Thanks to Kip for posting this on his website for me!
http://www.kipley.com/team/toocool17.html
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Big Chill race
Too Cool's "Big Chill" 24-hr adventure race lived up to its name last weekend. Team Vignette (me, John, Dave, and Kristi) endured some suffering but eventually started to enjoy the later parts of the race. Not so much that we weren't glad when it was over, though!
I've got a full race report planned, but in the meantime here is a summary of the legs:
Prelim = Amazing Bastrop race: Goats, opera, a word search, and beef jerky - FUN! Our team sped through the streets and got to the boats first.
Leg 1 = A Really Long Paddle: This could be the longest Too Cool paddle ever. The low river kept us entertained as we had to constantly look ahead to figure out how to stay out of the shallowest parts. But that lost its allure after a couple hours. Team AAR blew by us in their 4-person canoe, smokin'! Cold headwind! Fun special test in the pecan grove near the end. Finally - the takeout!! Team Knights of Ni were right behind us. Then the coldest part - biking over to Rocky Hill Ranch (RHR) - major brrrrr....
Leg 2 = Biking: I love doing nav at RHR on bikes. Once we were in the trees on singletrack we warmed up a good bit. Passed Team AAR on the northern end of the ranch. Saw a bunch of teams heading up the fence trail as we were going back down. Rode the long, hilly paved road back to Bastrop State Park - didn't get as cold as we thought we might, except for our fingers and toes.
Leg 3 = A puzzle! Cool. Well, cold, actually, but we worked together and finished it. Finally on foot! It didn't take too much running for all extremities to finally un-numb. Nice nav loop, hit the points right on and ran back to TA. Looked like we had 30-60 minutes lead on teams AAR and Knights.
Leg 4 = Back on the bikes, a shorter leg than expected (yay!). I changed gloves and added bags to my feet, and all of us stayed warm this time. Fun little ropes traverse across a ravine - hi Rooney! One interesting CP in a creek, another in a culvert, then back up the hills to TA. Maintained our lead, but you can never count out the teams on our heels.
Leg 5 = The last one, and not as long as normal, excellent. We trekked to 4 faraway points, messed around in a couple dry ditches, still had running legs to get back quickly. Finished in first place, yay!
OK, so I'm not very good at short summaries :)
I've got a full race report planned, but in the meantime here is a summary of the legs:
Prelim = Amazing Bastrop race: Goats, opera, a word search, and beef jerky - FUN! Our team sped through the streets and got to the boats first.
Leg 1 = A Really Long Paddle: This could be the longest Too Cool paddle ever. The low river kept us entertained as we had to constantly look ahead to figure out how to stay out of the shallowest parts. But that lost its allure after a couple hours. Team AAR blew by us in their 4-person canoe, smokin'! Cold headwind! Fun special test in the pecan grove near the end. Finally - the takeout!! Team Knights of Ni were right behind us. Then the coldest part - biking over to Rocky Hill Ranch (RHR) - major brrrrr....
Leg 2 = Biking: I love doing nav at RHR on bikes. Once we were in the trees on singletrack we warmed up a good bit. Passed Team AAR on the northern end of the ranch. Saw a bunch of teams heading up the fence trail as we were going back down. Rode the long, hilly paved road back to Bastrop State Park - didn't get as cold as we thought we might, except for our fingers and toes.
Leg 3 = A puzzle! Cool. Well, cold, actually, but we worked together and finished it. Finally on foot! It didn't take too much running for all extremities to finally un-numb. Nice nav loop, hit the points right on and ran back to TA. Looked like we had 30-60 minutes lead on teams AAR and Knights.
Leg 4 = Back on the bikes, a shorter leg than expected (yay!). I changed gloves and added bags to my feet, and all of us stayed warm this time. Fun little ropes traverse across a ravine - hi Rooney! One interesting CP in a creek, another in a culvert, then back up the hills to TA. Maintained our lead, but you can never count out the teams on our heels.
Leg 5 = The last one, and not as long as normal, excellent. We trekked to 4 faraway points, messed around in a couple dry ditches, still had running legs to get back quickly. Finished in first place, yay!
OK, so I'm not very good at short summaries :)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Inauguration Day
Step 1: Clean snow off the car.
Step 2: Get on the MARC train (reserved tics last month).
Step 3: Get off at Union Station, walk through the vendors lining the streets, and take the Third Street Tunnel (on foot) to the south side of the Mall. Join the thousands of pedestrians also working their way to the Mall.
Step 4: Find a spot on the grass near the Washington Monument. Hang out, watch the replay of Sunday's concert on the jumbotron, try to stay warm.
Not planned: Run into someone you know! Here's Eva from a Grand Canyon rafting trip. How amazing is that?
Step 5: Wait and watch and listen!
Step 6: Pause in the celebration to enjoy a beautiful piece played by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill.
Step 7: Cheer and clap and dance for our new president!
Step 8: Group hug
Step 9: Walk, walk, wait, walk, walk. Head to the National Portrait Gallery to stay warm and see a few more of the exhibits.
Step 10: Head back to Union Station and join the mob trying to get in. Wait 2 hours, try to stay patient.
Step 11: Wait in line again inside the station. We're gonna get there!
Step 12: Relax and recover and watch inauguration coverage on TV with our wonderful hosts, Kathy and Bob.
WOW! What a trip, what an experience. We are so lucky to be here.
Step 2: Get on the MARC train (reserved tics last month).
Step 3: Get off at Union Station, walk through the vendors lining the streets, and take the Third Street Tunnel (on foot) to the south side of the Mall. Join the thousands of pedestrians also working their way to the Mall.
Step 4: Find a spot on the grass near the Washington Monument. Hang out, watch the replay of Sunday's concert on the jumbotron, try to stay warm.
Not planned: Run into someone you know! Here's Eva from a Grand Canyon rafting trip. How amazing is that?
Step 5: Wait and watch and listen!
Step 6: Pause in the celebration to enjoy a beautiful piece played by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill.
Step 7: Cheer and clap and dance for our new president!
Step 8: Group hug
Step 9: Walk, walk, wait, walk, walk. Head to the National Portrait Gallery to stay warm and see a few more of the exhibits.
Step 10: Head back to Union Station and join the mob trying to get in. Wait 2 hours, try to stay patient.
Step 11: Wait in line again inside the station. We're gonna get there!
Step 12: Relax and recover and watch inauguration coverage on TV with our wonderful hosts, Kathy and Bob.
WOW! What a trip, what an experience. We are so lucky to be here.
Monday, January 19, 2009
MLK Day
Big flakes of snow dropped on Maryland this morning!
I stayed inside.
Jason was a bit more enthusiastic about it:
We (and 4000 of our closest friends) went to volunteer at a nearby MLK Day event. It was crazy trying to find a way to be useful.
Jason made a valentine for the troops:
We finally got plugged in with Meals on Wheels when a lady happened to ask if John knew how to use a pallet jack. Sweet!
We moved pallets with Meals boxes, broke down empty cardboard boxes, and loaded food into cars. That involved quite a bit of time on the loading dock, which worked great for us.
It will be an early morning tomorrow!
I stayed inside.
Jason was a bit more enthusiastic about it:
We (and 4000 of our closest friends) went to volunteer at a nearby MLK Day event. It was crazy trying to find a way to be useful.
Jason made a valentine for the troops:
We finally got plugged in with Meals on Wheels when a lady happened to ask if John knew how to use a pallet jack. Sweet!
We moved pallets with Meals boxes, broke down empty cardboard boxes, and loaded food into cars. That involved quite a bit of time on the loading dock, which worked great for us.
It will be an early morning tomorrow!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Party in DC!
After an excellent brunch with Kathy and Bob's friend, we headed down to the city.
We started at the Capitol, much closer than we'll get on Tuesday:
We even got to meet the next president! He seems a bit thin.
This might end up in a modern art photo project:
We hung out on 17th St, as close as we could get without tickets to the concert. Happy day!
LOTS of people on the Mall:
You know you make me wanna SHOUT!
Awesome speeches and music, especially the Garth Brooks songs.
Afterward we stayed up on the concrete barrier we'd been standing on, watching the mass of people heading away from the Mall:
The big sign says, "You may say I'm a dreamer... but I'm not the only one":
On the metro home:
Another fun day!
We started at the Capitol, much closer than we'll get on Tuesday:
We even got to meet the next president! He seems a bit thin.
This might end up in a modern art photo project:
We hung out on 17th St, as close as we could get without tickets to the concert. Happy day!
LOTS of people on the Mall:
You know you make me wanna SHOUT!
Awesome speeches and music, especially the Garth Brooks songs.
Afterward we stayed up on the concrete barrier we'd been standing on, watching the mass of people heading away from the Mall:
The big sign says, "You may say I'm a dreamer... but I'm not the only one":
On the metro home:
Another fun day!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
DC sights
It was a cold day, apparently even by DC standards. We bundled up and walked around the city.
John briefly thought about taking a bike, but decided we'd be warmer if we went on foot :)
Gandhi agreed.
We spent a lovely morning and afternoon at the National Geographic Society whale and bird exhibits, then the Phillips Museum (not large but with a wonderful collection).
We also found a bunch of public artwork, some of it pretty special:
Nothing to see at the NPR building, too bad:
We spent a couple hours at the National Portrait Gallery, which is right up our alley but also huge. We will certainly go back there sometime.
MSNBC was broadcasting on the Mall, we got to watch from the outside of their temporary booth. Neat!
Tomorrow we're going to a brunch and then perhaps we'll check out the free concert at the Lincoln Memorial (live on HBO!).
This is just too cool.
John briefly thought about taking a bike, but decided we'd be warmer if we went on foot :)
Gandhi agreed.
We spent a lovely morning and afternoon at the National Geographic Society whale and bird exhibits, then the Phillips Museum (not large but with a wonderful collection).
We also found a bunch of public artwork, some of it pretty special:
Nothing to see at the NPR building, too bad:
We spent a couple hours at the National Portrait Gallery, which is right up our alley but also huge. We will certainly go back there sometime.MSNBC was broadcasting on the Mall, we got to watch from the outside of their temporary booth. Neat!
Tomorrow we're going to a brunch and then perhaps we'll check out the free concert at the Lincoln Memorial (live on HBO!).This is just too cool.
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