Lake Thoreau Boat Party

One of the nice things about living in Reston is that there are several lakes in town. When I first moved here, I rented a townhouse right by Lake Thoreau. I loved driving by it every morning and evening, particularly when the trees around it had changed colors in the fall. I also used to run around the lake for exercise. Although I have since bought my own place away from a lake, couple of my co-workers have lake front properties so I still make a visit to the lake on occasions. This weekend, however, was their annual boat party weekend. Most of the lakefront homeowners have these motorized rafts that they take out on the lake to hang out on. At this boat party, many of these boats would tie up together and have one big party - on the lake. There is also a band boat and a dance floor boat. Dancing wasn't quite easy on the boat tho. Every once in a while I would find myself thrown off balance if I happen to be on one leg when the boat rocks. And no, I wasn't drunk. (I decided to stay sober for this one after passing out at my own party last weekend.) Supposedly there is usually at least one person who goes overboard at this event. No laughing opportunity this year unfortunately (although couple of us were secretly betting one of our friends would be the first to go over board). Still, it was good fun with good food and music.

Potomac Heritage Trail

Today I joined the NVHC on a hike along the Potomac Heritage Trail. The trail begins in the parking lot of Theodore Roosevelt Island and goes North for 10 miles along the Potomac River. To make a reasonable circuit, we ended up cutting across the Chain Bridge just after 4 miles and took the C&O Canal Towpath on the other side back South, and across the Key Bridge to the parking lot. I think this is called the Key-Chain Circuit hike. The trail up is pretty rugged and lush with greenery, though there's no elevation gain. It has a nice view of Georgetown, is shaded very nicely, and even had a little waterfall. Not too bad for a trail practically in our backyard. Coming back was a little dull tho, since it was just flat and in the open. There were couple of parks along the way tho where people were renting canoes or kayaks. The whole circuit took just over 3 hrs, including a stop for lunch.

I Survived a Japanese Game Show

Over the past couple years while I lived in Holland, I had gotten accustomed to watching American TV shows on DVD or on the computer after downloading. Because you have at hand the entire season, you can watch the episodes in order one after another. How fantastic is that? In the beginning, it was hard not to stop after an episode or two. I could find myself watching a series all day long. Even after I had gotten more disciplined about limiting myself to one or two episodes a day to maintain a productive life, I was still accustomed to watching something while eating dinner. Now that I am all caught up on Heroes, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, 24, and House, I was looking for the next show to start watching. As I was browsing through abc.com's full episodes, I came across the title: I Survived a Japanese Game Show. I know it had to be cheesy as hell, but it was about Japan and Japanese game shows can be cool, so I figured, why not?

I was right on the money with the cheesy. The game show wasn't anywhere near as cool as MXC or Ninja Warrior. The games are designed to humiliate the contestants more than anything. The costumes are silly and the stunts are even sillier. The audience and the sayonara boys act retarded, and the signature Majide move is gay as hell. As for the contestants, the producers managed to find the most average folks to compete. Most of them are pretty likeable though, so by the third or fourth episode I had gotten attached to the show to follow the people. I suppose that is what all of the reality shows are all about. As lame as the show may be to those without appreciation for Japan, I still had some good laughs and enjoyed the competitive spirit shown by these ordinary people. Plus, it was a nice reminder of my second home. I think it's time for a visit again.

Book Review: Sole Survivor

The Sole Survivor was my first Dean Koontz book. Can't say I'm a big fan of his style. The book started off really slow. By the time I felt like I had gotten to something interesting, I had already gotten through a quarter of the book. In the middle half of the book, the plot unfolded at a snail's pace while the auther filled the pages with irrelevant details. The pace picked up in the last quarter of the book, and the story got more interesting as it got into paranormal activities. I wish I didn't have to skip over so many boring paragraphs though to get there.

Harpers Ferry, WV

Today I went to Harpers Ferry, WV for some hiking. The town itself is a national park and has historic significance- in industry, transportation, natural heritage, John Brown, Civil War, and African American history - which is best appreciated through visiting the museums or attending some of the events. However, the hike that we did also provided some insight into the efforts made by the Confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War.

While Harpers Ferry itself is in West Virginia, the town is at the corner of where the Potomac river meets the Shenandoah River. On the other side of Potomac is Maryland, and on the other side of Shenandoah is Virginia. Hence, the 3 states meet where the two rivers cross. The hike we did was across the Potomac in Maryland Heights. There are couple of options here - a shorter route to a nice overlook of Harpers Ferry (see above picture) or a longer loop that takes you to a stone fort (tho there's not much of it left). If you combine both, you probably hike about 6 miles, plus the walk to/from Harpers Ferry. Most of the trail is shaded with little to see, except occasional wayside exhibits, which are really just explanations of what used to be there with not much to see. Still, you are walking through history.

On the way back from the hike, I really wished I had my swim suit. The river looked pretty enticing with the numerous people tubing on it. There's actually an outfitter nearby called Butts Tubing where you can rent a raft or tube to go down the river on. It looked like a lot of fun. You can even rent a tube for your cooler so you can picnic while tubing!