Birthday at Bike Week

eL. — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:57:31 +0000

I know… I know… you tortured souls have been waiting on pins and needles for the past week to hear about the adventures at Black Bike Week 2009! *wink* I’m sorry that I’ve been a lurker since I got back, but there was the horrid sunburn, the food poisoning, and the release of TrueBlood Season One… I’ve been busy!

I must preface this blog with a disclaimer. Black Bike Week was not titled by this pasty white girl from the hills of Tennessee. It is an actual event. www.blackbikeweek.com for more information. I’ve stumbled upon a few different bike rallies over the years and I have to say… the brothers definitely do Bike Week with more style.

Aunt Meg, the kids and I arrived in South Carolina pretty early on Friday morning. Following the directions of Dad’s trusty “Satellite Sally” we ventured through a small town called Florence. Only in South Carolina does the interstate actually turn into a two lane, broken, pitiful excuse for a highway and run through Nowhereville, USA. In hindsight though I wish I’d bought a postcard; Florence was incredibly entertaining. Because I was driving, Megan was on camera duty.

Before we began this trip, I was assured by the company, through which I booked the condo, that we were staying so far south that we would miss most of the bikers. This is the sign from our resort.

The first two floors of the parking garage looked like this:

Our room was nice, tucked in the corner of the resort on the side of the building. Our balcony, where we perched and observed each night, had a view of the beach and of Ocean Blvd below. During the day, the resort was quiet and non-eventful. The only signs of Bike Week were the sleeping crotch-rockets underground and the 550 uniformed police officers that were EVERYWHERE. Each day we enjoyed the beach and the pools without incident and at dusk we would head to our room, tuck the kids in bed and wait for the show to begin. Spotlighting for the production was brought courtesy of the search helicopters flying above. The music was provided by screaming Japanese engines and countless subwoofers thumping out a plethora of different beats.

More fascinating than the bikes were the cars. We actually saw a white Bentley Continental Convertible jacked up on ORANGE wheels. Let me rephrase. We saw a white $200,000 convertible with bright Tony-the-Tiger-ORANGE wheels sitting about three feet too high off the ground. I nearly wrecked my XTerra. I soooo wish I’d gotten a picture.

Our favorites though, were the Logo Cars. I’m sure they have a real name and if you know it, please tell me. I’m INTRIGUED. It started with the Skittles Car and then we started making a list: Skittles, Reese’s Pieces, Winterfresh, Diet Coke, Toys R Us, Pringles, Batman, UPS and Heineken. I seriously doubt these cars were corporately sponsored so I hate to think of the lawsuit ramifications if they were to ever be involved in a serious accident, but I have to give it to them… they had our attention!

Sadly, there were no thongs to report. Not even one. Well, maybe one, but we couldn’t get a close enough look to be certain. My cousin who lives there said the city actually passed a law against them. Sorry guys! No booty pics!

We did see three hookers, (one definite – we watched her being arrested) and the other two… well, if they weren’t hookers they really shouldn’t have been flying their “hooker flag”. One of them though, I will say, if I had her legs I’d be selling them too. I’d be wearing a bag over my head also, but that’s beside the point.

All in all our weekend was pretty tame. My biggest complaint would be the wafts of marijuana smoke seeping through the adjoining doorway to our neighbor’s room and the party they decided to throw our last night there. Other than that and the horrible traffic, it was a pretty good and very interesting vacation.

Still… I think we’ll go to Florida next Memorial Day.

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Another Birthday Saga in the Making

eL. — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:59:38 +0000

Birthdays have always been a big deal in my family. Not one birthday in my life has passed without all of the birthday staples: friends, cake, ice cream, and presents. I love any excuse for a party and especially love MYSELF being the excuse. Most normal people (I think) sit back and wait to see if anyone plans anything special to celebrate their big day, but not me. I want to do it all, including sometimes baking my own cake! (I realize that this further confirms my skewed level of normality.) My reasoning is simple. It’s my big day and I want to do exactly what I want for MY DAY, so who better to plan it than MYSELF? Sure, this might sound a little arrogant and selfish, but I grant myself this selfishness one day out of 364, so back off! J

I’m a holiday baby. I was born on the 26^th of May (write it down, I expect a card) and the 26^th always falls right around Memorial Day weekend. If I wasn’t as deeply grateful as I am for the sacrifices made by our military for my freedom and safety, I would almost joke that my birthday is a National Holiday. However, out of respect for our armed forces that are way more badass than I’ll ever be, I’ll just be honored to be celebrated in general proximity to their holiday and extremely grateful for my 3 day birthday weekend every year. My big weekend is usually always perfect weather, hot enough for swimming but cool enough to want to be outside. People are by default friendly and fun loving and Anheuser-Busch goes into over-production mode for party-goers. It’s the perfect time to celebrate.

You’re all jealous now aren’t you? I can see you there considering how poor it is to be born on some ordinary date in March that typically always falls on a rainy Monday when the coworkers are cranky and oblivious that anything is special in your world. Well, cheer up because I haven’t told you about the Birthday Curse.

It all began when I turned 21. This is supposed to be the monument of all monumental birthdays, correct? I planned my perfect weekend for months. My closest friends from all over the US were going to gather at a cabin in the Smokey Mountains. We had a hot tub, pool table, grilling deck, and were far enough on top of the mountain to be as loud and obnoxious as we wanted. Great plan, right? Negative. It was a disaster. From the moment we all unpacked there were horrendous fights and I lost one of my most valued friendships of all time that weekend. The heated confrontations weren’t the worst of the drama either. Another friend of mine had to be taken to the hospital for fear of a heart attack, someone else got a stomach virus and to top it off I fell and cracked my head on the hot tub – not once, but twice. The Birthday Curse had commenced.

Every birthday since has been become a mini-crusade to try to recoup for the tragedies of my 21^st but every celebration has failed incredibly. I’ve had more trips to the hospital, friendly-fire wars and family meltdowns than any once person should ever have to endure.

-JUMP TO THE PRESENT-

I wrote that part of the blog last year after seemingly breaking The Birthday Curse. My 27^TH birthday arrived and departed without incident and a wonderful time was had by all. Then four days later was my husband’s car accident, forever adding another layer of shadows around my special day. As that anniversary grows nearer, my loved ones are pretty concerned with keeping me in good spirits and now we find ourselves planning another birthday Memorial Day weekend.

In true eL. fashion… it’s already shaping up to be SPECTACULAR! My best friend Megan and I are taking the kids to the beach! All of the stars seemed to align to make this trip possible. Even the beautiful condo we rented was ridiculously affordable. I booked the trip and told the kids. “WOOHOO!!! We’re going to the beach!!!”

Then I get a phone call from Megan and by the tone of her voice I knew bad news was in tow. “I know why our condo was so affordable.”

“Oh no.”

“It’s Black Bike Week 2009 that weekend,” she said.

*insert freaky JAWS baseline here*

I HAVE THE WORST LUCK ON THE PLANET!!!!

Why is this such a big deal? The city of Myrtle Beach has tried banning this annual gathering for YEARS. Below is a screen shot of one of their many websites. If you’re really brave, do a Google image search. Just remember I’m taking my 3 & 5 year old children on this trip.

When I called the condo company back about rescheduling my trip, they actually laughed at me.

I’m sure there will be plenty of blog material next week. Stay tuned.

Impacting Journey » black bike week

Birthday at Bike Week

Another Birthday Saga in the Making