In Conclusion...

Here it is.  Week 61.  And so concludes (less than) 60 hikes in 60 weeks.  I'm ready to recap, and make excuses for, the last 60 weeks of my life.

I just tallied and I have completed:

19 hikes.
2 Guest Hikes (thanks April and Matt)
8 Races (from 5k to 10 miles)
A slew of museums, events and sights to see in the DMV.

Seems kind of anti-climactic, am I right?  I definitely thought I'd done like, 35 hikes...  But I've also survived an earthquake, a hurricane, an apartment fire, bike theft and car theft.  Oh, and election season...I'm surviving election season.  Frankly, 60 hikes in 60 weeks was a bit unrealistic to begin with because winter happened - which took up 3 months, and work happened - which has been occupying my last 4 months of weekends pretty solidly.  Every other year, I lose summer and fall.  It's sad, really.

And another excuse?  I started out hiking and walking, but ultimately a lot of my hiking weekends were replaced with runs and races, and I'm pretty proud of that!

Other things to report...

Though it was a major goal of this blog, I didn't lose any weight and my calves have grown two pant sizes.  I did however go from running a 12 minute mile to a 10 minute mile - so there's the silver lining.  I'm basically all muscle.

I kind of just lied because I only run a 10 minute mile if the distance is 6 miles or less and if I was running two months ago.  That whole thing about work has really cut into my running, as well as my hiking.  Also, I'm not all muscle. I'm all calves - I thought we established that?

So, What is the future of le Blog, you ask?  Fret not, little hikers.  It turns out I kind of like nature (not to be confused with liking bugs or sleeping on the ground) so I think I'll stick to the hiking and the running and adventuring as hobbies.  But, I'm also thinking I'll try to write more about whatever strikes my fancy and see what happens, so you'll see some changes in the weeks to come.  Most likely, you won't hear from me again at all until after November 6.  But Thanksgiving through Christmas is going to be a really exciting few weeks, with trips to San Francisco and Georgia in the works.

Special thanks to my guest hikers of course, and to the people who laughed at my mishap-fraught life along the way.

And that's it.  The sixty's survey...I accomplished less than a third of the goal I set for myself.  Which I'm NOT going to take as a metaphor for my life or anything.

The Billy Goat Trail

I have a tendency to say I've done things when I haven't.  Not like I'm a liar, but I generally don't ask for clarification on things so I'm just like, "Yeah, I know, me too."  But then I'll find out months later "Oooooh, those are Cherry Blossoms...Why didn't you tell me that?"  And the Billy Goat Trail is no different.  Many people in the last year have asked me if I've done the Billy Goat Trail out at Great Falls.  Well, I have been to Great Falls and hiked it.  Twice.  So I was just all, "Yaaaa, I looooove the Billy Goat Trail."  It turns out though, that until last Friday, I didn't even know what state the Billy Goat Trail was in, let alone hiked it.  Who knew.

So with Le Mom and Mrs. Fish visiting last Friday, I decided they should take me on a hike since this blog hasn't seen one in a while (and that's kind of the point).  I have only been to the Virginia side of Great Falls, so I thought I'd bring Mom and Dara to the Maryland side of the park, and guess what?  That's where the Billy Goat Trail is.  And guess what?  The Billy Goat Trail is way hard.  It's just rocks. With some blue paint on some rocks.  Beckoning you to get closer to the edge and fall off.  When we passed a sign that said "Danger: People Die Here" and had only the Falls to our right, I pulled the plug and turned us back.  I wouldn't wish the Billy Goat Trail on my worst enemies.  And it was certainly a little too intense for me.

Gross.

Me. Le Mom. Mrs. Fish.

C&O Canal Towpath

As soon as it said "jumps across open areas" Mrs. Fish and I were like, No.

Here lies Billy.  

He fell into the water trying to jump across open areas.

Then, since I'm pretty sure my luck is hereditary, our car broke down.  Kind of.  Pulling out of the parking spot, Claudia's finely tuned ears heard something dragging under our car.  She pulled back in and slid underneath to find the air dam hanging off of the undercarriage.  These are all car words I'm unfamiliar with - so apologies if I'm using them incorrectly.  Claudia, being a super-badass-mom, slid under the car with some borrowed pliers (on loan from the man in the car next to us, who did NOT offer to aid three stranded ladies), ripped off the rest of the air dam and got us to the nearest Ford dealership...because Said Man told us the car would explode (or overheat, whatever) without the particular part we just ripped off.  Thanks guy.  Your commentary was priceless and actually, completely incorrect.  Once Mom saved the day, I returned the pliers.  And smiling, I told Said Man, "Thank you, sir.  Be sure you check out the Billy Goat Trail."

A new trail

Last weekend, I went on a 4 mile run around Glover Park and Georgetown.  About a mile and a half of it was through a trail in the Glover Archbold Park.  Eh...there's not much to say other than I wore the wrong running shoes.  Minimalist shoes didn't really work for the unpaved, rocky trail.  Trail running is actually pretty cool - the terrain is soft and as long as I looked out for tree roots and rocks, it was nice to be under the shade of the trees.

So, this blog needed a new hike - and here it is - a hike/run; 1.5 miles through the park pictured below.

A Funny for the Weekend

Ok, I keep reading and re-reading this hilarious little bit from Buzzfeed:

 33 Animals Who Are Extremely Disappointed in You

I'm also going to take this boring Friday to point out my favorites.

*Sidenote - as I narrow down my faves, I'm realizing I love them all.

Cute, right?

Mosey on over to Buzzfeed - All 33 are really worth LOL-ing at.

Cosca Regional Park - Clinton, MD

Last Sunday morning, Daryl and April so graciously gathered me from my St. Patty's Day Hangover Cocoon (aka, my bed) and helped me knock out my first Maryland hike!  We ventured to Cosca Regional Park in Clinton, Maryland.  60 Hikes describes the park as a 5.5 mile loop.  But my guess is it was significantly less because of the short amount of time it took - which was perfect because April had requested a shorter distance, and waves of nausea induced by one too many Irish Car Bombs had me glad that the park was petite as well.  Though short and sweet, we had a blast - totally worth leaving the cocoon!

Cosca Park features some really great amenities.  For you family folk, there are more playgrounds than the population of children in Maryland.  Everywhere we turned was a playground - not a single child present, but tons of bright shiny play areas.  There is also a small lake where you can fish and a Nature Center with a butterfly garden.  The fact that there was an abundance of things to do, yet the park was curiously empty, led to what April called the, "Blair Witch Element" of this particular nature reserve.  

For example, 

1.  There is a Nature Center which is beautifully designed on an elevated area so that as you wind up the ramp, there are coy ponds and flowers to gaze at on your way.  But once you get to said Nature Center, it was completely silent, and completely empty except for one employee and creepy science things like a poor lone bunny in a cage.  Daryl and April said the facilities were clean - always a plus - but as we left, a shiver ran up my spine for the poor bunny.

2.  As we began the hike, there was a really cool tree (pictured below) on which the trunk had all kinds of initials and hearts carved into.  It was something I'd never seen before.  But then, much deeper into the hike, in the middle of nowhere, was a very similar tree - and that's when April said, "I think we're getting into some Blair Witch territory here."  

3.  The trails are not well maintained.  Had it not been for Daryl's amazing orienteering skills and ability to spot the smallest or most faded speck of green paint on a tree trunk (signifying the next turn for the Green trail), I would have given up on the trail being a loop and turned back the way I came more than once.  However, the park is so small that occasionally you hit a fence and a road.  It was very reminiscent of The Happening or The Hunger Games or any other film or book where they put you in a fake environment and you have to claw your way out.  

But Hark!  Before we knew it, we came out on the other side of the lake and the trail really is a loop!  I was incredibly disoriented when we first came out of the brush, but also relieved that we had made it to the other side.  And honestly, the scary movie element of the trail had us giggling about finding a dead body the whole way through - we're sick like that.  

The park will be a great place to visit in the spring and summer.  There is a small lake where you can rent paddle boats, and I'm sure for children, the nature center would be quite a great experience.

Daryl and April

There's always time to learn - even when you're in the bathroom.

Blair Witch Tree Number One

Lone Owl at the Nature Center

Green Party Trail

April took this - very arty!

I'm so happy that I could hike with Daryl and April - they came super prepared with water and yummy snacks and are great company (and navigators) when I'm not at my best!  I hope they'll join me again for exploring!

Where do I live again?

In this week's installment of "Things I didn't know existed in DC" is this structure:

On a few recent beautiful days, I've been taking an afternoon run around the National Mall.  

However, today, instead of taking the interior path (along what used to be the Reflecting Pool), I ran up Independence Ave.  

What the hell are these two walls leading to?  The Basin?

I thought of The Odyssey.  Scylla and Charybdis, anyone?

I'm not embarrassed...

That's right.  I'm not at all embarrassed by the amount of food I consumed at IHOP last night.  It was National Pancake Day - a fundraiser for the Children's Miracle Network - in which IHOP gives it's customers a free short stack of pancakes.  Kerri, Amanda and I got the pancakes as somewhat of an amuse-bouche, a precursor to our entree IHOP meals.  And it looked something like this: 

Amanda's free shortstack and Omelette with another side of pancakes.

Post-pancake Stuffed French Toast Combo Platter.

It was awesome.

So yeah, I'm paying for my sins at the gym this week, but this Pancake hangover is So.Worth.It.  

I do it for the kids.

The National Archives and Other News

Last Saturday, Kerri and I met up to visit the National Archives.  Both of us have lived in DC for awhile but have never been to see the nation's founding documents.

As far as hiking is concerned - I am going to say I hiked it there.  The Archives are on 7th and Constitution, but despite the fact that I have lived here almost 4 years, I am constantly scrambling Independence Ave. with Constitution Ave.  That being the case - I took the longest way possible to get there.  The good thing that resulted was I found this charming little garden that I've never seen before on the Mall, nestled between the Smithsonian Castle and Independence Ave.  It has a variety of different flower species and each is marked with a little label of the species and origin.  There was also this beautiful fountain:

Instead of water, the fountain has pieces of blue glass.

Mom and Dad - take note for your weed-filled fountain.  Maybe blue glass is the easy-to-maintain, aesthetically pleasing way to go.  Just saying.

Anyway, my perpetual confusion of the 2 biggest streets in DC also led me to cut through the Sculpture Garden.  I've been there countless times, but I noticed something else I'd never seen before...

Is this sculpture a new addition?  

I don't know - but it's my new favorite in the Garden.

The Archives are a tad underwhelming.  The only thing it really houses are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  Those are important of course, but be prepared to stand in line for longer than you are actually inside the museum.

The National Archives

Kerri.  O'Brien.  Get it?  You have to know her.

The O'Brien Gallery housed a Ben Franklin exhibit which was actually very good.  But alas, Kerri and I sped through it - we are kind of BF experts, having read his autobiography for the amazing Nick Marshall's American History class.  Instead of learning about the Frank, we reminisced about Marist and it's greatest, best looking professor: Nicky Marshall.  We love him, his classes and let's just say we'd read anything he told us to.  We'd read it all night long.  Just kidding.  That's insanely inappropriate.  But, I mean, we're kind of serious...when we're not kidding.  Anyway...

We're history geeks so we thoroughly enjoyed waiting 50 minutes outside on a beautiful day to spend 15 minutes observing the documents that founded this great country.  Well worth the trip, if you have the time.

In other news - today, I'm wearing a pair of jeans that I haven't fit into in 2 years.  My 2009 body is so close I can taste it.  Oh yeah.

Mason Neck

Kerri showed her support and, on Sunday, escorted me to Mason Neck State Park and National Wildlife Refuge in Lorton, VA.  We were anticipating some rainy weather, so we spent the overcast morning brunching and driving to 2 Target stores to scope out the first day of the Jason Wu collaboration line.  We got to our first Target at 11:45 AM.  The collection was already gone except for a few size XLs hanging all lonely-like on the racks.  The second Target was much the same - a sad scene indeed.  Unfortunately, Kerri is actually an XXL and I'm an XXXL.  The good sizes always go first...

By the time we'd scoured the Targets and Best Buys and TJMaxx's of Virginia (such a treat for me - the same stores in the city are just not the same), it appeared the clouds were parting and the sun was poking through.  We took a risk that the weather would hold up and started the 45 minute drive to Lorton.  And can I say, wow, the day only got more beautiful.  By the time we got to the park, the sky was bright blue and the sun ashining.

I'm a little confused about the geography of Mason Neck - 60 Hikes says that there is a 12.9 mile loop with modified routes available, but Kerri and I did about 5 miles and there was seemingly nowhere else to walk.  My only explanation is that, since it is a nature reserve and there are many indigenous species roaming the park, they close certain trails during the winter so they can hibernate and procreate and what not in peace.  Seriously.  I read that on a sign.

We parked at the Woodmarsh Trail

Mason Neck was so amazing though - the first 2 miles of our hike was on a bike trail.  It was that soft cushy tar that made me wish I lived nearby, so I could go on long runs on that heavenly ground.  There were some places where I think during the summer months we may have ventured off the bike path, but as aforementioned, those trails were closed - so we went straight over some creeks and through the woods about 2 miles until we came onto another parking lot that directed us to all different kinds of naturey trails with leaves and everything!

Kerri and I took the Wilson Spring Trail.  It brought us through the woods to a 'lookout' spot where you could sit and look for nature.  We didn't do that.  We kept walking until there was the most incredible view of a body of water called Belmont Bay.  I also read a pretty interesting sign about the soft soil absorbing rainwater, taking all the nutrients out of it, purifying it and then that water trickles into the Bay making it clean and pure...or something.  I don't really remember.

 For those of you new to technologies like "Google" and "The Internet"...

The blue dot is where we were standing!

Ok, and that is actually Belmont Bay

There were multitudes of fallen trees such as this - not chopped down but ripped up from their roots.  What would cause that? Strong winds? Godzilla?  I don't know.

I was very excited about this tree because look how GREEN it is!  In February!

Spring must be just around the corner.

It felt great to be back on a trail and I have to give special thanks to Miss Kerri for accompanying me.  I'm going to insist that she and her amazing, fuel-efficient Prius make more guest appearances on the blogosphere - even if it's just to take me to Target.

I would highly recommend Mason Neck Park as a beautiful, relaxing way to spend a day.  There is a huge playground and picnic area with grills, so it's also very family friendly.  We didn't see any animals, but it was no biggie because on the way to Target we saw a hawk sitting on a power line.  And that's how I like my nature anyway - commercially developed...Preferably collaborating with Jason Wu.

Ima Try This

Um, obvi, I don't have any hikes to blog about right now.  Shoot!  

Anywho - found this on a friend's blog and I want to do it too.

I encourage you all to do the same.

Also - who wants to hike with me people, FOR REAL?!  I need partners because me wandering around the woods by myself is just not funny - unless you want to hear more about the conversations I have with myself inside my head.

No one wants to watch a movie about a girl who doesn't meet her 60 hike goal and like, can't even find herself in the 60 weeks allotted.

I'm not blaming Matt for bailing. But, I am.

Step it up and hike with me - until then, you're all going to be looking at my Instagram photos for the next month.

Thanks.

Supporting the Troops

An old intern from my company is serving in Afghanistan for (I think) his third tour.  So, my boss and I did something very exciting last week - CARE PACKAGES!

I had SO much fun putting together packages for the troops that it led me to believe that maybe I should do something different with my life - like spend other people's money and shop for them.  I'm really grateful to my job for allowing us to do this and really thank our troops for defending the ol' U.S. of A.

The Deets:

First, I went to REI.com to find bags to put all of the goodies in.  There are 11 people in Crash's group (troupe, battalion? I'm embarrassed to admit I can't remember what to call troopmates - so I call them troopmates) and we made individual packages for each.  I scored these "Flash Packs" on sale - and they are beyond cool.  They are made of rip-stop nylon, have loops on the outside for hanging things like water bottles, pockets on the inside - which you can reverse the whole pack and put the pockets on the outside if you want, and if you don't need a backpack, there is a hole in the top to put a water tube through so you can convert the pack into one of those camelback water backpack things.  Also - ever the fashionista, they come in a nice array of colors (of which I bought an assortment, for the soldier who may prefer lime green over black - speaking from Navy brat experience, it can get boring to have a wardrobe made up of only khaki, blue and dark green).

My next step was to fill the pack with travel size toiletries.  I think I bought the entire travel section at CVS.  11 of each - and even though I told the checkout tech that there were 11 of each, she insisted on ringing everything up individually.  Don't get me started - it took forever.  I couldn't help but think of my trusty Clueless bible when Cher is Captain of the Pismo Beach Disaster Relief - "Daddy, some people lost all of their belongings, don't you think that includes athletic equipment?"  So I thought with a smile as we piled in every toiletry imaginable "Some troops have been in Afghanistan for a year or more, don't you think that means they need travel size toilet paper and hair gel?"  Like Cher, I would have put skis in the packs if I could have fit them...Anywho, it was fun.

In the bag.

Then I went over to City Sports and bought "Light Hiking" socks.  Hopefully, these are awesome.  I don't really know what it feels like to spend all day in combat boots (other than the pain-inducing hell of Doc Martens) - but I'm hoping these socks will make it easier.  They feature a padded foot, the Coolmax system, ventilation, etc. 

We also included a TON of Beef Jerky from a place in Naples, Florida.  But my favorite goodie was from the guys at Bell Wine & Spirits.  Rob had sent me out in search of cigars the troops might like.  I don't know anything about cigars, being that I'm just a woman - I know I smoke them and when I'm at Shelly's I don't like to spend more than 13 dollars on them.   At Bell they had a promotional package with four assorted cigars and a cigar cutter - but they only had 2.  So I asked - Oh Man, can I get 11 of these??  The Bell man was skeptical, but made a call to his supplier anyway.  Well, whoever their vendor is sent over 11 wonderful white boxes with silver ribbon that contained 4 cigars, a cigar cutter and a pack of matches.  I couldn't have been more appreciative.  (They have a great wine selection as well for you DC people).

I don't really know if these are good cigars - but I hope they're enjoyed.

I love love love giving gifts - especially good ones.  It was so nice last week to take brief breaks from real work to traipse around and shop for the troops.  I personally think the packs are going to be a wild success - and at least I hope that they convey from MHM to our Heros overseas that we're thinking of them and appreciate their service dearly!  Thanks!

For more info on care packages and troop needs visit here.

And special thanks to my Uncle - a veteran himself - who steered me in the right direction for many of these items. :)

Well, Hello

I went to the gym in the middle of the day today as I'll be working late tonight.

Needless to say, it's so much nicer in the off-rush hours...

But I just happened to pick a locker with this sticker stuck to the back.

I love little motivations and messages that brighten up my day.

Check out AmericanHiking.org

I know I will.

Hiking on Hold

I had every intention of completing a hike on Sunday morning with the defunct co-founder of this blog, Matt.  We even planned a really super nature-y one out in Virginia.  Alas, the delinquents of DC had other plans for us, as Matt's car was stolen about a block from my apartment last Thursday night while said hike was being planned.  *Gasp*  It has now been stolen twice, yes twice, in the last 5 months.

Matt's car was also stolen from his neighborhood (Eastern Market) back in August, the weekend of the hurricane.  His car was not as easily retrieved that time - it was a month-long debacle that even now hasn't been cleared completely.  That episode put a serious damper on our hikes since I was relying on the ol' (and I do mean old) Dodge to get us to hikes that were less metro-accessible, in VA and MD.  DC has this really nice knack for being completely useless when their citizens actually need help - like retrieving a stolen car.  The story, told to me by Matt, goes something like this:

The weekend of the hurricane, Matt's car went missing.  He assumed that it had been towed because storms in DC bring in a whole new set of "Emergency Route" parking restrictions.  After making the appropriate round of phone calls, it was concluded that in fact, the car had been stolen.  Which sucks.  I've lost many a phone, wallet, camera, and purse in my day and my experience with other police departments is that they don't look too hard to retrieve certain things.  So imagine our surprise when an anonymous informant called the DCPD to tell them a car was parked on his lawn.  Weird.  Matt was alerted (though not before the car got a bunch of parking tickets) that his car had been found - but somehow in the bureaucratic mix, his license plate numbers were transposed so the DCPD insisted that actually, they didn't have his car - they had a car that matched the beater's description, with New York plates and a VERY similar plate number, but whoops, that can't be it, our bad.  Government.  I know.

Weeks later he finally convinced them it was his and he was able to get the car back, sans radio.  But - he had to pay the impound fee and still owes hundreds in tickets that were racked up in illegal parking and, oh yeah, parking it on someone's lawn.  Lightening struck twice last Thursday.  The car was stolen, parked later, illegally, in front of a fire hydrant and then towed.  $200 later, he got it back.  Thank goodness the new radio had not been installed yet.

Is it me, or does it seem like Matt is paying the city of DC to have his car stolen and destroyed?  It seems like there is something very wrong with a system that penalizes the victim of crimes and not the criminal.  And as a result, instead of adding a hike to my blog, I'm adding this rant.  And a message to the thieves: The fees incurred have already well surpassed what the car is worth.  Next time, keep it.

Santa *Monica*, Baby

I almost forgot to mention that Miss Jessica and I went on a lovely run/walk down the Santa Monica Pier.  When she first mentioned, "Going for a run on the beach," I didn't have the heart to say "Um, it's really hard to run on sand..." but when we got there, Santa Monica does it right and has a paved walkway for bikers, runners, stroller-pushers and rollerbladers.  It was perfect - and it felt incredible to be at the beach in January.

I snapped a few photos, but none that really captured the adorable, eclectic vibe of Santa Monica.  The houses are really close together (and built vertically, like townhomes) but all of them are brightly painted with very modern architecture.  I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture.

I did snap these though.

Another great part about being in Santa Monica was that I recently read a book ("Bright Shiny Morning" by James Frey - of Oprah/Million Little Pieces fame) and one of the story lines is about a bum that lives on the Santa Monica beach.  All I can say is - it all makes sense now.  You'll have to read it yourself (which I highly suggest) to know what I'm talking about.

I also got a kick out of the beach's anti-litter slogan: "Toes in the sand, trash in the can."  Cute, I know.  Though the slogan was on every garbage bin, it was also in Spanish on the bins as well: "Pies en la arena, Basura en el bote."  Lo siento, los hispanicos - but I think it sounds catchier in English.

English v. Spanish

Then, Jessica and I saw a man dressed like Abe Lincoln riding a Segway down the pier.  I didn't snap a picture because frankly, I thought it would be rude.  I hate it when I'm dressed like Mary Todd and people insist on taking my picture.  I'm a person, people.  Just kidding, I love when people take pictures of me.  Anyway - I didn't know how old Abe felt about digital photography and he cruised by pretty fast, so I refrained.  You'll have to take my word for it though, it was weird.

I guess that's the second and final installment of my LA series.  I had a blast with my girls and can't wait to go back!  I will always have the memories and "Come to Cher" moments of being in Malibu, partying in 'The Valley' (though I wasn't held at gun point - sigh), and seeing an Alaia store (so that dress reference finally made sense).  I totally paused.  And don't even think I'd live below Sunset.