California Dreamin’

Two years ago, September of 2009, I watched Ken Burn’s documentary masterpiece The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. I’m usually not a documentary fan, but this one was different! I actually watched the whole thing, which is saying a lot because a Ken Burns documentary is usually very long, this one being no exception! It started Sun night and ran at least an hour and half (or maybe it was 2 hours) each night that week! Thank goodness for TiVo! I TiVoed the whole thing and watched over the course of several months! 

Rather than starting with Yellowstone, the first National Park, and going through a chronological listing of how the parks came to be like I was expecting, Ken Burns started with an overview of what the parks are and why they are special.  The whole first episode talked a lot about Yosemite and John Muir.  At the time Yosemite wasn’t really on my list of places to go, and while I’d heard of John Muir (I’d visited his woods outside of San Francisco) I had only a vague idea of who he was.  The first episode of the Ken Burn’s documentary suddenly made me want to go to Yosemite and sit in the meadow in the shadow of Half Dome and read everything John Muir wrote! 

That’s exactly what I’m going to do this summer! Tomorrow evening I’m heading to California for 2 weeks to explore Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park and Yosemite National Park!  I was thrilled to learn that most of John Muir’s writings are free on Kindle! Yes, I did have to purchase a Kindle (which I love), to read my free books, but I think it will be worth it!

Mom and Dad, after some debating due to Mom’s sciatica/back pain, left Williamsburg on July 3 and have been driving like crazy all week are currently about 400 miles from our campsite in Dorst Creek Campground.  I’ll be flying into Oakland and after a night at the Holiday Inn I’ll pick up my rental RV and head down to meet them. 

I’m extra excited about my RV rental this year! Mom found a company that rents small class B camper vans!  I have seen these on the road and checked them out online and they are very appealing in terms of purchasing one!  Easy to drive and park yet they have all the comforts of home!  I’m a bit worried about how small it’s going to be, maybe too small, which I why I’m excited about renting one before I decide if it’s something I want to buy! 

So for the next two weeks I will be “Living in a van, down by the river” and thrilled about it!

Stay tuned to this blog for updates and pictures as much as the internet connections allow!

Oh and if you are interested in watching the episode of the Ken Burns documentary that inspired this trip go HERE.  If you have AmazonPrime it’s even free!  You can also view video clips on the website linked above. 

100,000 Miles!

I remember hearing the family story about the day that my grandfathers car turned over 100,000 miles and he was so excited he pulled off the road, found a hotel and spent the night.  I don’t know which car of his it was or what year or any other details, just that he was super excited about it.  My grandfather was quirky man, but it made me think about the day my car would reach 100,000 miles. 

My first car, a 1986 blue Volvo station wagon was within 10,000 miles of the magic number when it was totaled in “The Great Alpha Phi Omega Car Accident of 1996”.   I was very sad to lose that car, because we’d had some awesome adventures in it, but I was almost sadder that it never saw 100,000 miles. 

The next 2 cars that I owned, a green Volvo station wagon and a white Chevy Cavalier, I’d bought used and were never really mine.  I have no idea of their mileage either when I bought them or when I sold them. 

Then in 1999 I bought my 1st Saturn.  It was a blue sedan and it had 7 miles on it when I drove it off the lot in Edmond, OK.  I was going to drive that car till the wheel fell off.  Well, or until Saturn gave me a good reason to trade it in!  

Just about a year after I bought my Saturn sedan, Saturn introduced the VUE it’s lineup and I wanted one! I was a bit disappointed that my car was so new and it would be ages before I could get a VUE.  In December 2005 I got an offer in the mail that I couldn’t refuse.  I don’t remember the details, but I remember getting more for my trade in than it would have cost to fix some of the problems that had developed and I got a $500 Target Gift Card – that’s like cash!

My Sedan was close to 100,000 miles, but not quite there yet.  I can’t remember the actual mileage but I’m guessing it was around 80-90,000. 

So, my VUE hitting the 100,000 mile mark was a milestone I’d been looking forward to for a long time!

When the car turned over 90,000 miles a few months ago I started calculating how many miles I drove each week to estimate about when we’d hit 100,000 and I knew it was coming before the end of the school year.   I was extra excited when I saw that it was within 150 miles the day before I was heading to Shenandoah National Park with Penny!

I was prepared, I’d googled the distance so I knew it would happen on Skyline Drive.  As we drove I perfected the art of taking pictures of the odometer while driving so I record the big moment!

It all went down on Saturday May 28, 2011 between Mile Marker 20 and 19, I was heading north on Skyline Drive!

One of my new favorite songs, Michael Franti & Spearhead’s I’ll be Waiting, was playing on the radio!  Oddly enough I haven’t heard the song all week!

 

I pulled off into the first overlook I came too, luckily it was within the same mile, and got a picture of the car with the view…the VUE with the view! LOL!

The car no longer has a “good side” there’s body damage on the front and the back, all my fault.  I hadn’t gotten it fixed because I thought there might be a major issue with the transmission, but there’s not.

I took a few more pictures to record the moment:

The Skyline Drive Mile Marker that just happened to be right across from the overlook for convenient picture taking!

The sign indicating the name of the overlook:

And several pictures of the view:

I think I’d make my grandpa proud, even if I didn’t stop and spend the night!

As I was driving to and from the park that day I was thinking about just where all those 100,000 miles have taken me.  Sadly most of those miles were accumulated driving to and from work.  I drive about 20 miles each way, 40 miles a day, 200 miles a week…it adds up fast.  Throw in weekend trips to Fredericksburg to see friends, Williamsburg & Richmond to see family, and the mountains to hike and it’s no wonder my 5.5 year old car already has 100,000 miles on it!

There have been a few epic road trips though…

In August of 2006 I drove up to Duncansville, PA to visit my friends Drew and Brenna at their new house! They’d moved in earlier in the summer and their oldest son was a year and a half and Brenna was newly pregnant with their 2nd. 

In October of 2007 I drove to Western Maryland for my friend Rachel’s Wedding! I also saw Drew and Brenna and Alex and Evan! Read about that trip HERE.

In December 2008 I took a New Years Road Trip to Canaan Valley, West Virginia. That link is to the 1st day, there are 4 total posts about the trip!

In February of 2009 I returned to West Virginia with Susan and Mike for “Blogfest 2009”, when I finally met Russell, Amy and Annette!

June of 2009 brought us the most epic of all road trips…Susan, Amy, Russell, Leah and I took a day trip to NJ to meet Janet Evanovich!

In December of 2009 my parents and I went to the Great Smoky Mountains after Christmas – it was an 8 hour trip and this remains the farthest I have ever driven this car! Hard to believe that I have accumulated 100,000 miles with 1 long distance road trip! I didn’t blog about that trip at all though. 

The car has also taken me on many days to Shenandoah, Catocin Mt, George Washington National Forest, Liberty Mountain PA for snow tubing, Sky Meadows State Park, and more…just check out the blog archives!

And before I go, one quick story about the 1st day I had the car!  I took delivery of my car on a rainy weeknight in December 2005.  I carefully drove home in the dark, unsure of myself in the new car.  It was about 35 degrees and raining.  The next morning I woke up and checked to see if we had a delay, nope.  The weather was still 35* and raining. I headed out.  At the intersection of Mohican and Old Bridge the back tires skidded on the ice, but the car handled it and all was fine.  The drive to school continued uneventfully as I enjoyed a Christmas Concert on the pops station on my brand new XM radio (Springing for the satellite radio was the best decision I’d made in years!!!!).   When I passed Hayfield HS though I knew something was up – the parking lot was empty!  Usually the High School is well into 1st period before I come through, hmmmm…did we have a delay I didn’t know about?  I was really close to school so I kept going.  When I arrived at my school and saw the parking lot empty, I figured that we must have had a delay.  I went in and saw one of our custodians and he informed that yes, we had a 2-hour delay and I was 3 hours early for school! It had been a late call and had I not been listening to my XM radio I would have heard the announcement! Oh well! Even if I’d heard when I was on my way to school I probably wouldn’t have gone back home!  In the 9 years I’ve been teaching that has only happened once though!

My VUE has been a great car and I’m looking forward to the next 100,000 miles! :-)

Penny’s First Hike

In March Penny, Susan’s and Mike exchange student from Thailand, came and spent the night with me so I could take her to Fairfax in the morning for her TOFEL test.  As we were eating breakfast she was admiring the photographs of my trips to Alaska, Maine, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons that are on the walls in the living room & dining room.  As I described hiking she was a bit incredulous about why anyone in their right mind would climb mountains and walk miles for fun.  But she was also interested in seeing some of these places for herself.  We made plans for me to take her out to Shenandoah National Park to see the mountains!

Last Saturday we headed out!  I’d decided that we would go into the park through the Thorton Gap entrance then drive down to Big Meadows and go for a quick 1.4 mile hike to Dark Hollow Falls and then drive up Skyline Drive from Big Meadows to Front Royal and then take 66  back to Alexandria to drop Penny off with Susan’s sister Judy. 

Susan dropped Penny off about 9:45 and it was about 10 when we headed out.  My car was just about to turn over 100,000 miles and in an attempt to have an idea of where we would be when that I happened I’d google-mapped the route to the park so I could see the milage.  In the process I discovered a new route to get to the park that cut 10 miles off the trip! YAY! As we were driving through rural Faquier County VA we saw a random sign, in Thai! I was going to fast for Penny to read it, but she got a chance when I realized I’d missed a turn and we had to go back! Turns out it was a sign to a temple and the Thai words were just the name.

Soon we made it to Warrenton and stopped at the Sheetz to pick up lunch and get gas.  Turns out Penny LOVES Sheetz and was thrilled that we were stopping there!  While I was checking out the snack options I discovered a bag of Chex Muddy Buddies.  I’d never seen pre-made Muddy Buddies before, and they are Penny’s favorite so I had to get them to try them.  Turns out they are more powdered sugar than peanut butter or chocolate and neither of us ate more than a handful. 

I love making the trip down 211 into Sperryville and up the mountain to Skyline Drive because almost as soon as you leave Warrenton the mountains become more and more visible and there’s lots of anticipation.  I was hoping to share than anticipation with Penny, however Mother Nature had other ideas.  The mountains were totally covered in low clouds.  Low clouds that got thicker as we got closer.  Hmmm…it was not supposed to rain.  In fact it was supposed to be sunny and in the 80s.  I was worried about being hot. 

After we passed through Sperryville and were heading up the mountain the sky opened up and we were in a torrential downpour!  It was a quick downpour and by the time we got to the entrance station for Skyline Drive it had stopped raining, although it was cloudy and cool.  When it was raining Penny asked what happens to people when they are hiking and it starts to rain – not sure she was satisfied with my answer of “They get wet”.   When we passed through the entrance station I asked the Ranger what was up with the rain and she simply shrugged her shoulders and said “the forecast was for scattered showers.”   I pulled into the Panorama parking area because I knew I had 3G service there and checked the radar – there were just 2 tiny green spots, so I figured it would be fine. 

We made our way down Skyline Drive and Penny, who is a afraid of heights, was in awe of how high we were!  We stopped at the Pinncles Picnic area and broke out our Sheetz Picnic.  My first stop was the “comfort station”. I walked in and discovered that there was a lady who was stuck in one of the stalls and needed a screwdriver to get out.  I was pretty sure I had a screwdriver in the car so I walked back to get it.  It was a Phillips Head but I hoped it would suffice.  By the time I got back to the comfort station though the woman had jiggled the lock until it released! It was only then that I remembered I had my “picnic knife” in my backpack and the knife blade would have doubled as a flat head screwdriver!

Penny and I enjoyed the cool, cloudy, but not raining, weather as we at our lunch.  She introduced me to Sheetz onion rings – YUM!  After our picnic we continued down Skyline Drive. 

The clouds were breaking up somewhat, and there were views from the overlooks.  We checked out Stony Man Mountain and Hawksbill and finally made it to Big Meadows.  The parking area and the overflow parking for Dark Hollow Falls was filled so we headed over to the Visitor Center first.  As we pulled in I noticed a HUGE, very dark cloud just south and west of where we were. 

I parked kinda far from the Visitor Center, but close to the trail that would take us down to the trail.  We went into the VC and were checking out the exhibits.  I was gave Penny the Cliff Notes version of the history of the park – wasn’t sure how much an 18 year old Thai student would truly care about the history of the park! Just as we were finishing up the rain started.  It was so loud we could hear it on the roof of the building!  We went to the window where we could watch all the folks hiking in the meadow getting totally drenched! It looked like someone had turned the shower on!  We checked out the gift shop and just as quick as it had started the rain slowed. 

We decided we needed to go to the Wayside and check in the campstore for a poncho for Penny.  Luckily for me my raingear happened to be in the car (not on purpose, it was just luck).  We found a nice $5 “rain insurance policy” for Penny and headed back to the car.  As soon as she got it on I told her that now that she’d bought that, it would stop raining and not start again.  She didn’t think that was funny.  (it did however turn out to be true!)

Back at the car I donned my rain coat (I was unfortunately dressed in all cotton otherwise I might not have bothered – it was cool, but not cold enough to be comfortable in a rain  coat.) and we gathered out water bottles and cameras and headed out. 

I’d hiked to Dark Hollow Falls twice before, once the 1st day I’d ever visited Shenandoah and once when Dad and I hiked the Rose River Falls loop.  Oddly through I remembered little of the trail so it was like seeing it for the first time. 

The trail is .7 miles down to the lower falls and then .7 miles back up.  The creek flows right next to the trail most of the way so there were plenty of photo-ops and things to look at.   We’d been walking about 10 minutes when the clouds began to break up and the sun came out.  Off with the rain gear! About 10 minutes later the clouds had completely broken and the sun was shining and the sky was blue!

We finally made it to the bottom of the falls! There were a lot of people there! Some had stripped down to bathing suits and were swimming in the pool, others were wading, and others were just vying for a good spot to take the perfect picture.  

Penny and I took the obligatory pictures of the falls and of each other with the falls, and then attempted to go down the trail a bit to get a better view, but better views were not to be had.  On the way back up I decided that I wanted to get to the other side of the pool to get “the perfect shot”.  This involved taking off my shoes and socks and wading in.  The water was cold, but not too cold!  I got in a good position and got a few great shots, however many of them had “idiot of the day” in them – a guy who was climbing the falls!

Soon we were on our way back up the trail.  About halfway up Penny declared that going up was better than going down! Spoken like a true hiker!

Once back at the car we headed back over to the wayside to replace the calories we’d burned with some Shenandoah exclusive blackberry ice cream! YUM!

As we entered the wayside we noticed the “Penny smasher” machine – Penny has been collecting these smashed pennies everywhere she’s been so we had to get her one.  In all  my travels I’d never smashed a penny so I thought my hike with Penny was a great place to start! It took us a try to figure out how to use the machine, so Penny ended up with 2 smashed pennies. 

Now for the easy part of the day – driving abut 50 miles of Skyline Drive! The sun was shinning, the clouds were gone, and the temps were still comfortable.  It was the perfect afternoon for a drive! We stopped at a few overlooks and took some pictures from the car, but basically just drove.  Soon Penny fell asleep.  She was out cold!

The car hit 100,000 miles at mile marker 19! I’m going to write a separate post about that, but Penny slept through the whole thing! She also slept through my pulling off the road to take some pictures of newly bloomed Mt. Laurel and me stopping at Dickey Ridge to check in on Foursquare – I was hoping to become mayor of Shenandoah, but I was still 1 day away.  :-(  Penny slept about an hour and didn’t wake up until we were on 66!

We spent the rest of the trip trying to find music in my iPod that Penny was familiar with. I realized that I listen to some obscure music, but  even the current “teen pop hits” that I have weren’t familiar to her! I told her she had to stay another year to familiarize herself with American Pop Music! After a quick dinner at Arby’s, one of the few fast food joints she had yet to try, I dropped her off at Judy and Lucas’ place in Alexandria and headed home myself!

Penny @SNP 5.28.11

Kindle

I never really wanted a Kindle.  It’s not that I’m truly against them, I just love the feel of books! 

I  love the textures – some are smooth, some are bumpy, some have smooth pages, others have pages that feel like construction paper. Library books are the best – they have those plastic covers and most are well worn hardbacks.  The pages are soft from so many hands. The binding is loose but not broken.  Paperbacks have softly frayed covers. Sometimes you get extra lucky and you are one of the first readers of a brand new book – it’s special library cover is crisp and the binding cracks a bit.  One time I was reading a Janet Evanovich book from the library and it dumped sand all over my bed – it had spent a fun week at the beach that summer!  Books are meant to be read and enjoyed and library books are fulfilling their destiny!

eReaders kill the feel of a book in your hands, and I wasn’t ready to take that step. 

My mom got a Kindle and I played with it a little, but didn’t really like it.  I kept trying to touch the screen to get it to do stuff and it didn’t work! There were too many buttons and the interface was clunky.  I decided that it definitely wasn’t something I wanted.

Soon after Amazon introduced the Kindle App for iPhone I downloaded it and it quickly became one of my favorite apps!  I always had a book in pocket!  AWESOME!  Now if I was stuck waiting or stuck in traffic (only when the car is completely stopped at a red light or bumper to bumper traffic) I could read!  Last summer when we went to Washington State I bought all my hiking guides on Kindle and it was so handy having the guide books with us at all times without the added weight and bulk of the actual book!  So far I have read 15 books on my Kindle App and didn’t really miss the “book feel”

A few weekends ago I was at my parents house planning our summer  trip to Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon and I was thinking about how I could cut down the amount of stuff I needed to bring.  I was trying to think of things that I always feel the need to bring with me but never use or really need.  The 1st thing that came to mind: books.  I always want to bring a lot of books, but I never read them.  Books are heavy.  Books take up space. 

But a Kindle is small.  And light.  And holds LOTS of books!

Also, I have a bunch of books by John Muir, that I’m planning to read when I’m in CA or at least start, and they are all on Kindle.  They were free too! 

So I broke down and bought a Kindle.  It’s the “small” one – 6 inches.  Wifi only.  I opted not to get the one with “special offers” because I didn’t want to have all the ads.  I also got a cool cover for it that has a light that pulls out and is powered by the kindle battery so never needs batteries!

I LOVE IT. 

I love it more than I thought I would! It has a bar at the bottom that has little hash marks denoting each chapter so you can tell at a glance how much farther to the end of the chapter – perfect for an anal reader like myself who hates putting the book down before the end of the chapter.   Turning the pages is just a tap on a button.  The e-ink is very easy to read.  Much easier to read than on my phone.  In it’s cover it fits perfectly into the book clips on my treadmill – and I don’t have to hold it open like I do with a paper book.  I have a ton of books in my hand so if I get bored with one, I can just read another! This morning, when I had jury duty and did a lot of sitting and waiting, this feature was really nice!

The only problem I have with it:  you have to buy the books.  Over the last few years I’ve been pretty good about getting my reading material exclusively from the library, therefore my reading habit is mostly free.  Now, if I want to read it on my Kindle I have to pay for it.  And frequently I’m finding that the kindle version of a book is more expensive than the paperback version!?!?! 

I’m looking forward to the launch of the lending library service Amazon has promised later this year. 

I hope that I still love “real books” as much as I did and the Kindle never takes the place of “real books”, but in the meantime I’m trolling Amazon to find cheaper books to download and read! :-)

The Great Hogback Mountain Butterfly Chase

Saturday I went hiking! The pollen seemed like it was lower, or at least it wasn’t bothering me as much, so I took advantage and hit the trail!

It was forecast to be in the 80s in Woodbridge and it was already hot as I headed out.  I was worried it would be too hot – it gets too hot for hiking very quickly! However, as I made my way into the park I watched the temperature drop on my car thermometer!  By the time I reached the trailhead it was a pleasant 64 degrees! :-)

I was planning to hike over Hogback Mountain and then down the Sugarloaf trail and back up a fire road. Since it was such a nice day I figured (correctly) that the parking area by Hogback Mountain Overlook would be full so I parked in the less popular Keyser Run Fire Road.  I’d hiked this trail back in 2001 and I thought I remembered the trail exactly, however, I quickly learned that my memory is not for navigational purposes!

As I headed up the trail I noticed that there was what appeared to be a bumper crop of wild geraniums and violets, there was little variety in the wildflowers though.  I passed a few people coming down, including two folks who I’m pretty sure were thru-hikers.  Soon I reached an rocky outcropping at the top where I stopped to take pictures and attempt some self portraits, there was no good place to put the camera down though so I headed down the hill!  I was at the top of a smallish mountain and I could see a big mountain in front of me, I thought, “man I’m glad I don’t have to climb that!”

I was feeling very accomplished!  I was thinking I’d already done the major climbing part of trail and was almost to the quiet wilderness part of the hike. I did remember that there was a radio tower at the top of Hogback Mt, and I knew I I hadn’t seen it, also they laugh hang-gliders from the mountain…wasn’t sure why I hadn’t seen those things.  The trail quickly descended into the overlook and it wasn’t the overlook I thought I’d be in!  Hmmm…consult the map! 

Ahhhh…turns out I’d only hiked up and over Little Hogback Mountain.  I did indeed need to climb the big mountain!  Well, at least it looked easy – the trail seemed to follow one contour line and skirt the summit!  Off I went!

The overlook was in a saddle and there weren’t many trees, just lots of brush and there were butterflies everywhere!  I attempted a few pictures, but they were very hard to photograph! Butterflies don’t stay still very long! 

As I climbed the mountain and went up switchback after switchback I guessed that I had mis-read the map!  It wasn’t hard, just steeper than I had expected!  The butterflies were still flying around – all kinds, yellow ones, brown ones, blue & black ones, some small moth like butterflies.  It was pretty cool!  I made several attempts at taking pictures, but as soon as I’d get the butterfly in the frame it would fly away! 

Soon I reached the ridge and the open-is meadow! There are tall trees but they are wildly spaced and undergrowth is low.  I’m guessing the area had been cleared for farming at one time.  The butterflies were still dancing around and there was a cool breeze!

Right at the top there was a post in the middle of the trail.  Posts in SNP indicate trail intersections.  I went up and read it: Launch Site- 100 yards.  Skyline Drive – 400 yards.  Great! I’d reached the top! 

I walked over to the launch area and it was deserted so I spent about 10 minutes taking pictures, including a bunch of self portraits with my timer, and having a snack.  I then headed back the way I came, assuming that the trail that continued on just went to the radio tower I could see at the end, when I got to the post I turned down the hill, once again please with myself and what good time I was making!

Soon I came to Skyline Drive and instantly realized I was in the wrong place.  I was supposed to be in an overlook, but I was just by the road.  I quickly realized that I’d mistakenly taken a spur trail to a spring rather than the trail down.  I was faced with 2 options: walk along Skyline Drive to the overlook or climb back up the hill 400 yards to the trail.  It was a busy day and there were lots of cars and motorcycles on the road so I chose the “up the hill” option.  I quickly got to the top and continued down the trail. 

As I reached the top there was a couple with their 2 dogs coming down the trail.  We played hopscotch a few times before I finally let them get ahead of me while I photographed some really pretty pink flowers.  I was pretty excited that I’d walked back up the hill because I never would have seen the flowers if I hadn’t! (turns out the flowers were in abundance further down the trail.

Soon I reached the road again and when I did I completely lost the trail.  I was right on the edge of the overlook, which hugged the road – basically the road was just a bit wider there as the overlook curved around.  I couldn’t figure out where the trail had gone.  I got out the map, but that didn’t help – it looked like it crossed Skyline Drive, but I couldn’t see it anywhere on the other side.  I knew the trail crossed the drive on the other side of the overlook so I just walked through the overlook, enjoying the view and taking pictures!

I picked up the trail again and doubled back over the territory I’d just covered while walking through the overlook.  In just a few minutes I saw the couple with the dogs that I’d encountered on the top of the mountain.  They must have been able to find the trail!

I was almost back at Skyline Drive before I got to the Sugarloaf Trail! I probably ended walking at least a 1/2 mile out of my way!  Things should be easier now – it was just down the Sugarloaf Trail, across the Pole Bridge Link Trail and up the fire road.  I did however shove the map in my pocket since I kept having to stop to consult it.  Ended up not needing it again the rest of the hike. 

By this time I’d been walking for about 2 hours and had covered only 2 miles.  I needed to pick up the pace a bit!  I stopped taking pictures and focused on walking!  The Sugarloaf trail would be an awesome place to hike when the Mt. Laurel is in bloom!  WOW! I had to simply imagine!

I saw more people than I expected to see – all going the opposite direction as me, but otherwise the trail was uneventful. 

Soon I reached the fire road.  I’ve hiked up this fire road before and I know that it’s pretty boring.  It’s well graded making the uphill hike nice, but it’s boring so before I conquered the last mile I pulled out my iPod. 

I’d been walking a little while, and I’d been guessing that I was about 1/2 way back to the car, when all the sudden sirens pierced through the silence and the music on my iPod.  It sounded like there were a million and that they were close.  My thought was I was much closer to Skyline Drive than I’d thought and that there been a bad accident. 

A few minutes later I heard a loud, low rumbling sound – my 1st thought was “motorcycles” – also in keeping with the idea that I was closer to the Drive than I’d estimated.  But the sound continued for a long time.  I then thought maybe it was a helicopter for the accident – but helicopters make a “thwap thwap” sound…this was more of a train coming at you.  The sound kept going and going for almost a minute.  If I’d been in Mt. Rainier NP I would have thought “Lahar”, but there aren’t any volcanoes nearby.  My other thought was “tornado” but it was really sunny with barely a cloud in the sky. Oddly, “earth splitting apocalyptic earthquake” didn’t occur to me until later!  I had no idea, but was eager to get back to the car to find out!

The car was a lot closer than I’d thought and I was there within minutes.  I quickly changed my shoes and headed to Elkwallow to grab a snack and a cold drink before heading home. 

As I passed the Hogback Mountain Overlook (the one I’d hiked through, the one that’s just a wide spot in the road) I saw that there was a whole mess of motorcycles!  It looked like there were about 50.  I suspected that’s what I’d heard on the trail.  As I headed down the Drive I didn’t see anything that could have explained the sirens.

When I got to Elkwallow the motorcycles weren’t far behind! They all pulled in as I was getting out of the car! I counted 25, but I’m pretty sure I missed some – the kinda scattered and they were parked in clumps.  While in store I saw many of their riders and learned from the patches on their vests that they were Eagle PA Harley Owners Club!  

After seeing no evidence of anything requiring sirens I concluded that I must have been in an acoustical “sweet spot” when I was on the Fire Road and it simply amplified the road noise from Skyline Drive.

Snacks and cold drinks in hand I made my way back down Skyline Drive to I-66 and home!

Hogback Mt 5.21.11

Extreme Makeover: Plant Stand Edition

When I got my 1st apartment in 1997 my grandmother was downsizing and moving to a retirement community in Florida.  As a result I got a bunch of furniture that used to be hers.  Many of these pieces are projects waiting to happen (and have been waiting for almost 15 years now!). 

Possibly my favorite piece from everything I got from my grandma is a funky little 3 level plant stand.  It’s wooden and was painted a basic white.  I think you could also use it as a bookcase or an end table but I put it in the bathroom at my 1st apartment and put a plant on it and it’s been a plant stand ever since.  I’ve carried it around with me from PA to OK to Alexandria and now here – always wanting to do something with it.  Finally inspiration hit! I’d cover it with pictures of flowers!  It was after all a plant stand!

Here’s a picture of it before I started:

The first step was to paint the whole thing green, gloaming green to be exact…yes gloaming green is the official name from Valspar!

Next I had to gather the pictures! I knew I had tons of pictures of flowers, and plants, from all my travels! I gathered them all in an album in Picasa and uploaded them to Snapfish and then had them printed to pick up at my local Walgreens!  In the process of finding the pictures I did discover that I was missing pictures from my Alaska trip and that I don’t really have any of my pictures from Maine.  I’m not sure what happened to most of my Alaska pictures.  I have about 300 but there are whole days missing.  My only guess is that they were on my school laptop and that I didn’t back them up all up correctly before the computer was reimaged.  I know that using my school computer is what happened to my Maine pictures.  I didn’t have time to back everything up before turning the computer over for reimaging and I knew my Maine pictures were on Picasa Web Albums.  When I downloaded the pics from the web I must have only downloaded the thumbnail.  I have them, but they are tiny and you can’t make them bigger or the resolution falls apart.  :-(  Luckily I did upload a bunch of Shutterfly when I had them blown up for the walls! Those pictures are fine, and I have 2 walls in the dining room with framed prints from Maine.  I guess I’ll just have to go back to Maine and Alaska! Bummer!  In the meantime, I’m super glad I have my own laptop now and hopefully won’t lose any more pics to reimaging!

Anyway, back to the plant stand….

Arranging the pictures was harder than I expected because most of them were zoomed in so much!  It was hard to overlap! It was also hard because there wasn’t a lot of surface space on the plant stand! I tried to fold the pictures around the edges, but I couldn’t make them stick so ended up just cutting the overhang off.   On the “front” of the stand I put pictures on the supports, in the end I didn’t like that, I think it looks too busy.  Unfortunately Modge Podge is permanent and I can’t pull them off! 

Here’s the finished product:

This is the “front” with the pictures on the supports…see what I mean…too busy!

This is the “back” – I decided to put flowers on it just in case I ever decided to use the piece in the middle of a room or as and end table!

Here’s the plant stand back in action in the plant corner:

The Calla Lily in the front is new. I got it at Wegmans last week – it’s purple! It had one flower when I got it, now it has 5 with another on the way!

While I’m showing off the plants, here’s a current picture of the split leaf:

It’s obviously doing very well.  I repotted it a few months ago – I think it was during my January snow days because I remember having to wait till the dirt thawed! The shiny leaf is brand new! It’s had a monopoly on the window for the last few months but I need it to start growing up rather than out so I’m hoping moving it back will help a bit.  It’s almost time to stake it!

And here’s the Norfolk Pine that will celebrate it’s 36th birthday this week.  Guess I need a plan for what to do when it hits the ceiling. 

In the lower right corner of the picture is a chair.  I’m pretty sure this chair was left behind by the previous owner of our house in Cincinnati.  I’m unsure of how it ended up at my house unless it got thrown in the truck with the other stuff my parents shipped to me. I’ve debated throwing it out several times, it really serves no useful purpose, except for back at Christmas when one of my students parents gave me a poinsettia!  Just today it occurred to me that this could be my next project…I think it could use a little decoupage! Then I could put more plants on it, or use it for seating (gasp!)

Just so they don’t feel left out, the plants that live on the pie safe:

Crochet-a-pa-looza

I’ve been doing a lot of crocheting lately.  A lot.   I’m getting pretty good at reading instructions and fixing mistakes and stuff!

The first project I finished is a baby afghan I made to donate to a worthy cause.  A few months ago I discovered a local yarn store called The Yarn Cloud.  It’s a great store! Almost all of their yarn is unique to them, made just for their store in the Cezch Republic! The owner of the store had a box set up by the door that was piled up with knitted and crocheted  donations that she was giving to the pregnancy crisis center in Manassas. She said this was a year round collection and I knew it was just the place to donate the afghan I was planning with some leftover yarn! 

I had 2 skeins of white Bernat Baby Coordinates Yarn left over from making a baby afghan for what we thought was Baby Jack, who later turned out to be Leah! It was too much to just toss, but there weren’t any babies on the horizon so I’d decided to crochet it up and donate the afghan. 

My first idea for the afghan was to make granny squares and then connect them – I started it that way to use up some of the blue I also had left over, however when I joined them I didn’t like it very much so I pulled it all out.  When I did Baby Jack’s afghan I used my big afghan hook, it worked ok, but since then I’d seen a swatch with the same yarn only it was done really tight and it looked nice so I’d decided I’d use a smaller hook this time.   I didn’t want it to be huge, but after I started it I realized that it was too narrow so after I stitched up the 1st skein I decided to stitch along the long side on both sides to made it wider.   One day over spring break I spent all day stitching along the side of the afghan – I was going to make 20 rows on each side and I was about 8 rows in when I realized the rows were curving! It was bugging me. A lot. I realized why…I’d made a stitch in each space along the side and therefore there were more stitches than rows, which I knew would make it curve.  So I ripped out about 6 hours worth of work and started over.  It was frustrating, but worth it.  After I finished adding 20 vertical rows to each side I crocheted all around the whole thing until the yarn ran out.  By this time I was ready to be done with the whole thing, yet the yarn simply wouldn’t end.  Every time I looked at what I had left it appeared that I’d hadn’t made a dent in it! Friday night I thought I’d stay up till it was done, about 11:30 my hands couldn’t crochet anymore and I gave up.  I started up again Saturday morning and crocheted for 4 more hours before it was done! Glad I didn’t stay up Friday night! 

Here’s the finished afghan:

When I was at The Yarn Cloud in December I picked up a skein of thick purple variegated bamboo yarn.  It had the feel of shoelace, but it was very soft and pliable.  I thought it would be perfect for a placemat.  My plan was that when I finished the afghan I’d start on that since I was pretty sure I’d need more yarn and when I went to get more yarn I could drop the afghan off at the store.  Within hours of finishing the afghan I started on the placemat.  Before I could get started I needed to know what size hook to use, I knew the info was on the Yarn Cloud’s website so I went to take a look, and when I did I learned that the store had been closed all week and the 1st chance I’d get to go would be Wed afterschool! Hmmmm…glad I didn’t finish the afghan sooner! Luckily I have a hook that is close to the correct size – I used a size smaller to make it tighter – so was off and running quickly.  I used a placemat I already have as a model for the size.  Unlike the baby yarn I crocheted my way through this skein in about an hour.   I did fall in love with the yarn though! It’s both stiff and soft.  It’s perfect for placemats and rugs! The only problem is that a skein is only 90 yards and costs $10.  The owner of the store told me that she made a bathmat with yarn and it took 14 skeins. Yikes!

All week I was looking forward to my trip to the yarn store on Wed afternoon.  I ended up leaving work later than I’d planned and then there were some huge storms coming through!  A tornado warning was issued for Prince William County when I was about 1/2 way there, but things didn’t look bad where I was, despite the huge, bright red storm heading my way that I could see on the radar! I forged ahead with the plan.  I was in and out of the yarn store in 10 minutes and even saw a rainbow on my way out! Later I found out there were tornados with the storm that was practically on top of me when I was at the yarn store!

My plan for this piece also involved doing a double crochet body and then going around it for a border.  With this piece I was going to make a row of double crochets followed by a chain stitch to make it open.  After I finished the body I went around the whole thing with single crochets and then started the round with the double crochet/chain pattern.  I discovered that the corners didn’t come out right if there were an odd number of rows.  I forged ahead though and it wasn’t until I started the next round that I realized how I’d done the corners was going to make huge holes so I figured I needed to add another row to the body so that both sides had an odd number of stitched.  So I ripped out the whole border (about an evenings worth's of work) and started over.  I added a row to the body and started the border again.  Only to discover that adding the row didn’t fully solve the problem, so I ended up doubling up the stitches on the corners and it seemed to work.  Also I decided that I needed to use treble stitches for the row with spaces instead of doubles, glad I did, it looks much better now! 

Here’s the finished placemat:

I also have 2 projects in progress:

A few weeks ago I went to Williamsburg for the day to help my grandma with her computer and as a treat when I was done I paid a visit to Knitting Sisters, what a lovely shop! While there I found a number of delightful yarns, one of which was made from sugar cane! It was soft and shiny and pink! They had a number of other colors but the pink struck me so that was the one I got.  I decided I’d crochet a purse for Leah with it.  When I started crocheting with it though I decided that it just wasn’t the right type of yarn for a purse, it was too delicate.  I shifted gears and decided to make a scarf out of for a friend who recently survived breast cancer.  (I hope she’s not reading this…hmmmm….oh well…I’m sure she knows who she is…act surprised! ;-)  I also decided that this was the perfect opportunity to try out one of the stitches in my new book of crochet stitches!

I got started the other night, but when I got to the end of the 3rd row I discovered that I hadn’t chained the correct number of stitches.  So I ripped it out and started again, carefully counting the chains this time.  Once again I got to the end of the 3rd row and realized I didn’t have enough stitches.  So I decided to try it with some different yarn and a bigger hook.  This time I got it and worked through one repeat of the pattern before going back to the cool sugar cane yarn and the tiny hook.  Third time must be a charm because this time I got it!

Here’s what I’ve got so far – just a few hours worth of work on it so far:

I recently bought some glow in the dark yarn on Ebay.  I’d read about the yarn in a Crochet Mystery I was reading and googled it only to discover that it was discontinued! Ebay to the rescue! I’d been debating what to do with it, when I decided that a rug would be cool.  I found a pattern in my crochet shapes book that had a 3-D flower in the middle of a square! I did a practice square a few weeks ago and was ready to get started.  I decided to use some cotton yarn I’d gotten on sale for the background.  I have a limited amount of the glow in the dark stuff so I want to make it go as far as I can.  The nice thing with these squares is that I can do each one in about an hour or so and it’s perfect to work on in the evenings!  After doing 2 squares I like how it’s coming out, however I’m seeing it more as a bed spread/blanket than a rug, we’ll see if I have enough glow in the dark yarn!

So far there hasn’t been any crochet drama with this project, but I did have to spend about an hour untangling the glow in the dark yarn because I couldn’t figure out where to start it!  The glow in the dark yarn is also not the best texture – it’s an acrylic/polyester blend so it’s just kinda weird – seems to be prefect for the accent flower though. 

Here’s a picture of the 2 squares I’ve done so far (I couldn’t capture the glow in the dark factor on film, maybe when I have more squares it will glow brighter):

The Quest for Trillium

Ahhhh….Spring Break!  Easter is super late this year, which make Spring Break super late!  It’s nice because it’s the tree pollen peak and I’m welcoming not having to fight through feeling miserable to teach.  It’s not so nice because it’s the tree pollen peak and it’s hard to get out and do stuff!  Between the pollen and the sky high gas prices I’m tempted to just hole up in my house with projects and not leave until Monday morning!

Two years ago I made the trek out to Linden, VA and the GR Thompson Wildlife Management Area to see the largest concentration of trillium in the US. You can read about that day, and what exactly trillium are here. The trillium at GR Thompson Wildlife Management area are usually at their peak around my birthday, and with spring break being so late, my birthday is only 2 weeks away so I figured that there’s be some trillium action. 

The pollen was holding me back. Sometimes I just have to say “screw the pollen, I’m doing what I want.”   That’s what I decided I was going to do today.  I decided I’d drive out there, hike for just one hour – 30 minutes out and then turn around.  I’d simply accept whatever “consequence” the tree pollen threw at me and hope I could get some good pictures of trillium and maybe, if I was lucky, a showy lady’s slipper.  

I headed out about 10:30 this morning – wearing shorts since it was supposed to be in the high 70s, and cotton shorts at that, I was only planning to hike/walk an hour and I had other errands to run.  I’d also simply grabbed a bottle of water, a few granola bars, my trusty PATC map, and my camera.  Bare minimum in terms of gear – I was simply looking for flowers so didn’t feel I needed much.  As I was walking out the door I did grab my fleece jacket in case it was chilly. 

I wasn’t even out of Lake Ridge yet when it started to rain.  That’s right – rain!  The weather forecast had been calling for a 30% chance of rain – and that was isolated thunderstorms in the evening!  I pulled up the radar on my weather channel app and sure enough the whole area was green with rain!!!!  I did I quick u-turn and went home for rain jacket!

As I drove west the rain continued to fall steadily!  In places it was pouring!  The temp was also dropping – when I left home it was in the 70s, by the time I reached the trailhead parking it was 51!  brrrrr!

I parked in the same place as I did the last time I came out there and headed toward the AT.  The first thing I noticed was that the trillium that had been everywhere 2 years ago were no where to be seen.  :-(  There were some other white flowers in abundance, but no trillium. 

I headed down the old road checking out all the little wildflowers and snapping pictures!  And then I heard it….a low, distant rumble….thunder.  Yes, this trip to hunt trillium is sounding a lot like the last time I came out here!   The thunder didn’t sound too aggressive and I’d checked the radar before I got out of the car and there was no red – only yellow.  I figured that it was garden variety storm and nothing to worry too much about. 

A light rain was falling, distant thunder was rumbling and while it was chilly, it was very pleasant.  I headed down the trail, happy that I’d made the trip out and that the weather had “cooperated”! :-)

I saw a few trillium about to burst and a few that had buds that were starting to open.  As soon as I turned onto the AT I saw hundreds of trillium leaves, but no flowers.  I was too early.  ugh.  Too late one year and too early the next.   I walked a little farther and then the thunder started rumbling directly overhead, it was cold, and I wasn’t seeing what I came for, so I turned around and headed back to the car.

The air was so crisp and pollen free I had to keep the windows open!  I zipped up my raincoat so I wouldn’t get wet and cranked the heat and drove most of the way back to Manassas with the window open!

I went back to Manassas to run my errands and checked in on twitter which is where I learned that the oak pollen had popped and today’s pollen counts were over 2000, despite pollen.com’s assurances that it was a lower pollen day! 

Here are the few pictures I got:

 

SNP 12-23-10

Last week I decided that I was going hiking today!  It had been a really long time since I’d gotten out and it was the 1st thing I wanted to do over winter break! I was really excited when I realized it was a Thursday, in December no less, so I figured I’d be able to get a parking place at any trailhead I wanted! (so often I go out there on weekends and there’s no parking where I want to hike!). 

I was thinking I’d park at Meadow Springs and hike up to Mary’s Rock – a great viewpoint.  Well, my plan was foiled by the fact that Skyline Drive was closed.  That severely limited my hiking options.  I could still get to Mary’s Rock, but I’d have to go up the AT and it was potentially very icy.   Another option was to hike part of the Dickey Ridge Trail up in Front Royal.  Going to Thorton Gap would give me more options if one trail was too icy.  

I headed out this morning, arriving in Thorton Gap, the spot that was formerly known as Panorama, at about 11 am.  When I pulled into the parking area there were 2 other cars – I saw the occupant of one of them as he was heading out.  I expected to see him again, but he must have gone north on the AT because I never saw him again and the car was gone when I got back!   Just before I got out of the car a HUGE gust of wind blew up and shook the whole car!  yikes.  I hadn’t considered wind.  If it was this windy down here, it was going to be extra windy at the summit which was 1,000 ft higher than I already was!

I donned all my layers and headed out!  It was more than a bit brisk.  And the wind was whipping something fierce.   Once I got into the woods the trees blocked most of the wind, but it was still very loud!  It was a sustained wind at about 20-30 MPH, with gusts topping 50 MPH (when I got home I discovered that the area was under a wind advisory!).  The trail was in good shape! There was a dusting of snow, but there was no ice!

As I began to climb I started to get hot.  Temps in the 20s with a 50 mph wind and I was hot.  Go figure.  Just goes to show that with the right gear there’s no such thing as bad conditions!

The trail wound around the mountain and soon there was no wind because the mountain was blocking it!  YAY! It was a steady climb, but not hard and not very steep.  I’d hiked this trail once before in 2001 and I remembered it being very steep and narrow.  Today I didn’t notice any of those things – the trail felt very wide! Must have been my newbie hiker viewpoint!  It might have seemed narrow before I climbed the 90 degree rock face hand over hand to get to the top of Penobscot Mt in Acadia!

I was happily hiking along enjoying the views, probably 3/4 of the way to the top, when I came to a HUGE stretch of solid ice.  The trail was completely obscured by a solid sheet ice.  hmmmm… There was a way around it, I could bushwhack a bit up the hill by the side of the trail and get around it, but I was worried about getting back, I was also concerned with what else I would encounter as I got closer to the summit.  I’d considered doing a loop using Skyline Drive as my return route, but that was looking pretty unappealing since Skyline Drive was cleared of snow, just a road walk.  Even if I’d decided to do a loop, there was still the possibility I’d encounter more impassable ice and have to come back over this section. 

So, deciding to err on the side of caution I turned around and headed back to Thorton Gap.  My plan was to eat my sandwich in the protection of my car and then head down to Buck Hollow to hike some more! 

On the way down I saw some burned out trees from the big fire of 2000.  That was the 1st year I was here and I was actually in the park the day it was burning! I’d been hiking near the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center and decided to drive to Thorton Gap and exit there.  I knew there was a big fire and that the Central District of the park was closed, but I hadn’t expected to see the fire!  The sun had just set as I was driving into Thorton Gap and it was pretty dark and the side of Mary’s Rock Mt was glowing red with flames!  It was a pretty amazing sight! The rest of the hike back down was quick and easy and soon I was back at the car!

I quickly ate my sandwich, responded to a text I’d gotten (3G service at Thorton Gap is a blessing and a curse!), and then headed down the mountain to Buck Hollow. 

Buck Ridge – Buck Hollow is an excellent hike that you can get to from the park boundary.  It’s about 5 miles round trip – up to Skyline Drive and back.  I hiked it a few years back with Daisy Mae! I’d considered hiking the whole loop today, but I’d read a trail report from a week or so ago and it said Buck Hollow (the return, downhill, trail) was icy in places, so I was  hesitant to attempt the loop.  I thought that the Buck Hollow trail went along a stream, so I decided I’d hike up that trail until I either ran out of time, or encountered too much ice. 

I was the 4th car in the parking area, so I was anticipating seeing some other hikers.

The trail starts with 2 stream crossings.  One that I wasn’t a huge fan of as the rocks were uneven and it was a little scary, but I made it over (and back later!).  The other crossings were very easy thanks to the hard work of the PATC I’m sure! This trail started much lower on the mountain (although it’s the same mountain I had been hiking on earlier!), so there was less snow at 1st but as the trail gradually climbed there was more snow and more ice!

It was a lovely quiet walk.  The wind was high in the trees and not bothering me way down in the valley! The sun was peeking over the mountain making it very warm (yep, I was hot again!). 

I’d been hiking about an hour when I ran into the only people I’d see on the trail that day – a couple who told me that they’d just gotten engaged! He’d drug her into the woods and popped the question and I was the 1st know!  His timing was pretty good – I encountered them only a few feet from where he proposed, I’m glad I didn’t walk up on “the act”.  What is trail etiquette for walking to engagements in action?   I congratulated them and offered to take their picture which they thought was a great idea!  They posed and I snapped a shot with his iPhone look-alike phone and headed on up the trail. 

Soon I came to a section of the trail was all iced up! It was easy to get around as the terrain is very flat and I could just go off trail a bit.  Then I quickly came to another stream crossing.  This one had some patchy ice on some of the rocks.  I knew I could make it across, but I wasn’t sure about getting back, so I decided to call it a day and turn around.  It was 2:00, only 30 minutes shy of my “turn around time”.   I wasn’t done hiking yet though, so I walked back as slow as I could!  By this time the sun had sunk below the mountain and it was getting chilly!

When I got back to the car the parking area was deserted! I knew that one of the cars had been the newly engaged couple and I guess the other 2 people had hiked down Buck Ridge (which is VERY steep – it’s better to go up that way so I was surprised!) and that’s why I hadn’t seen them. 

I drove back up the mountain to use the facilities at Thorton Gap before heading home.  The Pass Mountain Trail parking area on 211 was also empty (there had been 2 cars earlier), as was the Thorton Gap parking area.  It was only 3 pm, but I guess the cold and wind had driven everyone away early!

Since Skyline Drive was closed I had no choice but to just drive home! I was amazed that I made it home before dark!

SNP 12-23-10

Rally to Restore Sanity

Yesterday was Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear”.  I’m not big on politics at all, and until about a week ago I’d never watched The Daily Show and never even heard of Steven Colbert.  But this looked like a rally I could get into.  It’s wasn’t about subscribing to a certain political viewpoint, but rather about big ideas we should all be embracing. Ideas like being reasonable and listening and disagreeing appropriately.  And most importantly: Don’t be douchey. 

This CNN article about the rally really hits the nail on the head about what it was all about:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/31/avlon.rally.sanity/

In the 10 years that I have lived here in the DC area, I have been into DC for 2 major events – this rally and the National Book Festival a year ago.  So I was excited even to just be a part of something this big and exciting!  And big it definitely was!  An estimated 215,000 people were there.  They are saying it was the biggest event in DC since President Obama’s Inauguration!

We managed to have a near perfect experience with the whole thing!  We couldn’t have done better if we’d planned it!

Andy and I met at the Woodbridge Commuter lot a little after 8 and headed up to the Springfield Metro.  There was a short line of cars getting into the parking garage but after we got in there were TONS of spots!  We got a spot right by the stairs and walked into the station and right onto a train!  The one bit of pre-planning we did – me going to the metro station a few days early and securing fare cards for both of us – really paid off as there was a line of people waiting to get their fare cards.  It was nothing like it would be later in the day – people waited over an hour just to get their fare cards! 

It’s another story for another time (it’s a great story that makes me very happy, but has nothing do with the rally!) but I had a pink flamingo hat from my Halloween costume and I decided that it would be fun to wear the hat at the rally.  The flamingo had no real significance whatsoever, but it was fun! Random flamingos are always funny! As we got on the metro the people behind us remarked about the flamingo!  It was one of the ladies’ favorite animal!  She even took my picture to send to her daughter!  We started chatting and had a few good laughs!  I wore the flamingo hat for the pre-show but when we sang the national anthem I took it off and then realized how hot it was! 

We arrived at L’Enfant Metro station at 9:20 and waited about 30 minutes for Keith and Virginia to arrive from Vienna.  There was a steady stream of people headed to the rally but it wasn’t that busy yet.  We walked up the street and right onto the mall and into the rally area.   We quickly found a good spot, right in front of one of the big jumbotrons! We were between the National Gallery and the Air & Space Museum, closer to the museum. We had a view of the actual stage, but we couldn’t see what was going on. 

Right after we got there we all pulled out our phones to check in on Foursquare or Facebook.   There were so many people there that the cellular networks were overloaded and not working!  I finally was able to check in on Foursquare through the Official Rally App using the free public Wifi.  When I checked in I unlocked 5 new badges, including the “Epic Swarm” badge – that’s when more than 1,000 Foursquare users check in at the same place!

We settled in and watched all the people who were streaming into the rally area.  There were some awesome signs!  Everyone was encouraged to bring a sign and there was a wide range of signs from the silly to serious.  Some were political, others were just goofy, others just had good ideas!  I took pictures of the ones I saw that I liked, and there are a bunch of others here:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-100-best-signs-at-the-rally-to-restore-sanity

Right before the actual rally began the Mythbusters did a pre-rally show.  We did the wave and all jumped simultaneously to see if it would show up on the seismograph and we did the 200,000 person “cheek pop”.   They showed live views of the crowd on the jumbotrons – there were packed people from the Capitol building to the Washington Monument! We could see the steps of National Gallery and they were PACKED with people!  So many people every where!

The actual rally was almost a parody of other rallies!  There were poems, a benedictions, awards, musical performances, and celebrity guests, all kinda silly, but still getting to the point that what’s really silly is how crazy politics and Americans in general have gotten. 

When the rally ended we’d planned to just stay put for 20-30 minutes to let people clear out but somehow we didn’t.  We packed up and started heading toward the American Indian Museum.  We’d naively thought that there wouldn’t be anyone there.  HA!  Since we’d gotten there so early and so painlessly and then hadn’t moved, we really had no concept of just how many people were packed into the National Mall area!  The streets and sidewalks were packed!  We could barely walk! The flamingo hat came in very handy!  I lead the way and everyone followed me!  We were holding on to each other clothing and bags, but still the flamingo hat made it easy to stay together!  We headed over to the museum anyway in hopes of getting some food and finding a bathroom that didn’t have someone sitting on it! (yes people had climbed on top of the porta potties to get a view of the stage!) Our hopes were quickly dashed when we saw the line to get in!  So much for that! 

None of our phones were working, even the free public wifi on the Mall wasn’t working.  So we struck out in hopes of finding something!  We headed down 3rd away from the mall and very soon the crowd thinned out, however, there was really nothing down there. We finally got one of our iPhones to work and found a McDonald’s nearby and headed to it.  By this point we were all getting a little cranky and tired so it got a little tense.   We finally got to the McDonalds and after waiting in line for 10 minutes to finally use the bathroom with the extremely sticky floor and only one functioning toilet, and water so scalding hot you couldn’t get your hands under it(I really should have just taken my chances hiding in the bushes in front of the Health and Human Services Department building!) I felt a lot better!

We went back and forth on what to do next – we didn’t really want to try and get back on the metro, but there weren’t many options for places to hang out.  Finally we decided to accept my friends Matthew & Michael’s invitation to come over to Michael’s place on Capitol Hill to hang for awhile.  Keith and Virginia weren’t up to walking all the way over there and really wanted food so we decided to part ways. 

Andy and I headed back toward the Mall – there were still people hanging around, but for the most part the crowed had all headed out.  We got a little lost – thank you Google Maps for 1) not loading (the cellular service was still a bit wonky) and 2) when you did load you lead us the wrong way! We finally used the “phone app” on our pocket computers and Matthew helped us find the place!

It was awesome to hang with Michael & Matthew and their friends for a little while!  They had the 3 things we needed most – a plug for Andy’s phone, a place to sit, and water! (Not having any access to a bathroom all day lead all of us to avoid drinking and we were a bit dehydrated!).  We hung out there until about 6:30 and then headed back to the metro. 

The closest metro station was Union Station so we walked the 5 or 6 blocks over there and got on a red line train.  We had to switch to a blue train at Metro Center and when we arrived at Metro Center the train we were on was PACKED!  We were trying to get off and everyone was pushing and shoving.  There was a man in wheelchair who’d gotten on at Union Station with us.  He was with 4 other people and I’d noticed they were all talking in sign language.  When we arrived at Metro Center the man in the wheelchair and his friends were trying to get off the train, but there were soooo many people they couldn’t get off.  And, because they were deaf they couldn’t yell “move it” or ask people to move.  Like a moron I asked one of the friends if they were trying to get off?  Then I got smart and motioned to the door and the gal nodded that “yes” they were getting off. So I said “Hey, can you all let this guy through” and promptly everyone near the door parted ways for the man in the wheelchair to get out.  The only problem was the people in the back didn’t see and they started yelling and pushing.  We all yelled back “chill out, we’ve got a wheelchair here!” They mostly stopped but there was still a crush of people getting off!  I finally got spewed out on the platform and stepped back to wait for Andy.  He was one of the last to get off the train and he later told me that the door closed on his leg!  He said he pulled out pretty quick, and that the door opened again right after he pulled it out!

Considering that was our only real metro issue on a day when there were 215,000 people in DC for a rally, I say it was awesome!

We finally made it back to Springfield a little after 8:00 and drug ourselves to Andy’s car! Our legs were not willing to carry us even a foot further!

It was a great day!  Fun rally!  Great ideas to think about! Fun times with good friends! :-) 

See Virginia's Rally pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/vleveland/RallyToRestoreSanityAndorFearOct302010#