Happy Holidays!

Boy, I've been pretty bad at the blogging thing lately.  Even though I don't do anything interesting, I feel like I don't have much free time these days.  I guess part of it is when I don't actually have things that need doing, I'm trying to recuperate from my BJJ work outs, or simply relax from a rough week at work.  Also, I spend way too much time cleaning every weekend - from vacuuming to laundry.   I'm seriously considering downsizing just so I don't have as much floor to vacuum!

Anyway, to catch up, I had another business trip in October.  It was a three day meeting in Kansas City and I decided to drive 3 days there and 3 days back just so I can bring Millie.  Yes, I'm crazy.  I did have a nice scenic drive though through the mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky.  I also had a stop at Blackwater Falls, a nice walk through Hoosier National Forest, and a stop at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  I didn't do much in Kansas City though, despite World Series going on my first day full day there.  On the way back, I had a short stop at my dad's and drove back through boring Indiana and Ohio.

November was almost uneventful, save for a trip to see my family for Thanksgiving.  Dad, Rachel, and Alana didn't make it this year though, so it was a little sad not having everyone there.  My four year old nephew (and God son) drove me a bit crazy though.  He spent the entire time I was there trying to feed Millie everything he could and pulling on her tail.  The two of them together needed very close supervision.

Now into December, I had hoped to do bunch of holiday related activities, but so far I only got one night of such in.  It was the day of White House visit and since I was going into town and it was a nice night, I wanted to see the zoo lights.  Since my family couldn't make the visit as originally planned (thanks to my niece getting mono), I went with my coworker who was already cleared for the White House visit that night.  We took the metro from Reston and got to the zoo right before 5 when Zoo Lights start.  The lights were pretty, the laser show a bit cheesy, and the animals were no where to be seen in the dark.  They also had a nice display of trains and gingerbread animal homes.

Our tour time was 8pm, so by the time we finished up the zoo and got near the WH, we had just enough time to pop over to see the National Christmas tree.  Not sure what to say about that except it was very beautiful and lots of people were out to see it.

The White House tour was nice, but somehow last year's seemed a little better.  Maybe because it's not my first time, or maybe because the decorations were better last year.  Or maybe because the piano man wasn't there and we didn't get a free cookie and they rushed us out (being that we were the last group of the day).  Still, the Christmas decorations at the White House are absolutely beautiful and worth a visit at every opportunity.

Big Schloss

Lately it seems I am less averse to driving than I had been in the last several years so I decided to drive an hour and 40 minutes to hike the Big Schloss out in George Washington National Forest.  I really like ridge line hikes since you usually get a nice view.  It's a bit tough though when it's warm since there isn't as much shade, if any, at the top.  Once at Big Schloss though, the views were great.  I didn't get up to the platform for the 360 view though since getting there was a bit dodgy and I didn't want to risk Millie slipping down off the edge somewhere.  Lots of little flies at the top too, which kinda ruined it.  The view was definitely worth the hike though.  I saw a bit of fall colors already in the mountains.  Looking forward to more.  

Montauk, NY

Last winter our forecast office introduced probabilistic winter products.  It was such a hit that the regional office decided we should do the same in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia offices.  So I was sent off for a few days to the regional office in Long Island for a planning meeting.

As always, I bring Millie when I can to my trips so I drove there, and stayed an extra night to check out Montauk - the most Eastern point on Long Island. It was a good 1.5-2 hours getting there since the highway eventually turns into a 2 lane road through the Hamptons.  Didn't see any celebrities when I stopped in East Hampton for lunch, but most of the people dressed like they're about to play tennis or golf, and couple of the tables around me looked as if they were planning ways to spend their money.  One table had a booklet of vacation homes, and another a map of some exotic vacation spot, I'm sure.

Feeling out of place, I scooted out of East Hampton pretty fast and was glad to arrive in Montauk.  It was a hilly place, and the views on the drive were pretty nice.  I arrived at Montauk Point around 3:30pm and found out there's an $8 charge to park.  Seems most of the state parks in NY charge $8 up to 4pm.  I decided to go kill time elsewhere until 4....

There wasn't much in the vicinity of Montauk Point so I headed out of there and stopped at a trail head across from a ranch.  The trail led to a beach, and although I only intended to walk about 10-15 minutes with Millie, I somehow ended up walking a mile and a half or so to a bluff with a view of Amsterdam Beach.  I could've walked down to the beach, but I was a bit worried about the rip currents sweeping Millie away so I stayed up top.

Once back to the trail head, there was a lot of commotion and vehicles at the parking lot and at the ranch.  Turns out they were on location for a new Showtime TV Series, The Affair, which is set in Montauk.  I didn't linger too long since I had no business there, so I headed back to Montauk Point.

The lighthouse at Montauk Point was closed when I got there, but I hadn't planned on going in so that was ok.  I took the above shot from outside the gate, and also got other vantage points just from walking around the point.  You can walk down to the beach on a trail near the lighthouse, and also back up to a little rest area & shop.  A lot of people were fishing on the rocky beach.  The view of the water all around Montauk was a nice refreshing change of scenery and I was glad I went.

Doggy Pool Party

One of the things I like about this area is that every year, usually the Saturday after Labor Day, a lot of the community pools and water parks opens their doors for the pooches.  The two closest to me was the outdoor pool at the Ashburn Village Sports Pavillion, which was a regular lap pool, and the AV Symington Aquatic Center, which was like a small water park.  I chose to take Millie to the latter this year because it was cheaper ($5 vs $10) and also looked more fun since it was a water park.  We were there shortly after 10 there were already lots of doggies of all kinds.  I saw one really big dog (maybe a Great Dane) and even bunch of little ones.  Some dogs seemed new to swimming, and you can see their owners trying to coax their dogs into the pool.  Couple had a swim vest on - one was a cute Scottish Terrier.  Of course, many of the dogs played fetch and Millie spent most of the time fetching tennis balls.  All of the swimmable areas were open, and we tried various parts of the park.  The lazy river seemed the least crowded so we spent a lot time there.  Too bad the slides weren't open as it would've been fun to watch the dogs go down them :)  It was a hot day today, but luckily there was a shaded area that I could stand under a lot.  We were there about 2 hours and by then I think Millie was well exhausted.  It was fun for both Millie and me.  I really enjoyed watching all the dogs run around crazy and swim.  

Raven Rocks... Again

Six years ago I hiked Raven Rocks and finally decided to try it again last weekend.  The trail head was only about 30 minutes from me, so I really had no excuse.  The hike is 5.5 miles and 1530 feet elevation gain.  It's normally more than I might want to do after 4.5-6 hours of Jiu-Jitsu, but that week I only went to class once so I was pretty well rested and up for a harder hike than usual.  I feel I had a much easier time all around than before, at the very least more prepared.  I had no problems finding the trail head, and has a better idea what to expect on the trail from the trail maps.  For some reason I remembered the trail quite differently though, which was a bit weird.  I enjoyed this hike more than last time.  The trail is somewhat I remarkable, but it wasn't bad at all. Nothing nasty for Millie to get into.  It was also a pleasant day and I enjoyed the walk in the woods.  I even met an elderly couple who was section hiking about 60-miles of to Harpers Ferry (perhaps from Front Royal).  I chatted with the wife on the way up and saw them again on my way back since they were going quite slowly.  Like the guy I met on Hollow Brook Trial, she made the through-hiking idea quite doable.  Possibly even with Millie.  The only part of the Appalachian Trail (which this trail is part of) that you can't bring a dog on is through the Smokey Mountains.  As much as I'd like to take Millie on such an adventure, I don't see myself getting 6 months off while she is young enough to do this.

The view at the top was much better than I remembered it from before.  The photos I had didn't do it much justice either.  The trail was also just right.  It had just enough ups and downs to give me a really good work out, but it was not so challenging that I'd be exhausted at the end.  This would be one I would like to do often to keep my hiking legs up and get some fresh air.

Hollow Brook Trail

July and August this summer was pretty quiet for me.  I focused hard on BJJ, so I was often wiped out by the time the weekend rolled around.  I felt bad for poor Millie, who hasn't been getting out as much as before.  I did take her once to a swim meetup at the Northern Virginia Animal Swim Center, and occasionally I took her on our usual hikes through Riverbend and/or Great Falls.  I was starting to get a bit bored of those hikes though, and also didn't like that there were often nasty streams or the Potomac River that Millie can jump into.  So I finally got around to trying a new hike.

Since I worked out a lot during the week, I wanted to keep my hike short.  I found the Hollow Brook Trail, which was just shy of 4 miles, and 860 feet elevation.  Perfect.  The trail was fairly easy, with a side trail to a tiny waterfall, and a view at the end.  It is part of the Appalachian Trail so you could continue on past the view point.  I haven't done it yet but may some time.  I should probably get a map though to see if there's anything past it worth going to.  Anyway, Hollow Brook was a really nice hike, with very few people unlike Riverbend/Great Falls, and no nasty water for Millie to get into.  I went back a second time and enjoyed it then too.

Depending on the time of the year, you may see through-hikers or section hikers on this trail.  I saw one on the first hike as I arrived back at my car.  He popped out of what I thought was nowhere, but then realized he was coming up the AT.  He was the first through-hiker I've met, and wasn't carrying as much stuff as I thought one would.  He was in running shorts and sneakers, which he claims dries faster than hiking boots.  His pack was not much bigger than my day pack, with some plastic bags hanging off of it.  He didn't even have a tent, just tarps.  Someone else told me though that there were huts every 10 miles or so.  He also carried tarps to sleep on and use as protection.  He was skinny and unshaven.  He probably covered about 20 miles a day.  He made through-hiking sound pretty doable though and made me think about the possibility of doing it myself some day.

Dog Beach: Downs Park

After the debacle of last week's hike, I am starting a new quest to find the best dog beaches in the area.  Unfortunately they will all be in MD, at least couple hour's drive.  Still, at least beaches will be cool for Millie, the water won't be so nasty, and it won't require much exertion on my part.  So the first beach I checked out was the dog beach at Downs Park.  It's a good 2 hours from Ashburn.  I picked up Milinda since she's in MD, and the three of us were on our merry way.  Once at the park, we had to pay a $6 fee to get in (kinda steep for a park).  There are no signs to the dog beach until you reach the end of the road, park, and get on the trail.

The beach itself was very small and nasty.  When it wasn't so crowded, it was find, but there were waves of humans and doggies coming and going often.  The beach was nasty because there were lots of dead fish here and there.  The water was also clogged a bit with kelp or something.  Then there's the dogs doing their business on the beach.  Nasty nasty nasty, but Millie had good time fetching the ball out of the water.  The one nice thing about this beach is that there is shade.  We brought some fold out chairs with us and enjoyed just being near water.  I spent most of my time attending to Millie though, either playing with her or making sure she doesn't eat some of that nasty fish here and there.  It was a worthwhile visit to give Millie the exercise she needs and to spend some time outdoors.  I may do it again, but I will look for a better dog beach first.

Pros: shade, rinse station

Cons: small, dead fish

Point of Rocks and Poison ivy

My interest in hiking in this area has waned quite a bit since starting Jiu-Jitsu.  The main problem is I am usually too pooped once the weekend rolls around to venture on a long hike.  Then there's the hike quality.  While I enjoy being outdoors in general, the hikes around here pale in comparison to places like Alaska, Switzerland, and New Zealand.  Add to that the bugs, the heat, humidity, the yucky waters that make Millie sick, and the cons are starting to outweigh the pros of getting out and about.  Still, I need to give Millie her exercise so I started to look for some new trails that were easy, shaded, and absent of stagnant water.  Someone mentioned there was a nice trail at Point of Rocks, MD.  I had driven past the signs countless times before going up route 15 but never stopped there.  I knew the C&O tow path went through there, but never thought to check it out until now.  Flat walks were what I was looking for.  Well, this trail sucked balls.

The trail was easy and in shade, so that was good.  It was also long and wide and probably would make a nice walk under normal circumstances.  However, there were few things going against this trail: 1) too many bikers on this trail, which meant I had to keep Millie on a leash; 2) there was nasty stagnant canal water near the trail, which was another reason to keep Millie on a leash; and 3) shit loads of mosquitoes attacked me. I disliked the trail from the get-go but kept at it since I was already on it.  The only thing remotely interesting was a lock house  just a short way down the trail.  You can actually stay in one of these lock houses overnight by reserving your stay through http://www.canaltrust.org/quarters/.  Anyway, we turned around perhaps 30 minutes in, for an hour's walk.  I don't think I'll be going back there any time soon.

So not only did the trail suck, it left me with an unwanted present: poison ivy.  I have no idea how I got it.  I knew I had been bitten by bunch of mosquitoes, so when I saw bunch of red welts I thought they were mosquito bites.  When they started spreading and got worse, I thought I had developed an allergic reaction to mosquito bites.  You may laugh at this stupid theory, but I had an incident last year that led me to believe I have some weird tolerance for bug bites.  You see, I got bit by something last year, and the bit spot had swelled up into something crazy.  I had guessed I was bit by a spider and would turn into Spider Woman.  My dreams of being able to shoot out webs from my wrists got crushed when rings started forming around the bit.  Then it became a lyme disease scare and I stared a course of antibiotics.  Tests later showed I was negative for lyme, and the antibiotics surely killed all hopes of becoming Spider Woman.

Getting back to my current situation, I had gone over a week without knowing what the hell I had.  I worried about bed bugs, though not all indications pointed to that.  After suffering itchy sleep last night I went to the doc today who suspected it was poison ivy or something similar.  Well, I guess it kinda makes sense even though I don't remember brushing up against any vegetation.  Supposedly all it takes is a nick and rashes can develop anywhere.   I wish I had thought of this sooner though to save me a week of itchiness.  This was my first ever poison something encounter so it didn't even cross my mind.  Now I'm on steroids and should start feeling better in couple of days.  The hydrocortizone also helps too.  Lesson learned: wear long pants on hikes.

Journey and Foreigner Concerts

My New Year's resolution for 2013 was to get a life again after leaving Alaska.  One of the things I said I would do along with game nights, karaoke, etc. was go to concerts.  Well, I finally got around to going to couple this month.  One June 1 I went to see Journey and the Steve Miller Band with a colleague.  This past Friday I went to see Foreigner, Styx, and Don Felder with Milinda.  Both were at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow.
I'm probably not into music as the average person, so I never put much effort into going to concerts before.  As I get older I'm starting to realize a lot of the bands that played my favorite music from the 80's are getting old and will die soon.  I already missed out on seeing the greatest artists ever alive (MJ) in concert.  Although I can't really spend hundreds of dollars going to all sorts of concerts all of the sudden, I did want to go when possible.

Journey was a birthday present from Michiko.  Originally we were supposed to go together.  She was a big fan, and got me into them.  She ended up moving back in May though, so I had to find someone else to take.  I didn't find anyone who was as a big of a fan as her, but I did at least find someone who appreciated the 80's and Journey.  We had lawn seating so we got there early to stake out a spot.  Getting in took a little while (but getting out took even longer).  We took a blanket and got comfortable, but it seemed like a long time before the main bands started playing.  I didn't care for the Steve Miller Band that much, so I was a little disappointed they played so long.  Journey was a blast though.  I especially liked Mother, Father, which was sung by the drummer.

Getting in and out of parking for Foreigner went much smoother.  Maybe because there was less people, or maybe because we showed up a little later (at 7pm, since we had seats) and left a little early (right before what I think was the last song).  Don Felder was already playing by the time we got to our seats.  He was the lead guitarist for Eagles so he ended with Hotel California with help from Tommy Shaw (Styx).  Styx didn't do much for me, but some drunk crazy guy next to me bought us some wine which helped.  Foreigner was awesome though.  Every song was a hit - Double Vision, Cold as Ice, Waiting for a Girl Like You, Feels Like the First Time, Urgent, Juke Box Hero.  We left as they started playing I Want to Know What Love Is.  The only song I didn't hear that I would have liked to, and maybe they played it after we left, was Say You Will.

Bahama Cruise

Carnival Sensation

The weeks following my birthday were busy with a flurry of family events.  First my #1 niece graduated from high school.  I went down to Virginia Beach for the ceremony and family dinner.  She graduated with honors, and will go to nursing school through votech before attending college.  I'm very proud of her!  But damn... sure makes me feel old. After the kids were done with school, the whole family - brothers, wives, kids, Dad - went on vacation together.  We met up in Orlando, spent a day at Animal Kingdom, and then went on a cruise to the Bahamas.  Rachel's dad and his wife also joined us for the cruise.

I was never really keen on a cruise, but figured I had to try it once.  Plus, it seemed like a good family thing to do.  I tried to come up with various other ideas, but it was difficult trying to plan something everyone would enjoy.  I think the cruise worked out pretty good.  There were lots of activities on board for everyone - shows, comedy, karaoke, night club, piano bar, mini golf, gym, trivia games, pool, hot tub, gambling, etc.  I tried to participate in lots of things and didn't really get around to doing everything I wanted to do.  It also didn't leave me with much relaxation or sleep time.  I got a cabin with balcony, but I didn't spend much time in the room.  I caught couple of comedy shows with my brothers, an 80's dance show, participated in some trivia and games, learned how to dance to Thriller, played bingo with my brothers, lost a few bucks at slots, went to the gym couple times, and listened to the sucky singer in the piano bar, among other things.  If I had more time I would have liked to do some karaoke (assuming I could get in there early before there's too much of a crowd).  If I had gone with friends I may have gone into the clubs.  Some of the singalongs at the piano bar sounded fun too.  

Pool deck

We had two days in Bahamas - a day in Freeport and a day in Nassau.  It rained on the morning we arrived in Freeport, so we didn't really do a whole lot there.  Rachel and I wanted to take a tour, but the guys didn't seem to want to.  In Nassau though, we all took a private tour of the city.  For $40pp the 2.5 hour tour took us to see the residential areas to see how the upper class, middle class, and lower class lived.  We drove by governor's mansion and some beaches.  We saw the fort and Queen's staircase.  They took us somewhere to shop, and also to Atlantis.  In the afternoon, we walked over the the nearest beach (Junkanoo) and enjoyed a bit of time in the sun while the little ones went swimming.  Stupid adults didn't wear their swim suits.

View of our ship from the fort

Our cruise was for four nights, and our last day was totally at sea.  Although there are many things to do on a cruise ship, the number one activity seems to be eating.  It is all you can eat, and there's all sorts of food.  Food food food food food food.  You can eat all day.  You can eat all sorts of food.  Fine dining options are available for breakfast and dinner, as well as buffet and grill options.  Temptations surround you and for someone who had decided to start eating healthy and in moderation, it was a difficult environment to be in.  I made my best effort to eat healthy, but I think I had a warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream almost every night.  Really though, it is amazing just how much food there is board.  You could feed a starving nation for a day with what's on a cruise ship.  I can only imagine the waste.

Deserts

I never really saw the appeal of a cruise before since I figured you can do everything on a cruise on land and you don't get much time at the destinations.  I still think so, but must admit I had a pretty good time.  I'd definitely be open to going on another one if the opportunity arises.

Turning 40

Two weeks ago I had my 40th birthday.  It was a day I had been looking forward to with mixed feelings. On one hand, nothing good comes from getting older, especially as a single woman.  There's the societal pressure on women to look beautiful, which is hard to do when grays, wrinkles, and cellulite start to appear. There's also the societal expectation of women my age to be married with children.  Men look for youth from a biological stand point: younger women are more fertile.  It's a tough age to be looking for men.  Those in my age range are typically already married with children.  If I go a bit younger, I'd have to find one who doesn't care to have children.  If I go older... well, I suppose that's an option.  In any case, after about 6 months of dating various men last fall through winter, I got a bit fed up with it all and am taking a break.  So now my focus is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where getting older also does you me good.  I'm coming back into working out after about a 5 year blank.  I started off barely surviving classes twice a week.  Now I can go three times a week but usually I am pretty burnt out by the time the weekend rolls around.  Although I'd like to think my flexibility, reflexes, and speed hasn't deteriorated much, I have to wonder how much better I would or could be if I had started when I was younger.  Say it takes me 10 years to get my black belt.  I will be a whooping 50 years old when I get it!!!  It's bad enough I'm a white belt... a female white belt.  If some of the younger folks in school knew my age I might be treated as the "old white belt lady".  As of the moment my age is a hush-hush, but a few of the older folks now know.  Hopefully they will keep their mouths shut.

So I said I had mixed feelings, but there's very little joy to be had from turning 40.  The only good I can think of is that I have an excuse for looking older.  However, in some sense, this milestone birthday has brought some sort of peace of mind with it.  I've long gave up on having a family.  It was not something I ever actively sought so I'm not planning on trying now this late in the game.  That leaves me free to do whatever the hell I want!!  I doubted myself for a bit around my birthday about whether I should be putting so much energy into BJJ instead of finding a mate.  Well, if BJJ makes me happy, why the hell not?  That's more than can be said of most men.  So now I've got a plan for the next 10-20 years.  The next 10 years will be spent pursuing my black belt in BJJ.  It's not as if I can travel much with Millie anyway.  By then, Millie will sadly have passed, or will soon.  Then I'll go work abroad again, perhaps Germany or Japan.  Japan now grants permanent residency after living there for only three years versus 10 before.  Maybe I'll make plans to retire in Japan where I can sit in an onsen daily, hike beautiful mountains, and eat great food.  Who knows.  In any case, I will work abroad, take some time off to travel, and make plans to retire at 60.

BJJ Three Months Later

Well, it's been about 3 months since I started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Tony's place.  At first it was difficult to go three times a week because my body couldn't take the beating, but lately I am starting to make it Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays.  This past week though I could only go on Wednesday so I made it to my second ever Saturday class, which is a two hour ordeal.  I was already tired from being out late Friday for the Evening Parade so the extra 30 minutes of rolling was tough.  Plus, gotta remember not to eat breakfast too soon before class :P  Anyway, dragging my butt out of bed on Saturday morning just made me realize how dedicated I am becoming to BJJ.  I knew I enjoyed it, but didn't think I'd get this hooked.  I am so looking forward to getting better and fitter.  I'm still pretty out of shape.  I think the latest change in warm ups will help.  Now we do rounds of shrimping, bear crawl, frog, and crocodiles across the mat as often as we can in a set period of time.  My muscles aren't used to this so I'm sore all over again like I was when I first started.

I don't know a whole lot of techniques just yet.  I got in couple weeks of arm bars when I started before going into the De La Riva guard and sweeps.  Now we are doing spider guard and sweeps, as well as triangle and oma plata.  When I roll I spend most of the time defending.  Every once in a while someone will let me practice a technique on them, or I'll just happen to end up on the office.  I only recall tapping someone out once or twice.  Yeah, I suck, but I'm supposed to at white belt.  From what coach says, that's about how it goes as a white belt.  When I get to blue belt I should be able to apply more of the techniques.  Hope that is true.

Most of the time I end rolling with someone bigger than me (because there's only 1 other female that goes there on a regular basis and I end up in class with her maybe twice a month).  Therefore I spend a lot of time getting crushed.  When the other person is on top I can barely move usually.  Trying to bump them off takes a lot of energy.  I also end up with bruises all over my body from them pinning me down or what not.  I look like a domestic violence case.  So far no injuries though, which is good.  Tony runs a tight ship.  Although I did roll the other day with a dude who was a bit... er... much.  I only came out of there with a bit lip that didn't turn fat, so I guess it was ok.  I felt pretty man handled though....

Now that I am doing BJJ I'm starting to notice I have quite a few friends from the days who do BJJ as well.  I knew Mike M did, as he had introduced me to it years ago.  Wish I had stuck with it then.  Nikki from NAPS, James from 6th grade, Karen/Glenn from high school, James and Jamie from CGA.  I can see why it's popular though.  Definitely a lot of fun trying to beat people up.

Marine Corps Evening Parade

Marine Band

This past Friday I went to go see the Marine Corps Evening Parade at the Marine Barracks in DC.  It was my second time there, but it has been about 4 or 5 years since I last went.  I almost thought about not going since I hate going into DC with Friday evening traffic, but since a friend from Juneau was in DC that day, I thought it would be something nice for her to see and a good opportunity for us to catch up.  It did end up taking an hour and a half to get there with traffic, but it ended up being totally worth it.  Not only was it nice seeing my friend again, the Evening Parade was much better than I remembered!  Lots of things reminded me of my time at the Coast Guard Academy - the marching songs played by the Marine Band, the drill (left shoulder arms, port arms, order arms, etc.), colors, TAPS, the march, etc.  The Silent Drill Platoon was of course popular and cool to see.  I think I'll have to make this an annual thing....

Silent Drill Platoon

Scott's Run

After checking out bluebells I swung over to Scott's Run, which is just a bit past Great Falls going East on Georgetown Pike.  I didn't realize there was a little water fall there, and it's only like a mile or so down the trail.  An easy treat if you happen to be in the area.  

Virginia Bluebells

Seems without fail a week after peak cherry blossoms the bluebells are out in full force.  The two places around here that I know of where you can see them is Bull Run mountain and in River Bend Park.  I ended up going to River Bend since I was short on time and knew exactly where to go there.  I typically park at the Nature Center, work my way down to the Potomac Heritage Trail, and head North as far as I have time for. I love this trail when the bluebells are out :)

DC Cherry Blossoms 2014

This year Jason and Marissa came up to join me at the National Cherry Blossom Festival.  Today's the big day with the parade and Sakura Matsuri, so everyone was out today.  As expected, parking and getting out of town was a nightmare.  As beautiful as they are, I think this will be the last time we go on the same day as the parade/street festival day.  I will go back to the routine of getting up super early and going when less people are there. It was nothing short of mass chaos there today.  The DC police also needs to step it up with directing traffic.

New York City with Tomoko

My cousin from Japan decided to do a short trip with her family over to the East Coast this week.  Her first stop was to NYC and she asked me to join her.  She and her family does not speak much English so I am basically her translator.  I did book a flight to join them for the weekend though.  We all arrived at the hotel on Friday afternoon and started off with a tour around Central Park.  We planned for an early dinner and didn't have much time so they opted for the pedicab tour.  We initially thought about the horse and carriage, but I thought it would be better if we could get off and see a few spots.  The guides were good and pointed out a lot of things about the park, a lot of which was about film locations and where all the famous people live.  After the tour, we had a massive steak dinner at Empire Steakhouse.  Mmm mmm good.

9/11 Memorial

Saturday morning was another big meal at the hotel restaurant (Le Parker Meridien's NORMA's).  Then we caught the Staten Island Ferry for a view of the Statue of Liberty.  This was a first for me.  Then a quick walk around Wall St. and Trinity Church, followed by a visit to the 9/11 Memorial - another first.  Lunch was at Soba Nippon (their idea), and then we took a bit of a break in the afternoon before heading out to Times Square and then to the 8pm showing of Wicked.  It's been a while since I've seen a broadway show so I was glad they asked to see it.  I guess they cared more about the experience than understanding the story.

Sunday morning was escorting them for souvenir shopping.  I had to leave the city around noon to catch my flight, and they had a later flight to catch.  We were all headed to IAD and I am supposed to play tour guide in DC next couple of days.  Unfortunately though, the later flight that my family is on got cancelled and they won't make it in until tomorrow afternoon.  It's a bummer since they only had two full days here.  Weather in NYC isn't all that great tomorrow either, so hope there's no more delays or cancellations....

Tony Passos BJJ

I had been telling myself for a while now that I needed a hobby but kept making excuses.  Finally toward end of January though, I got the kick I needed to do something about it and decided to take up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu again.  I really enjoyed it when I was training under Kris Kim at the Herndon LA Boxing, but a bum knee followed by life getting in the way (i.e. getting married and moving to Alaska) caused me to give it up after only a few months.  During that time though, I was introduced to Kris's coach, Tony Passos.  I remembered he was in Sterling so I looked him up.  Turned out his school was only 10 minutes away.  I had no excuses. I tried out a class, loved it, and now I'm a member.  

I had a lot of concerns about committing myself to the sport initially.  First of all, there aren't too many who do this sport, much less women over 30.  The sport is hard on your body.  Not only do I walk away with scrapes and bruises that make me look like a domestic violence case, but it's just high impact over all.  The work out is great though, and I suspect I'll be able to better maintain my ideal weight while doing this.  My strength and endurance should improve too, which I hope will help with hiking.  Injury is always a concern in martial arts, but seems most of the students here have good control and use technique instead of muscling a submit out of me.  So, so far so good.  

I don't have any grandiose goals here for training.  I just want to have some fun and fill some void that I've felt for a while now.  Tony is a great instructor, classes are fun (despite it being hard), and all of the students are friendly and helpful.  Not much more to ask for here.  Perhaps in time I will be concerned about belt advancement or even consider competing (mmm... or not).  For now though, it's great to have something to be passionate about again.