Tenderfoot

Wild Pennsylvania

2009-07-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

I made it back from field camp and I started taking Chemistry II right away. Whew! John and I celebrated the halfway point of my chemistry class by going camping in Pennsylvania. I found a park called Penn-Roosevelt State Park. The campsite we went to was a walk-in site, so we had to walk into the woods about 500 feet to get to it. There weren't very many people there and it was nice and secluded.

We went hiking around Greenwood Furnace State Park about 12 miles from Penn-Roosevelt. This was an old settlement where they used to make charcoal and pig iron. This is a big furnace where they would make iron.

Post-hiking reward!

The second day we were camping the afternoon was very nice, but right around 4:30 pm, it started to rain. We took a nap in our tent and waited to the rain to stop. We had a campfire and right when we were putting it out, it started pouring again! In the middle of the night our tentpole busted with a loud CRACK! Thankfully the whole works didn't fall down. It was still raining the next morning and we had to put everything in the car wet, but it all got dried out on our porch when we got back.

11 Miles and 2,500 Feet

2009-05-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend John and I went hiking in Shenandoah National Park. We stayed in Front Royal, Virginia at the northern end of the park. On our first hike we went 5 miles and ascended 750 feet. About halfway through this hike we came upon a couple that said they just saw a bear with two cubs just up the trail. We went on, but never saw the bears. We were trying to make a bunch of noise, so either the people before us or we scared the bears off. As we were finishing this hike, a guy with a big backpack and lots of gear was hiking with his head down and just as were were about to meet he looked up and jumped. He thought Chopper was a bear cub! Just the day before he had seen a bear running from the trail. So there were bears around, but we did not see any.
Later that afternoon we went on a three mile hike and ascended about 1000 feet. There was a great view at a hang gliding launch site, you could see a very long way because the day was pretty clear.

The next day we were heading home, but we wanted to go on one last hike, 3 miles and 750 feet. We hiked to the top of the highest point in the park. This is where they release the rehabilitated raptors back into the wild. It was a really pretty view.

You can see more pictures at: http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r53/klub0002/Shenandoah%20National%20Park/

Appalachian Trail - Gathland St. Park to Garvey Shelter

2009-04-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we decided to hike another section of the AT. Thankfully we looked ahead, saw that it was going to be hot, and we went early. We have been steadily chipping away at the AT, this time we went 7 miles (3.5 miles one way) from Gathland State Park to the Ed Garvey Shelter.

The hike was really nice and I was glad that we went early. The trail started to get very busy when we were nearing the end of our hike. At the end we were all really tired and needed a rest in the shade.

Field Trip to Frostburg, Technically Finzel

2009-04-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

On April 18th, I went on a field trip to western Maryland to measure some sedimentary rocks in a road cut. There is about 1 million years of sedimentation shown in this particular outcrop.

This is a picture of the rocks we were measuring. The purpose of the trip was to get us to recognize how different depositional environments can be interpreted from the rocks that are left behind. The large tan section in the middle was a meandering stream bed.

In this picture you can see some crossbedding in the sandstone.

This was my favorite stucture at the outcrop: fossil traces from roots!

Now I have to make a stratigraphic column from the data I collected. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cherry Blossom Time!

2009-04-10T15:07:00.001-07:00

The first weekend in April was a very bloomy time. The trees in the park near our apartment were blooming:

The Cherry Blossom Festival was in high gear down in DC. There were so many people there, it was pretty crazy. Usually if you go to the Tidal Basin on a non-cherry blossom day, there isn't hardly anyone around. The steps of the Jefferson Memorial were crawling with people when we were there.We walked by the Obama White House for the first time since he's been in office. They were still in Europe, so the rooftop snipers weren't around.

It was a great day to stroll around DC and look at the trees.

Spring Break!

2009-03-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

For a little spring break, John and I went to Atlantic City, NJ for a night. We stayed at the Trump Taj Mahal. They recently opened a new tower of hotel rooms that are pretty swanky. Since we were staying on a Sunday night we got a good deal on the price. The room was pretty big, even bigger than our apartment! There was a jacuzzi tub, two bathrooms, and a wet bar.

The Taj Mahal is close to a few other casinos and we walked along the boardwalk and visited quite of few of them. The weather was rainy and cold, but we didn't mind too much.

This is a picture of me at a fountain in the Taj Mahal. I got the idea for the awesome pose from another person doing the same pose. A lot of the decor is golden. Either golden or marble.

To see more pictures of our room: http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r53/klub0002/Spring%20Break/

Newest Project Complete!

2009-03-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

FrontBack

This is the newest sweater that I have finished. The new Holley baby will look great in it!

SNOW DAY!!!

2009-03-02T06:53:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of our park and Chopper's and my snow day. This is the most snow that we have had here since John and I moved to Baltimore. My university is closed today for 3.5 inches of snow! Yeah!

Chopper had a lot of fun bounding through the snow. We ran around the park like crazy people. It was a lot of fun.

Whistle Stop, Baltimore!

2009-01-18T08:49:00.001-08:00

This weekend was Barak Obama's Whistle Stop train tour. He started in Philadelphia, went through Wilmington, Delaware to pick up Joe and his wife and then came to Baltimore to make a speech. After the Baltimore stop they went on to D.C.

Everyone got into the spririt of things:

We live about 1 mile from the train station and the street in front of our apartment building and several other streets around our neighborhood were completely shut down. You couldn't park your car on the street and when it got close to the time they were going to be here, you were not even allowed to be on the street.

Barak was going to give his speech at 4:15, so we left at 3:00 to go down to the War Memorial Plaza. We had to go through a metal detector, which went surprisingly quickly. There were quite a few people there, but I think that the cold weather kept a lot of people away.

Morgan State choir performed before the president elect showed up. They were very entertaining.

When Obama arrived (on time, which was surprising) there were about 4 people that were introduced before him. Every time a new person was introduced and it wasn't Obama the whole crowd groaned. It was pretty funny. Some people had been there since 1:00 pm, so I think they were getting cold and crabby.

Obama's speech was very good, short and sweet. I was very glad that we went.

Another project finished

2009-01-07T16:13:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine is having a baby in February, so I have been working on a baby sweater for her and I've just finished it:

Front

Close Up of the Design

Back

Chickies Rock, PA

2009-01-04T14:53:00.000-08:00

To start the new year out, John and I thought we would go on a hike. Last year we had a goal of hiking 100 miles, we fell short by 2 miles. This year we are starting early, so we can be sure and get to 100.

In my Structural Geology class last semester, we were supposed to have taken a field trip to Chickies Rock in Pennsylvania, but it was cancelled due to weather. So I drug John out to visit the largest anticline on the East Coast: Chickies Rock. It was a nice day, the sun was shining and the temperature was about 36 degrees. We made it to the top of the formation and got a great view of the Susquehanna River.

Chopper had no problem negotiating the rock formation - I think he's part mountain goat.

We were planning to also hike along the river to view the rocks from below, but in Pennsylvania it is still hunting season and we didn't have any bright orange, so we decided to not hike further. One mile down and 99 to go!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T19:19:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year! We did not go out on New Year's Eve, just stayed in and watched Robbie Knievel jump over a fake volcano on a motorbike on tv. As you can see, Chopper was very impressed:

The New Year's Extravaganza in downtown Baltimore was postponed because of wind. Apparently the organizers did not want searing hot fireworks to fly into the crowd and cause irreparable harm. So, they had them on New Year's Day at 7 pm. We went to that. It was a great show.Watch a short video:

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! John and I roasted up a tofurkey and potatoes and cracked open a can of cranberries.

After we had recovered from our Thanksgiving feast we went to Washington, D.C. to visit the American History Museum that has been closed for three years for renovations. I did not see the old museum, but I was not impressed with the new one. Perhaps it was the massive amounts of people that were there and the disappointment of the First Lady exhibit not being open yet, but I did not really like the museum.

It was a very nice day out and we walked from the Capitol Building down to the Lincoln Memorial and back. That's about a 3 mile walk! It was very interesting because they were already getting ready for the Inaguration and building the stage and bleachers.

You can kind of see the stage on the very bottom of this picture.

We've been to D.C. many times, but we still haven't been to all of the monuments and places to see. This time we walked up to the Washington Monument and got a good look at that. The marble was pretty cool - I saw some pyrite in it.

Great Falls, Va and Md

2008-11-26T06:07:00.000-08:00

On November 23, John and I went to Great Falls, Va and Md to have a memeorial to John's sister Tami. It was such a beautiful day. In the picture above, we are standing on the Virginia side of the Potomac. There were a bunch of kayakers going over the falls.

This is the flood levels of past years. As you can see in the background the river is very far off and low. I can't imagine the floods getting up to these points! As recently as 1996 the levels got quite high.

On the Maryland side, we crossed the falls over a bridge and tossed in the flowers. The bridge railings were a little wobbly, so it was quite exciting to lean over and watch the water rush by.

Close to Home

2008-11-12T16:54:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, John and I decided to stay close to home and walk down to the Inner Harbor and stroll along the new promenade that opened up. That means that you can walk all the way around the Inner Harbor now, before you couldn't walk all the way around it because the promenade hadn't been built yet and then it was closed because of construction.

There was a Norweigian sailing ship that was in the harbor for a visit. Every autumn their navy takes the ship to various ports for training. We did not go on the ship, but they were offering free tours if you wanted to tour it.

So, we didn't end up doing too much, but got some nice pictures out of our weekend.

Vegas, baby!

2008-11-02T08:36:00.001-08:00

Last week John went to Phoenix for a work conference. For the last two years, I went with him but this year since I have classes, I didn't get to go for the full week. On Wednesday evening I flew out to Las Vegas to meet John. We stayed in the Tropicana.

On the first night we wandered around and played a few slots. It has been a few years since we had been to Vegas and there have been a lot of changes. Right on the strip they are building a new complex of buildings that replaced the old Boardwalk Casino. It is an immense project.

On Thursday night we got all dressed up and went to AquaKnox for supper. It was a fancy seafood place in the Venetian. It was a lot of fun.

After supper we went downtown. I love downtown - we went to the Golden Nugget which has changed quite a bit. They made a shark tank in the pool area and a waterslide goes through the middle of it. They also made a bar that has a balcony that looks out over Freemont Street.

We went and played slot machines up and down Freemont Street. In Binion's I won $113.00 on a penny machine. It was on a Wizard of Oz machine, that was really fun!

On Friday we walked around the strip some more and covered most of the places we didn't see before. We walked through the Flamingo Casino and saw the flamingo habitat.

Later that night we dressed up: John as Hugh Hefner and Me as a tennis player. There were a lot of crazy costumes.

If you want to see more pictures, go to: http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r53/klub0002/Las%20Vegas/

Happy Anniversary to us!

2008-10-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had our 3rd anniversary and what did we do? We went hiking, of course! There is an old railroad line that runs from Baltimore north to Pennsylvania; we have gone hiking on this trail a few other times. This time we went up to Pennsylvania for our hike. York, PA is about 50 miles from Baltimore and we went hiking just a little south of York. This part of the trail is pretty neat because the rails are still there, further south the rails have been removed.

It wasn't very busy either, which was nice. Mostly bikers were there, there was some "evidence" of horses around, but we didn't see any. We went about 6.5 miles which brings our total miles since May to 97.3 miles. We wanted to make 100 miles over the summer, but that didn't quite work out so we extended the deadline to the end of the year. I think we can make the 2.7 miles by December. :)

A geological sidenote: There was a lot of great schist along this trail, John's head is for scale.

Schist is a metamorphic rock. It is made when shale is heated up deep in the earth and it metamorphises into schist. A lot of the schist along this trail was at an angle like you can see above. It was really very interesting to look at.

Are you going to Scarborough Faire?

2008-10-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Baltimore Marathon, the race went right by our apartment. They started nice and early and Chopper and I were on the porch watching and when the runners went by people would clap and cheer. That made Chopper wonder what the heck was going on. He was growling and barking a little bit. Maybe he was just getting into the spirit of things and cheering everyone on.

In the afternoon we decided to go to the Maryland Renaissance Fair.

It was such a nice day for it. We did not dress up, but the costume rental was very reasonable. Chopper was not allowed to come with, but he did dress up. Doesn't he look great?

The joust was pretty neat, too. The horses were so cool. This one was my favorite:

Weaverton Road to Garvey Shelter

2008-09-21T15:16:00.001-07:00

This Saturday we hiked the Appalachian Trail from Weaverton Road to the Garvey Shelter (3 miles), unfortunately we do not have two cars, so it was an in and out hike (total of 6 miles). The guide book that I have for the Maryland section of the AT says that this section of the trail has an elevation change of 576 feet that is comprised of 16 switchbacks. We only counted 15, but we were tired by the time we got back to them. After you have hiked the initial 576 feet you get this view:
This is the Potomac River, Virginia to the left, West Virginia to the right and Maryland in the foreground. The last time we were in this area, the river was much more turbulent, but this time it is really calm and pretty low.

After the side-trail to the view over Weaverton Cliff we continued on to the shelter. There is another 200 feet of elevation, but it is over about 1.5 miles, so it is pretty gradual. About half way, we felt like we had enough of this dang mountain! But like good hikers we took a break and soldiered on.

At three miles we came to the Garvey Shelter. It was an impressively nice place. There is a loft, a fire pit, a water source that is down a steep slope and an outhouse! This place was like the taj mahal of camping shelters. Inside there is a log book that people sign and write stories in. It was pretty interesting to read. Some people had seen bears, others wrote about where they had come from and where they were going.

After a little break we headed back to the car. We ran across a lot more people on the way back. There were quite a few boy scout troups and groups of people enjoying the lovely day. As a reward we drove into Harpers Ferry (3 miles) for frozen custard (I had vanilla and pumpkin twist) and a shake (John had peanut butter cup/vanilla).

We are slowly, but surely attacking the AT. Right now we have gone 3 miles on the southern end of the Maryland section and 3.1 miles on the northern section. One day we'll meet ourselves in the middle!

Wheeeeeee!

2008-09-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to go to an amusement park - King's Dominion in Richmond, VA. We left on Sunday morning, its about a 2.5 hour drive. We arrived at the hotel, checked in and got our tickets. I found a deal on the internet through our hotel to get tickets there instead of at the park: less time waiting in line.

There are lots of great roller coasters there: Rebel Yell, Hurler, Grizzly, Dominator and Volcano. There are also a few more, we tried to hit as many as we could. We were there from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm and we didn't get a chance to go on all of them. At first, the lines were not very bad - maybe a 10 minute wait, on the Hurler there wasn't even enough people in line to fill up the ride. As the day got sunnier and warmer, the more people came. By the time we got to the Volcano the wait was 1 hour! (I timed it - if the wait had been posted somewhere I doubt I would have wanted to stand in line.) But, the ride was totally worth it. It was so fast and twisty and its one of those roller coasters where your feet hang down. Very fun.After all the roller coasters we went to the waterpark that's attached and sat in the lazy river. We went around twice. Some people who got into the lazy river didn't realize it was a LAZY river and they were quite rowdy. But it was a nice relaxing end to a very fun day.

We went to TIGFriday's next door to our hotel for supper and realized that our necks had been thrown around quite a bit on the rides - Oh man!

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

The last two weekends

2008-08-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

I have been slacking a little bit. We have been hiking, gone to a football game and we went camping in Virginia and I haven't posted about it yet!

We went to Oregon Ridge Park and went hiking. This park is not very far from our apartment and its nice to be able to get to hike without having to drive a long way.

We went to the pre-season Ravens game against the Vikings. Unfortunately the Ravens lost the game. It was fun anyway. There were lots of people there, even though it was just a pre-season game. After half-time the place cleared out.

This last weekend we went to Westmoreland State Park in Virginia. Its right along the Potomac River between where George Washington was born and Robert E. Lee was born. The Potomac is very wide there, it almost looks like the Chesapeake Bay. On the beaches along the river you can find sharks teeth and dolphin teeth from the Miocene Era. We didn't have any luck finding any. When we were down by the river, the weather was quite nice because there was a breeze, but when we took our hike through the woods and swamp it was very humid and hot. Eventhough it was hot, it was a very nice time.

You can find more pictures here: http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r53/klub0002/Camping%20and%20Hiking/

South Dakota

2008-08-16T08:35:00.001-07:00

August 8 - 13th we went and visited the Klubers in Chamberlain, South Dakota. We flew into Chicago where we met my brother, his wife and their daughter. We all flew to Sioux Falls, rented a car and drove to Chamberlain - that takes about 2 hours.

On the 10th John and I took off for a day and a half in the Badlands, Rapid City and the Black Hills. This is where I grew up and I showed John my old house, school and where I used to hang out. We then drove to Hill City where we were staying for the night. After we checked in we drove to Mt. Rushmore and watched the lighting. It was very patriotic.

The next day we drove the Needles Highway and hiked up to Little Devil's Tower and saw the view. I mistook the trail for going straight up the mountain and crawled up there - I should have looked to the right - that's where the trail really went. The view was tremendous - from the wrong way up the trail and from the right way!

We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone. And yes, we all tried on cowboy hats (they were my dad's and Trav's).

You can find more pictures of our trip at: http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r53/klub0002/

Spelunkers!

2008-08-03T08:15:00.001-07:00

Ever since we moved to Baltimore, I have been wanting to go to the Luray Caverns in Luray, Virginia. This weekend we finally went. This cave was huge and had some really neat formations.

The cave temperature was a constant 54 degrees. John bought me a sweatshirt at the gift shop before we went down into the cave so I wouldn't freeze. The tour took about an hour and we went down 168 feet at the deepest point.

In this cave there is also a "stalagcpipe" organ. A guy invented a way to hit the stalagtites to create a specific tone. They had it play a song automatically (like a player piano). It was pretty cool. Sometimes they have weddings down there - 500 so far since the cave opened to the public.

After the cave adventure we went to Luray to have lunch and then hopped over to the Shenandoah National Park and got to see some great views. We went to Shenandoah National Park 3 years ago - they raised the price to get in by $5.00! Outrageous. The views were worth it, though.

Along the park is Skyline Drive that you can drive down the whole park (101 miles) - we entered at the 30 mile mark and drove north to zero. Its such a nice drive. The Appalachian Trail also crosses the road quite a few times. Unfortunately it was raining a little bit so we didn't go for a hike.

Blazin' Hot

2008-07-20T17:55:00.001-07:00

Well, the last couple of weeks here have been to hot to do much of anything. So, we have been stuck in the house. And because of the boredom, poor Chopper suffers:

Don't worry, he only had to wear the pink t-shirt for about an hour. When John got home he took it off of Chopper.

I have been busy knitting a birthday gift for our friends' daughter's 2nd birthday. It took me about a week to knit and I think it turned out pretty well:

Hopefully the weather lets up a bit and we can get outside for some more adventures. I know Chopper certainly hopes so!

Babies and Fireworks

2008-07-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

For the Fourth of July weekend John and I went to visit his family in Milwaukee, WI. We hadn't seen our niece and nephew (Kayla and Evan) since Christmas and boy have they gotten big! They are even tailgating at baseball games.

On the Fourth of July we went to a parade in Cedarburg - it was quite a parade and had everything from dogs to horses to a polka band on a trailer. The day was beautiful and sunny, probably one of the most pleasant 4th of Julys I have ever had. The fireworks in West Bend were great and there were tons of people ooooh-ing and ahhhh-ing.

On Saturday we went to a pool party at Shaun and Heather's house. The have a beautiful back yard and pool. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun I forgot to get a picture - but trust me it was great. Later that night we went to Adam's to have a barbecue and play Guitar Hero (as a matter of fact just about every night ended in Guitar Hero and I learned that I am woefully inadequate as a player and I need to practice more!)

Kayla's in training already!

On Sunday we went to the Brewer's game - they were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates. They won quite handily and it was a very fun day - a little hot sitting in the sun, but still fun.

I just want to thank Pete, Erica and Evan for being such great hosts and to the whole Anderson clan for showing us a great time!

Hooray!

2008-06-29T17:50:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh! I've done it! I completed my summer chemistry course. On Monday afternoon I will find out my grade, but it sure feels good to have finished that class. It was soo intense.
Chopper was inspired by my commitment and has decided to pursue the nobel prize in chemistry...(as you can see above).

Bobblehead

2008-06-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

On June 19th we went to the Orioles game. They were giving out Nick Markakis bobbleheads. I put mine on top of the TV and John took his to work. Since he is making a sliding catch, it looks like he is falling over, so I put a tennis ball under his elbow and it doesn't look like he's falling over anymore.
On Sundays, we try to make it to our local farmer's market. Since the weather is getting warmer they have lots and lots of veggies and fruits now. They even sell live crabs there! Its only about 4 blocks from our house, so its very nice to be able to go there and get our veggies - less time spent at the grocery store.
I have also been growing some herbs on our deck. This picture was taken after a massive harvest of basil, so its not impressive as it looked before. Its so nice to have fresh herbs - we have gotten pretty creative with adding herbs to our food.

Back to Hiking!

2008-06-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

Last week John and I took the weekend off and didn't go on a hike. We probably should have because I think it was the last nice weekend before the summer weather came. This weekend the heat index is 110 degrees and it is reallly humid out. So what do we decide to do? Go hiking!

We went in the morning before it got extremely hot, but it was very humid and foggy. When the sun finally came out, you certainly could tell. I told John that it felt like walking inside someone's mouth! Ew.

The scenery was really gorgeous, so green and ferns were everywhere. The rododendrons were also blooming and the forest smelled so great. There were some beaver dams in the river and in some spots the trail was pretty narrow - it felt like a green tunnel.

Here are John and Chopper in the greenery. (That black blob that John is holding is Chops)

Once again on this hike we met a snake. The three times that we have seen snakes they have all been different. This one was the most cranky of the three.

Elevation and Lincoln

2008-05-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

This Memorial Day weekend John and I were planning on going out to Western Maryland, but at the last minute I re-looked at our hotel reservations and saw that pets weren't allowed, so we decided to stay home and make a couple of day hikes.

On Saturday we went to Harpers Ferry, WV and decided to climb the formidible Maryland Heights. We have been to Harpers Ferry a couple of times before and we always meant to hike up to the top, but by the time we got to the split between the lookout and the top, we always went for the lookout. Not this time! We were determined to climb these heights. At the split, the trail practically goes straight up.

Looking at this picture - well, it looks pretty steep, but no where near as steep as it felt! We hiked 1,920 feet of elevation - it was a beautiful day and pretty cool for these parts considering it is the end of May. At about the half-way point up this trail there is a little information board that said President Lincoln came to check out the troops here and he got to the point where the trail went straight up and he turned around and went back down! I don't blame him one bit, it took us 3 tries in 3 years to make it! On top of the hike are ruins of a camp that the Union soldiers made - there are still stone foundations and breastworks. Here are John and Chops on the foundations of the Old Stone Fort.

On Sunday we decided to push ourselves and go for another hike. This time we stuck a little closer to home and went to White Hall, Maryland to hike on the North Central Railroad Trail. This used to be a railroad line that ran from Northern Maryland to Baltimore. It would deliver milk and other goods into town. When President Lincoln died, this rail line carried his body north so it could be transported back to Illinois.

Chopper sat out this hike because he was still tired from the Harpers Ferry hike. In the morning when I was getting my shoes on, he sniffed my shoes, jumped on the couch and gave me a sidelong glance as if to say, "I ain't going anywhere today!"

This trail was a really nice walk along flat ground, which we both appreciated after the Harpers Ferry hike. I look a little tired here because we made this a 9.2 mile hike - our furthest trek yet!

On Memorial Day we decided to take it easy and we went to Ft. McHenry here in Baltimore to hang out, read and watch boats go by. This was a great weekend!

C and O Tow Path and Paw Paw Tunnel

2008-05-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

This week we traveled far and wide to make it to our destination of the Paw Paw Tunnel on the C and O Tow Path in Paw Paw, West Virginia. I don't think we realized how far we were going (130 miles) until we were about half way there.

The C and O Tow Path was built along the Potomac River to transport goods from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, DC and vice versa. A canal was dug along the river and donkeys would be hooked up to barges and pull them along. The tunnel was started in 1836 and finished in 1850. It is about 0.6 miles long and very dark.

As you can see, there is a glimmer of fright in my eyes. You can always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the floor was uneven and since we have had so much rain lately the roof was also dripping; very cave-like. We brought a flashlight, so we could see where the puddles were, but it was still a little disorienting.

Once you make it through the tunnel, you gotta get back, so there is a path over the top of the mountain back to the start of the loop. Right outside of the tunnel we saw a snake basking in the sun and there were also a few really tiny snakes that slithered off when we approached. I think this is the year of the snake we've seen about 4 so far this season. We trekked over the top of the mountain and came upon this beautiful view of the Potomac River winding between the borders of Maryland and West Virginia.

After we got through the tunnel and over the mountain we walked along the Tow Path for 2 miles and saw a woodchuck, birds and two deer. It was a really great walk - our fastest yet 7.1 miles in about 2.5 hours. This was due to the trail being mostly flat - except for climbing over the tunnel.

We also went to an open house for a place that we can learn to sail. It seems like a really fun place to learn how to sail and hopefully we'll give it a try and you'll see us on the water soon!

Appalachian Trail and Boulders.

2008-05-12T18:17:00.001-07:00

Yeah! The Appalachain Trail! We are almost in the middle of the dang thing. All told, the Appalachian Trail runs just 44 miles through Maryland. Although, I do feel very fortunate to have it as close as it is. We went to a place called Pen Mar, MD - on the border of Pennsylvania and Maryland to hike up to High Rock along the South Mountain. Such inventive names around here. :)

Along the Appalachian Trail there are some very interesting geological features. In this particular rock you can see some quartzite that filled in fissures on the original rock during metamoriphism. To a geologist this is one cool rock. All throughout this hike I kept making John look at rocks.

Here are me and Chops sitting before a giant boulder. There were just a bunch of these giant rocks all along the trail.

This trail was pretty tough going. As you can see, we had to take several breaks along the way. On the last half mile we went up 440 feet - now that's an aerobic exercise!

At the top of our journey we took in the beauty of Western Maryland - you can probably also see Pennsylvania and West Virginia, but I am not quite sure...
This is a very popular hang gliding site. There were no hang gliders the day we were there, but this is one a of the very few sites that allow hang gliders on the AT in Maryland. It is such a beautiful site to take in - although you can get pretty close to the edge and that is a little nerve wracking. :)

Baseball and Snakes!

2008-05-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

This week we went to the baseball game on Tuesday versus the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. We just decided that afternoon to go and walked to the stadium after work. We got some pretty good seats and enjoyed a great game. The O's actually won this one. That made the game more fun to watch. The picture to the left is old Kevin Millar up to bat. He is the first baseman and the announcers of the games always say he has "low foot speed" - John and I always kid that means he's a little fat.

On Saturday we went for a seven mile hike at Liberty Reservoir. When we left the house the weather was overcast and a little chilly. John wore long pants and his spring jacket. I luckily had worn my convertable pants and a flannel. By the time we got to the reservoir it was sunny and warm. The jackets came off and I converted my pants into shorts! This was the first hike this season where we got a little overheated, its just going to get worse as the summer comes, so I supposed we'd better get used to it.

As we were walking along the path, John made a little yelp and I looked over and this snake was just hanging out in the sun. It was about 2 feet long, I tried to look up on the internet about what kind of a snake it was and I couldn't figure it out. If anyone knows, please leave a comment. For all the hiking we have done this is the first snake we have come across. I think its pretty cool.

Chopper did a very good job of hiking the whole seven miles with us. He kept up like a trooper to the very end. After the hike, though he was out like a light. As you can see, the cat was having sympathy exhaustion for us. Its very rare that Chopper is tired enough to leave the cat alone and lay so close together. :)

Chopper has already fully recovered and is as energetic as ever...I think he bounced back faster than John and I.

Morgan Run Natural Environmental Area

2008-04-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

This week we were planning on going for a hike on Saturday, but the weather report said it was going to rain, so we decided instead to go to a movie on Saturday and then a hike on Sunday. As our luck would have it, there was no rain on Saturday and it was a little drizzlely and on Sunday. We went to Morgan Run Natural Environmental Area for a 5.7 mile hike. This park has mostly

equestrian trails - there were no blazes or trail markers, so it felt like we were kind of wandering around aimlessly, but in the end we found our car okay. As we were walking, I looked down at John's legs and I saw that he had big mud splatters on the backs of his leg. I looked down at my own legs and thoses weren't mud spatters, those were gigantic ticks! We each had about 6 or 8 ticks on our legs - the biggest ticks I had ever seen. I quickly reached into the hiking pack, grabbed the bug spray and applied it liberally to both of us. The trail was pretty muddy because the night before it rained quite a bit. I got new hiking shoes last week and this was a heck of a way to break them in. Chopper, being so low to the ground collected a good amount mud and wetness as well. As soon as we got home, Chopper went right into the bath. He's nice and clean now.

Washington, D.C. and Privateer Day

2008-04-20T17:16:00.001-07:00

Visit to D.C. with Fred and Georgene

We went down to Washington, D.C. on Friday to meet Auntie Georgene and Uncle Fred. For the first time we took the commuter train. From our house the commuter train stop is about 1 mile. Then it takes about 50 minutes to get to DC and it drops you right in the middle of town. If we ever need to go to DC in the middle of the week we can take the train instead of driving.
It was a beautiful day to explore D.C., the weather was really nice and we got to walk poor Fred and George all over the place. They were real troopers and didn’t complain at all. For lunch we went to a Mexican restaurant. While we were waiting for our food, a tour bus cut the corner across the street too close and hit the light pole. The whole thing was dangerously swaying and the light at the top fell. Luckily no one got hurt, but the bus did not stop—it just kept driving away!

Privateer Day in Fell’s Point

Yahrrrrrr! Saturday was the 4th Annual Privateer Day in Fell’s Point. We saw pirates singing, playing music and even battling it out.
It was another gorgeous day for us. We decided to walk to Fell’s Point from our apartment and it seemed a lot longer than the 2.1 miles. I was feeling really warm and pretty tired by the time we got to the festival and we tried to go into several places to have some lunch and they all had about 1 hour waits for a table! Quite a busy festival this year. Needless to say we stopped somewhere half way back home that had tables open. By that time we were happy for a rest.