles went by fast at first, probably a little too fast as I later started to feel depleted of energy. So with some distance to go I started thinking about alternative ways of getting to Boxborough. I stopped at a diner out in nowhere to eat a banana and have something to drink. I talked briefly to a man there who asked if I had seen the abbey on my way there. Then I set off, but soon felt (read: at the first hill) that I did not want to ride any longer. So I turned back to the diner to ask about the possibility of getting to Boxborough by some other means of transportation. The man I talked to earlier was still there, and he was on his way back to Boston and vaguely remembered seeing an exit to Boxborough (it turned out to be Westborough…) and offered to take me there at least. So after having packed in the bike, I jump in the front seat and sees an array of various stickers etc. of Jesus Christ. “Hmm… Will I be brainwashed and join a cult?” No worries, Ed (the saviour of the day) was definitely a believer, but he was really cool and in no way tried to push any views or opinions on me. And, more importantly, he drove me all the way to the hotel.

After having taken a shower and eaten some pasta I felt good again. A night’s sleep and I’ll be ready for new adventures.

If you’re interested in seeing all the running around, see today’s track log.

Candlewood Suites, Windsor Locks, CT

The first day’s cycling is completed (see Google Maps of the track log). It was a day with many mishaps, but at least the weather stay’d great.

Having not felt too well yesterday, I decided to go really slow and let it takes its time. I set off right before 7 AM:

Sorry, but this will be the only picture from today because of several reasons. First of all, I wasn’t sure on how long time it would take and wanted to get to the hotel at a reasonable time – this turned out to not be a problem (arrived at 2 PM). But I also had a series of mishaps that took my mind off taking photos: it started with some packing issues. I have an extra waterproof bag containing my running shoes etc. that I intended to store on top of the saddle bag. This turned out to a less than ideal solution as it kept sliding off… I found a better place for it – between the saddle bag and the seat post, using strappers to keep it tied to the saddle bag. With that problem solved I noticed that the gearing was not working perfectly – it skipped now and then. However, it wasn’t too bad, so I figured I’d ride to the hotel and fix it there. But, having reached Bristol, the chain suddenly came to a complete stop… I had a look but couldn’t quite see what was happening. As I fortunately was in a city, I went to a hotel across the road and asked if they knew a bicycle shop nearby. Nearby must have a different meaning in the US… After having followed the directions given, and walked for at least a couple of miles I finally found the bicycle store – CLOSED! I then had a closer look and discovered what the problem was – one of the chain links had been bent. So after splitting the chain and joining it again I was able to ride again. Will change the chain as soon as possible though…

All the mishaps aside, it was a beautiful day to be out bicycling and the roads lived up to the expectations I had of Connecticut – rolling roads, with lots of relatively short steep hills which made me realise that I am glad the real mountains are some time away still. Sometimes I was barely moving… The traffic was fairly light most of the way and usually there was at least a small shoulder to use. I expect more of the same tomorrow, but then with an additional 20 miles or so. But hopefully it’ll go smoother then.

Anyway, I got to the hotel in one piece and feeling quite good. A feeling that was further improved by a shower, and the fact that the hotel has free laundry (have already washed the bike clothes used today), a DVD player in each room and DVDs available for free (will not use this offer though, as I intend to watch the NBA semifinal on tonight and then sleep a little) and a big room (they’re not called Candlewood Suites for nothing). Oh, they’ve also got a pool, a gym and free Wi-Fi – what more can you ask for?

I’ll try to take more pictures from now on. Promise…