An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors

I have a goal for 2015 of getting back into road biking. While I hate to wade into a sport with more sectarian schisms than Iraq and see no reason to spend as much on a bike as I did on my first three cars combined (which can easily be done once you venture into the land of carbon fiber construction and shift-by-wire derailleurs), the fact of the matter - as Cyndi points out - is that there are a lot of places to explore in the world that aren't on the water. I got an start on my 2015 riding by doing the Arlington Loop today. After spending the morning of what was forecast to be the last day of a late December warm spell doing chores and paperwork I decided I just needed to get out and take advantage of the weather. It took me a while to get everything together: bike tires inflated, proper clothing, proper layering for the weather, helmet, phone, various braces in case my knee or foot gave out. Finally I headed out the door, and as I did it started raining. Fortunately the moder...

There's a section in the book The Boys in the Boat, a book about the U.S. 1936 Olympic crew team,where author Daniel James describes George Pocock's switch from Spanish cedar to western red cedar as a shell-building material. In fact, he waxes rhapsodic about the wood, describing it as "a kind of wonder wood" that is "light and buoyant", "easy to shape", "strong but flexible", "highly resistant to rot" with a "lovely scent". It was exactly this section which played when I switched the audio book version on in my car on the way home from Indian Head. I smiled, my arm resting on the western red cedar paddle I had just used on the day's kayak outing and had carved myself earlier this year. As I listened I felt a particularly strong connection to the words of the book and to the long-departed Pocock himself. The kayak launch could use some maintenance Tall Tom and I took advantage of some splendid December weathe...

I try to get out in my kayak at least once every month of the year. The deep winter months of December, January and February can present a challenge for kayaking - busy schedules, polar vortex temperatures, and ice bound rivers. November isn't usually a problem, but thanks to a succession of minor medical maladies and just a busy schedule I have been off the water since late October. Today, just in the nick of time I managed to get in a November paddle, thanks to Deke and his cleverly named WASUP-DOCK (Washington Area Stand Up Paddleboarders - District of Columbia Kayaker) Meetup group. The unusually warm weather helped too. I signed up for a trip  around the "toe of the boot" of the Mason Neck/Pohick peninsula but at the last minute almost didn't make it. One of my current maladies is a sore back - I think I injured myself hauling musical gear to Friday night's gig. Bending down and lifting is a problem when I injure my back and when I went to take my kayak off...

The Honda Odyssey is not normally an inspiring vehicle. The utilitarian soccer mom minivan does not leave one longing for cruising the open road, or romance, or anything like that. But today I was following one up the twisty road out to Fountainhead Regional Park. As it drove along it kicked up a blizzard of leaves, which were then kept aloft by the wind. It was like being in a snowstorm of autumn. An almost magical feeling. I'm a fall foliage junkie and one of my regular outings is to kayak at Fountainhead Park, which is one of the better local foliage spots. Jim Z,. had organized a CPA foliage paddle but I missed it because of the Tourette's walk, so the next morning I opted to launch on my own from Fountainhead. The way the wind was blowing the leaves around should actually have been a tip-off to me. When I got out of my car at the park I realized it was WINDY. I later looked it up and the online reports showed the winds were gusting over 30 MPH when I went ou...

On Saturday Valerie and I went for a strenuous hike in the woods. Take a moment. Read that sentence again. And again. Now read this one: On Saturday I went to a Bar Mitzvah celebration at the home of Abu Bakr al-Bagdhadi, the leader of ISIS. Which sentence surprised you more? Well, the fact that this hike happened and was in fact a big a success proves that anyone can change, so maybe there's hope for ol' Abu yet. The circumstances were a visit to Ted down at JMU. His college sits in the Shenandoah Valley and it was pretty close to peak foliage season so we decided that as our big activity Saturday we'd do some leaf peeping. To tell you the truth, I had set the bar low in terms of what we were going to do - stop at a couple of overlooks, do a short hike up a fire road and then turn back. After an unexpectedly delicious breakfast at Ted's favorite breakfast place and a quick stroll through the Harrisonburg farmer's market we headed for ...

After Henry left for home I headed out to catch up with a kayaking weekend already in progress. A group of my kayaking friends had rented a quirky old house (formerly owned by actress Linda Lavin!) in the sleepy seaside town of Chincoteague, VA. They had all arrived on Friday. By the time I got there on Saturday evening the group had finished paddling for the day and everyone was well into dinner preparation and tequila ingestion. I unloaded my stuff and carted it up to the room I was sharing with Rob P. Like any good old Victorian house this one had been cobbled together and expanded over the years, and so to get to our room you went through the laundry room, turned right, then climbed the curving back stairs to a room over what I think was at one time a garage. Nice view of the water, plenty of room. I came back downstairs and joined the party just in time for a dinner of fresh local flounder.  Lavinder House   It had been a grey drizzly day and the evening too ...

My brother came for an all too rare visit this past week. Thursday was a nice crisp fall day and so we headed out to Harpers Ferry, WV. I figured I'd give the Brooklyn boy a drive in the country, a glimpse at some early fall foliage, and a taste of the Civil War history that is so pervasive in our area. Our first stop in town was the historic confectionery shop. It's not just a candy store; it's a candy museum! The place has candy arranged by historic era and was staffed by a VERY enthusiastic woman who was happy to (couldn't have been prevented from?) tell us the history of candy as class struggle, international trade force, etc. Henry bought some bourbon chocolates. I like a museum where you can eat the exhibits. From there we wandered up through town, continuing uphill towards Bolivar. Beyond the historic park area it's a pretty little town with some nice old houses. But hilly. When we had had enough of strolling uphill we started back down, stopping...