An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors

Many, many kayaks SK102 is The Chesapeake Paddlers Association's annual skills training event down at Lake Anna. I attended this event in 2001 as a student and, if Brian's records are right, in 2005 as an instructor. In addition, one year I trespassed on Saturday night to join in the bonfire and add accordion music to the festivities. In any case, when I volunteered to instruct this year it was a return after a long absence. The event is an awesome gathering in many ways, perhaps most amazingly because it is held at someone's house - yes, a pair of CPA members have for each of the last fifteen years opened their property to 150 strangers for a group campout and skills weekend. My biggest concern wasn't my ability to teach, anything about camping, or even getting there on a Friday through the inevitable traffic. Rather, I was concerned about instruments. Having just this past year put hundreds of bucks into undoing years of accordion abuse I was a little leery o...

It had been a lousy week and I was ready for a break. It seemed that everyone was mad at me. Work was driving me crazy. Our favorite pet lizard had died. So I let out a great sigh of relief when I finally - later than planned, due to delays caused by traffic, lizard interment, etc. - hit the road to the Great Dismal Swamp. I've long loved that name as well as the history of the place. George Washington was party to business ventures here, and during the Civil War it was a hideout for both the Underground Railroad and Confederate guerrillas. Park Closed?!? I made the trip without incident, though was a little dismayed when I arrived at the parking area to find signs saying the park was closing at sunrise Friday for an event. I noticed a hand-written sign in the window of Suzanne's car saying that we had received permission to park there - so I guessed that Suzanne and Steven had already worked things out. I packed my boat and headed into "the ditch" ...

Coming Out of Slaughterhouse I know that my friend Cyndi is both a Facebook lurker and a wing paddle aficionado and so it was no surprise when my recent mention of having purchased a wing paddle drew an immediate comment from her. This led to some emails and somehow to a plan to go explore the mountain bike trails at Laurel Hill Park . Dave, Cyndi and I met at the main parking lot. Cyndi arrived, as warned, sick as a dog, coughing, wheezing, and looking a little less than her usual robust self. "Great," I thought, "I might actually be able to keep up with them today." For you see, Cyndi is a gifted athlete who can humble most people in any number of activities, and Dave is not far behind (see the photo above - Dave is not far behind Cyndi). For better or for worse, any hopes of speed equity I might of had were dashed as soon as we started moving. I'm still something of a mountain biking newbie and as I tentatively started down the single-track Cyndi disap...