Seven Devil's Weekend Hiking
This weekend Kelly and I went camping with the dogs to the Seven Devil's Wilderness Area in Idaho. We left Friday after work on the 3.5 hour drive south. We spent the time listening to the Redskins preseason opener against the Bills. Watch out NFC East, we are coming for you!
After the long drive we settled into camp. We were camping in the Seven Devil's Campground, which has many nice spots and was super quiet. We were about 7000 feet up and once the sun went behind the peaks to our west the temperatures dropped fast. Our possibly suspect REI key chain thermometer said it was in the 20's. Kelly disagrees, but I think it was pretty accurate. We had dinner by the fire pit and then went to sleep after spending some time stargazing at the milky way.
The next morning we were up around 7, ate our breakfast, loaded up our day hiking packs and hit the trail. Our goal was to hike about 4.5 miles to Cannon Lake, spend some time there, and then find our way to Upper Cannon Lake. The hike started off really nice, it was a gorgeous morning and the trail started off down hill. We passed a ranger station with a pen of donkey's and horses that appeared to have free roam of the area. Luckily, for some reason, Chester and Margo ignored them and off we went. Along the way we had some great views of the surrounding areas and possibly the ridges along our first back packing trip at the Rapid River.
John and the Dogs beginning the hike
We made it to Cannon Lake and enjoyed the views and some snacks along the shore. The dogs waded a bit in the water and we planned our route to Upper Cannon Lake. The trail book mentioned that it took some route finding skills and some bush wacking to get to the lake, but it would be worth it. So we figured, why not and off we went. We brought a topo map and had the trail books description of how to get there, so we figured we'd climb a ridge to the north side of Cannon Lake, and then head up and to the west.
Kelly trying to figure out where to go next
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Fourth of July Backpacking Trip
This Fourth of July weekend Kelly had to do some work, so I headed out backpacking with some friends to the Hoh River Trail in the Olympic National Park. It ended up being a 38 mile out and back hike from rain forest to a glacier. It was great to hike through so many ecosystems in one hike.
The hike started off with a 11 mile stroll through along the Hoh River passing some giant trees and lots of slugs along the way. It then started climbing 2100 feet over the next 4 miles to get to our first campspot at Elk Lake.
Elk Lake
Elk Lake isn't just a clever name, right at sunset we watched 6 elk come down and graze on the grasses around the lake. We also heard some bugling from them as we turned in for the night.
The next day we woke up and ate some breakfast and headed further up the trail for a day hike to see Blue Glacier. It was all uphill about another 2000 feet gain over 5 miles. At one point we crossed a rock slide area and had to descend on fixed ropes which was pretty fun.
Me climbing down the rock slide
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Route of the Hiawatha?? Yeah, we did that.
The warmer weather has finally arrived on the Palouse and we jumped at the chance to head up to the Route of the Hiawatha with friends Tiff and Jeremy to take advantage of it. The Route of the Hiawatha is a 15 mile rail-to-trail gravel bike path crossing over the Montana-Idaho border near Lookout Pass. It promised scenic views, 10 tunnels, and 7 trestles as it wound its way through the Bitterroot Mountains. It was a fantastic day, sunny but not too hot, as we started the ride. We soon hit Taft Tunnel, a 1.6 mile tunnel requiring headlamps and bike lights. Inside, it was pitch dark with dripping water overhead, ice cold temps, and drainage ditches along either side carrying the water out of the tunnel. The ticket sellers warned us to stay away from the edges, ride in single file in a straight path, and stay away from little kids (who don't know how to ride in a straight path). It was awesome, but a bit unnerving.
John and Jeremy after the Taft Tunnel
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Another Weekend of Hiking
This weekend we took the dogs to Field Springs State Park in Washington. Its about an hour and a half south of us and provided us some nice hiking. The weather was perfect and the dogs had a blast. Its more of a winter snow park, so next snow storm we'll have to hit it up for some snow shoeing!
Overlooking Rattlesnake Canyon
Chester basking in the Sun
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Is It Spring Yet?
Since our trip to Virginia, we've been experimenting with Spring. Trying out the Porch in between sessions of a roaring fireplace. Its been nice for a few days, followed by cold and wet weather, including some snow flurries. So when its nice out we take full advantage of the outdoors.
We are still running most days and recently ran in a 5K and a 10K. The 5K was a local event to support a local path that we use for biking and running on. For the inaugural race, it was outstanding. Tons of raffle prizes, so even though I didn't win the race, I still won a technical shirt in the raffel! The 10K was another good time. The course was down the Snake river between Clarkston and Lewiston (Lewis & Clark, get it!). After we finished, they put us on a jet boat to take us back to the start. Made for a fun ending.
We've also tried to get out of the house with the dogs and finally made our way to Wawawai Park in Washington. It was a nice little park along the snake river.
John and the dogs along the Snake River
Besides that we've been busy getting the garden ready for the growing season. Lets hope the snow is done so everything makes it this year. We've also cleaned up our house's flower beds. Kelly has been clearing out the weeds and moving plants around. We even put in some new shrubs. Very exciting. Our big project this summer will be to paint the house. The OUTSIDE of the house. We'll see how that goes.
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Easter In Springfield
This Easter, Kelly and I made a surprise visit to Virginia to visit the family.
Family Picture 2010
We arrived Friday afternoon at National Airport and hopped on the metro to get to Springfield. The plan was to have my Mom invite Alexa and Mary's families over for dinner and we'd be the surprise guests.
Alexa, Nate and Declan were already on the back porch hanging out with Dad when we all pulled up. Kelly and I walked around the side to the porch and I asked "What's for dinner". Dad looked shocked, Alexa screamed, and Declan cried. Overall a rather funny moment.
Next up, Mary and her family arrived. We ordered pizza which ended up beating them to the house, so Kelly and I grabbed the pizzas to the side of the house so we could deliver them to Mary. As we approached the door, Madeline exclaims "Uncle John's got pizza". Not sure if Mary thought she meant Papa John's or not, but it was still funny.
The next morning, Kelly and I ran around Accotink and got home in time for a quick visit from the Harrisons. They came back later for a little longer visit. It was nice to see the girls again. They are getting so old now.
Joe, Rebecca, and Sevi showed up next. So the rest of the night was eating, drinking and talking on the porch. We also watched as Sevi and Madeline decorated 2 dozen easter eggs.
Sevi and Madeline Making Easter Eggs
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Marathon Dominated
We did it, Kelly and I finally got a chance to test out our training by running the Breast Cancer Marathon in Jacksonville Florida. After 18 long weeks we made it in 4:31.10 which works out to about a 10:21 mile, which for us is really fast. The weather was beautiful for most of the race and the atmosphere there was incredible. 2.5 miles of it was even on the beach to test our strength.
John and Kelly Post Race
Our splits we pretty good too. Our 5 mile split was at 49:50, our 10 mile split was at 1:40:23, the half marathon time was at 2:10:25, 20 mile time was 3:20:26, and a final time of 4:31:10, so basically we dominated the first 20 miles and then really slowed down the last 6, but man were that was the toughest section. That part was on the highway in the burning sun and across a bridge.
I ran it all in my Vibram Five Finger Shoes!
And yes I did run the entire way with my VFF KSO's and they rocked, my feet felt great! Super happy with the way they worked. Not a blister or a rock stepped on the entire run.
Pre Race Photo
While we ran the Marathon, Kelly's entire family walked the half marathon and survived that as well.
Jackie and Bob Post Race
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My birthday
I had a birthday, but the best part was we went to the Caps/Penquins game and the Caps pulled it off. Here we are: I'm sure you'll agree, we look good. Besides we had to travel the beltway to 66 to the Ballston Metro and then the Metro to Verizon Center for the game. But it was worth it.
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A Weekend Vacation
This weekend Kelly and I took our friends Jeremy and Tiff to our favorite place in the world, Joseph, Oregon near the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area for a weekend of outdoor adventures. We left Friday afternoon and had an uneventful drive down and made our first stop at Terminal Gravity Brewing for dinner and drinks. Its hands down our favorite beer in the world and they didn't disappoint. This time on tap was a delicious Festivale at a strong 8.9%. It was dangerously good. After dinner we checked into our cabin and settled in for a night of Super Mario Brothers on the Wii.
The next morning Kelly and I had to continue our marathon training with a 12 miler. It was perfect weather for that, low 30s and dry. So we ran along the side of Lake Wallawa and enjoyed the views as we trodded through our training run.
John running along the lake
After our run, we hung out for a bit and then went for an afternoon snow shoeing. The snow wasn't that impressive near the lake so we headed out to Salt Creek about 30 minutes away. There the snow was 1-3 feet deep so a good amount for snow shoeing. The clouds started to part and the views were great.
John and Kelly somewhere awesome of course
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Free to Good Home
Alexa and I have been steadfast proponents of our CSA* for many seasons now. We just love getting that bag full of unknown farm fresh goodies. It has been a great way to introduce us to delicious things we’ve ignored all our lives (like beets), as well as delicious things we had no idea existed (like kohlrabi). But as the winter draws in, Alexa and I are faced with unexciting truth that not much is growing on the farms these days. The last 2-3 bags have been nothing but mixed salad greens, kale, and the like. Which is fine and all, but getting a little old. I guess the farmers knew this and wanted to spice things up with our latest shipment. Since they were stuck with giving us cabbage, they decided to give us GIANT HEAD CABBAGE!!! Not a giant head of cabbage but giant head cabbage - seriously this thing weighs like 10lbs and is bigger than my face. What on Earth are Alexa and I supposed to do with this thing! It’s not like we know how to make halupki, our have enough children and grandchildren in the area that could polish off so much cabbage. Oh well, I’m sure a solution will present itself, right Ted?
* CSA : community supported agriculture – you pay a fee at the beginning of the season and get a portion of what the local farmers grow. Check out localharvest.org for one near you.
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