Dad in DC, Part I

Dad and The Lady came to visit us in August.  I got to spend a week dragging them all over the area, because Dad had never been to DC before, so it was all new to him.  We also ate pretty well. (that link won't work until October 24, but that will give you reason to come back)  In the interest of numerous posts (I'm still trying to figure out how to keep this going without me next year, and generous backfilling seems like the best bet), I'm splitting their visit into three parts.  Today is our hike at Great Falls.

We spent their first day in town walking the west end of the mall, including a circuit around the tidal basin, which let us cover almost all of the major monuments in the city.  Then, because we had time and needed a break from pavement, we took a walk on Teddy Roosevelt's island, a nice little spot that seems unknown to visitors and most locals.  The island is home to T.R.'s memorial, a marsh, dozens of five-lined skinks, and either a muskrat or mink.  I didn't get a good look  at it, but it was a swimming mammal of roughly those proportions.

The Girl had the weekend free, so after our usual morning trip to the Farmers' Market (on the way back I saw a hawk fly over the George Washington Parkway with a fish in its talons, which remained the most exciting sight of the day), we had a quick lunch and drove to Great Falls for a little hike.

kayakers

five-lined skink

excellent camouflage

climbers

rafters (some of them are swimming)

Coloraindo

We went to Colorado.  We had terrible timing.  The trip originated because we wanted to attend a friend's wedding, and we planned to use that event as an excuse to visit another friend, do some hiking, drive through the park, and generally soak in some Colorado awesomeness.

It began raining two days before we arrived.  It rained for most of our first 46 hours in the state.  After we arrived in Fort Collins, the interstate was closed behind us.  For the first full day of our visit, we only had friendly sprinkling rain.  The three of us spent some time downtown, hiding from the rain in a coffee shop, a book store, and Snooze.  Really, we were stalling.  We had to burn some time before our scheduled tour of New Belgium Brewery, which was fascinating, delicious, and told us nothing about brewing beer (but their company history and corporate dynamic is amazing.  Go there.  Take the tour.  Drink some beer.  Tell Bernie I said Hi.).  More on that later.

By the next morning, flood waters in Fort Collins had severed our end of town from... pretty much everything else in town.  The hike was out of the question, and they were evacuating everyone from RMNP, so the drive was canceled, too (as though we could have see anything through the constant rain).  We spent the day reading, watching the rain, and building block towers (there might have been some help from the local two-year-old).  The weather broke in late afternoon, and The Girl escaped for a run.  I took a walk.  We still weren't sure road conditions would allow us to get to the wedding--or to leave once it was over.  Rock slides had been reported along I-70 (one of the other wedding guests was behind a car that got flattened by a falling rock.  He looked up to see other rocks moving on the mountainside, and left with all due haste.).

Our trip didn't go as we had planned, but we got to see some good friends, we got to try some excellent beer (New Belgium has a sour they only release every four years or so that blew The Girl's socks clean across the room), we attended a wedding at nearly 12,000 feet, and we saw a moose.  Oh--and we did finally get to go on a hike, on our last day in Colorado.  Considering the reports we heard from around the state of flood damage, we got off pretty easy.

It's zoo again

Over Labor Day weekend, we visited with The Girl's family (mainly her nephew, but I hear other people were there, too) and made a day trip to the Columbus Zoo.  I've been there many times, most recently with my own nephew (and my brother), but I never turn down a trip to the zoo.  It's a good thing, too, because on this trip the red pandas were very active (I didn't even see them last time, and from what I've heard, they're usually asleep in their box, not climbing trees and putting on a show).

At one point, they were both high in the trees, but this was the best shot I got of the aerial performance.

Her Nephew was bananas for these guys.  He was very excited, repeating his own private words for "kitty," and trying to crawl over the fence and into the pen.  Luckily, his parents wouldn't allow it.

I am fascinated by the golden pheasants, and all I know about them is that they are from Asia, and very pretty.

The antelope were not playing, because the deer were somewhere else, and though the enclosure is large, it is not a range.

A baby gorilla and a tall, hairless ape shared this space.

last-round draft picks

Just a quickie today; Dad came to visit recently, and I have lots of pictures from that week, but I haven't had a chance to put them together in a post yet, because the day after he left, I went to Cleveland for a double bachelor party, and got back Sunday night.  Tuesday night through Wednesday evening we had a pair of visitors playing Legos and coloring on our floor (I fit in well with those activities), and Friday afternoon we left to visit The Girl's nephew for adventures which I can only surmise at this writing (I hear a zoo may be involved).

What happened during that free day in the middle?  Sadly, Labor Day sales happened at camping retailers, and they were clamoring to get what remains of my money.

I think my gear is pretty well settled at this point, but there are a few remaining details.  I'd like to upgrade my camera and bed.  With the guidance of a fantastically talented photographer friend in Oregon, I found (ok, he found it, but I really like it) a camera which is not only "adventure rated" (water- shock- and freeze-proof), but has a generous aperture and sensor, allowing for better performance in low light.  It also has special features for really really close photography, which I enjoy.  It's a bit bigger and heavier than what I have now, but considering it will probably survive the trail in better shape than me, I consider it a reasonable trade-off.  Plus, should I decide to get fancy at some point in the future, it can support additional lenses.  Today, on a whim, I checked at our closest Best Buy and found one on display, then spent several giddy minutes playing with features, reading every menu and sub-menu, and closely examining every aspect of it that came to mind.

A little after I returned, my order of two new camp pads arrived.  The plan was to try them both inside and return the one I didn't like as much.  I'm going have to spend a couple nights on them, because so far there is no clear favorite between the NeoAir Xlite and the ProLite (both in the smallest size available, both made in USA by Therm-A-Rest).

I rolled, unrolled, and stretched out on both pads, then spent the better part of my afternoon researching down backpacking quilts.  The last one I checked was made by a company suggested by someone I met in college (I don't think either of us realized at the time that we were both backpackers), and quickly emerged as a favorite in the field.  I sent an email to the company with a couple questions, and hopefully I can place an order soon.

I'm very excited about all of this.  I'm a little concerned about what I'll obsess over for the next few months if I get everything figured out by the end of September.