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This morning, I met up with Darren, Kristen, Matt, and Meredith for some breakfast. We intended to go to The Original Pancake House, which is a fairly longstanding tradition. We knew they are moving from their Falls Church City location to a shopping center further west on Lee Hwy, but unfortunately they weren’t quite reopened yet. Instead, we gave Bentley’s Restaurant at Rt 50 and Annandale Rd a try. It was ok, pretty average. After my breakfast of steak, eggs, hash browns, and biscuits, Matt, Meredith and I were off to Great Falls to enjoy the brisk fall afternoon. There were actually lots of trees still in full fall color and with most of their leaves and lots of people were out kayaking, climbing, and hiking around. After the park, late lunch was eaten at Lost Dog Cafe, with a mocha milkshake for dessert. Kristin and I are going to Eventide for dinner in a bit. I hope I fit into my pants tomorrow… My pics from Great Falls are here.

I walked around Crystal City and Pentagon City today to watch some of the Marine Corp Marathon participants come through. I slacked off this morning and didn’t make it there until around noon. This spot on the course is about 24 miles into the full 26.2. The initial people passing by were mostly running, but over the span of the next 30 minutes, they transitioned over to a good number of people who were walking it for the last two miles.  It’s a beautiful, breezy day out there.  I hope everyone enjoyed it!  Here are some pictures…

Today, Tommy and I went down to the Mall to join in on the Rally to Restore Sanity. The first metro train to reach Courthouse was completely packed, with hundreds waiting on the platform, so we quickly bailed on that plan and walked our way through Rosslyn, across the Memorial Bridge, and down the Mall. We ended up just west of 7th St, which got us just close enough to be able to see the TV screens and hear the audio, when it was working properly. We were still very far from the stage though. The crowd was mostly polite and tolerant of each other. There were of course the people who were complaining most of the time or who thought it was a good idea to bring their 10 lb dog in a tote bag. The show itself was mixed. There were periods where it was hard to hear and there were segments that weren’t all that funny or were just plain boring. A lot of it was quite good though. There were a number of people who decided to climb up trees, light poles, and on top of TV trucks and ambulances. I was surprised they got away with the ambulances. Especially during the slower segments, the crowd would turn its focus to the tree climbers, cheering on the more ambitious attempts and sighing when they didn’t end well. Feet aching by the end, we headed out for the long walk home. All in all, a pretty enjoyable day. Here are all my pictures from today.

Today, I went to Three Fox Vineyards and The Corn Maze in The Plains with Darren, Kristen, and Melissa. The wine wasn’t too exciting and there was a lot of waiting around to get through the tasting. We did spend a little time relaxing on a nice hill above the vineyard afterwards before heading to The Plains for the corn maze. The maze was a lot smaller than the one we usually go to in Maryland, but a lot closer to DC.  They also had fantastic kettle corn.  I’ll be having more for dinner in a few minutes. Here are a few pictures from today’s adventure.

Well, I’ve again been slacking on the blog…even more than usual. A lot has happened over the course of the last four months.

I spent the first week or so of July in Greenville, SC at my parents’ new house. They retired earlier this year and moved down in May. Jared was there and my cousin Jennifer and her husband Geoff drove up from Atlanta to hang out one day. We went to a baseball game, played some disc golf, and we also went hiking in Dupont State Park. Here are some pictures.

The following week, a dear friend of mine, Jon Axisa, lost his spirited battle with cancer. I was very thankful to be able to make it down to Richmond and spend time with him after returning from South Carolina. The following weekend, I attended both Dan and Kristin’s wedding and Jon’s memorial. This was a weekend of wildly mixed emotions and a vivid reminder of how fantastic my friends are. Here are the pictures from Dan and Kristin’s wedding.

On August 1st, Kristin and I started a lease of a condo/townhouse in Pentagon City and began the long process of moving. We both had one month of overlap with our old apartments so it provided to opportunity or move gradually (aka procrastinate). We’ve found it challenging to find space for all six of our bikes but we pulled it off. There’s a large closet under the stairs that is pretty much consumed with bikes and bike gear. We also have a balcony and I was finally able to get a grill, after three years without. Unfortunately, we weren’t aware that you can only have electric grills here until after we moved in. So now I have a tiny Weber electric grill. It’s better than nothing though!

Over the last weekend in August, I went on a backpacking trip in Dolly Sods, WV as a memorial for Jon. We stayed two nights and covered about 16 miles. On the second day, we planted a spruce tree in an area adjacent to the Breathed Mountain Trail with Jon’s ashes. It was a beautiful weekend and I look forward to revisiting the tree in the future and hope to find it tall and happy up there. Here are the pictures from that trip.

On October 3rd, Kristin and I went hiking at Duncan Knob, which is west of Luray, VA. It was a 6 mile out and back hike with a moderate rock scramble to get to the top. I didn’t take many pictures, as there weren’t any scenic views until we got to the top.

This weekend, my parents came up to visit.  We relaxed and went out to dinner on Friday, went to El Pollo Rico, Mount Vernon, and Ray’s Hell Burger on Saturday, and they hit the road early this morning. Here are the pictures from Mount Vernon.

And here’s a video of George Washington’s Gristmill in action.

That covers the more significant happenings. I’m really going to try to update this thing a little more often. Seriously.

I hope all the fathers out there are having a nice father’s day.  My dad is enjoying his first Father’s Day as a retiree!  They spent the day hiking in the mountains near their new home of Greenville, SC.  I’m so excited for them.  They’re always off on an adventure or at a concert or something going on around town.  It sounds like they’re having a lot of fun exploring their new home.  He’s a picture they sent me from today’s hike.

I started off the day with an hour on the road bike, did some serious house cleaning, enjoyed some TV and relaxing, and just got back from a quick Potomac River kayak lap around Roosevelt Island with Kristin.  I took a few pictures while we were out there, if you can believe that…

In keeping with my semi regular posting, here’s another update. It was a fairly busy week again and I feel like I made some headway at work, which has been hard to do lately. We’ve got a big deadline coming up at the end of the month, and then I’m off to hang out in Greenville at the parents’ new place for a week.

On Tuesday, I found out my newlywed cousin was in town on a short business trip with her husband. We met up for dinner in DC and walked down to the Capital so they could check it out at night. All my relatives live in Florida, Georgia, California, and Chicago for the most part, (Chicago is a separate entity from Illinois, in my mind) so I don’t see any of them too often. We took a cheesy cellphone pic to commemorate the occasion.

I also ordered my iPhone 4 on Tuesday!

On Thursday, Mike, Geordie and I made wine at Carafe Wine Makers in Alexandria.  The making part should be loosely interpreted. We dumped a few prepackaged ingredients into a big white 5 gallon plastic bucket. The kind you get when you buy paint in bulk. The best part was filling a sock-like fabric pouch with wood chips and shavings to simulate that taste of wine actually aged in a wood barrel. In 6 weeks, we go back and bottle the wine. We’ll end up with 10 bottles each of what is likely to be some pretty shady “Brunello style” red wine.  I’m sure 9 out of 10 Italians couldn’t tell the difference… Here all all my pictures of this adventure.

On Friday, I took Mike over to the VW dealership so that he could work his bargaining magic and attempt to drive off in a new GTI. He was successful and is now enjoying the upgrade from his early 90′s Civic with absurdly stiff suspension, racing seats, and no AC. Mike also made a new BFF in the process. Here they are together with the new vehicle.

Today, I went on a nice 30 mile bike ride out the W&OD and then hit the Arlington hill loop on the way back. Patrick and Mike joined in. A ridiculous guy on a Cervelo carbon tri bike road off the left side of the paved trail trying to pass a group of walkers and had his bike come out from under him as he unskillfully ignored the low shoulder trying to swerve back on. The walkers felt bad. I found it hard to as I passed him laying motionless in the middle of the trail and saying “I’m not going to be able to make it back”. You tipped over going 8 MPH buddy. You’re gonna bounce back. I promise. Maybe you should get a stationary bike? I’m such a nice guy.

Today, Kwabena is having his annual Rum Punch Party so that’s the agenda for the afternoon and early evening.  I think tomorrow morning might have to include another bike ride.  I might even clean the house after that.

Have a great rest of the weekend!