Balderramas Back East – Phase 3: Ocean City, MD

Romey

After getting our fill of mountain and full family time in Jim Thorpe, PA, we ventured further east to Ocean City, Maryland. Earlier this year, when our family was trying to find a gathering point, a sizable segment of the family wanted a beach getaway, resulting my mom traveling with my sister, Christina, her family, and mine to get our beach fix at Ocean City.

Traveling from Jim Thorpe to Ocean City on a Friday presented some challenges with traffic, turning our 4-hour trip into a 6.5-hour trip. Our accommodations for the next few days was a 3-bedroom condo, which luckily didn’t feel too cramped for the nine of us. We finally pulled in after 6 pm, too late to spend any meaningful time at the beach. That didn’t stop us from unpacking as quickly as we could so that we could put our feet into the ocean.

I captured this video of everyone talking on the beach for the first time.

With kids, of course, “putting feet” into the ocean quickly turns into getting your clothes soaked. They enjoyed their little taste of the ocean, anxious for spending the rest of the weekend on the beach.

After a restful Friday night, we ventured to the Ocean City Boardwalk, which embodied the stereotypical image that I formed in my head as we were planning. It was complete with tourist shops, fried food stands, along with an amusement park (which luckily wasn’t yet open for the day).

We did a little shopping, loading up on some stickers and magnets, then took a walk to the pier to get a full view of the ocean. We opted to go earlier in the morning so that we could devote as much of Saturday to beaching. Everyone was anxious to get back to our condo, however, so that we could quickly hit the beach.

We spent the rest of the day playing in the ocean and on the beach, getting our fill of waves, sun, sand, and games. The last time we had been to the ocean, in 2018, we had a more secluded experience in North Carolina. At Ocean City, the beach was much more crowded, but we managed to carve out our little space for a beautiful afternoon. Right when we were packing up, we saw some fins from dolphins that were swimming out in the ocean.

We did learn, the hard way, that the limit for the kids being on the ocean was about 4 hours. Many of the kids were melting down by the time dinner time rolled around. We fed the kids some mac and cheese, while the adult got a seafood boil that was probably too spicy for them anyway. After 2018 though, I learned my lesson and stayed away from drinking too much of the broth.

After the kids went to bed, Christina, Tony, and I ventured back onto a beach for a moonlit walk to see what we could find on the beach. We found a cool surfing toy, as well as a baby seagull that was looking for his parents.

Recognizing our time limits, we shifted our Sunday schedule to include two separate times at the beach. We went immediately after breakfast for a two-hour stretch, with another trip planned for the early evening. In between beaching, Tony and I went to go pick up my rental car for Phase 4, while everyone else went back to the Boardwalk before we met back up for an early dinner.

Mariana had enough of the beach and was ready to get cleaned up, but while we were up in the room, a horseshoe crap washed up on the shore. After checking it out, it was returned back into the ocean.

We ended our time at the beach by writing “SOB ’23” (Summer of Balderramas) in the sand – a tradition that we started back in Daytona that we’ll continue as we venture to other beaches.

Sadly, with the conclusion of Phase 3, we also ended our team with our extended family. The girls and I packed up on Monday morning and made our way towards Washington, DC – the final phase of Balderramas Back East.

Balderramas Back East – Phase 2: Jim Thorpe, PA

Romey

After our wonderful time during Phase 1 of our trip, we set out on Sunday to make the 2+ hour drive to the Poconos Mountains, specifically, Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, for Phase 2. This phase was the focal point of our trip, as it was the first time my siblings and mother had gathered together in over two years.

My sister found and coordinated a VRBO home just outside of Jim Thorpe that accommodated all 15 of us (7 adults and 9 kids) – a fantastic find. Each adult/couple had their own room and bed, while the five oldest grandchildren slept in a room with two bunks and a twin bed. The three-floor house also featured a nice game room on the basement level with a pool table, foosball table, and shuffleboard. Usually, that would be awesome, but with so many kids under 10, the pool balls became magnets of destruction that quickly had to be hidden.

Of our six-day stay, I spent three of them working remotely, while my family ventured out to explore and enjoy Jim Thorpe and the surrounding area. Rather than give a day-by-day chronology of our trip, I’ll share some highlights of our time together in this house in the woods, reflecting just how quickly the week passed, and what a blur it became.

Decorating the house for my mom’s birthday

The whole basis for this trip was to celebrate my mom’s birthday (as she had one ending in a “0”). On the first night, after my mom and all her grandchildren went to bed, my siblings and I went downstairs to blow up balloons and decorated the main level. We blew up dozens of balloons and balloon words, then snuck onto the main level and found ways to hang them that didn’t involve using any tape. The evening was filled with lots of laughing, creativity, and fun. Everyone woke up to a fun surprise.

An image of the main floor of our vacation rental, with balloons that read "Happy Birthday 70", "Love You Wow", and other balloons draped over the television on the wall.

Riding the Train

We took a trip on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway and took in some of the beautiful scenery. The kids absolutely loved the train and being in the open-air car. The ride was the perfect length to keep the attention of 7 kids under 12. It was great seeing the Poconos Mountain countryside, but I’m honestly partial to the Royal Gorge Route Railroad in Colorado.

This video of Clara taking in the training experience stole my heart.

Family Photos

On Tuesday evening, we connected with a photographer to get some full family shots, venturing out to this pasture next to a lake (I’m sorry, but I don’t recall which one). The scenery was very majestic and I think we got some great shots. We were also reminded just how challenging it can be to photograph young kids in an unfamiliar setting. Our photographer was extremely patient with the kids, but we definitely had to temper our expectations. I’m anxious to see how they’ll turn out.

Just hanging out at the house

We had tons of fun just all being under one roof. The kids played a ton of Just Dance on the Switch, with most of them not being able to beat Dax, their 4-year-old cousin. Throughout the day we ate and drank well, played lots of games, laughed, relaxed, and just enjoyed having everyone together.

Sadly, the end of the week, and Phase 2, came all too soon, and I had to say farewell to two of my siblings as they ventured home. We all packed up our things and headed out, towards the next phase of our trip: Ocean City, Maryland.

Balderrama’s Back East – Phase 1: New York

Romey

After months of waiting, my girls and I are on our long-awaited trip to meet up with family back East. This post covers our first leg of the trip: Binghamton, NY.

We booked the flight with Frontier Airlines, which is always more than you’ve bargained for. In this case, our departing flight got rebooked twice and had us leaving Denver before 7am. This resulted in our original airport shuttle being canceled, and the other airport shuttle moved us up another hour. The girls and I had to be out of the house by 2:30am. We luckily got on the shuttle and got to the airport in time. We were grateful for the extra hour, as the DIA security line wrapped all the way to baggage claim. We made it to our flight, although bleary-eyed.

We got into Binghamton and got picked up by Tony, my brother-in-law, and spent the rest of Wednesday getting settled and acclimated to our new home for the next few days.

For me, this was also a working trip, so I spent the day working remotely during Phase 1, while my daughters went out and enjoyed parts of Binghamton. Everyone spent Thursday at Animal Adventure Park and seeing different animals. Clara and her cousin, Sonia, got to hold some parrots. The girls also witnessed a first-hand lesson on turtle procreation.

On Friday we took in a little Americana by watching a Double-A baseball between the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and the Somerset Patriots. During the 7th inning, a massive rainstorm moved in and despite only lasting about twenty minutes, flooded out the field. The teams concluded the conditions were too dangerous to keep playing and called the game. However, they proceeded with an amazing fireworks show that actually made up for a canceled July 4th display from the prior week.

Our last full day in Binghamton was spent at Beer Tree Brew, where they had a cute craft fair and some great food. There’s a slow stream near the brewery where the girls waded and swam – the perfect way to cool off during a hot and humid day!

The rest of our time in Binghamton was filled with quality cousin time, play, and enjoying our family’s home and hospitality. Sunday was spent packing and heading out for Phase 2: the Poconos Mountains.

42 for my 42nd

42 for my 42nd

Romey

Today is my last day of being 41 and after celebrating my last birthday with a drum cover, I decided to go back to biking to mark the completion of my 42nd year on Earth.

Back in 2020, I rode 39 miles for my 39th birthday. For this year, I marked the occasion by adding three miles. While I rode to Greeley in 2020, I opted to stay in town and do some laps around Windsor using the Poudre River Trail and the other great bike trails here in Windsor. Many great bike trails fell victim to our rainy June, but I was certain of the Windsor trail conditions. I also wanted to invite friends to join me, and figured people might be willing to join me for part of the ride if they didn’t have to worry about getting there and back.

A map of Windsor, Colorado, showing a bike route imposed on it, using red lines, along the trail, forming a connected shape.

I rode the “Windsor Loop” three times today, which spans about 13 miles each time. I also rode an additional 3 miles to meet up with my friends and back home. In the end, I rode 43.1 miles.

I departed my house at 7am and headed up to meet my friends Brett, Joanna, and Julia. With the highs in the upper 80’s, we were anxious to start early and beat the heat as much as possible. We headed out and started our first loop around Windsor, then stopped at Windsor Lake Coffee, where we met up with Shannon and her son. We did our second loop around Windsor, ending at my house to change my GoPro battery and re-apply sunscreen. Our final lap consisted of riding the Windsor Loop in the opposite direction, with me doing the last 1.5 miles on my own.

I got to capture a few fun pictures of the day:

Finally, I played with my GoPro’s Timelapse mode and constructed a video of part of the ride. There were certain points when the battery died, as well as times when the camera mount slouched toward the road, but it does a great job showcasing some of the great trails in my community!

Overall, I’m very blessed to be able to ride as far as I did, along with such amazing company along the journey. Here’s to 42!

Photographing the Pamlico Sound at FoCoMX

Photographing the Pamlico Sound at FoCoMX

Romey

Last month I was lucky enough to both play and see some amazing bands at the Fort Collins Music Experiment – FoCoMX. Due to my single dad duties, I was only able to go on Friday – the night that I played. Playing obviously entails packing my gear before and after, it really limited my ability to get out and see some other bands that night. Unfortunately, I was only able to photograph three acts.

One of those acts was The Pamlico Sound, a funk band that I subbed in for a short time before my daughters were born. In following that band, it’s been inspiring to watch them resolve their issues and transform themselves into a staple in the Northern Colorado funk scene.

They performed in front of New Belgium Brewing Company, an awesome outdoor space! The shade and shadows made for a bit of a challenge, but I hope I captured the gist of the energy that was there.

Great job, Pamlico Sound!