John's Adventures

A Day at the Races

2005-06-18T00:43:00.000-04:00

We woke up Saturday morning to weather that I expected: cool temperatures, clouds, and rain. This was the weather that JimmyG had hoped for during the race. He was awake a couple hours earlier then me, but he had to run The Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon and I did not.

After breakfast I looked up the route for the race on-line so that Julie and I could go yell at him if he passed by. We arrived at our first vantage point very early. The people who were competing with hopes of actually winning hadn't even passed by yet. They came and went, and still JimmyG was nowhere to be seen. It might have been 45 minutes later that JimmyG ran by. Julie was so bored by the time he came that she forgot to take his picture.

We then drove over to another vantage point. This one was swarming with mosquitoes. Thankfully, I didn't spend much time here. After a few minutes JimmyG ran by, and I managed to take a picture - Julie didn't have her camera this time.

We then drove over to the finish line area to wait for him to catch up to us again. Right before the finish line is a fairly big hill. Most of the runners said it would be a tough hill to run up after a short race, but this was right about the 26 mile mark of a race that goes 26.2 miles. It took longer then expected for JimmyG to get to the finish line, but he finally made it. He clocked in at 4 hours and 21 minutes. He was the first finisher of the Nations Capital Chapter of the Leukemia Team in Training group. Understandable, he looked like he'd been hit by a truck.

We dropped JimmyG off at his hotel to rest while we wandered around Anchorage for the day. I wanted to stop by REI to rent a camp stove after United Airlines took offense to the one I had packed (I've since checked the TSA web site and you can travel with these if you leave the gas can at home, I left the gas at home). I also wanted to stop by the public lands building, and if time allowed, check out the Northern Lights show.

REI was a snap and we were off to the public lands building. We watched a few short videos about Alaska, and checked out their small museum. I then printed off a contour map for the hike we would be taking in a few days. We then walked a couple blocks to the arts center for the Northern Lights show. It turned out to be a movie that briefly discussed the science behind it, and then a lot of film was consumed with footage of it from points in the vicinity of Anchorage. Pretty cool to watch. Made me with I was there at a time of year that it actually gets dark enough to see the Northern Lights.

We now met up with JimmyG and the other runners for the post race party. Again, this was free dinner, but it had an expensive cash bar (beer cost $4, might as well be in DC or Baltimore). After dinner, a group of us went for a bar crawl. We caught sunset at about 11:50 from a rooftop bar, and then finished drinking at about 1 AM.

Views of Denali

2005-06-17T23:48:00.000-04:00

We woke up fairly early on our first full day in Alaska. It was a bright and sunny morning. The only thing planned for this day was dinner with The Team in Training people at 4 in the afternoon. Julie turned on the TV and switched the channel that advertises things to do around Anchorage. One of the advertisements was for a lodge up in Talkeetna. The lodge was built on a hill overlooking the town, but it also had a pretty good view of Mt. McKinley.

Julie and I had discussed hanging around Anchorage this day, but after seeing this ad I suggested taking a roadtrip to Talkeetna. We picked up JimmyG at his hotel and I suggested driving up to Talkeetna. He was game because he hoped he would get to see Mt. McKinley while in Alaska and this seemed to be his best chance.

We started driving north. The scenery is pretty good most of the time. Once north or Anchorage you drive past a lot of snow-covered mountains. Then you get an area between two mountain ranges (Chugach to the south and Alaska to the north). At this point you begin to see Mt. McKinley. Still way off in the distance though.

After about 2 hours you get to the road to Talkeetna. We discussed visiting Talkeetna for a few minutes to see what was there before heading to the lodge for lunch so I drove right by the driveway to the lodge. Just after passing the lodge the road began to go down a hill, but smack in front of you is Mt. McKinley. I pulled into a parking area to get a good look thinking this would be the best view I would have.
The three of us posed for several pictures. There were lots of other tourists and one old wood carver. His wood carvings were intersting, but we left the parking lot without buying any.

The town of Talkeetna is small and easily visited in a couple hours. We went into several stores where we bought postcards and Julie bought some jams to bring home to friends.

JimmyG wandered over to a store with a model airplane in front. I joined him there and found that he was discussing an airplane ride around Mt. McKinley. Julie joined us and immediately expressed her interest in taking the tour. I had never done anything like that before and really never thought I would do something like that, but I also am not someone that will back out and cause others to not have the ride.

We signed on for the ride. The trip was scheduled to begin at noon and go for 2 hours. Perfect timing. That would get us back to Anchorage right about 4 for the dinner.

We drove out to the Talkeena airport. All small planes. One or two propellers. Ours was this little orange one. Not much room in it. You could probably get 6 small people in, but it would be a tight squeeze. JimmyG sat in the way back, Julie had the middle pair of seats to herself, and I rode shotgun. My seating was uncomfortable. While I had some legroom, I didn't want to use it because there were flight controls all around me and I wanted no part of touching one and causing trouble.

The ride was incredible though. The pilot taxied down to the runway, and then got the little plane accelerating. He then jiggled the steering wheel and the plane nosed down so that the back wheel left the ground. Then he pulled the wheel toward him and the plane left the ground. I've been in a lot of airplanes, but this was a lot of fun. Usually I would take a nap while flying, but not this time.

The tour took us from Talkeetna to the Alaska Range. We passed over some rivers and a glacier on our way. When got up to the mountains, and then flew over some and around those taller then 10,000 feet (this plane should not go above that because of thin air for breathing). We then passed over base camp for the mountainers climbing the various peaks in the area. During the tour I picked out a group climbing one of the smaller mountains. We also got a close up view of Mt. McKinley.

Towards the end of the tour we flew along a glacier and out over a meadow with little rivers and lakes. While passing over one of lakes our pilot said that he usually sees moose down there. Sure enough, he pointed to what he said was a moose. He then radioed back to the airport that he was leaving Moose Meadows and heading back in. From a few hundred feet I guess it could have been a log positioned there so that all of the tours get to see a moose.

Anyway, the tour was complete and worth the $175. If I get back I would do it again, and I would opt for landing at base camp to wander around for a few minutes in the fresh air.

We then headed back to Anchorage. The air conditioner in the car didn't work, and with temperatures in the mid-80's I was sweaty. I didn't expect to be sweating up there but I sure was. We made it back to Anchorage at about 5 PM, but still had time to eat the free dinner.

Off to Alaska

2005-06-16T17:10:00.000-04:00

This is the first part of a series on my vacation to Alaska. I am backdating each post to the date covered by the post. There might be one or two days skipped on account of the day being somewhat boring, but I'm not sure yet. I also hope to figure out how to add pictures.

The first day of the trip of course is the airplane ride. We (myself and Juliana) got up early and made our way to Reagan National Airport. We both had extra luggage because of our planned trip. Not only would we be doing some of the standard tourist stuff, but we also planned some hiking that included an overnight backpack trip into the woods.

Included in my gear was my camp stove. Not really a stove, but more of a pot for boiling water that can then be used to rehydrate a dehydrated meal. This thing is called a JetBoil, and is able to boil water very quickly due to design.

Well, to shorten a long story I'll just say that United Airlines didn't like the JetBoil. In fact, the suggestion of the lady at the counter was that I should throw it in the trash. Crap, that thing cost me $70 and I haven't had my full use of it yet. I argued and she told me to discuss it with the TSA guys who would scan my luggage. They checked it out and had no problem with it so I stuffed it back in my checked baggage.

After passing through security we had some time to kill. While reading the newspaper we were paged to return to the United counter. I approached the gate area and found out that United still didn't like my JetBoil. In fact they had such a strong dislike for it that they threatened to remove me and my luggage from the flight. I of course protested that TSA inspected it and said it was ok to go on the plane.

At this point the gate area supervisor approached. He gave me a story about how I would not be able to fly if they could not locate my bag and remove it from the plane to remove the JetBoil. I don't know about you, but what's the problem with me riding on the plane if you already have my luggage on the plane that contains something you find offensive. I had enough sense not to go vocal with those words at the instant in question. I just stared blankly at them.

A second later, the supervisor realized I had called his bluff. He suggested that he would go down to the baggage area, find my bags, and remove the JetBoil. He also said he would put the JetBoil in the baggage claim office so that when I returned it would be waiting for me. The lady working at the gate even printed out a copy of my itinerary to attach to the JetBoil so that when I asked for it they could match it by name to me.

Oh well, off to Alaska. We left Washington, DC late in the morning and got to Anchorage about 6 PM. After working our way through baggage claim and the rental car area it was about 7:30. Off to the hotel.

Anchorage has a good assortment of restaurants and beer. We were worn out and just wanted to go someplace quick and cheap. I had a book about traveling in Alaska so we consulted it for a dinner suggestion. One of the first places it lists for Anchorage is a pizzeria/brew pub named Moose's Tooth. This is quite a popular place for food and beer. There was a 30 minute wait before we could be seated, but it was worth it. We had some good pizza and drinks. Juliana went non-alcoholic and tried the root beer. I had their ESB. A nice ending to a long day.

The Adams Family

2005-06-08T20:34:00.000-04:00

No, not the creepy and spooky family. This would be the most important family in the formation of my country. Not the most important person, but the most important family.

I visited the Adams National Historic Park today. I did the touristy thing and started at the National Park Service Visitors Center. There I watched part of a generic video on the Revolutionary War, and when I became bored with that I bought a $5 ticket to see the houses where John Adams, and his son John Quincy Adams were born. These were small farm homes for people who were not rich, but were gaining wealth. From there I boarded a bus and was taken to "Peacefield." This was the house that John and Abigail (his wife) bought when they were returning from England. This was a much bigger house, but still not quite as large as some of the mansions they became accustomed to living in Europe for a few years. The tour bus then took me back to the visitor center.

This was worth doing. The first location was nice to see with the two houses sitting exactly where they had been built in the late 1600's. Peacefield was better because the house was decorated with things the Adams family owned. The family donated the three houses and the land they sit on to the government to open to the public.

My next stop was the United First Parish Church. John Adams died in 1826 and was buried in the cemetery across the street. John Quincy Adams had his mothers and fathers bodies moved to tombs within the church. After the death of John Quincy and his wife, Louisa Catherine, there son, Charles Francis, had their bodies moved to tombs within the church as well.

Walking into the tomb was interesting. John Adams is one of the most important men of the revolution. He was part of the group that wrote The Declaration of independence. He wrote the constitution for the state of Massachusetts. His constitution for Massachusetts became the model for the constitution created for The United States of America. His Massachusetts constitution contained a bill of rights, and yes, our Bill of Rights was modeled after the one he wrote for Massachusetts.

During the war John Adams was sent to Europe to secure funding for the war. He was able to secure loans from the Dutch and France. He also helped write the Treaty of Paris to officially end the war in 1783.

After the war, John Adams served as the new nations first minister to England. He was in Europe during the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but his influence was strong enough to help form a strong federal government to stand the test of time. Under the new government John Adams was the first Vice President, and the second President. His son John Quincy was the countries sixth President.

An amazing family. For more details go to the library and read John Adams by David McCullough. I have it at home if you want to borrow it from me.

Hanging Out in Woonsocket, RI

2005-06-08T00:48:00.000-04:00

Business travel has me in Rhode Island for a quick meeting. I left home today and used Reagan National Airport for the first time. I decided to use National because the flight up here could be completed without changing planes anywhere.

I found National to be a nice change. It's not as busy as BWI. It's smaller then BWI. Economy parking is closer to the terminal. I will fly back home Friday morning and hopefully baggage claim will be faster then BWI.

Enough about that though. More interesting to most of you will be my visit to The Foxwoods Casino. Over the past few years I have been lucky enough to try out both casinos in eastern Connecticut. The Foxwoods is the better of the two if you are looking for a game of Blackjack. The Mohegan Sun Casino has constant shuffling decks of cards. I prefer to have the dealer work his/her way through a shoe and then shuffle the cards. Some people might prefer the shuffling machines working all the time, but I like the pause between shoes.

I did my usual at the table. I started out with $100. The first shoe hurt me a bit but left me with about $50. The next shoe made my evening. I finished that shoe with about $210. I had only been at the table for about 20 minutes so I colored up $100 and put it in my pocket so that I would at the worst break even. Well, the next hour went like a roller coaster. Up and down. Up and down. It was getting late and I still had $50 on the table so I decided to cash out and head for my hotel an hour away from the casino. At the end of the evening I had turned my original $100 into $150. Very typical for me.

Back Again! Maybe I'll Keep with it this Time

2005-06-08T00:36:00.000-04:00

Ok, it's been about 6 months since I gave an update. I would like to say that I've been too busy, but that's not true. It also wouldn't be true if I said there was nothing to write about. So yes, I have been busy, and some of it might have been interesting if anyone had been interested enough to check up on me.

I'll give a brief history of the last 6 months:

Meet a new girl (Juliana) in early January. Started dating her in the middle of the month. At the end of January went to Copper Mountain, Colorado for a snowboarding vacation.

In February I continued dating Juliana. I also organize a winter sports trip for the Boozehounds to Snowshoe in West Virginia.

March, April, and May passed with me spending my time with Juliana.

I've done a lot of hikes this year. Already been to Maryland Heights near Harpers Ferry, Patapsco State Park near Baltimore, Shenandoah National Park for a 3 waterfall hike, two thirds of the Billy Goat Trail in Great Falls Park, Duncan Knob in the George Washington National Forest, and False Cape State Park near Virginia Beach.

I've also done some reenactments. The first was in Alexandria, Virginia for George Washington's birthday. The second was at Drayton Hall near Charleston, South Carolina for the 225th anniversary of the siege of Charleston in 1780.

Holiday Party Gone Wrong

2004-12-23T11:39:00.000-05:00

Well, it started out innocently. The living history group I'm in decided to have a holiday party this past weekend. It was to be held in Richmond, Virginia so my hope was to get down there and back in the same evening. Had I kept to plan I would have been on my way home at about 10 PM.

As it turned out, I got to the party a bit late and immediately found that I was enjoying myself. There were a lot of good stories being told. Mostly jokes on people at the party and away from the party. Good food and a lot of alcohol too. I started out with beer and then jumped into the liquor with both feet. Later on I switched back to beer. In general I can make these changes without trouble, but this was not a normal night. Not for me at least.

After moving into the liquor drinks I started into a punch made with rum (rum is one of my favorites). Then I downed half the supply of punch made from brandy. This one tasted better then the rum punch. The brandy punch was done so I switched back to the rum punch. About this time someone suggested shots of vodka. Ok, I'm always up for a few shots of vodka. Next it was back to beer.

At this point the party was breaking up and if I was still in charge of my senses I would have left too. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking straight and the guy who hosted the party suggested going downtown to visit some bars. Off we went. I drove and parked a couple blocks from the bar.

We started up with some more beer. Had we kept up with beer I would have been ok. Unfortunately, my friend decided to switch us over to irish whiskey. After drinking that down I was positively queasy. Not to mention far and away drunk.

For some reason I decided to go for a walk. Most likely I just wanted to go out the front door for some fresh air. When I went back into the bar I couldn't find my friend. A sober guy would have just hung around waiting to see what happened. Not me though, I wandered out on the street to find my car. I'm not sure what I would have done if I found my car, but let's just say I had no business owning a car that night. Thankfully, I couldn't find it. Somehow I was able to find the bar again.

As soon as I walked back into the bar I ran into my friend. He had been outside getting sick, and wanted to get out of the neighborhood. Off we went in search of the car. Again, the car was not found. He works in the area and decided it would be a good idea to just head there to sober up and then try to find the car in the morning. Finally, I good decision.

I woke up wondering where the hell I was, but at least I wasn't wandering around the streets.

Ahh, Sweet Revenge

2004-12-16T17:26:00.000-05:00

Last night I was actually in town so I went out to Jim's Hideway in Odenton. Jim's is the bar my pool league shoots in every Wednesday night. For anyone looking for a decent bar to hang out in, it has decent food, a good beer selection, pool tables in good condition, and some nights you even get good service. By service I mean bartenders who remember who you are and what you like to drink. Nothing like going to a bar several times and the bartender has no idea who you are. Sort of makes you wonder why they chose that profession.

Anyway, the team I'm on was in first place going into last night. The team we played was in second place. We managed to only win one match last night. The first four went bad, and then I had the honor of playing the last match against a player who is way under-ranked. I'm also under-ranked, but not nearly as bad as the guy I played.

Back in May or June I played this guy. Back then he totally whipped me. It was embarrassing. I only had to win two games and he had to win four. I only got one shot at the 8-ball and managed to miss.

Last night was a totally different story. I made shots when they presented themselves, and I kept him from getting clear shots almost every time he had a turn. The result of all this was a shut out victory for me. Didn't even give him a shot at the 8-ball.

Revenge felt really good!

AMC Holiday Party and Hike

2004-12-12T21:53:00.000-05:00

My day started with some useless activity. I knew that if I did not donate some time to my mother to put up the Christmas Tree that I would soon have to answer to a higher authority. So I woke up and got to work. The tree is an older artificial thing that stands about 9 feet tall and has about a thousand branches that need to be attached to a central pole. The thing totally sucks! After a few hours with a brief pause to eat lunch I had the tree standing almost vertically and had the lights strung on it.

It was not time to head out to Bethesda, Maryland where the hiking club was having it's holiday party. I got to the party in mid-afternoon because we planned a short hike on the C&O Canal towpath prior to the actually party. Six people showed up for the hike and they immediately elected me to be the leader. I was a bit surprised by the election, but figured it wasn't that big a deal to drag a mixed crowed up and down the towpath for a couple hours. I guess a took off at too quick a pace because a bit later an older couple announced they were turning back. The rest of us pushed on and covered a few miles. We had some interesting conversations about space exploration, energy consumption, and a few historical topics. We made it back to the party for the scheduled 5 PM start and I consider my leading of the hike to have been successful even though two hikers turned back early.

The party was what you'd expect. A bunch of people interested in the environment discussed several issues while consuming food and alcohol. Some interesting events were announced, and some great stories were told. Most stories involved someone in the crowd suffering somehow on a hike in the previous year. I'll be sure to keep my watch for those things throughout this year and hopefully have a story or two to offer next year.

Back Again!

2004-12-12T21:37:00.000-05:00

It's been more then a month since I added to my blog. I've been busy with all kinds of stuff, and I will spare you the gory details. I will say that the month was interesting, and I'm sure you would like to know more, but you're not going to get it from me. Well, maybe sometime later on.

Anyway, I had a decent weekend. I stayed in Friday night because it didn't sound like anyone was going out. I also knew I had a hike to lead Saturday morning so for a change I behaved myself and got a good nights sleep before taking people into the woods. I had 11 people (not including me) interested in going on this hike. One even signed up Friday night. Come Saturday morning though only one other guy showed up. Four hikers dropped out for various reasons (all good) on Friday and then 1 called me in the morning to say he couldn't make it. I guess everyone else was sleeping off hang-overs. Shoot, at least give a guy a call if you're going to bag an event.

After the hike I wandered over to my friend Howards house. I hadn't seen Howard and his family for about 2 years. They were quite surprised to see me. As soon as I walked through the door Howard offered me a Guinness and we spent the next few hours catching up. Howard even forced me to drink some of his 25 year old Highland Park Scotch Whiskey. Damn good stuff. I don't think I've had a better whiskey!

Saturday night was spent with the Burke family. They had a holiday party at their new home in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. The evening started out slowly because there were some people hanging out that haven't been around as long as most of us have been friends. Later in the evening though we started telling some pretty good stories from the past and all of us suffered some embarrassment. The only drawback to the evening was the lack of turnout. It would have been nice if Jon and Paul had been able to make it out. Oh well, maybe next time.

Hike and Annual Meeting

2004-11-08T09:46:00.000-05:00

After the excitement on Saturday. I had fallen asleep between 4:30 and 5 AM Sunday morning. This of course means you wake up early on Sunday morning so it was with some surprise that I woke up at 9:30 AM Sunday morning. I had spent the night in Baltimore and it must have been the police cars speeding down the road with siren blaring.

Ben, Rebecca, and myself went out for breakfast where I discovered that somewhere along the way I had misplaced my ATM card. I remembered having it at Geckos because I atttempted to get cash from their machine but it didn't have much in it. After that I didn't notice it missing until breakfast. I checked my clothes from the previous night but still didn't find it. Then I checked my account and thankfully there wasn't a large amount of money missing.

Forget about it for a while. I have friends in Baltimore who might like the idea of going on tour of the bars I was in Saturday in search of the missing card (my guess is they would have enjoyed the beer more then the search though).

Instead of going on tour myself I went on a hike with the AMC's Washington DC Chapter. It was a nice 5 or 6 mile stroll along the North Branch of the Anacostia River to Lake Artemesia. We circled the lake and then wandered back down to College Park where we had dinner at the Calvert House.

We had the annual meeting last night to take care of business and socialize. The business was elections for next year and a presentation on conservation efforts by the AMC. I was confirmed as Young Members Chairman for next year, but I will be joined by Julie as Co-Chairwoman. She will continue to organize social outings and will also train to become an event leader this spring.

The social part of the evening was worthwhile too. One of the AMC staffers is interested in helping us with advertising to a wide range of other young people who like the outdoors. This is her line of work and I'm more then happy to let her handle this. It was also nice to meet some other people and discuss other place to visit.

A Big Win

2004-11-08T09:32:00.000-05:00

Saturday started out with some electrical work for Mom and Dad. A light fixture on the back of the house (outside) needed to be replaced. The new fixture is bigger then the old one so I needed to replace the mounting block on the siding as well. No big deal though, just a trip to a store and a few extra minutes removing the old and installing the new.

After this I drove up to Baltimore for a Boozehounds football game. This was to be a real test for the team. Stats guy Mike had the 'hounds ranked 28th and our opponenets 12th. The first half was interesting. We ran out of time before the half time whistle and left the field down by a score of 12- 20.

The second half was a different story. We came out and went down the field and scored to tie the game. Then we forced them to turn the ball over on downs. Then we exchanged interceptions (Brian had his first of two). We converted this interception into another touchdown to take a 28 - 20 lead. They got the ball back but this drive was stopped by Brian grabbing another interception. A 28 - 20 win to just about ensure a spot in the playoffs.

Of course we celebrated our victory in good Boozehounds style. The first stop was Geckos for food and Margueritas. Then we cleaned up a bit and met again at Castaway's for more Margueritas. Next stop was Mahaffeys for beer, shots, and car bombs (I guess every time I go to Mahaffeys it means I'll be drinking car bombs).

2004 Presidential Election

2004-11-03T13:36:00.000-05:00

It's now official and George W. Bush has been re-elected to a second term as President. I am not overjoyed by this, but I am extremely happy that John Kerry lost. I don't think GWB is a great president, and he's obviously not the smartest guy around. At the same time though, Kerry was one of the worst possible candidates the Democratic Party could have come up with.

Oh well, next time around the Republican Party will join the Democrats with the primary elections. Hopefully they will pick another candidate that can win 2 elections. And yes, GWB did win the year 2000 election.

Weekend at Yorktown

2004-10-18T11:48:00.000-04:00

This weekend I travelled to Yorktown, Virginia for a living history weekend to celebrate the last major battle of the American Revolution. The event was held at the Yorktown Victory Center. This site is not part of the national historic park, but instead is operated by the State of Virginia.

Years ago I used to attend this event annually, but it's been in the neighborhood of 10 years since I had been to it. A lot has changed over the years. The camps have been moved, there are no merchants, the games on Sunday morning don't happen (the tug-of-war between the British and the Americans was always great fun), and we didn't have a battle/skirmish.

I like most of the changes. It looks better for the public to have the opposing camps in positions that can't be seen by the other camp. In this case there was a stand of trees between us that blocked the view. I also support dropping the battle/skirmish. The site is small. The numbers of troops make the battle look a bit rediculus. Instead of having a battle we drilled and had firing demonstrations. Most people are happy to see up close how a flint lock musket works and even if you don't aim at the British troops they like to see the flames and smoke.

This weekend Steve (regiments fifer) brought a barrel to help us sleep on Saturday night. The barrel was filled with a mixture of mead and cherry brandy. He called in mandeira. I've never heard of it before, but it tasted good and those who spent the night enjoyed it.

Washington Monument State Park

2004-10-05T21:27:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday (October 3, 2004) I got my lazy self out for a hike. I did a little searching around and found a trail that exits Greenbrier State Park in western Maryland and itersects with the Appalachian Trail. Did some more looking around the Internet and found that only 3 miles south along the AT is the oldest monument built to honor the life of George Washington. This is of course within the boundaries of Washington Monument State Park.

Well off I went! I arrived at the Visitor's Center in Greenbier State Park early in the afternoon and started off. I used the Bartman Hill Trail to reach the AT. This trail is new enough that some park maps don't even include it. Most of the way the trail is easy to follow, but at times it needed more blazing because it hasn't been used enough yet to be recognizable as a trail through the woods. Anyway, it more or less goes straight up hill and doesn't waste much time with turns. The terrain is fairly rough too with many rocks and some bolder fields to keep you occupied. It is well marked at the AT though so it wasn't hard to find on my way back.

The AT portion of the hike was relaxing. The AT follows a ridgeline with some ups and downs but it never really gets steep. After a while I arrived at the Washington Monument and looked around the monument area only. It was fairly crowded at the monument so I have to assume the walk from the parking lot to the monument (sits on top of a hill) is not long.

After a few minutes with the crowd I decided it was time to go. I was somewhat disgusted with a group of bird watchers at the top of the monument. I don't mind that they were watching birds, in fact they focused on carnivorous birds and that alone is cool, but they needed to remove themselves from the top of the tower. You can climb the stairs to the top for a better view of the surrounding area, but there isn't much room at the top and when you get there to find several birdwatcher complete with binoculars, cameras, telescopes, and tripods there isn't much room for you to stand there.

Another nice walk through the woods with nobody to bother me. Even passed some nice people along the way.

A Boozehound Rescue

2004-09-20T20:05:00.000-04:00

Here are the details on my adventure of Wednesday, September 15th.

I had already been in the ocean twice that afternoon. The water was fairly rough the first time out with waves about 4ft high and they were fairly strong for waves of that size. There is a nice sandbar out maybe 10 yards from the beach and it's a tough swim to get to because of the rough water. I spent about an hour on the sandbar body surfing the waves. I was tired and came back to the beach to rest.

A while later I went back in and the water was much rougher. The waves didn't grow in size but they grew in strength and intensity. I was worn out after catching one wave and decided it wasn't worth the fight to catch a second wave so I swam back to the beach.

After resting for a while 2 of the women on the trip decided to go in for a swim. These were Rebecca L. and Rebecca M. I was watching a thunderstorm rage to the north. It wasn't raining where I was and I couldn't hear the thunder, but I could see lightning and rain.

I started getting myself organized to walk up to the house (I thought I was done swimming for the day). I was going about my packing up slowly and that's when I heard someone scream my name. At the time I didn't know who it was, but it wasn't a friendly scream and it was behind me (I was faced north watching the storm). I turned to the south and looked into the water.

Rebecca M. was in the water between the beach and the sandbar, but Rebecca L. was way out on the sandbar. Both had ridden south on a longshore current between the beach and sandbar. What they didn't realize though was that at some point they would meet a northbound longshore current and at that point a strong rip current would drag them east (towards open
water and Africa).

Immediately I threw off my shirt, hat and sunglasses and ran down the beach to where they were. Ben was running along beside me, and I assumed the other guys were following along behind. I dove into the water first and reached Rebecca M. She wasn't happy with her situation, but I knew going in that Rebecca L. was not going home with us if I stopped to save Rebecca M. The other three guys on the trip (Ben, Mike, and John C.) struggled with her, but eventually were successful.

I used the rip current to my advantage and reached Rebecca L quickly. Everyone on the beach was amazed at how quickly I got out that far. Part of it is my swimming ability, but most of it was the strength of the current. I now have to fight against this current for survival.

Surprisingly, Rebecca L. was not panicked. She was scared, and relieved that I had been able to get out so quickly. Upon reaching her I realized just how bad things were though. The waves had grown to about 6 feet tall, and were coming in on us in a set of 3. I fought the current until I was able to stand again. Now the sandbar would be my ally. I walked the two of us up the landward edge of the sandbar and attempted to swim back to the beach. No luck, I was too worn out to swim for both of us and at this point she wasn't much help. Back to the sandbar.

The sandbar wasn't all that friendly either. Each time the set of waves came in the water would knock us down and then sweep us back out to sea where I would have to fight the current to regain the sandbar. After several of these episodes I began to wonder how I would ever get back to the beach.

On the beach a crowd was beginning to form. I saw several people jump in the water attempting to reach us with boards of different sorts but so far nobody was able to cross to the sandbar. Part of me hoped one would make it, but at the same time I wasn't sure what I would do with a third person to keep above water.

Through all of this Rebecca never left my side. From the time I reached her I kept a tight grip on her hand and several times held her close to me to help her stay above water. One time after the set knocked us about she used me to stay above water, but the downward pressure she used to stay up kept me under for quite a while.

We'd been there for a while (I have no sense of how much time elapsed from scream to safe arrival on the beach). I knew the sandbar to the north extended for a while, but I had no idea how far the sandbar stretched to the south. Also, because I didn't have time to think about the rescue attempt before jumping into the water, I didn't know how wide the rip current was. The general rule for getting out of a rip current is to go to the side and you will get out of it. In this case I didn't know which side I was closest to, but I did know that I had a level sandbar to the north.

Rebecca was willing to give it a try so we started walking north. We never made it out because the set of waves came through and knocked us about again. We tried again, and again met with the same result. Now I was really beginning to wonder how this adventure would end. I knew I
could not get both of us off the sandbar, but I was sure I could get myself off. At the same time though how do you abandon someone you just gave so much hope to?

Again the set destroyed us and I had to fight the current to get back to my previous position on the sandbar.

At some point Mike decided he had watched long enough and made another attempt at swimming out to us. He took a bogie board from a family that was on vacation and started out with conviction. He says he just felt like he'd seen enough and wanted to get something that would float even better then me out there. I saw him in the water, and he wasn't far away.

He made it out to the sandbar and now I transferred Rebecca to the bogie board. I held onto the side. Stupidly I didn't keep standing and right away we were swept back out to sea. With Mikes help this time we got back to the sandbar, and this time I planted my feet. When the set came through we fought our way back to the sandbar. Sometimes I lost my grip and had to swim back to the board, but it was more or less restful.

Again, I have no idea how much time passed, but after a while we heard sirens approaching. Sure enough a rescue team had been called. They drove up the beach and launched a power boat in the surf. They had trouble seeing us in the rough water, but after several passes they pulled up along side and Rebecca was loaded. They came by again and I climbed in. Now it was only Mike in the water, but he was attached to the bogie board.

The boat went straight for the beach and a rescue swimmer swam out to Mike to help him get back to the beach.

That's about it. We drank a large amount of the Atlantic Ocean. She was bruised a bit. All made it out safely.

Outter Banks, NC

2004-09-20T19:55:00.000-04:00

The Baltimore Boozehounds went on vacation to Rodanthe on the Outter Banks. We rented the Sea Peck (or Sea Pecker) for a week of playing on the beach and drinking a lot of whatever we could get our hands on.

It's a decent drive from Maryland without the added fun of a bridge being closed. Somehow, a boat captain had crashed his boat into the last bridge I need to cross to get to Rodanthe. Word was passed from car to car down the line that it would be at least an hour before it could be determined if the road was safe to drive on.

Ok, what do you do now? Well, if you're me you wander around aimlessly for a few minutes, then you stretch out in the road for a nap. After all, it was dark and if cars started to drive past me I figured the noise would wake me up.

Someone had other plans for me though. I was awakened by an older man looking for a cell phone to borrow. He just wanted to warn people waiting for him that it might be a while before he made it to the house. Oh well, I had been asleep for more then half and hour and a few minutes after the gentleman left the bridge was opened to traffic.

We spent the week doing exactly as planned. During the day we played on the beach and in the surf. There were several games of football, volleyball, and horseshoes. At night we had bonfires and fireworks on the beach with an assortment of beverages. Our last night we went to bed at about 2 AM and that was the earliest any of us saw our eyelids for the whole week.

I had an adventure on Wednesday. There were several other players involved and the details of this adventure will be given in my next post.

America's Stonehenge

2004-09-20T19:46:00.000-04:00

On the last day of the trip to New Hampshire we stopped for a quick visit of America's Stonehenge. We had about an hour to kill before going to the airport and Ben found this place on the map near the town of Salem, NH. It turns out this is where the oldest known man made structures in the country are found. Some of the artifacts date to about 4,000 years ago.

We enjoyed the hike up the the site, and the self guided tour through the ancient village was interesting too. We completed the short hike and tour in about an hour and enjoyed it. We skipped the introductory film so I can't comment on it.

White Mountains Hike

2004-09-20T19:26:00.000-04:00

In the first week of September I went up to New Hampshire to hike for 3 days in the Presidentail Range. My friend Ben came with me on this trip. We both flew from Baltimore to Manchester, NH and then drove up to North Conway. Parts of this trip were paid for using my loyalty programs. I travel a lot for work so the hotel room on the first and last nights were free curtesy of Holiday Inn, and the rental car was reduced by $200 curtesy of American Express.

We hiked up the Crawford Path and then over to the Mitzpah Springs Hut on the first day. We had reservations at the hut so we dropped the heavy packs and then hiked over to Mt. Jackson. The next day we hiked north along the ridge visiting Mt. Pierce, Eisenhower, Franklin, and Monroe before arriving at the Lakes of the Clouds Hut.

The weather was deteriorating throughout the day and it was supposed to be worse the next day so we left the heavy packs at the hut and hiked to the summit of Mt. Washington. The summit was completely surrounded by clouds and the wind gusts were in 50 mile per hour range. Nasty up there, but at least it wasn't raining.

The next morning we woke up to worse weather at the hut. We already had plans to hike down to Mt. Eisenhower and then down to the car we had parked at the end of the Edmands Path. We started off hiking through rain, fog, and high winds. We were making good time though.

Ben took a picture of me that day. I usaully wear my shorts 360 days a year. In this picture, I'm wearing full length long pants with a rain/wind proof shell, a rain/wind proof jacket, and a wool hat. I considered wearing gloves too, but talked myself out of it. Anyway, it got a lot warmer when we reached the tree line and not much later I was removing the outer layers.

The rest of the hike was uneventful, and we made it down to the Muddy Moose in North Conway for cheeseburgers!

Getting Started

2004-09-20T17:49:00.000-04:00

This is my first post, and hopefully will serve as a quick introduction.

I'm John and I'm 34 years old. For work I am a Project Manager for a large technology company. I worked my way up from Computer Technician to Network Administrator to Senior Consultant, and now I lead technical projects. For the most part, this my employment.

The rest of my life is much better (and hopefully yours is too!). I leave work and mostly enjoy the outdoors. I go hiking frequently. I am a Revolutionary War re-enactor. I'm involved with team sports and play for the Baltimore Boozehounds of the Baltimore Sports and Social Club.

Anyway, that's me. Work hard and play hard.

Have Fun,
John