Where My Walk Took Me on 28 April 2014

A while ago I planned on doing this type of blog on a somewhat regular basis, but things just got too busy. I'm not promising a regular post now either, but when I can, I'll show you some pics of my lunch-time perambulations here in your Nation's Capitol.

The weather has been a touch cold this week,so I didn't want to spend a lot of time outdoors. I'm sure when it gets too hot, the same will apply. Yesterday, to stay warm, I headed over to the National Botanical Gardens, which is right across the street from the Capitol Building.

The gardens outside are starting to show some interesting blooms. Check this one out and tell me it doesn't make you think of Body Snatchers!

I liked this one because of a recent personality test that said my inner color is yellow. Like my friend Anya, I'm not overly fond of the color yellow - it's typically such a weak color - again, stealing the words out of Anya's mouth, but I agree with the analogy. But I do like this sunny shade of yellow, and that's the shade I'm going with when it is used to describe my "inner self." 

They've had this orchid show going on for a while, and this one was just spectacular (note the brilliant shade of yellow again - could be my inner self calling out to these things).  

This cactus made me think of all my family in Texas. It's such an ugly cactus, and then it shoots out these gorgeous little flowers. I thought that was pretty awesome.

Here are some tulips growing side-ways. Seriously, I don't know what the problem is with this blog site - it keeps turning my pics on their side! Really makes me crazy, because I adore white tulips - which is why I took this pic!

This one is for the Domster unit - star jasmine - just like she grows it at home. 

I almost didn't recognize this one - it looked so different from any fuscia I've ever seen. And I love fuscia. Because it's one of the few flowering plants that grows in shade - of which my back yard has plenty.

The Botanical Gardens had this one room dedicated to a bunch of these metal sculptures, each of which had an herb or spice in the center, and the cover on the center is perforated so you could smell said herb/spice. It was very cool.

 This shot is for my poor sunburned SigO. Slather, slather, slather goober boy.

And, last, but definitely not least, here's one for my big brudder - the coffee addict. This is a coffee bush - full of coffee beans. If only he could grow one of these in his yard - how much money would he save on coffee every month? What am I saying? He'd pick it dry in the first week!

Rainy days today and tomorrow. Maybe that will give me time to post the blog from this past weekend.

Art?

We don't need no stinkin' art museum? Not when it's this gorgeous outside the art museum!

These were all taken right outside the National Gallery of Art during my walk yesterday. Thank you Mother Earth for the best art. How wise of you t present it to me so soon after Earth Day to remind me to love and care for you.

Harrisonburg Wind-Sucking Weekend

Another Living Social Escape took us to Harrisonburg, VA this weekend. We upgraded our voucher to stay in the Quill Cottage.

It was worth the extra money, if for no other reason than this was the best picture they could give us for our bathroom in the room we were originally scheduled to stay in.

oooohhhh.....a sink!
And this is the bathroom of the cottage we did stay in.

Yes - that's a huge (biggest I've seen) Jacuzzi tub right next to a fireplace. The fireplace split the cottage - on the other side was the bedroom. You might not think upgrading for a bathroom is worth the $$, but I knew going in I was going to need a really long soak in a hot Jacuzzi bath after our bike ride Saturday, so I felt it was definitely worth the moola.
One thing I loved about this place - they delivered our breakfast to the room each morning. That was nice, as we never had to get dressed and walk to the main house. We just grabbed the picnic basket off the patio, ate in a sleepy stupor, and then went back to bed. Or at least, that's what the SigO did. I read. A silly book. Great for those of you who are Star Trek fans. Oh, wait - I just remembered - none of my five readers read Star Trek. Well, just take my word for it then.

Saturday we went for our ride. Here's the ride I planned for us:

Here's the elevation gain and loss - doesn't look so bad, does it?

IT LIES!

Those hills were a hell of a lot tougher than they look on that graph! They were! Really!! And if you don't believe me, then how did we get such great views? Huh? Huh??

And no - it's not because we started up high. In fact, when we arrived, our innkeeper said "Welcome to the valley." So there!

Doms - this valley is a tad bit different than the one you grew up in. For starters, there are actual mountains around it. Which brings me to a question I've never asked...how can Pharr, TX be called "The Valley" when there's not a mountain in sight? What is it? The valley of the shadow of death? That I could believe.

So, we didn't make the entire ride. Here's what we actually did.

I've inserted a little stick figure everywhere I had to get off and walk my bike.My bike that weighs all of 12lbs - so, let me tell you - it was all my tonnage being pushed up those hills - or more frequently walked up those hills. Won't it be lovely when I have considerably less tonnage to haul around?

In the end, what should have been a 27 mile ride was more like 17. Still, at least we were out there riding our bikes, instead of winery hopping, which is what we've done for most of our weekend excursions lately. Which, I suspect, is why there are so many little stick figures on that map.

Sunday we went for a hike. I picked up a leaflet at the visitor center giving us directions to Hone Quarry Recreation Area for a 5.3 mile hike. The directions were hideous! We ended up at Todd Lake on a hike up Trimble Mountain. Here's my fitbit dashboard for that day.

First, don't believe the part about it being over eight miles. I haven't put my stride length in fitbit yet, so, it thinks 17,000 steps is roughly 8 miles for me. But, with a 34" inseam, I gotta doubt the veracity of that. The map said it was a four mile loop. But then, this is the same map that had us absolutely nowhere near Hone Quarry, so I'm going to compromise between Fitbit and the map and go for somewhere in the neighborhood of six miles. That's assuming roughly a 15 minute mile, which is about right for a walk with a climb like this. And speaking of climbs, do you see how high we climbed? The equivalent of 134 flights! I will admit that three of those flights were at home - and by that time, I was crawling up the stairs more than walking. Still - I'm impressed with our accomplishment. Apparently the fitbit device wasn't though. I got a message at 125 flights that said: "Do your legs hurt? You should go for 150 flights!" Really? I mean, really??

And what really hurts - all that way up, and this is the best view we could get.

//sigh//. Too many dead trees and brown leaves blocking the view. These pretty little violets were struggling to make themselves seen though.

And this lake was at the very beginning of the hike and looks like it would be a great place for a swim - when it's warmer.

Of course, by then, the unwashed masses will be there too and we won't have it all to ourselves like we did this weekend. So, really, I can't complain. It was a good weekend.

Whoops - Wrong Weekend

Friday afternoon, I get my car all packed:
1. Four bikes - two mountain, two road. Check.
2. Entertainment for the room - DVDs, music, iPAD, kindle. Check.
3. Clothes - lounging, dining, riding, shoes. Check.
4. Nutrition - Green juice for breakfast, water. Check.
5. Drugs - Melatonin, Benadryl. Check.
6. Knitting - Check.

So, the car is all packed. I call the B&B where we're (I think) scheduled to spend the weekend to ask a simple question. Question asked and answered. Out the door we head.

//ring ring//

Me: Hello?
B&B: Joan?
Me: No, it's just Jo.
B&B: Oh. Uhm. Is this Joan Escher?
Me: No....
B&B: Well, did you say you're staying in the Bishops Retreat this weekend?
Me: Yes....
B&B: Well, we have that reserved for Joan and Steve Escher.
Me: I have a confirmation e-mail - let me pull it up and read it to you.

So, upstairs I go to the e-mail and read it out to them:

Me: See, it says "We have confirmed your reservation for 18 - 19 April..."
B&B: Uhm...ma'am. Today is the 11th.
Me: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

And that's how we ended up at Kelly's Ford (near Culpeper) last weekend instead of By the Side of the Road Inn (in Harrisonburg). But hey - there's a good road bike route in Culpeper. Not all is lost, right?
But first, let's go kayaking!

According to the inn, where we rented the kayaks, it was a two hour trip downriver. They were very explicit about where to take out of the river. Do NOT pass the take out point, they say, as it will be an additional $50 per person because the next take out point is 7 miles away and we have to lug the kayaks for half a mile. You can see the take out point by a big white sign that says Kelly's Ford on it. No worries, say we, two hours is the perfect duration.
We're kayaking along. The current is great. There are these amazing flowers along the side of the river.

There are even a few class one rapids - which is all I can handle as a novice. I'm not sure they quite qualify as  class one, but at least the river was moving along nicely.

40 minutes later - there's the sign.
WTF?!

So, we pulled the boats in,

and started hoofing it - until the SigO got a signal and got us some help.
So, now it's time to go ride our bikes, right?
Uhm...right?
Yeah - not so much. Not with a good book (The Invention of Wings) and this cozy hammock calling my name.

Finished the book. Ate it all up in one day.

Had a great weekend, despite the last minute shuffle of plans. Next weekend is the real deal in Harrisonburg. 

I hope.