Camping...second weekend in a row!

This last Friday I went camping...yes second week in a row and it was some good stuff! Largely in part of the food that we had. I swear everything tastes better when it is cooked in the fire...you could even cook some weavels in a fire and it would taste good. We only hiked in a mile from the car but with all our gear it worked out a'ight. We got there with an hour to go before sundown. We pitched our tent and gathered some wood to start the fire. Cassie made these tinfoil dinners that were absolutely money. After that, we made rolls that we roasted on sticks, banana boats and peach cobbler. Yeah, we ate like kings. We then crashed into my 1.5 capacity Spooner Sooner tent and went to bed. We arose to the sound of a symphony of birds at seven. We started another fire and cooked our breakfasts. These things were so tasty...better than the dinner. They had taters, sausage and eggs with cheese on top. I can say without hyperbole that this was the best I have ever had. We then packed up our things and headed home. Being down in the commonwealth, I had to stop off at Wegmanns to get four, count em, four boxes of donut holes. The camping was some good stuff and I'm halfway thinking about going for the turkey...three weekends in a row!

After getting home, it was such a nice day out that I had to get out. I met up with Destiny and we went for a bike ride down Rock Creek. We did the whole trail...about 25 miles. We ended up in Georgetown from Rockville and stopped off at Trader Joes and got some Ben and Jerry's ice cream as we pounded the whole thing as we sat in a park. I didn't even feel guilty one bit for eating that huge thing. Biking back I was feeling it a bit but I'd do it again if I had the chance!

Tonight I went to this presentation/screening/roundtable at the REI store here in Rockville. I bought these tickets expecting to see more of a movie but it turned out to be more of a presentation. But this thing was money. This guy, Chris Warner, is known throughout the world as one of the better high altitude climbers. He talked about his experience climbing K2 last summer where NBC filmographers filmed he and his crew going up the mountain. They were up there with many people from all over the world. Many summitted as it was the highest number of people that summitted in one year, all did it in one day. He talked about bad weather, death, lack of food, greed, deceit, heroics, personal accomplish, style and so much more made this an incredible story to hear. It reminded me of climbing Kili in 2006 and how I want to get back on a mountain...hopefully Elbrus!

This ain't no petting zoo!

So this last weekend, I went camping out on Assateague Island. Yeah, I too thought that this was a cuss word until I moved out here. This is a skinny island off the coast of Maryland where you can camp on the beach. Yes, camp on the bizzeach. I booked a spot last month and have been looking forward to it ever since. Everyone in my original group bailed on me but that didn't slow me down. I went out with some other peeps that alreay going to be in Ocean City and staying in a hotel. I was able to pull a few and get them to camp on the beach. Another cool thing about this little gem is that there are wild horses that roam the island freely. Okay, so maybe they're called stallions. I actually tamed one, road it bareback along the soft sands of the beach, as I rode shirtless. Okay, so maybe that's a stretch but these horses were everywhere. Being a National Park, I felt like I was back in Yellowstone looking for grizzly bears as I did for so many summers growing up. This place was off the food chain. I've already got my next tripped planned out there where you can rent canoes and canoe back into this canoe-only campground further down the island. After cruising the island, we went back to Ocean City and I went for a long run along the boardwalk and checked out all the trash in Ocean City...and I'm not talking about litter. After the Thrasher's Fries, we were off and back to DC.

Kickin it Family Style

So this last weekend, my dad and Rebecca came out to spend a weekend together, DC style. My dad hadn't been here in close to two years so it was good to see him and so he could get a sense of what DC is like for me. We spent quite a bit of time downtown as you can see here as we caught the tail end of the cherry blossoms.

The next day, my dad rented a bike and the two of us hit up the Capital Crescent Trail as we biked from Bethesda to G-town and over through Rosslyn. It was some sweet nectar as I always love getting on a bike.

My dad then ran into Hilary and convinced to get in a photo with her and her pant-suits.

Doing the standard cherry blossom pose along the Tidal Basin. This was like the best tree as the blossoms were slowly floating away.

Taking a quick snooze as Rebecca gets her shop on at Anthropology in G-town. Not the funnest thing to do....I'm not gonna lie.

One of the bonuses when two visitors come out to visit me is that we all get to cram into my truck. With my dad and my sister, it makes for a tight fit. The best way to rig it is to have my dad drive and needless to say it was not fun tooling around DC in that small of space but hey, we're family right?

We hit up 2 Amys for some kind pizza of course, donut and a hole...I already ate the hole!

Here we are kicking in in Chinatown after our money dinner at Indeblue. We all had some kind grub but when my dad ordered the pan-seared tuna, we were a little surprised. When the food came, he looked at it and wondered why it wasnt cooked all the way through. The server was nice and offered to cook it all the way through. Needless to say, it was still money in the cash bank.

Here we are kickin outside talking to Colton getting the skinny.

Here Rebecca is doing what she does best...being a tool as she asked for photos every other minute. But I guess I am used to it after these years.

When all the dust settled, it was a great weekend and was glad we could all kick it. Ever if I had to wake up at 4:30 this morning to take Rebecca to Dulles and my dad to BWI and squeeze in a full days work. You know I'm going to sleep like a Siberian minx. Click on Rebecca's link to get another perspective on the weekend:

http://www.ruby30.blogspot.com/

A Long Long Saturday

The alarm goes off at five in the morning yesterday as I struggle to wake up and turn it off.

Yesterday, I was all about soaking in all what living in a fun city has to offer. I must admit that living in the DC area has its perks. I love the area and love all the exciting things there are to do around here. So yesterday was a day in which I was able check out the city and participiate in some of its activities. It started off bright and early to the tune of 5:00 in the marnin'. I got up this early because I signed up to run the National Half Marathon. I did this last year, and this race is somewhat special because it really was the first race that I ran in my short running career exactly one year ago. So I ran it with two of my buddies, Lyle and Gerald whom I met while working at my last job. The weather called for sunrise temps in the high 20's so I packed my thermals but did not use them. It was a clear morning but definitely brisk. The atmosphere was electric as runners prepared for the race to start. I felt like I could have trained a little better for this race but I had a goal in mind of 1:50. Just walking around prior to the race I was reminded why I love running so much. We were all set and crossed the starting line. All three of us disbanded within a quarter mile of the start. The first few miles were pretty packed with people as I felt like a was bobbin' and weavin' across the asphalt. Again, I was reminded why I love running as I chose not to listen to my ipod as I could hear the pounding of the soles hit the asphalt on a cool brisk morning. The first few miles were of this course were great. Running along quaint neighborhoods by the Capitol, passing the Library of Congress and Supreme Court, the US Capitol, the Washington Monument and along the mall for a mile or so. Then through some great parts of downtown as we plowed through Dupont Circle and on to Adams Morgan. Again, I was reminded of why I love running. About mile nine, I saw this row of port o johns with a line about ten deep. I saw this lady frantically running around these as if she were trying to break down the door to let herself in. After getting frustrated, she went around behind the port o john and in clear view of me and Im sure dozens of other runners, dropped "trou" and did her thing. Was I reminded about how much I love running....maybe not then but it was one for the books! About mile 10, I started to stagger and I knew that I was on pace to tie my record so I wanted to step it up. The last few miles were tough as I honestly thought I was going to throw up as I kept pushing it. As I got nearer and nearer, I knew that it was going to be close. I realized that I was not going to get my goal, but the possibility of beating my old PR was still possible. As I made the last turn, I was dying but had to continue strong. I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:54...one minute better than my last half but still short of my goal. I was hammered! All sweaty and temps in the 40's I was freezing but still just happy to be done. How did I ever run twice this far???

After hanging out afterwards for a bit, I left and headed downtown to fight the crowds at the annual Smithsonian Kite Festival. I had never been to see this but being on the Cultural Events Committee for church, yeah that was Cultural Events...it's a step above the Activities Committe. We organized it. There were so many people down along the mall and the whole sky was filled with kites, as shown below.

I even took a stab at flying a kite. I'd seen the Kite Runner, so I think I could handle it. I think I got the form down but it soon got tangled with another kite, not that there weren't hundreds of kites to get tangled with but whatever.

After trying to fly a kite, we walked over to check out the Cherry Blossoms, being in peak bloom. This was a mob scene! There were so many people cruisin the Basin checking them out. My one buddy, shown below, has lived here his whole life, and this was his first time seeing the blossoms in effect. (Sorry Paul) He was giddier than a schoolboy!

All this time, I was just dying to get home and rest, or shower or something. After that, I met up with my friend who rigged her 7 thousand dollar camera again for the weekend to shoot the cherry blossoms. So we cruised the Mall searching for some good photo ops. I logged another five miles just walking up and down the Mall snapping photos. We then made it to the Tidal Basin as we snapped some good shots at sunset. I unfortunately don't have any photos from that yet but, I definitely got some good ones. That camera is voice activated and it even duals as dry cleaner. It's kind of a big deal. We then wrapped it up about nine and again, I was wasted! My legs couldn't go on. We then grabbed a bite to eat at Lebanese Taverna which was less than disappointing due to bad service, a hair in my food, and a non-caring manager. I finally got home and hit the hay! All in all, it was a good day and made me feel lucky to live in such a cool city!

Feeling like a Big Dawg

So one of my friends works for the National Archives as a digital archiver. I am starting to enjoy photography more and more over the years and want to keep working on it. She digs photograhpy too so some of us went downtown the other day and did some "shooting." She was able to rig her work camera for the weekend. This is no ordinary camera. This thing maxs out at 7 Gs on Ebay. This was kind of a big deal. In many ways, this was my first day at the circus as I tried to capture some tiny morsels of photography. It was a great day but definitely on the windy side. Here are some of the shots and let me just say, all I had to do was say "shoot" and this camera could make anyone look good! The crazy looking ones were taken at the new Air Force Memorial.

Happy Birthday Jack!!! Three big ones!

Jack turns three big ones today and here is a special shout-out to my main Jack! You look fine Jack!