working out for Disney

[Songbird76]

I've been trying so hard to get my health back on track after letting things get out of control. I was truly scared that this summer would upend all of my hard work. Trying to keep losing over the course of 7+ weeks of travel seemed daunting and sort of hopeless, but I feel like I've accomplished something even greater now that I managed to keep losing and still have a little bit of food/drink enjoyment along the way.

I remember that hotel issue from your travels. Yeah, it's just not safe or sanitary (at least in the US) to book the kinds of things he wanted. I understand the price concern, but you get what you pay for...in most cases. Yeah, that's definitely part of the challenge with our travel. I don't know all of the parts of town in the places we go but I do research semi-heavily to make sure the places I'm booking have good customer reviews. Motel 6 is usually an absolute no for me as I have yet to see one that isn't somewhere between gross and scary. We have stayed at a couple of Days Inns that were teetering on the edge of questionable but again, I use long term review data against pricing and location to help make my choices. Onsite laundry is a must if we're traveling for softball, but I have also been lucky because some of our friends rent houses and will at least help us out with washing uniforms. I will say that we usually have to go up to something that's really pricey per night to get a decent hotel gym. None of the ones this summer were great, but on days when I was short for time, having one with a working elliptical and/or treadmill as well as some weights helped.

Some of the tournaments we play are "stay to play," but it's such a pain and so many in our group prefer renting houses that we've bought out of the requirement over the last couple of years. So, we just scatter and stay wherever. Sam's closest friends all rent houses but she's always been a bit hesitant about staying together. It was determined (recently) but some of the other parents that we all need to be staying together. So, I see us all in a house for future trips.

Yeah, motel 6 usually isn't great. They are a budget option, and while Wyoming has no large cities, there are still a few of the bigger towns that have seedy parts of town and any hotel in that part of town is going to be less than stellar. And I get that he wants to save money, but it's not the same as it is over here. Most of the towns in Wyoming won't have a big hotel with the interior hallways...there just isn't enough demand. It will be a bunch of those small, exterior entrance motels if they have a motel at all. And many of them won't have any motels at all, so you have to stay somewhere "nearby", which could be 50 miles away. But any of those little motels in a small town is probably at least decent. They won't have a bad part of town and if the motel was gross, they'd go out of business. They aren't fancy, but they don't need to be....they cater to people passing through on their way to Yellowstone, or the Bighorn Mountains, etc. They just need a place to sleep for a night before traveling further...most of those places are not destinations themselves. Who goes on vacation to Dubois Wyoming? No one. But places like Casper and Cheyenne, and even Gillette and Laramie are large enough to have many hotels to choose from, and to have bad places in town. You probably aren't likely to experience a drive-by shooting, but there will be drug activity and unsavory individuals...you could get mugged or whatever. So you want to be careful in places like that, just like you would in Paris, or in Berlin, etc. It's not all catered to tourists the way the smaller towns are.

I think you did really well to lose weight while traveling. So much depends on the availability of healthy foods. That's one thing I will say for Disney, Universal, etc....it's easy to find good food, rather than just the standard burgers and hotdogs most theme parks offer. There was really NOTHING yesterday that was remotely healthy. It's all pastries, ice cream, burgers, and fried snacks for the most part. Even their TS restaurants are very limited.

 

[Songbird76]

If anyone wants to see pictures from the Efteling yesterday, in the bob saget thread, page 3885

page https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/where-in-the-world-isnt-bob-saget.895312/page-3885

 

[HouCuseChickie]

If anyone wants to see pictures from the Efteling yesterday, in the bob saget thread, page 3885

page https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/where-in-the-world-isnt-bob-saget.895312/page-3885

Love the pics! I definitely get a lot of Disney vibes from it. Looks like a really fun experience.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Yeah, motel 6 usually isn't great. They are a budget option, and while Wyoming has no large cities, there are still a few of the bigger towns that have seedy parts of town and any hotel in that part of town is going to be less than stellar. And I get that he wants to save money, but it's not the same as it is over here. Most of the towns in Wyoming won't have a big hotel with the interior hallways...there just isn't enough demand. It will be a bunch of those small, exterior entrance motels if they have a motel at all. And many of them won't have any motels at all, so you have to stay somewhere "nearby", which could be 50 miles away. But any of those little motels in a small town is probably at least decent. They won't have a bad part of town and if the motel was gross, they'd go out of business. They aren't fancy, but they don't need to be....they cater to people passing through on their way to Yellowstone, or the Bighorn Mountains, etc. They just need a place to sleep for a night before traveling further...most of those places are not destinations themselves. Who goes on vacation to Dubois Wyoming? No one. But places like Casper and Cheyenne, and even Gillette and Laramie are large enough to have many hotels to choose from, and to have bad places in town. You probably aren't likely to experience a drive-by shooting, but there will be drug activity and unsavory individuals...you could get mugged or whatever. So you want to be careful in places like that, just like you would in Paris, or in Berlin, etc. It's not all catered to tourists the way the smaller towns are.

I think you did really well to lose weight while traveling. So much depends on the availability of healthy foods. That's one thing I will say for Disney, Universal, etc....it's easy to find good food, rather than just the standard burgers and hotdogs most theme parks offer. There was really NOTHING yesterday that was remotely healthy. It's all pastries, ice cream, burgers, and fried snacks for the most part. Even their TS restaurants are very limited.

I remember running into this issue when I was trying to find lodging near Devils Tower. We wound up at a B&B because there were just no options that seemed suitable. Had I known the area better at the time, we could have found lodging in Spearfish, SD and been happier. A lot of those cheaper motels are also a favorite for people that have housing challenges, which also tends to have drug and theft issues tied to it all. Again...even more reason to look into reviews and pictures vs. pricing alone. I guess your husband at least learned about lodging in the US and some of the do's and don't's.

Most places offer at least one thing that's relatively healthy, even if it's not the most appealing menu option. A simple grilled chicken sandwich where you skip the mayo and cheese is usually safe and sometimes they have more healthful bread/roll options or alternatives. Same for things like basic salmon dishes or a sirloin. Just swap the fries for something like veggies (or even sweet potato fries if you want fries) and you've got a boring but far less caloric/fattening restaurant meal. We also had several rooms with full kitchens, so I was able to buy groceries and supplement some meals with healthier whole foods that I could prepare on my own. Still, the regular exercise didn't hurt. I also had a few meals where I included one or two "bad" elements. Alcohol alone added a bunch of empty calories to several meals. It's still hard but it's doable.

 

[Sans Souci]

Exactly! I think we only stayed at a couple of hotels that had interior hallways on that trip. Most of them were the tiny little strips where it's just a few rooms, MAYBE there's a 2nd floor, but it's all exterior access only. One of the hotels had both interior and exterior access to all the ground floor rooms, but the key card didn't work on the outer access door.

I think reviews are a good tool, too. Look at what other people have complained about. What have other people said about the transparency of the booking site? Do they advertise amenities that people have said they didn't have access to? Have people complained about the staff? My husband has a habit of just going by price and not really looking very deeply, so we end up at hotels that LOOK good on paper, until you get there. Like, in Germany, he booked this place for multiple nights, and the picture shows this cute building with lots of windows and well-kept exterior, but when we got there, we found out that the picture was taken from an angle and that part of the building wasn't the hotel. That was senior assisted living. The hotel was next door and was really run down. You could SEE the building in the picture, but not head on, and not in detail, but technically, it was visible in the picture. They said there was free wi-fi. What they DIDN'T tell you is that only 2 devices could be connected in your room at a time, and you had to get the code from the unhelpful front desk lady, who didn't want to give out the code, and that it was pretty unstable wi-fi. Everything in the room was run down...outlets with wires exposed, a broken door to the balcony so you couldn't access the balcony, nails sticking out of the wall where there had probably previously been a painting or something, but at a height that it was easy to scratch yourself on it, cracks in the sink and tub with mold growing in them. Everything just looked like it hadn't been taken care of, but DH had just gone "Oh hey, this is a good price!" and booked it. And he's found some real gems for a good price, too, but it's kind of hit or miss. There was another place in Bavaria where he booked us for one night so we could see Neuschwanstein castle, and that place was fantastic. But they had just been taken over by new owners who hadn't proven themselves yet, so the prices were low as they tried to attract people to stay there. It worked, because when we wanted to book there last year, it was like $400 per night now. It's a great hotel, but too expensive for us. Usually, you get what you pay for, and if you are not wanting to spend more than $75 a night, you aren't going to get a nice, clean, safe place with good amenities. It's going to be bare bones. And I don't mind bare bones, but it has to at LEAST be clean and safe. I don't need to have a pool at every hotel I stay in, or have a nice breakfast included everywhere, but I do need to not worry about catching some illness from unsanitary conditions, etc and not be worried I'm going to get shot in the middle of the night by gangs or drug dealers.

I can't get over the hotel that used a nursing home's exterior as its exterior. That seems illegal to me. If that was in the US, I think I might report it to the state's AG. lol I'm with you on the bare bones. I don't mind it, but it needs to be clean and in a safe area. Some times, I find if you stay a little further away from the interstate, the motels are a little nicer. I try to stay at Fairfield Inns or Springhill Suites, but we don't go on road trips very frequently.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I keep starting to write posts and I keep getting interrupted! lol

Yesterday, I did a lower body workout and today I did an upper body workout.

It's supposed to be 76 today and I'm not sure we're going to make it that high. I am going out for a walk, because I've been staying indoors this week because of the high heat+humidity. I want to get some fresh air.

It was 100F on Wednesday and Callie insisted on being outside all day. She was mostly on the deck. I kept asking her if she wanted to come indoors to cool off. She would lift her head, look at me and put it back down again. She was out all day. She has a double coat. She has "regular" cat fur, but she also has this fuzzy, fleecy coat close to her skin. It's probably great in the winter, but not so much in the summer. I think that' why she looks so big. You can feel how small when you pet her and she's probably 4 lbs. She is very light when picked up. She's kind of a brat, too. I pet her when I go downstairs in the AM and when I stop to open the curtain, she "hits" my leg to get me to sit down and resume petting her. It's not painful, it's just a little nervy. lol

 

[Songbird76]

Love the pics! I definitely get a lot of Disney vibes from it. Looks like a really fun experience.

It is fun, and there are definitely some disney-like things there, but the food is typical theme park food, which is sad. They could do so much more. But I do like to go there for a day once every few years.

 

[Songbird76]

I remember running into this issue when I was trying to find lodging near Devils Tower. We wound up at a B&B because there were just no options that seemed suitable. Had I known the area better at the time, we could have found lodging in Spearfish, SD and been happier. A lot of those cheaper motels are also a favorite for people that have housing challenges, which also tends to have drug and theft issues tied to it all. Again...even more reason to look into reviews and pictures vs. pricing alone. I guess your husband at least learned about lodging in the US and some of the do's and don't's.

Most places offer at least one thing that's relatively healthy, even if it's not the most appealing menu option. A simple grilled chicken sandwich where you skip the mayo and cheese is usually safe and sometimes they have more healthful bread/roll options or alternatives. Same for things like basic salmon dishes or a sirloin. Just swap the fries for something like veggies (or even sweet potato fries if you want fries) and you've got a boring but far less caloric/fattening restaurant meal. We also had several rooms with full kitchens, so I was able to buy groceries and supplement some meals with healthier whole foods that I could prepare on my own. Still, the regular exercise didn't hurt. I also had a few meals where I included one or two "bad" elements. Alcohol alone added a bunch of empty calories to several meals. It's still hard but it's doable.

Yeah, for Devils Tower, you'd be better off either staying in Gillette, Wyoming, or somewhere in South Dakota. Most of the smaller places in that area of Wyoming (Sundance, Moorcroft, etc) wouldn't have anything but your tiny motels with outdoor access only, I'm pretty sure. I could be wrong, but I don't remember ever seeing anything bigger there. We never stayed at Devils Tower...we always just drove on straight into South Dakota if we went to Devils Tower. But we were only a couple of hours from there to begin with, and we were usually just on our way to the black hills if we stopped at Devils Tower.

I love it when I can get veggies with my meal in a restaurant, other than just a salad. We recently discovered a place here in town that's very casual, and they offer Spinach, Green beans, or Cauliflower, and over here, you can generally order as much as you want of things. Like....steak, schnitzel, etc will come with fries, salad, etc and all the sides are served family style and you just ask for more if you run out.

 

[Songbird76]

I can't get over the hotel that used a nursing home's exterior as its exterior. That seems illegal to me. If that was in the US, I think I might report it to the state's AG. lol I'm with you on the bare bones. I don't mind it, but it needs to be clean and in a safe area. Some times, I find if you stay a little further away from the interstate, the motels are a little nicer. I try to stay at Fairfield Inns or Springhill Suites, but we don't go on road trips very frequently.

I think they get around that because technically, the hotel was in the picture. It just wasn't front and center and you couldn't tell that what you were looking at front and center wasn't part of the hotel. It was all in the same building. I tried to look it up, but other people must have complained that it is misleading, because that picture is not being used now that I can see. But the reviews all say it was terrible, never ever stay here, etc, and a bunch had similar complaints....the lack of wifi, the unhelpful staff, things being broken or dirty, etc. I'm actually surprised they are still in business.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Yeah, for Devils Tower, you'd be better off either staying in Gillette, Wyoming, or somewhere in South Dakota. Most of the smaller places in that area of Wyoming (Sundance, Moorcroft, etc) wouldn't have anything but your tiny motels with outdoor access only, I'm pretty sure. I could be wrong, but I don't remember ever seeing anything bigger there. We never stayed at Devils Tower...we always just drove on straight into South Dakota if we went to Devils Tower. But we were only a couple of hours from there to begin with, and we were usually just on our way to the black hills if we stopped at Devils Tower.

I love it when I can get veggies with my meal in a restaurant, other than just a salad. We recently discovered a place here in town that's very casual, and they offer Spinach, Green beans, or Cauliflower, and over here, you can generally order as much as you want of things. Like....steak, schnitzel, etc will come with fries, salad, etc and all the sides are served family style and you just ask for more if you run out.

We drove through Gillette to get there but were staying near Mount Rushmore the next day, so SD would have been the better option. Honestly, we could have just driven all the way vs. staying near Devils Tower at all but I wasn't sure how tired we'd be with travel and the girls were younger. Oh well. You live...you learn.

I always like it when I can get some veggie options. I'm coming around to the idea of brussels sprouts, spinach is always a great one, and asparagus is a treat if offered.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Good morning and happy Monday. I probably won't be weighing myself again until later in the week but I have another progress marker to report. I noticed the size M shorts I'd bought in June were starting to fit more loosely. Not that they were actually sagging and completely loose like the Ls are but they're no longer tight enough to compress in all of the good ways. So, I bought a few size Ss and sure enough, they fit and compress properly in the right places. Still debating about a weighted vest for walking. A friend said she is using a 25lb and really likes it. In the meantime, I've been getting out a little earlier and adding in some jogging segments to boost my mileage instead. I was doing about 3.75 mi most mornings, but now I'm up to the 4.5-5 mile range before work. Still also hitting the gym regularly.

Other than that, getting ready for Montana in a couple of weeks and now seriously considering driving up to Glacier after Sam is done with camp. Maybe, just maybe, I'll see some bears! On more concerning notes, I cut my palm the other night. It didn't bleed much, but I felt this sharp sort of electrical shock feeling. I think I damaged a nerve since I have some pins and needles in one of my fingers. It seems to be improving on its own, but it's frustrating. The shock from it all must have really messed with me because right after, I started to sweat profusely and began to pass out. At least I was leaning over the sink cleaning it vs. in a position to completely tip over.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Good morning and happy Monday. I probably won't be weighing myself again until later in the week but I have another progress marker to report. I noticed the size M shorts I'd bought in June were starting to fit more loosely. Not that they were actually sagging and completely loose like the Ls are but they're no longer tight enough to compress in all of the good ways. So, I bought a few size Ss and sure enough, they fit and compress properly in the right places. Still debating about a weighted vest for walking. A friend said she is using a 25lb and really likes it. In the meantime, I've been getting out a little earlier and adding in some jogging segments to boost my mileage instead. I was doing about 3.75 mi most mornings, but now I'm up to the 4.5-5 mile range before work. Still also hitting the gym regularly.

Other than that, getting ready for Montana in a couple of weeks and now seriously considering driving up to Glacier after Sam is done with camp. Maybe, just maybe, I'll see some bears! On more concerning notes, I cut my palm the other night. It didn't bleed much, but I felt this sharp sort of electrical shock feeling. I think I damaged a nerve since I have some pins and needles in one of my fingers. It seems to be improving on its own, but it's frustrating. The shock from it all must have really messed with me because right after, I started to sweat profusely and began to pass out. At least I was leaning over the sink cleaning it vs. in a position to completely tip over.

I didn't know what reaction to give your post, but the like is for the shorts fitting loose, keep up the good work! And a sad would have been my reaction to cutting your palm. I hope you don't have nerve damage and that it heals up and feels normal soon.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I didn't know what reaction to give your post, but the like is for the shorts fitting loose, keep up the good work! And a sad would have been my reaction to cutting your palm. I hope you don't have nerve damage and that it heals up and feels normal soon.

LOL...yeah, there's no good option for a mixed reaction. One of the other sites I'm on has started offering the "care" emoji reaction like Facebook but it's still iffy on when it's best to use. Thank you in both cases

 

[Songbird76]

We drove through Gillette to get there but were staying near Mount Rushmore the next day, so SD would have been the better option. Honestly, we could have just driven all the way vs. staying near Devils Tower at all but I wasn't sure how tired we'd be with travel and the girls were younger. Oh well. You live...you learn.

I always like it when I can get some veggie options. I'm coming around to the idea of brussels sprouts, spinach is always a great one, and asparagus is a treat if offered.

Where did you stay in SD? Most of those little towns don't have many options. Rapid City is about as good as you are going to get in that area. We stayed at a campground in Sturgis...one of my husband's cheap finds, where we stayed for almost a week. No bathroom or anything. We had to walk across the campground to get to the communal toilets and showers, and of course my body betrayed me by getting my period on that part of the trip and I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and got there only to discover I was a mess. NOT an ideal time to not have a private bathroom. And the room just had two pull-out couch beds and when they were both out, you couldn't even step between them, so you had to crawl out of bed over the foot end of the bed. The upside was that there were laundry facilities there, and that was the only place that we could connect to internet, so I did laundry while I checked my email and stuff. But I wouldn't want to stay there again if I could help it. It was cleaner and safer than the motel 6 in Casper, so I'd still take it over that, but it wasn't convenient.

I love Brussels Sprouts!! And Broccoli is great, too. There aren't many COOKED veggies I won't eat. I'm not a huge fan of cauliflower, but I'll eat it, and that's my husband's favorite. And he won't eat asperagus, which I like a lot.

 

[Sans Souci]

Good morning and happy Monday. I probably won't be weighing myself again until later in the week but I have another progress marker to report. I noticed the size M shorts I'd bought in June were starting to fit more loosely. Not that they were actually sagging and completely loose like the Ls are but they're no longer tight enough to compress in all of the good ways. So, I bought a few size Ss and sure enough, they fit and compress properly in the right places. Still debating about a weighted vest for walking. A friend said she is using a 25lb and really likes it. In the meantime, I've been getting out a little earlier and adding in some jogging segments to boost my mileage instead. I was doing about 3.75 mi most mornings, but now I'm up to the 4.5-5 mile range before work. Still also hitting the gym regularly.

Other than that, getting ready for Montana in a couple of weeks and now seriously considering driving up to Glacier after Sam is done with camp. Maybe, just maybe, I'll see some bears! On more concerning notes, I cut my palm the other night. It didn't bleed much, but I felt this sharp sort of electrical shock feeling. I think I damaged a nerve since I have some pins and needles in one of my fingers. It seems to be improving on its own, but it's frustrating. The shock from it all must have really messed with me because right after, I started to sweat profusely and began to pass out. At least I was leaning over the sink cleaning it vs. in a position to completely tip over.

Good news on the shorts. It's good to see your efforts paying off.

The cut to your palm sounds scary and painful. Hopefully, it continue to improve.

Looking forward to your photos from Montana.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

Today was a treadmill/weights workout. I am half way through this program I am doing. I might switch to kettlebells on the other side of it. There is a lot of treadmill in the program I am doing and while I don't hate running on the treadmill, I find myself looking at the time a lot. lol

I canceled my AZ trip with Costco and my husband rebooked it through Marriott. They were offering the same deal as I got through Costco, minus the car. But we booked one through Costco. We saved a tiny bit of money, but the real reason I canceled it was so my husband could rebook it and get the nights and the points. He is commuting 4 hours a day, but he tries to stay in a hotel 1-2x/month to take the heat off. He leaves the house at 5 and isn't home until 8. So, he will get the nights and points and that should help him a bit. When you book through a third party, you only get points, not nights.

It's been pretty quiet here, for now. lol

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Where did you stay in SD? Most of those little towns don't have many options. Rapid City is about as good as you are going to get in that area. We stayed at a campground in Sturgis...one of my husband's cheap finds, where we stayed for almost a week. No bathroom or anything. We had to walk across the campground to get to the communal toilets and showers, and of course my body betrayed me by getting my period on that part of the trip and I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and got there only to discover I was a mess. NOT an ideal time to not have a private bathroom. And the room just had two pull-out couch beds and when they were both out, you couldn't even step between them, so you had to crawl out of bed over the foot end of the bed. The upside was that there were laundry facilities there, and that was the only place that we could connect to internet, so I did laundry while I checked my email and stuff. But I wouldn't want to stay there again if I could help it. It was cleaner and safer than the motel 6 in Casper, so I'd still take it over that, but it wasn't convenient.

I love Brussels Sprouts!! And Broccoli is great, too. There aren't many COOKED veggies I won't eat. I'm not a huge fan of cauliflower, but I'll eat it, and that's my husband's favorite. And he won't eat asperagus, which I like a lot.

For that first trip, I believe the place we stayed was in Keystone. We stayed in Rapid City the last time we visited. Yeah, I would not be ok with that setup in Sturgis. It seems like it's really designed for people attending the annual bike rally who are looking for more of a social/community lodging environment. i.e. that walk to the facilities is part of the festival experience. Definitely not what you'd want on a standard vacation.

It's funny...I'm not a big broccoli fan but I really enjoy cauliflower. I'll eat both but I do have my preferences. Hollandaise sauce has made asparagus more palatable to our entire family. I can eat it plain.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Good news on the shorts. It's good to see your efforts paying off.

The cut to your palm sounds scary and painful. Hopefully, it continue to improve.

Looking forward to your photos from Montana.

It scared me a bit, but yesterday I actually pulled jeans out of the dresser. I bought an argyle sweater to go with my newish black and white loafers and jeans would be the ideal pairing for an outfit. While they're not ready for public wear, I was able to zip and button my second smallest pair of jeans. They might be fairly close to presentable if I add in some shapewear underneath.

It seems to continue to improve. Not perfect, but I have more feeling in it again today.

Which reminds me...I really should share a photo recap from the summer. Not that OK has much in the way of fun pics, but the rest of the summer is worth sharing. As Disney fans, I know you'll all appreciate our Downtown Disney afternoon.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I am going to share some pics in stages, but it may take a bit.

These first two are OK. We only had one set of fields with sort of interesting scenery but really not much area to walk. It was so hot anyway and very little shade.


This was right after we got to Fort Collins, CO. We passed through some storms on the way and wound up with a rainbow and sunset upon arrival.


This is the start of pics I took from the trails following the Big Thompson River in Loveland, CO.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Sam Loveland trail but different day. I had more time and made it pretty close to the foothills.


This was the day we had a morning free and headed up to Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins. My parents were with us but my dad has since decided that he will no longer be visiting spots like this. He's had a few recent falls and saw that their old dr died on unpaved area like this due to a spill. Thankfully, his only fall this trip occurred on pavement and wound up to be fairly minor. Still, it's a pretty spot and I had some fun climbing on the rocks. Also got some great bird recordings on Merlin.







...much more to come.