An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors

I recently listened to a podcast where the son of internationally famous negotiator and bestselling author Herb Cohen described his father's stories from his Brooklyn childhood. In particular, he was impressed with the colorful characters who populated those stories. Herb's son said,  "I grew up with stories. It was very romantic and exciting for me ’cause I grew up outside of Chicago, very suburban. And when I talked about my friends on my block, they were Todd, Mark, Dennis, Jamie, Chris. When my father talked about his friends on his block, they were Inky, Sheppo, Hoo-ha, Gutter Rat, who was called that even by his own mother, ..." I smiled when I heard that, since my Brooklyn childhood friends include The Curl, Penaldo,  Goonobs and his younger brother Junior Goo, along with four Greek brothers, two whom went by their Greek nicknames, Kostaiykee (my transliteration) and Dmitri, while the other two were The Elder Statesman and The Walrus. The group of us formed a c...

I launched my kayak from Mason Neck with two goals: (1) since it was lotus blossom season, to visit the grove of lotuses (can an area of water flowers be called a grove?) I discovered last year, and (2) to get in a ten mile paddle. It's hard for me to believe, but it's mid-July and I have neither broken ten miles on a paddle nor practiced rolling this year. Sheesh. Anyway, I succeed in my first goal, but there were so many distractions that I didn't nearly achieve the second (according to Strava my trip totaled 7.1 miles).  There's not much to say about Mason Neck that I haven't said before, so this post will be mostly pictures. Mason Neck remains my favorite local place to paddle. The big, open bay, the birds in the wildlife refuge, the easy launch - all great.  On this trip I didn't head across Belmont Bay towards the Occoquan (and therefore didn't check on my geocache). Rather, I followed the shoreline with the goal of heading to the lotuses and then out ...