Ausema wanderings

Canaan Valley

2012-01-16T20:32:00.003-05:00

We spent the weekend at Canaan Valley, West Virginia with some friends. I have written about some of our past trips before - it's an annual trip for us, sometimes multiple trips in a winter. This year the weather has been a bit unwelcoming for lovers of snow. The temperatures have been mild, and most precipitation has come as rain. This could be related to LaNina conditions being experienced in the equatorial Pacific this year. It's been particularly difficult for us - we drove to and from Michigan for Christmas through snow each way, but found little to no snow on the ground while we were there. No skiing at Christmas this year.

Things did not look much brighter as our planned weekend excursion approached last week. It was mild and wet out in West Virginia, with no snow base as late last last Thursday morning. Then a cold blast of air came through, along with roughly 6-8 inches of white stuff - just enough to cover the trails and create ski-able conditions at White Grass, where years of maintenance have cleared rocks and stick from the trails. We got some fresh powder overnight Friday and Saturday, which meant the conditions were surprisingly good for skiing all around the mountain this weekend. Of course we had a great time hanging out with everyone. Group dynamics have changed a bit over the past few years - though the participating families/couples have varied somewhat, we set a record with 5 kids in the house this time - and with three expecting couples, this same group will have 8 kids next winter!

As for plans for future ski outings, we will be somewhat limited for the next three weeks as Tatiana works towards her comprehensive exams. We do plan to return to Lake Placid for President's weekend.

Here are some photos from the weekend and also from Christmas.

A lousy day for a race

2011-10-31T21:26:00.006-04:00

Last Saturday was the WCAC championship in cross country. My team competes in this event every season - and we have won the championship for the past three years. As the event approached last week, the weather forecast continued to worsen. A storm that dumped 16 inches of snow on the Front Range in Colorado was headed our way. On the morning of the race, the temperatures hovered in the upper 30s and a cold rain had been falling all night. The course, covering a mixture of grass and dirt trails, was in awful shape. Two features of the course were particularly problematic this year. The course features a crossing of a ~20 yard wide creek, which is normally ~6 inches deep at the most. Swollen with the rain, the water was turbid, obscuring the bottom, and reached several feet in depth. In addition, a downed tree forced a detour on another section of the course, resulting in a steep descent on what soon turned into a very muddy hill.

As the day continued, conditions worsened, such that by the time the varsity team toed the line, sleet was blowing in on a stiff wind, and the temperature had dropped to below 35. At the end of the race, several of my runners huddled in warm vehicles to recover from the extreme shock their bodies had received. In addition, a runner in the freshman race injured his toe on the creek crossing, and many athletes went home with muddy, soaked clothing.

These were the worst conditions I have seen in 16 years of coaching. Several of my assistant coaches, with an additional 40+ years of experience, agreed with this assessment. I have run in below-zero temperatures with snow on the ground (MIAA championships in college) and in many other instance in the rain and mud. The New Castle County Championships had to be postponed one year after the first couple of races because the course was too dangerous. The Prep Classic in 2009 faced a similar situation. But Saturday, Oct 29th will go down in my memory as the most brutal conditions to date.

Glacier National Park!

2011-09-22T21:16:00.004-04:00

Last winter, I saw a notice in a newsletter about a workshop being held for biology teachers in Glacier National Park. I thought it looked like a great opportunity, so I signed up to go, even though it would mean missing 3 days of school.

I had visited Glacier two times before. I was there with my family on a summer trip, when I was 14. Then, in 2001, I drove out to Montana during the summer and spent about a week in the park, including a 5-day backpacking trip.

The group for this trip included roughly 30 teachers and a few spouses. A few were retired, but most were currently teaching biology (and many also environmental science) at high schools. A few were teachers at community colleges. We were led by a retired teacher from Colorado who has been organizing trips to natural places for student and teacher groups for more than 30 years.

We had many great opportunities to learn about Glacier National Park as an educational resource, and about scientific research being done in the park. Sessions were led by enthusiastic park staff as well as USGS employees - who are based in the park and may as well be considered park employees too. The experiences included talks/discussions on the famous grizzly bear study in the park, which involves capturing hair samples for DNA analysis; studies of melting glaciers and other impacts of a changing climate; and fascinating research on wolverines. We also took a guided hike with a fire ecologist specialist who works for the park, and learned about the alpine zone and about regional geology with a park naturalist. We saw mountain goats and elk, but did not manage to catch site of any grizzlies or wolverines. We did see quite a bit of bear scat, including evidence that a black bear had become prey . . . perhaps for a grizzly.

It was a lot of fun to meet other teachers, to see the park from a new perspective, and to discover unexpected "small-world" connections. Many park facilities were closed for the season, and most others would close the day that we left. The weather was cool during the day and quite cold at night (and at Logan Pass, where wind chills were well below freezing), and some of the aspens were turning yellow. Peak fall colors won't hit DC for another 6 weeks, so that was quite a nice treat. I also met a ranger who had worked with my brother, and found out that the workshop leader had met one of my brother's friends when he worked as a seasonal naturalist many years ago. Any my roommate, a teacher from Indiana, vacations in northern Michigan and drives through my hometown of Grant on the way there.

I could go on, but I will stop there because anyone who has made it this far is probably not interested in any more details! Here are the rest of my pictures.

Running in 50 states

2011-09-11T18:01:00.002-04:00

I was talking to a friend from church yesterday, and he mentioned that he keeps track of how many states he has gone running in. Being the sort of person who likes to make lists, that got my attention. I decided to count how many states I have run in, and came up with 34. Not too bad! My brother Mike has a goal of backpacking in every state, so I have been keeping track of the states I backpack in as well - the count there is 21 (half of them on the A.T.).

I decided to also count how many states I have hiked and camped in. The result: hiking 43, camping 47. I have visited 49 states (missing Hawaii), so the only two have I visited but not camped in are Missouri and Rhode Island.

I have also been keeping track of the state high points I have visited for a while now. I have been to the high point in 18 states, and in another 8 states I have seen the high point (Mt. Rainier and Denali, for example).

National Parks update

2011-09-06T21:14:00.003-04:00

For about 10 years now, I have been keeping track of my visitation statistics for National Parks and related sites - Monuments, Historic Parks, Recreation Areas, etc. The National Park Service manages over 390 sites now, and a few new ones are added to the system periodically. The latest addition came as part of a large public lands bill in spring 2009, adding various historic sites including a battlefield in Monroe, MI.

This summer, on our epic California-and-back trip, we visited 34 NPS sites, 6 of which were National Parks: Grand Canyon, Zion, Channel Islands, Redwood, Joshua Tree, and Death Valley. I have now visited 310 out of the 391 sites on the official list. These range from little-known historic sites such as the small historic house in rural MD owned by Thomas Stone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, to large iconic parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite. Many sites my visits lasted only a few hours, but I have spent more than a week backpacking through some of the larger parks. Most of the sites I have yet to visit are in the extreme southwest, or in remote areas beyond the contiguous 48 states. Highest on my list of parks to visit would probably be Katmai in Alaska.

Calista has her own National Parks passport book, and each time we would enter a new park she and I would stamp the book together.

2011 PCT Trip: Seiad Valley to Green Spring Summit

2011-09-05T22:26:00.003-04:00

This summer I hiked from Seiad Valley to Green Springs Summit on the PCT. As he had done last summer, my brother Mike joined me for the trip. We hiked northbound, although in this section that meant we were mostly going east. The PCT winds its way westward from the Sierras to travel through the Trinity Alps and Marble and Klamath Mountains. In this stretch, it returns east to the Cascades, which are longitudinally (is that a word?) in line with the Sierras. This hike was beautiful and wild, in spite of the fact that it covered little in the way of official wilderness and many stretches of trail ran parallel to dirt forest roads. I have now hiked approximately 477 miles on the PCT - 18% of the total trail.

Here is a link to my trip report.

Summer trip

2011-08-16T21:22:00.003-04:00

We returned about a week ago from our epic, 6 week summer trip. This was the second year in a row that we were able to explore the country for a long stretch in the summer - what a blessing!

This year the primary motivation for heading to California was so that Tatiana could do some research - paint analysis, specifically - at the Getty Institute in LA. But since we had the time, we camped all the way out and back, and I backpacked for 5 days with Mike too.

The route this time was along the I-40 corridor - we had travelled along I-70 and 80 last year, so this was a chance to see some new things. We mostly focused on National Parks and other NPS sites (historic sites and monuments, mostly) in New Mexico and Arizona. We visited 35 NPS sites, including 6 national parks. I have been keeping track, and this brings my total NPS sites visited up to 310 - about 79% of the total. The sites I have not been to are primarily in the extreme southwest, the northwest, and outside the contiguous 48 states.

Calista has a national parks passport, and has been collecting stamps. She also earned numerous junior ranger badges in the various parks.

The backpacking trip was a highlight. We started at Seiad Valley, along the Klamath River, hiking north on the Pacific Crest Trail. We had started south from the same spot last year. This time we only had 5 days, but we covered roughly 80 miles, finished at Green Springs Summit, east of Ashland, Oregon. We encountered large piles of snow above 7000 feet along some of the ridges, making the hike quite a challenge. But there were few other hikers around and the views were outstanding, making it a memorable hike.

Other highlights included a weekend trip to Santa Cruz Island, part of Channel Islands National Park. We camped overnight and hiked along a bluff overlooking the ocean - the photo at the top of the post is from Santa Cruz. Staying at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, exploring Zion National Park, and seeing two ancient volcanoes (Sunset Crater and Capulin) were also high points.

The other images in this post are of me and Calista at the top of Mt. Magazine - the highest point in Arkansas - and of Calista getting sworn in for her junior ranger badge at Fort Union National Historic Site.

Here is a link to my summer trip report, which has more details about what we did each day and where we camped. There are also links to lots of photos!!

Top ten list . . . Eastern US backpacking trips

2011-05-15T20:13:00.003-04:00

OK, time for list number 2. Most of my major dreams for backpacking trips involve the western US, now that I have hiked the entire AT. But there are a number of shorter trips in the Appalachians that I would like to do at some point as well. Many of these are weekend or 4-5 day affairs, or could be extended given the time.

I would actually consider hiking the entire AT at once sometime in the future. If I ever do it, I would probably start around the first of May and aim to finish by the end of August, maybe mid-September. This would prevent hiking in iffy weather and late snows in the south and would maximize appreciation of the rhododendrons in May-June. It would also allow me to finish before early wintery weather is likely in Maine. It would be a fairly ambitious pace - roughly 500 miles per month, 125 per week.

I have also included some favorite sections of the A.T. that I would like to repeat with friends or family as shorter trips. Once again, I am not ranking them in order.

1. Laurel Highlands Trail. This is a ~70 mile route through the Laurel Highlands region in southwestern PA. It's one of our favorite places - we were camping in Ohiopyle when we got engaged, and we have skied and hiked in the area a few other times. This route has regular shelters, and I envision it would be good for a first long trip for Calista . . so a few years down the road, and only if she takes to backpacking!

2. Repeat Presidential range on the AT. The ~30 miles of trail between Crawford Notch and Pinkham Notch in New Hampshire's White Mountains include over 15 continuous miles above treeline. It's one of the most spectacular and memorable sections of the 2175-mile trail. I am interested in hiking the Presidentials as an extreme day hike (one can start north of Madison Hut and make it around 25 miles, I think). For backpacking, given the time, I would add the next section south to Franconia Notch, which would include Mount Lincoln and Lafayette; and possibly the Carter-Wildcat range to the north as well. I have also been thinking about hiking part of all of this route from hut-to-hut, staying at the high-elevation enclosed primitive lodges that are maintained by the AMC. Accommodations are a bit pricey, but would make a memorable family trip.

3. Green Ridge State Forest/C&O loop (MD). This is a a~40-45 mile loop that could be done in 3 days and is close to home - the trailhead is less than 2 hours away. Half of the route is along a traditional hiking trail in MD state forest land, and the rest follows the C&O Canal towpath along the Potomac River through rugged and undeveloped mountain terrain. The canal route includes a trip through the Paw Paw tunnel.

4. Foothills Trail (SC). This route follows a route in the high-elevation portion of South Carolina, near the NC border. It's a good 5-7 day route (76 miles), and gets good reviews for waterfalls and solitude. The trail passes through Table Rock State Park, which is said to offer outstanding views.

5. section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (NC). This trail is a work-in-progress that will eventually span 1000 miles west-to-east in North Carolina, from Clingmans Dome in the Smokies to the ocean. I think it would be fun to do a week-long section on the mountainous western end of the trail.

6. Florida Trail through Ocala or Appalachicola. The Florida National Scenic Trail starts in Big Cypress National Preserve, just north of the Everglades, and winds it's way through forest remnants along the middle of the state, then turns west to trail the panhandle region. Including alternate and side routes there are around 1000 miles of trail in the system. Some hikers start in Big Cypress (or even in Key West, hiking initially along US route 1) and make their way through connecting routes in Alabama to the AT, then north to Maine. I am not that ambitious, but I would like to do the ~70 mile section in Ocala National Forest, which lies just north of Orlando. This segment has some wilderness character and would be a fun March (spring break) excursion. Another option would be to hike in Appalachacola National Forest, in the panhandle region.

7. Repeat Roan Mnt to I-81 (AT). One of my favorite sections of the AT included the areas around Roan Mountain, the Grayson Highlands, and the Smokies. Given enough time, I would hike from Fontana Dam through the Smokies, over Roan and Rogers again. A one-week trip could start (or end) at Roan Mnt and hike north to Mt. Rogers and beyond. A good end point would be the Settlers Museum, just a few miles from I-81.

8. Repeat Long Mnt. Wayside to Rockfish Gap (AT). We day-hiked this segment over a couple of days, and it included some beautiful views and grassy ridges. I would love to explore them again, especially in May-June or in the fall. A good opportunity for a long weekend or a 5-day trip.

9. Allegheny Trail (WV). This 330-mile trail runs north-south through West Virginia, starting near Pearisburg on the AT and ending north of Canaan Valley - one of our favorite places. It's much less-used than the AT or other eastern trails, and would provide good opportunity for solitude. At this point I am interested in any length trip along this trail, whether a weekend or a full week. A portion of this trail is part of the route for the Great Eastern Trail, a long-distance route that parallels the AT further west. It includes the Sheltowee Trace in Kentucky, the Cumberland Trail in Tennessee, the Pinhoti Trail in Alabama, and the Tuscarora Trail in VA/PA, and in total extends from Alabama to NY.

10. Northville-Lake Placid trail. This would be another good week-long excursion, running north-south through the Adirondacks. We have skied a portion of it in the south. There are shelters along the route. It would also be interesting to connect this route to the High Peaks region and summit one or two of the high peaks there at the end of the trip.

Also worth mentioning:

Tuscarora Trail - this ~250 mile trail was envisioned in the 1960's, before the National Trails System act provided federal protection for the AT corridor. Hikers were concerned that the AT route through northern VA and MD would become over-run with development, so they designed this alternate route as a "back-up". It now provides an interesting alternate route, starting near Overall Run Falls in northern Shenandoah and re-joining the AT near Harrisburg, PA. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club is working in building shelters along the route, with a goal of achieving similar coverage to the AT - shelters every 10 miles or so along the entire route. I have hiked ~60 miles of this trail, mostly at the southern end. It would not be too difficult to use day-hikes and weekend trips to complete the trail without a long-distance backpacking trip.

Pennsylvania trails - there are many little-explored routes in north-central PA, some of which I hiked with the Wilmington Trail Club when I lived in Delaware. There is much more to explore, along the Mid-State Trail, Susqhehannock Trail, and a long section of the 3000+ mile North Country Trail.

Southern Appalachians - with thousands of acres of National Forest land, the southern Appalachian region is covered with trails, for myriad hiking options. I could probably do a long hike here every summer and never leave the region. Other designated trails include the Bartram Trail and the Benton McKaye trail.

Other AT sections - some other favorite portions of the AT that I would like to re-visit include the New Jersey section; Nantahala National Forest (NC); Green Mountains (Vermont - also part of the Long Trail, on my other top 10 list); and most of Maine (given how rugged it is, I can't believe I am including this section - but it truly was beautiful).

Top ten "wish" list . . . US backpacking trips

2011-05-11T21:27:00.000-04:00

I like to make lists and to dream about travels . . and since last summer I have been considering where I would like to backpack in the future. I have backpacked quite extensively since graduating from college, although the pace has slowed a bit in the past three years. I have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, and have done two long sections on the Pacific Crest Trail. When I did my first PCT section I was thinking of hiking the entire trail over the course of several years, but now I am not sure - there are lots of other areas to explore, and I am not keen on doing the southern 700 miles in the summer (too hot and dry) or spring break (potential for snow in the higher sections).

So anyway, below is a list of my top 10 backpacking "dream trips". They are not in any particular order.

1. PCT – Crater Lake section. In the ideal world, I would like to hike all of Oregon, and include trekking past Mt. Hood, Jefferson, and the other spectacular Cascade volcanoes. But I figure this would be a good start - Mike and I are tentatively planning to do this section (150-200 miles - depending on how much time we have?) through the Sky Lakes wilderness and Crater Lake in summer 2012.

2. PCT – Tuolomne Meadows to Sierra City. In 2009 I hiked the entire John Muir Trail, which is also the route of the PCT through the high Sierra. This section would continue north from there, through Yosemite and above Lake Tahoe. I am not sure if Sierra City would be the ultimate endpoint, but it seems a logical goal given enough time. It would be great to go all the way to Lassen . . . I think the minimum endpoint goal would be Donner Pass, where I-80 crosses the mountains.

3. PCT – North Cascades. My new plan for the PCT (instead of hiking the entire trail) is to hike representative sections. The Cascades regularly get rave reviews for scenery, wildness, and their remote feeling. I figure this would be a good Washington section to aim for.

4. CDT Weminuche wilderness. This is a remote, high-elevation section of the Continental Divide Trail in southwestern Colorado. I would also like to do several representative sections along this National Scenic Trail, and the Weminuche seems like a highlight, with many miles above treeline.

5. Wonderland Trail. This trail encircles Mount Rainier in Washington. Tatiana have been talking about doing it for several years now . . maybe a 10th anniversary trip? That would be 2013 - not too far off now! It's roughly 90 miles, so it can be done in about a week, perhaps a bit less, depending on how much we are willing to take on . . I would be aiming to do it without a re-supply.

6. CDT – Wind River Range to Yellowstone. This rugged alpine area in Wyoming regularly gets rave reviews. I am not sure how long this segment is because I have not done much research on it, but the notion of a trail starting in this remote paradise, continuing through the Tetons, and into the wolf and grizzly abode of Yellowstone sounds very attractive - and wild.

7. CDT – Bob Marshall wilderness and Glacier. The Bob Marshall Wilderness is the largest wilderness area in the lower 48 states, and is adjacent to Glacier National Park. A trip through the entire region along the CDT, perhaps ending at Waterton Lakes in Canada, would be spectacular. I have already hiked part of the route on a 5-day loop in Glacier, back in 2002.

8. Colorado Trail. This trail winds through the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, with much terrain at very high elevation. A significant portion of it is concurrent with the CDT.

9. Long Trail. This is my first entry for an eastern US trail. I plan to create a second list of east-coast trips, since there are many shorter/less-intense trips I would like to do out here too. I have already hiked ~30% of the Long Trail, in southern Vermont where it's the same as the AT. But it would be fun to hike the entire route, north-south through the Green Mountains from Canada to Massachusetts (or, more likely, the other direction). There are some great alpine zones on the higher peaks in the northern part of Vermont. This would be a good 2-3 week trip, depending on pace.

10. International AT. This route was off my radar until recently, when I watched a promotional video for a new section of the IAT in Newfoundland - which looks beautiful and wild. The rest of the more-established route heads north from Katahdin in Maine and winds through New Brunswick and Quebec.

Runners-up:

Here are a few other places where I would like to hike - with a less well-developed notion of a route or time commitment:

* Ruby Mountains, Nevada - this area in eastern Nevada is said to have the most alpine character of any of the Great Basin ranges. A medium length (30ish miles) linear trail runs along the range.

* Central Idaho - hiking in the Frank Church-River of No Return wilderness just sounds really wild. And I frequently come across beautiful photos of this area. There are reportedly over 2000 miles of trail, so finding a route should not be a problem . . .

* Olympic Peninsula - Washington - photos of Hurricane Ridge, in the center of the peninsula, suggest a very scenic location.

* Canadian Rockies - another scenic area with lots of trail possibilities, stretching from Banff through Jasper to Mount Robson.

Next up . . . a list of top 10 Eastern trips! :)

One Day Hike

2011-05-04T11:49:00.004-04:00

We participated last weekend in the One Day Hike. We walked the C&O Canal towpath from Georgetown to Harpers Ferry, a distance of 100 Kilometers (62 miles). The hike starts at 3:00am at Thompsons Boathouse in Georgetown, at the end (or beginning, depending on perspective) of the canal - and also the mouth of Rock Creek, where it empties into the Potomac. I finished at 8:30, and Tatiana glided in just before 10:00pm.

The weather was perfect for the hike, and we enjoyed the scenic route in spite of some blister-y feet. The towpath parallels the canal - which was built starting in the 1830s and active less than 100 years - for the entire route. In places, the canal is full of water; in other sections, the water has drained out. In many places the route also featured a good view of the Potomac, which was rushing along at high volume after recent rains. I saw lots of other trail users, notably participants in two bike and/or running relays that were headed the other direction.

I don't think we will be doing this hike again. It's fun, but the logistics (Calista stayed with some friends of ours, who also picked us up) and dealing with the blisters make it a challenge. But I would not rule out doing other long hikes. In the past we have done the Wilmington Trail Club's "End to End" on the Brandywine Trail (~36 miles of forest, field, and old roads in northern Delaware and Chester County PA) and the Hike Across Maryland (~41 miles of the Appalachian Trail from PenMar, on the PA-MD line, to Harpers Ferry. There are several similar organzied events, including one on the Rachel Carson Trail in western PA. One challenge I would like to take on is to hike the entire Presidential Range in the White Mountains in one day.

Here are some other photos that I took on the hike. And some more on the hike's official Facebook page.

Spring break in Florida

2011-03-28T11:20:00.008-04:00

We travelled to Florida for spring break this year. Perfect weather for the entire trip - high temps in the 70s and 80s, and low humidity. It was fun to explore new areas and to fast-forward into late spring!

On the way down, we camped at Cliffs of the Neuse state park in North Carolina. Calista had a stomach bug the first night, so we stayed in a hotel near St. Augustine the next night to do laundry and get ourselves back in order. Things went smoothly from there. We drove through Ocala National Forest (our intended place to camp) and visited DeSoto National Memorial. This site commorates the landing of Hernando DeSoto in 1539. He led the first European expedition to extensively explore what is now the Unitied States - less than 50 years after Columbus "discovered" the New World. We heard an NPS ranger discuss the evolution of weapons in native american cultures and among the Europeans, and took a short hike along the water - the park is on a bay south of Tampa/St. Petersburg. That night we camped at Myakka River State Park, which preserves a chunk of undeveloped prairie as well as wetland and river. We explored a "canopy walk" - an elevated tower/bridge combination that allows visitors to view the tree canopy of the forest. I was surprised to learn that "dry prairie" was once a common ecosystem type in Florida; most of it has now been turned into farm or grazing land.

Everglades

One of our major destinations was Everglades National Park. We made a short stop at the visitor center for Big Cypress National Preserve, which protects the bald cypress wetlands north of the "glades". Many tourists had stopped to see alligators in a canal near the visitor center. In 2002, Mike and I had hiked part of the Florida Trail starting from this point. From there, we went to Shark Valley, where we took a short hike and saw some of the famous Everglades wildlife - alligators, anhingas, and other birds. Then it was on to Flamingo, at the southern tip of the park on Florida Bay, where we camped for the night. The next morning, we explored various ecosystems along the main park road, taking short hikes at West Lake (which is lined with mangroves), Mahogany Hammock, and the overlook/tower that provides a view of the vast sawgrass wetlands that defines the Everglades, as well as the famous Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo trails. We returned to the Everglades area a few days later, camping at Long Pine Key for the night. We attended a ranger program, where Calista asked a question and earned a junior ranger badge!

Dry Tortugas

Visiting Dry Tortugas National Park is quite an undertaking. The park is 70 miles west of Key West, and the boat leaves around 8:00am. We stayed in Key West, in order to maximize convenience - and had to settle for a $50 per night campground! It was a somewhat-cramped private campground, but our site did have a nice view of some mangrove-lined water - which might have had an outlet to the ocean. The trip to the island was awesome. Water was very clear and blue. We toured the fort (Fort Jefferson, which was built in the 1830s) on our own, and then took turns snorkeling among coral reefs and playing with Calista on the beach. Calista visited the captain and even got to "drive" the boat for a moment! We had been listening to an audio recording of the Nevada Barr book "Flashback", which takes place on Dry Tortugas - so that added to the experience.

Returning to the mainland, we took another boat trip in Biscayne National Park. The concessioner had botched our reservation for the regular boat, and we ended up on a smaller boat with a group of three people who were in a similar situation. We toured a small island called Boca Chita Key, and zipped over crystal-clear water.

On the way home, we also stopped briefly at Canaveral National Seashore. We hiked up to the top of a large shell midden mound, which afforded a view of the ocean and a lagoon. We camped the final night a Faver-Dykes State Park, a bit south of Jacksonville. The park had a medium-sized, quiet campground in the woods. In the morning we caught views of a scenic river valley in the park (pictured here) before heading north. Temperatures peaked in the low 80s in the morning, but in the Carolinas we hit a cold front and by late afternoon it was in the 40s and raining! We were glad to be driving and not camping, and made it home by 11:00.
This trip included two new NPS sites for me, bringing my total to 278, approximately 71% of all the sites in the system. I am only missing 9 sites in the eastern regions, 4 of which are in the Caribbean. We also spent more time at Biscayne and Canaveral than I had at the past.

Here are the rest of the photos.

Lake Placid!

2011-02-22T21:56:00.005-05:00

This past weekend we embarked on what has become an annual trip to Lake Placid. We stayed at cozy cabin located near the edge of town, situated on the Jack Rabbit Trail - a ~40 mile skiing route. We skied at Mt. Van Hoevenberg - site of the 1980 Olympic XC ski events - for two days. The groomed trails there are lots of fun. I also skied from the cabin to Van Hoevenberg one morning. On Monday we explored the area around the Adirondack Loj, which is a gateway to the High Peaks area, managed by the Adirondack Mountain Club. I tried out my new snowshoes for the first time, and made it to scenic Marcy Dam and back, round trip ~4.5 miles, in under two hours. We delayed our trip home a bit because the forecast was calling for a winter storm warning in the Albany area, lasting until early afternoon. Traffic was smooth and roads clear until we arrived in Delaware, when to our surprise, snow began to fall. By the time we reached the Susquehanna River, the snow was coming down hard and the highway was getting slick - and with lots of trucks around, we felt a bit nervous. Thankfully, the BW Parkway turned out to be a better route home. Snow diminished dramatically in the last 5 miles before we reached home, although it was enough to delay the opening of school by 2 hours this morning. More photos of our weekend here (look for Calista skiing with her new best friend "Clifford" the dog).

Hiking and travel links

2011-01-21T21:15:00.004-05:00

For years, I have had a personal website. Recently I am having some trouble with it - I can't upload new files. I made the mistake of trying to upload an updated main page, which did not work - but now my main page is blank. The rest of the content is there, but there is no easy way to get to it.

At least as a temporary fix, I am providing links to some of my content below. I also have created some permanent links on the blog, to the right.

Our photos on Picasa and Flickr

Appalachian Trail backpacking journal - with separate pages for each major trip/segment, lost of links and photos, plus Google Earth versions!

My trip journals - covering backpacking, camping, and other trips since the mid-90s

John Muir trail trip report - with a Google map and Google earth versions

Pacific Crest Trail trip in 2010

Winter wonderland

2011-01-21T19:59:00.004-05:00

Every year we make several weekend escapes to go cross country skiing. This year we managed some skiing in Michigan on several days while we were there, although conditions deteriorated before we left. But last weekend, we experienced the joys of true winter again in Canaan Valley. Canaan, which usually experienced the best snow cover reachable by weekend trip for those of us in the DC area, is blessed with a quirky cross country ski resort called Whitegrass. This resort has miles of groomed trails traversing nearly 1000 feet of elevation rise, with access to many more miles of backcountry trails.

This year we stayed in a rental house with some friends, and enjoyed swishing through fresh snow for three days. On the second day, I traded off with Tatiana and did a long ski in the afternoon, which provided me with a first-ever opportunity to reach the overlook at Bald Knob while it was bathed in late afternoon sunlight. Conditions were calm, and the snow and ice on the trees was truly beautiful. I also found, for the first time, the connection between the backcountry Cabin Mountain and National Nordic trails. I have more photos here (not many "people" shots this time . . I took all my pics while out on the trails. Still need to coordinate photos from Tatiana!).

We will return to Canaan at the end of February, and also plan to ski at Lake Placid in a few weeks. Thanks to God for snow!!

Christmas

2011-01-09T19:34:00.003-05:00

We spent the first part of our Christmas vacation in Hampstead, hanging out with Tyson, Sarah, and Tatiana's parents. The earlier part of the month had been very hectic, with Tatiana finishing multiple projects relating to her first semester of the PhD program, while I graded exams.

From Maryland, we made the 12-hour drive to western Michigan on Dec 27th. No problems on the trip, since the major snowstorm coming in that day stayed well to the east, along the coast. In Michigan we were able to ski several times before the weather warmed up, including a nice all-day outing at Big M. Mike and Susanna were around for several days too. We were able to visit other family too, including Aunt Helen, and Uncle Gord and Aunt Saramae. On the way home, we took an alternate route via I-80 in western PA and Us 322 to Harrisburg - a nice change from the usual turnpike.

Now it's on to other winter challenges, including the start of a new semester (for me) and prepping a new class for the UD semester that starts in a couple of weeks (for Tatiana). And for the fun stuff - we have three weekend ski trips to WV and NY planned during the next two months. Yeah for snow!!

Shenandoah

2010-11-07T21:48:00.004-05:00

Since I moved to the East coast after college, I have come to cherish autumn weekends spent in the mountains. We typically spend several weekends backpacking, camping, or taking in the fall colors. This year was a bit difficult, because my foot injury prevented me from doing any hiking. Finally, this past weekend, we got out to the mountains.

Shenandoah National Park has been a favorite location, in all seasons, for both me and Tatiana. We did our first backpacking trips together there in 2001, and have returned multiple times. Both of us had spent considerable time there before we met, and we have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail through the park.

So this weekend, Shenandoah was a great place to see fall colors! We drove out on Saturday morning, and completed a short (~2 mile) hike to Dark Hollow Falls. Calista hiked the whole way without assistance (except with getting over the rocks). Today (Sunday) we hiked to Stony Man Cliffs, one of our favorite spots in the park. Calista climbed the rugged trail with us, approximately a mile round trip. It was cold enough on the exposed ridge for ice to have formed in some of the rock crevices. Later in the afternoon, we completed a 3.3 mile loop hike to South River Falls, 3rd-highest in the park - with Calista along in the backpack this time. These falls lie near the South River Picnic Area, where I started a backpacking trip with my brother Mike (in 2000?), but we did not have time to journey to the falls on that trip. So it was fun to see them now. My foot help up pretty well - it was by far the most walking I have done since the injury.

You might be able to tell from the rest of the photos that the colors were best at lower elevations, while most of the leaves in areas along the ridgetops have fallen already.

Fall

2010-11-02T21:26:00.004-04:00

We are well into the heart of fall now. I think the leaves are falling a bit earlier than usual. At the WCAC championship last weekend, there were leaves coating the surface of the stream - something I have not seen before.

I always spend huge amounts of time on cross country in the fall. Often I spend more time planning practices or for weekend meets than prepping for my classes. Managing a team with 75 runners and 5 coaches is not an easy task.

A couple of weeks ago we had a free Saturday, so we went out to the Western Maryland Rail Trail to do some biking. It's a very scenic trail, running parallel to the C&O Canal and the Potomac River. We covered 45 miles, with Calista trailing along behind my bike in her "chariot" (it's a Burley trailer, actually).

We have one more free XC weekend, and then three straight championship races: MD/DC state (private schools), Jesuits, and then Nike SE Regionals. And maybe Nationals, if we run really well.

We also made it through Halloween without too much drama. Calista dressed up as a fairy for a local event - a parade for the kids, followed by trick-or-treating at local businesses. We did not go out house-to-house Sunday night - she was too tired for it to work!

Here are some more pics from our fall outings . .

The rest of our trip . . .

2010-10-24T20:28:00.005-04:00

I never got up to updating the blog again during our summer trip, and have forgotten about it since we got home! Here's a recap, with some links to lots of photos:

We had a great family reunion in Trinidad. We stayed at a great house near the ocean, and had lots of fun being together with family. And of course we toured the famous Redwood trees with our local guides!!

Mike and I had a fantastic backpacking trip on the PCT. I have a full trip report posted here (I am having some trouble uploading to my website, so this is on the Gonzaga page).

On the way home, we made lots of great memories and stopped at a bunch more places: Lava Beds National Monument, Lassen National Park, Timpanagos Cave National Monument, Fossil Butte National Monument, Golden Spike National Historic Site, Agate Fossil Beds Nat. Monument, Scotts Bluff Nat. Monument, Homestead Nat. Monument, and Lincoln Nat. Historic Site. We camped the entire way, except the last two nights when we encountered fierce humidity and a heat index of over 100.

Here are the photo sets. Many of the pics were taken with my new GPS-enabled camera, so you can use the map feature (lower right corner) to see where they were taken - or load photo sets in Google Earth:

Reunion (Trinidad/Redwood NP)

Backpacking (Pacific Crest Trail in the Klamath Mountains)

Lava Beds and Lassen National Monument, and the rest of the way home.

Trinidad, CA

2010-07-20T02:20:00.002-04:00

We have made it to the reunion! It's been a great trip, and it feels like we have been away from home for a long time! Here's a quick overview of our travels:

* Canyonlands . . great wide-open spaces and a super quiet campground with awesome night skies!

* Great Basin NP - alpine lakes and bristlecone pines

* Great basin region - in Utah and Nevada - a "Sagebrush ocean" punctuated by mountain ranges.

* Ancient Bristlecone pines in the White/Inyo mountains.

* Giant trees and snow-capped mountains in Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks

* Grassy hillsides with scattered oak trees and chapparal in various parts of CA.

* Pinnicles National Monument was hot! . . we swam in a pool and had a nice hike the next morning.

* San Fran . . . Alcatraz, Muir Woods, Point Reyes National Seashore.

In the Rockies

2010-07-03T23:02:00.003-04:00

The first few days of the trip have gone great! Calista has been great in the car. She's enjoying the various car toys, reading, etc. She has been a bit silly at times - on the first afternoon she put her bunny on her head and declared, matter-of-factly, "I have a bunny on my head!"

We camped the first night at a state park in Illinois. The second night we were at a state park on a reservoir in western Kansas. We arrived in Denver yesterday afternoon. Today I hiked with Tyson up in the mountains, and Tatiana, Calista, and Sarah visited the Cherry Creek Arts Festival for most of the day. Our hike was at an abandoned mine, and involved a route that was featured in a recent edition of backpacker magazine. We hiked a few miles up to the old mine, and then continued to a ridgeline that afforded a great view of the surrounding mountain ridges.

Tomorrow we head for Canyonlands.

Off we go!

2010-06-29T22:50:00.003-04:00

No blog updates since Spring break . . I am getting pathetic at keeping up! We are ready to take off on an epic cross-country trip tomorrow morning. Our hope is to keep up the blog periodically from points along the way - but since this is an outdoors-based trip, rather than a city tour, time on the web might be hard to find. Tatiana will have a laptop so we can always drop into a McDonalds with wireless for a bit.

The last few months have been good, if stressful and busy as usual. The two of us travelled to NYC to see a broadway show in May (Phantom of the Opera), and we were also in New Jersey to see family on a separate weekend. There was a weekend in Chincoteague, and the usual short trips to Hampstead or outdoor places for a short hike. I was in Cincinnati for a week to grade AP exams in early June.

We will be headed west on the I-70 corridor towards Denver tomorrow. The plan is to visit Tyson and Sarah in Denver, then hit Canyonlands, Great Basin, and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks on the way to our family reunion in Redwood country, on the northern CA coast. Happy 40th anniversary to Mom and Dad!!

Spring Break

2010-04-07T14:03:00.003-04:00

We recently returned from our spring break trip to Kentucky and southern Illinois, where we visited with my parents (who had traveled from Michigan) and saw interesting natural areas in Shawnee and Daniel Boone National Forests, as well as Land Between the Lakes. I have created a Google-maps based tour of the trip. You can also view our photos here.

Updates

2010-03-17T20:19:00.004-04:00

The blog is woefully out of date now, so I am going to do a big "winter update" post. My last post was at Christmas! Yikes! So here is a run-down of some recent events.

Skiing in Canaan, round 1

For MLK weekend, we rented a house with some friends in Canaan valley. The winter had already been cold and snowy for a month by that point, and we managed to arrive on the first mild weekend since the winter started. There was plenty of snow, and ski conditions were decent on Saturday. Things turned "south" on Sunday, with rain and temps above 40 - so we stayed inside and played games most of the time. I went for a long run through slushy gravel roads in Old Timberline, where we were staying. I did not get many photos because of the weather, but I did create a map of the various places that we tend to visit in Canaan valley.

Calista's Birthday

Believe it or not, Calista turned 2 years old on January 28th. We had 4 birthday celebrations - with Tatiana's dad the weekend before; with just the three of us on her birthday; with church friends including Bella Bouman, whose birthday is two years earlier; and then with both of Tatiana's parents. Calista keeps growing and changing every day, it seems - she has changed a lot even in the 6 weeks since her birthday. She is very talkative and interactive, loves to read and play and tell you what she is thinking. She likes to look at pictures of animals, and the latest thing is to listen to recorded bird calls - after she and Tatiana heard an owl one afternoon. There are some photos here.

Lake Placid

We had 4 days off for President's weekend, which followed the two major storms that hit the mid-Atlantic in February. Tatiana was in Atlanta for a Smithsonian event during the first storm, and her return was delayed because of the snow. She snuck into town between storms, and as things were clearing back out we drove north to the snowy wonderland of Lake Placid. The snow conditions were perfect there - not a huge snowpack, but plenty for good skiing, and temps in the low 20s. Calista was on skis for her first time, on a pair of beginner skis borrowed from someone we met. We skiied at Mount VanHoevenburg, home of the 1980 Olympic competition, and also on part of the 40+ mile Jackrabbit Trail, which runs right past the cabin where we stayed. It was fun to be there during the Olympics, partly because the olympic torch in Lake Placid was lit.
Pictures are here.

Blackwater Falls

We had our final ski trip for the season about 10 days ago. We were still on the tail end of a cold snap, and Canaan had 5 feet of snowpack in places! We stayed at Blackwater Falls, and skied both in the park and at Whitegrass. Wonderful conditions and fun times. Pics are here.

On into spring

Since our Blackwater Trip, we have suddenly launched into spring. We have already experienced several beautiful early spring days, with temps in the 60s and sunny blue skies. We also had a rainy weekend, accompanied by some serious flooding in places. I am getting ready for the Boston Marathon, which goes off in just over a month.

Christmas

2010-01-04T22:20:00.001-05:00

We spent the Christmas/New Year with family on both sides. We were in Hampstead for Christmas, and then drove to Michigan on the 27th and stayed for a week. It was fun to spend time with family members, and Calista really enjoyed opening lots of presents. The snow in Michigan was excellent this year, and we were able to ski every day while we were there. We spent New Years Eve at a small cabin in Cadillac, on Lake Mitchell. We skied at Cadillac Pathway and at Mackenzie/Caberfae. More pics are here.

Blizzard of 2009

2009-12-20T15:21:00.005-05:00

Washington DC got 16+ inches of snow yesterday, which is a record for December. Thankfully it came on a Saturday and did not cause major disruption to commuters. Our church was canceled this morning, the school (faculty) Christmas party was canceled yesterday, and school for tomorrow has already been canceled. Since I am scheduled to give all my exams tomorrow morning, that means the students will take them Tuesday instead - and I have one less day to get my grading finished before Christmas. We played in the snow with Calista yesterday and today, and today I skiied around Greenbelt Lake a couple of times - something I have only been able to do once or twice before in the 6 winters we have spent here (counting this one, which technically just started). I uploaded some more pictures here. Often it warms up to 40+ degrees the next day after a snow here, but the forecast calls for low-to mid 30s as a high all week, so the snow might stick around for a while. It's going to be tough to go running.

Christmas tree

2009-12-12T22:07:00.003-05:00

We got a real Christmas tree for the first time! Our house was to small to make a larger tree work until last year, and with an 11-month old we did not want to try last year. Calista helped us pick out the tree from a vendor who operates out of the parking lot of our local supermarket . . not quite as romantic as "cut your own", but it works. We decorated it this afternoon. Calista helped some, and mostly managed to stay out of trouble.
Things are finally settling down for me now. We had our cross country team banquet last Tuesday, which mostly concludes the events of the season - other than making arrangements for purchasing championship jackets for the team members. Exams start on Wednesday . .

Thanksgiving and beyond

2009-12-06T14:50:00.003-05:00

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. The weekend before Thanksgiving, I went to NY for a cross country meet - we were victorious at the Jesuit championships, beating several other very good teams. We headed to Chincoteague for Thanksgiving, and went from there to North Carolina for the southeast regional cross country championships. The team did well, finishing 7th in a region that spans from the Mason-Dixon line south to the Gulf coast. After two days of classes I went to the Loyala Retreat House to help lead a 3-day retreat for seniors at Gonzaga. Looking forward to some more free time in the coming weeks!

State championship race

2009-11-14T19:34:00.006-05:00

My team raced in the Maryland-DC state championship for private schools today. In Maryland and Virginia, unlike in most states, the private schools do not compete in the state-sponsored championship events/tournaments. This has an unfortunate effect on overall competition, by splitting the best teams. This time around Gonzaga was vying for first place, against strong competition from St. Albans. We had narrowly defeated them a few weeks ago, and felt confident that we could repeat that performance, but we came up short. Several runners fell apart in the last mile and we ended up being edged out for 2nd by fellow Jesuit school Loyola.

I continue to be frustrated by near misses at state championships in my coaching career. At Wilmington Christian we finished in 2nd place three years in a row, and in each of those years we were as good as the team that won, but in each case the other team had a better day. Last year we ran our worst race of the season at the state championship and came in third; champion Calvert Hall definitely had a better team, but winning was not out of our grasp.

On the positive side, Tatiana and Calista were able to come out to cheer for the team. Calista had fun exploring the recently-harvested corn field and checking out the goats and pigs.

Little Cabin in the Woods

2009-10-26T21:49:00.003-04:00

We rented a PATC cabin this weekend, along with several friends from church. Most PATC cabins are rustic structures in the Blue Ridge, most of them close to the AT. This was one of the few "modern" cabins, with electricity and running water. It was the perfect choice for a relaxing fall weekend. We had a living area and kitchen and one small bedroom, plus a gigantic porch. The cabin was totally surrounded by trees with various shades of fall color on display. It was located just over a mile from the AT, halfway between Caledonia and Pine Grove Furnace State Parks in Pennsylvania. We did a battlefield tour at Gettysburg on Saturday and some hiking on Sunday. Nathaniel and I hiked from 10 miles Caledonia State Park back to the cabin on Sunday afternoon, while the rest of the group opted for a variety of shorter options.

Here is the approximate location of our adventure. Check out some more photos.

Update from the trail

2009-07-28T23:54:00.002-04:00

I have a limited time while on a re-supply to give a quick update on my trip! I am at Vermillion Valley Resort, which lies across a lake from the trail. I arrived here by ferry this afternoon. The hike has been awesome so far - views are almost continuous, and weather is excellent for hiking. I should have some outstanding photos when I get back, so I am looking forward to sharing them.

If all goes well, I will leave here tomorrow morning, then hike for 5 more days. I should hike through Tuolomne Meadows on Saturday and then arrive in Yosemite Valley on Sunday.

Anniversary

2009-07-05T15:45:00.003-04:00

As of today, we have been married for 6 years! Hard to believe. To celebrate, we did a short backpacking trip in western MD. It was our first trip in two years, unless you count Cumberland Island, which consisted of no more than 1/2 mile carrying a pack. We hiked the Savage Loop, which is approximately 25 miles on (mostly) state forest land in Garrett County - near Deep Creek Lake. A map of the area can be seen here. The route was varied and quite unusual. We started with a couple of miles of traditional hiking trail through New Germany State Park - an area that has groomed ski trails in the winter. The next segment was an old CCC road, now open to ORVs and high clearance vehicles. There were numerous campsites scattered along the route, which follows a stream through deep forest. The road crosses the creek multiple times, most of them without bridges. We had to "ford" the crossings, since they are clear of rocks to allow vehicles to pass. We ended up walking in sandals for several miles.

The next segment consisted of 5 miles along a little-used, scenic paved road. The road follows a larger stream through state forest land and past a few houses. After passing through a primative campground at Big Run State Park, we merged onto the Monroe Run trail. This trail also features multiple stream crossings, most of which were fairly easy to traverse by rock-hopping. We counted 24 crossings in all. We found a campsite partway up this trail. The next day we climbed the rest of the way up the stream and then steeply to the top of Meadow Mountain. The rest of the route was a wide, grassy trail (pictured above) which is used by snowmobiles in the winter but open only to foot and bike traffic the rest of the year. There were several views towards long, forested mountain ridges that are typical of the central appalachians. There are some more pictures posted here.

Summer is here . . .

2009-06-21T20:59:00.004-04:00

Exams were wrapped up for me at Gonzaga before Memorial Day. It's nice to finish early . . although the trade-off is that we start around August 20th. I went out to Lincoln, NE again to grade AP exams during the first week of June. It was the last year for grading in Lincoln - we grade at the state fair grounds, which will be torn down later this year. Next year will be in Cincinnati. The rest of the month I have been taking care of Calista during the day. We have been exploring the area with our jogging stroller, and reading lots of books (some of them multiple times in a row).

Other things toing on:
I got a chance to go hiking in Shenandoah last week one day because our school-year baby sitter was available to watch Calista. I hiked with a group from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, and we did 17 miles and roughly 5000 feet of climbing in the southern part of Shenandoah.

We visited Tatiana's parents yesterday. Calista got to ride in a wagon and plan in a "pool" (the liner for a pond).

My brother Mark will be visiting this week. And Calista will go to swimming lessons. So there will be plenty to keep us busy.

I posted from photos from this month.

May adventures

2009-05-17T19:21:00.003-04:00

Last weekend (May 9) we visited Thompson Wildlife Management Area, which is in the Appalachians (and bisected by the AT) just south of Sky Meadows State Park - about midway between Harper's Ferry and Shenandoah. This area is known for a profusion of trilliums and other spring wildlflowers. We parked quite close to the AT, and did a short (~2 mile) loop hike. We stopped at a trail shelter at Manassas Gap, and Calista enjoyed stomping around in the shelter. We decided to give her the trail name Itty Bit, which is also the name of her favorite stuffed animal (a bunny). We signed her name, along with ours, in the trail register at the shelter. We were also startled to find a couple of rather large black rat snakes in the rafters of the shelter! Calista was not bothered by the snakes (although I don't know how well she saw them) but she did freak a bit about the large bumblebees near the picnic table.

Yesterday (May 16th) we spent the afternoon at Antietam Battlefield. I went for a run through the pastoral countryside, and we checked out the visitor center and part of the auto tour route. We also drove through Shepardstown and Harper's Ferry on the way home.

I have posted some pictures from these two trips, as well as some other April and May pics of Calista enjoying life.

One Day Hike

2009-05-04T19:52:00.005-04:00

On Saturday, April 25th we hiked from Washington DC to Harpers Ferry. I can't believe I am actually writing that, but yes, we did manage to hike that far! It was a crazy event. Calista went with Tatiana's parents and her Aunt Irene to Chincoteague for the weekend, so we were free to make the attempt. We got up at 1:00 on Saturday morning and drove to the metro, taking the train down to Georgetown. More than 100 other people were milling about at Thompson's Boathouse, getting ready for the hike. We started the hike at 3:00, after signing in and getting instructions. The first 12 miles were in the dark, strolling between old warehouses that have been converted to upscale apartments and shops in Georgetown, and then out to the tree-lined, crushed gravel path that borders the C&O Canal. I used my headlamp sporadically, sometimes relying on streetlights from nearby Canal Road. The first water break was at Old Angler's Inn, and after a short break I was soon passing Great Falls. The first food stop finally appeared at mile 22, and by mile 30 the sun was beating down. The heat index eventually topped 90, an unusually warm day for April.

Somewhere around mile 25 I started seeing runners with numbers heading the other direction. At the next rest stop I learned that they were part of a 200 mile relay event, with 10-12 person teams each running several 5-8 mile legs along a route starting in Gettysburg and ending in DC. They were raising money for something.

By the mid-point I was dealing with some pretty serious blisters, but I was determined to press on. I maintained close to 4 mph for the first half of the hike, but slowed quite a bit afterward. The heat took its toll on the other hikers too, and many dropped out before the finish, with less than 50% reaching the goal. I felt like I was in slow motion after my last break at Brunswick, less than 10 miles from the end. Darkness fell around the time the canal towpath intersected with the Appalachian Trail, coming from the north. Tatiana and our friend Nathaniel met me at the base of the hill in Harper's Ferry, and we slowly made our way up the long route past the ATC headquarters, the NPS facility, and into the adjacent town of Bolivar. Upon finishing, I suddenly felt overwhelmed with exhaustion and had to lay down for a few minutes. Eventually we made our way to a nearby campground, where we stayed with Christal and Nathaniel in a small cabin for the night.

I uploaded some pictures. Also in the album are a few shots of Philadelphia, where we spent the weekend May 2-3. Tatiana had a conference for the American Association of Museums. I biked on Saturday from Center City Philadelphia to Valley Forge, along the Schuylkill River. The route is mostly a paved trail, except for a few miles following a canal towpath in the Manyunk section of Philly. Distance to Valley Forge is ~20 miles, but I actually did another 5 to Phoenixville, where the trail currently ends, before turning around. There are plans to extend the trail to Port Clinton, where it would intersect the Appalachian Trail.

There are also pictures of the One Day Hike here and here.

Spring Break

2009-03-31T20:01:00.007-04:00

The Gonzaga spring break was last week, and we decided to drive down to Georgia to visit Mike and Susanna. Mike is at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy (FLETC) for 4 months. We left mid-day on Friday so that we could get a jump on traffic and spend some more time with Mike when we arrived Saturday. Traffic was light, and we camped at Jones Lake State Park in North Carolina that night. It was cold, but Calista loved wandering around the campground and did not complain at all. We arrived in Brunswick on Saturday and hung out with Mike and Susanna and the couple Susanna is staying with.

Sunday and Monday were spent at Cumberland Island National Seashore, which was a beautiful spot. The old Live Oak trees were all twisted from the wind, and hung with Spanish Moss, and Palmettos carpeted the understory. Mike had to go back to work, but Susanna travelled with us to Osceola National Forest on Monday night, and we explored the national forest and the Okeefenokee Swamp. We hiked 6 miles of the Florida Trail, and saw alligators, snakes, and a variety of birds in the swamp.

At the end of the week we headed to Atlanta, and camped for two nights at Red Top Mountain, where we stayed in 2005 before our backpacking trip on the AT. We saw the Atlanta Aquarium on Friday, and met up with Aunts Andrea and Regina and cousins Alyssa and Renee at a diner for dinner that night. We headed home on Saturday, driving 7 hours in steady rain before giving up for the night at a hotel in Durham. An easy drive home on Sunday was the conclusion to a nice trip.

We have more pictures here.

Winter adventures

2009-03-02T18:17:00.004-05:00

We spent the last weekend in February in Blackwater State Park. Snow was a bit sparse this year, so we spent the time hiking, exploring new areas of Canaan Valley, and hanging out in the cabin with friends. Several of us hiked a section of the Allegheny Trail, which stretches across West Virginia from Peters Mountain on the Virginia border, near Pearisburg and on the AT, to the Pennsylvania border. We hiked from Canaan Valley State Park to Blackwater, about 8 miles
. As we drove home last night we noticed salt trucks and snow plows hovering around the highway shoulders and exits, and as we arrived home it had begun to snow. We woke up to around 8 inches on the ground . . making this perhaps the first time that DC has had more snow than the West VA high country. There was no school today, which in my case did not cancel classes but an in-service day with other Catholic schools in the area.

Calista is having fun wandering around and exploring new things. We played with her in the snow a bit today. She went for a hike with Tatiana and our friend Laurie on Saturday -- a real hike on a natural surface trail with roots and rocks to navigate. Some pictures are here.

Silly Girl

2009-02-21T11:36:00.003-05:00

Calista likes to do some silly things these days. Recently she decided she wanted to wear one of her bibs while playing. She knows where the bibs are stored, and she took of from the basket. She could not figure out how to properly fasten it, so she walked around instead with the bib tucked under her chin! She has done this several times now. She also enjoys getting plastic containers from one of the kitchen cabinets. Last week grabbed a plastic lid and then decided she should put it into an open bag that was on the other side of the room - so she walked over and placed it there. She proceeded to walk back and forth, bringing one more lid each time, for at least 10 rounds. Each time she would carefully close the cabinet door before walking across the room to deposit her lid. We have some (more) pictures here.

Winter fun

2009-01-27T08:51:00.003-05:00

We had 4 days off over Martin Luther King weekend, with an extra day because of inauguration. Gonzaga's parking lot was being used by the National Guard and the Hirshhorn is right on the mall . . so we journeyed north to Lake Placid to try the skiing there. We had never been in the Adirondacks in winter, unless you count Lapland Lake, on the southern edge park. I hiked in the high peaks area numerous times while taking summer classes at RPI, 10 years ago now! We stayed in a little cabin just outside Lake Placid. Tatiana and I did "tag team" skiing, while one of us hanging out with Calista inside. We skiied at Mt. VanHoevenberg, where the 1980 Olympics were held, and on the Jackrabbit Trail, a long-distance linear trail that connects several backcountry and groomed ski areas. On the way out we also made a stop at the Adirondack Loj, which is a classic backwoods lodge that provides trail access to the high peaks region. More pictures here.

Christmas

2009-01-06T18:34:00.003-05:00

We enjoyed visiting family during Christmas break. Calista got to hang out with both sets of grandparents, as well as Uncle Tyson and Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Susanna. We went skiing at Muskegon State Park and at Big M between Cadillac and Manistee, and also stopped at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and Cuyahoga Valley National Park for breaks between Michigan and Maryland. Calista got lots of gifts from grandparents, aunts and uncles, and even great aunts. Check out more pictures.

Stair climber

2008-12-20T18:38:00.002-05:00

Calista has discovered that she is good at climbing stairs. I think she is preparing to become a mountain climber . . . we had to put up our gate a few weeks ago when she discovered the stairs.

She is a happy baby most of the time. She enjoying "helping" us set up the Christmas tree (which is on a table and anchored to keep her from pulling it down). The other day she decided it would be fun to play with her bib when she was finished eating, so we did that for a while.

Check out other new pictures.

Peek-a-boo!

2008-12-07T21:28:00.002-05:00

Calista decided yesterday in the car that she wanted to play peak-a-boo using her coat. Tatiana was sitting in the backseat with her, and Calista would put the coat over her head for a few seconds, take it off, and laugh hysterically. Today she started playing again, using a towel in the kitchen. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

We had a fun Thanksgiving weekend. After a meal with Tatiana's parents in Chincoteague, we drove to Raleigh NC for the Nike Southeast Regional Championship XC meet. My team finished 19th place in this invitational-only meet serving a 10-state region. On Saturday night we stayed at Peaks of Otter lodge on the Blue Ridge Parkway, then headed home on Sunday. I ran part of the way up the bus route to the top of Sharp Top Mountain on Sunday morning, but had to turn around because of icy conditions. The Parkway was also closed on Sunday because of ice. We have some pictures of the weekend and more of Calista's recent exploits (including a shot demonstrating her love of blueberries) here.

Veterans Day

2008-11-12T21:30:00.004-05:00

In the DC area, we get Veterans Day off. We went to work on Monday, then had the day free on Tuesday. Kinda weird, but I am not complaining. We took the opportunity to explore a National Wildlife Refuge on the Chesapeake, called Eastern Neck, that we had not been to before. It's on an island that is visible from the Bay Bridge, but requires at least 45 minutes of driving beyond the bridge to get there. There was a very nice visitor center in an old hunting lodge, and we hiked a series of short trails. Bright sun was out much of the day, but there was a cold wind. We had some pink "bearpaw" mittens for Calista. We thought she might not like having them on, but she seemed to get a kick out of them.

It was beautiful on Sunday, and we spent some time on the deck and got pictures of Calista with a "9 month" sign. There are more on our Picasa page.

9 months old

2008-11-02T15:25:00.003-05:00

Calista turned 9 months this past Tuesday. She has been doing lots of new things and is generally very happy these days. She is crawling around like crazy and exploring distant corners of the room. She has learned to clap, and gets very excited when she sees the cat. She's also eating quite a bit of "solid" food, and can manage to get cherios and other small items into her mouth. She can also pull herself up to standing using the couch, side of the crib, or the sliding glass door.

We enjoyed a rare day off from cross country yesterday, and took advantage of sunny, warm weather to go hiking. We went to Bull Run Mountain Preserve, an area just west from Manassas - the first line of mountains going west from DC in Virginia. There was a nice viewpoint at some rocks were we had lunch. Calista enjoyed riding in the backpack and checking out the sites and sounds.

I put some new pictures of the hike and Calista's recent exploits on Picasa. We still need to get a shot of her holding a "9 month" sign.

Fall colors are coming!

2008-10-14T21:40:00.003-04:00

We spent the weekend in western Maryland, staying in a small rental house with a few friends. The colors were at their peak, and weather was perfect - blue skies and warm temps. I had a cross country meet on Saturday, so I headed out in the afternoon when the meet was finished, joining the others who had arrived on Friday. We hiked Sunday at Coopers Rock State Forest in West Virginia. Monday on the way home I did an 18 mile run along the route of the Tuscarora Trail near Hancock, MD. This particular section is mostly flat and along narrow country backroads and the C&O Canal towpath.

Calista had a great time exploring the cabin, and was having a good day in the backpack carrier when we went hiking. We have some pictures of the weekend in a new web album.

Calista in a box . . at 8 months

2008-09-28T19:40:00.004-04:00

Calista is 8 months old today! It seems like she is bigger or doing something new every time we turn around. She started crawling last week, and is now zooming all around the downstairs . . we still need to do some serious "babyproofing" of the house, including getting gates. Today we finally got around to putting our china in the cabinets. We packaged it up last fall during the addition process, and were waiting to unpack it because we were considering getting a china cabinet or sideboard for near the table. It looks like that's not going to work well in terms of available space . . . anyway, while unpacking we put Calista in one of the empty boxes and she loved it.

We got some cute pictures of her and the cat last week too. She had crawled up to the glass door which leads to the porch, and the cat was on the other side (Keisha spends much of her time out there now). They were looking at each other through the glass. We put a few more pictures in the "7 months" album on Picasa.

Calista reaches the 7 month milestone

2008-09-03T22:32:00.003-04:00

Wow, it's been over a month since I put up a new post. Things have been busy for the past 2 weeks. I started back to work on August 15th, and we promptly went camping for the weekend with my parents, staying at a National Forest campground in West Virginia near the iconic Seneca Rocks. Calista started with day care a little over 2 weeks ago, and we are very happy with how things are going. She enjoys playing with the 2 other children and her provider is really good.

Calista was 7 months old on August 28th. We have a variety of new pictures from the past month on our Picasa page.

North to Alaska

2008-07-30T16:08:00.002-04:00

It would be fun to actually go to Alaska again! I have been working on "trip reports" from the big western trips that I took in the early part of the decade. These are in the spirit of my AT journal, but without the embedded images - too much work to put in all the pics and get the layout to work correctly. I added lots of links to pictures of the places I visited, mostly other people's pics, since I did not have a digital camera at the time. The pic shown here is mine though - the sign is at the southern end of the Cassiar Highway in British Columbia.

Links to my trip reports:

My main travel page

2000 trip - Rocky Mountain, Tetons, and Isle Royale

2001 trip - Glacier National Park and the White Mountains

2002 trip - Alaska

Calista is 6 months old!

2008-07-29T11:28:00.005-04:00

Calista's 6-month birthday was yesterday, July 28th. She is getting very active, and it seems she will be ready to crawl soon. We went camping last weekend at Elizabeth Furnace, in the George Washington National Forest just west of Shenandoah. This was Calista's first 2-night camping trip. We camped with friends Christel and Nathaniel, and did some hiking and swimming. Calista enjoyed her first ride in the baby backpack, and even fell asleep in it.

We have some new pictures online. The 6-months shots have not been great so far, so I am trying to get some more today. For now: updates to Calista's July page and the new Elizabeth Furnace page.

First feeding

2008-07-14T17:48:00.002-04:00

Calista had her first taste of "solid" food in her high chair yesterday. It was rice cereal mixed with milk, so it's not really all that solid. She was very funny about it -- seemed interested in the food and the taste, but insisted on grabbing the spoon and would not let go. We had been warned by a friend at church that if 10% of the food stayed in her mouth we would be doing well . . . and against that standard I think we fared quite well.

We have some more pics of the "feeding" as well as some 5-month shots and others from the past few weeks on our photo site.

Rainbow

2008-06-24T11:21:00.002-04:00

A thunderstorm rolled in last night around 6:00. I was planning to head out for a run, but I delayed for a while to wait for the storm to pass. I thought of the many times I have been in a shelter along the trail while a heavy rain soaked the woods . . and the times that I did not make it to shelter before the rains came pounding in, and I have ended up with soaking socks and shoes. I ran through Greenbelt Park after the rain slacked off, and on the way back a rainbow appeared in the northeastern sky.
This morning I am sitting by the back window enjoying the view of the green, leafy woods, as Calista plays around on her playmat. I am very happy with the way our addition(s) have turned out.

Appalachian Trail re-visited

2008-06-18T17:37:00.004-04:00

It's been almost a year since I finished the Appalachian Trail by hiking to Roan Mountain (I am pictured at right on the exact spot where I finished). I have yet to bring Calista out on her first AT hike, and in fact I have not been on the AT at all since last June. It's been a busy year! But I have been working on a journal of my travels. The journal consists of a description of each day of hiking, along with photos, elevation profiles, mileage totals, and maps. I might be adding to it over the summer (I just read about some new ideas for creating computer-based trip journals in Backpacker magazine), but I view it as essentially complete. So . . check it out if you are interested.

UPDATE - Tatiana reminded me that Calista actually HAS been on a portion of the AT. I hiked the southernmost ~20 miles of the Tuscarora Trail in April, starting at Elizabeth Furnace in the Massanuttan Mountains (a mountain ridge parallel to Shenandoah). Tatiana met me in Shenandoah, and hiked a short section of the AT with Calista while waiting for me. I was also on the AT for the last mile of the hike. The Tuscarora Trail, but the way, is a 200+ mile trail that joins the AT in Shenandoah and again near Harrisburg, but follows a more western route. It was devised in the 1960s, before the National Trails Act was passed, providing permanent federal protection for the AT corridor. Prior to the passage of the Act, trail managers feared that development would overtake the trail corridor between Shenandoah and southern Pennsylvania.

Finishing touches on the house

2008-06-18T17:21:00.007-04:00

I don't suppose we will ever really be "finished" with the house, but we moved one step closer in late May when we did some painting of the hallway along the stairs and the bathroom. We also put up a collection of photos on the wall -- they are all 5x7 shots we have taken in outdoor setting, mostly along the Appalachian Trail. We got our new table back in March, but we did not get the chairs until recently - they can be seen on one of the photos as well.

For those who are interested (which will likely only include brother Mike), the photos are of:
* the Susqhehannock Trail in Feb 2007
* Big Bald on the AT in North Carolina (June 07)
* McAfee Knob on the AT in Virginia (April 07)
* Snow in the Nantahala Mountains (AT south of the Smokies, April 05)
* Apple Orchard Mountain, Oct. 06
* Katahdin
* Roan Mountain, June 07
* Rhododendron Tunnel on the AT in North Carolina

You can see better copies of most of the images on my photo website

Hanging out with Daddy

2008-06-18T17:08:00.003-04:00

We have settled in to the summer phase of Calista's first year. I am taking care of her during the day while Tatiana is back at work. Things are going fairly well. I have been out running with her in the stroller a few times, and have made a couple of trips out to the store, but mostly we hang out at home. I am taking an online course with American Museum of Natural History, so I work on that while she is sleeping or otherwise occupied.

Calista is somewhat irregular with her naps at this point. She tends to nap for about 20-30 minutes once every 3 hours or so. She loves her yellow blanket, and it's very cute to see her snuggle up with it - especially when she is feeling sleepy. I have posted a few new pictures

Four months old!

2008-05-28T23:17:00.004-04:00

Calista is 4 months old today! We had beautiful weather, and we took lots of cute pictures, which are posted in a new folder. Not much other news to report - see yesterday's post for the updates!

Calista updates

2008-05-27T15:27:00.003-04:00

Things are going well here in Greenbelt. We continue to enjoy our time with Calista, and have many new experiences with her. The first week of May we went up to New York City to visit various members of Tatiana's extended family. Calista met several of her great-aunts and uncles, plus her great-grandmother. This past weekend (Memorial Day) we were in Chincoteague again. Calista had her first experience of toes in the sand and even (briefly) in the water at the beach.

Tatiana went back to work today (May 27), and I am taking care of Calista at home - so this will be another new adventure.
There is a new album on our Picasa site with photos from the New York trip and from the beach. We also have some shots from Mother's Day (we visited an Azalea garden en route to Hampstead) and from a nice Saturday afternoon outside - Calista was very cute in her pink jacket. The pics are at http://picasaweb.google.com/jausema

Calista will be 4 months old tomorrow, so we will take some new pics to commemorate that occasion.

Rolling over!!

2008-04-29T22:22:00.003-04:00

Calista figured out how to roll over!! She has done it a couple of times now.

12 weeks old

2008-04-24T17:51:00.002-04:00

We have continued to take pictures each week, but it's been hard to update the blog recently. Calista is healthy and seems to be enjoying life most of the time. She was nearly 11 pounds at her last doctors visit, a couple of weeks ago now. She enjoys sitting in her rocker and kicking at toys that are hanging on it. She is starting to laugh a little, although she can't quite get the sound.

Spring break trip

2008-03-30T17:06:00.003-04:00

We had a great time touring around southwestern Virginia and southeastern Kentucky on spring break. The primary destinations of the trip were Cumberland Gap, a historic site where settlers found passage across the mountains, and Big South Fork, a rugged and wild river along the border between Kentucky and Tennessee. We stayed most of the time at state park lodges, but we managed to venture out on our first camping trip at Big South Fork. We spent three nights at Pine Mountain State Park, where we had a great view of a forested ridge and valley from our room. We also spent a night at a Kentucky park called Buckhorn Lake. Pictures are posted here.

Baptism

2008-03-19T14:39:00.003-04:00

Calista was baptized at our church on Sunday. Both sets of grandparents were in attendance, as well as Uncle Tyson and Aunt Sarah. The Ausema grandparents were here for about 5 days. We spent a nice sunny day at the zoo on Saturday, and it seemed that everyone in the area with young kids had converged on the zoo - we practically needed lane lines to safely negotiate the paths. We also took a few "7 weeks old" pictures on Monday. A few pictures are posted on on our Picasa site. The ones from the baptism are a bit grainy - I think my camera was set for outdoor shots. Maybe we can get some better ones from the grandparents . . .

6 weeks!

2008-03-10T19:01:00.004-04:00

Calista is 6 weeks old today! She is starting to show a lot of expressions, including some smiles! We figure she is probably about 10 pounds, after a 9 pound weigh-in at the last doctor's appointment. Some new pics online in a new folder: http://picasaweb.google.com/jausema/CalistaAtSixWeeks

5 weeks old

2008-03-04T18:44:00.003-05:00

Not much to say here, but it's a progress photo :)

Blackwater Falls

2008-03-04T18:28:00.006-05:00

We made our second weekend excursion with Calista this past weekend, traveling to Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia.
It was fun hanging out in the cabin with friends, and I was able to go skiing for the only time this winter. There was great snow at White Grass, a cross country ski resort in Canaan Valley.

One month!

2008-02-26T19:36:00.004-05:00

OK, so it's technically 4 weeks, but Tatiana says that's considered a month. Seems to me that if you say that 4 weeks =1 month you end up with 13 months in a year . . .
She has been enjoying short stints on playmat recently, so that's kinda fun!

Showing off

2008-02-24T22:07:00.005-05:00

She's been going through a growth spurt, but things are going pretty well now. Made it out on a short shopping trip yesterday, and to church this evening. Calista seems to enjoy being in the sling, which is nice because that means Tatiana has two free hands (or at least 1.5). Se have more new pictures on Picasa again . . and hopefully more tomorrow - she will be 4 weeks old!

Three weeks old!

2008-02-18T22:32:00.004-05:00

Not a very creative post title, but it's late. We made our first weekend excursion to Chincoteague with Calista, this weekend, and arrived back home recently. Had a good trip. These picture is taken on grandma and grandpa's couch in Chincoteague. Thanks to friend Natalie for the really cute bear outfit! More new pics on the Picasa site.

2 weeks old!

2008-02-12T23:09:00.002-05:00

She is actually 15 days old now!! We took a few pics yesterday . . more are posted on Picasa (link at right), including some of her first bath.

Tiny hands

2008-02-02T18:53:00.000-05:00

One of the most amazing things about a newborn baby is the tiny size of the their hands! She's adorable when she's sleeping, and she is often very alert . . calming her when she is fussy has been not been too bad so far :)

Cat looking for attention

2008-02-02T18:46:00.001-05:00

I am not sure if it's related to the baby, but the cat has been engaged in lots of "cute" behavior recently. Today she was drinking from a water glass using her paw. Yesterday she took great interest in the smell emanating from a chocolate bar wrapper.

Deck stain

2008-02-02T18:32:00.000-05:00

I expect we will be dealing with lots of other stains in the coming months, but this one is positive -- I stained the deck a few weeks ago when we had some good weather. Still needs some touch-up, and I did not have time to do the inside (porch).

Everyone is getting along . .

2008-01-31T20:44:00.001-05:00

The animals are not paying much attention to Calista, really. As you can see here, Keesha proceeded to climb onto the back for the chair for the view and Sydney preened as normal while Tatiana was feeding the baby today . .

Addition, part II

2008-01-30T17:30:00.001-05:00

All of the work on the house was really a precursor to this! Calista Laurel was introduced to the world on January 28th. We came home from the hospital today, and are enjoying settling into our new world. Baby Ausema has been showered with attention from Grandma and Grandpa Bareis, Uncle Tyson and Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Susanna. We have posted a bunch of pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/jausema/Calista. There will be more pictures later this evening - I am waiting for the camera battery to recharge.

Nursery update

2008-01-20T20:36:00.000-05:00

We don't have anything exciting like a baby to report yet, but we have a new picture of the nursery. Just using whatever time is available to continue getting things "more ready"

More inside views

2008-01-14T22:42:00.000-05:00

A couple more photos to show how things are looking inside the house. This is very much a "work in progress" - we have nothing on the walls yet, and we need to sort through lots of office supplies . . and we are still using the old "K-mart special" table that I purchased when I first moved into my own apartment.

The first photo shows the dining area, which is flanked by 2 of the new bookshelves. The other photo is of the entertainment center with TV etc.

The desk corner

2008-01-14T21:29:00.000-05:00

Some people have been giving me a hard time about not updating recently. It seems harder to find obvious changes to document these days . . we have been doing more work on the nursery but we are waiting until we have the curtains up to post another picture. I also stained the deck on Saturday, but I have not taken a picture yet . . maybe tomorrow, if I am home before dark.

I don't think I have posted any shots of the office area downstairs yet though, so here you go. We expect to replace the desk at some point, but it's not a major priority. We did get new bookshelves and file cabinets (the wooden cabinets with wide drawers behind the desks) - which replace functional-but-ugly metal cabinets we had in the office. Still probably need some more storage space though.

Nursery progress

2008-01-06T15:22:00.000-05:00

We have been doing lots of work this week, but it's harder to capture progress in pictures now. The nursery is almost ready. We have all the furniture together and arranged, but we still need to do some organizing.

Tatiana was complaining about a lack of flattering pictures of her on the site, so I hope this one helps make up for that omission.

Hiking path

2007-12-30T14:21:00.001-05:00

So what's up with the names that are chosen to designate colors of paints and fabrics? The color of our new walls in the addition, "silver skates", is a blue-gray. We chose the paint for the baby's room this week, and it's called "hiking path", which is a yellowy light green. Seemed an appropriate tone to choose, at least based on the name (although in truth that was not the justification for our selection). We have the room all painted, and are in the process of cleaning the carpet today.

A cat lookout

2007-12-30T14:14:00.000-05:00

Keesha has been a bit traumatized by all the changes during the past few days. Boxes are furniture are getting moved around non-stop, it seems. She has decided, though, that she likes to sit on top of the computer, which is now located near the window that looks out over our deck. She continues to be cute and beg for food, but that's normal . . .

Outside views

2007-12-29T20:41:00.001-05:00

Some more views of the current appearance of our backyard. I used mulch to create a path to the back gate. We are working furiously on painting and cleaning carpets, plus organizing some stuff downstairs -- more pictures to come, tonight or tomorrow.

Rain Barrel

2007-12-29T18:19:00.001-05:00

We have installed a rain barrel on the back of the porch. This structure has 2 primary purposes: (1) it reduces the volume of high-speed runoff from rainstorms. In an natural environment, trees or other vegetation absorb rainfall and allow it to slowly infiltrate the soil, eventually reaching groundwater or a stream. Developed areas are rife with surfaces that are impervious to infiltration, such as roofs. The altered hydrology has several negative consequences: stream flow volumes and intensities are altered, with high flow following rain events and lower flows at other times. This high flow volume can scour stream bottoms and reduce the quality of habitat for stream invertebrates - which in turn feed the fish and birds. Runoff from impervious surfaces also causes surface erosion, and can carry with it any pollutants - such as oil - that are on that surface. Water flowing across over-fertilized suburban lawns or poorly-managed animal enclosures also carries nutrients, which fuel algal blooms in the water, which in turn deplete the oxygen in the water. So the rain barrel is meant to reduce all those problems by capturing the rain off the roof and allowing it to slowly infiltrate the soil. (2) we can also use the rainwater for our garden. Natural rainwater is better for the plants than water that has been purified for drinking - plus, it's a bit of a waste of resources to treat water to drinking standards and then use it to water plants.

You can see in the picture that our contractor also added some lattice fencing across the bottom of the deck. GHI required this modification in order to prevent raccoons and other animals from taking refuge under the deck. Turns out it improves the aesthetics - at least in my opinion.

Marmoleum

2007-12-22T23:24:00.000-05:00

So, we have decided to forgo the traditional "trimming of the tree" this year, instead opting for trimming the floors. We now have the baseboard trim in the entire downstairs essentially finished. I cut some of it earlier this week, and nailed most of it in today. Still need to do the finishing - push the nails beneath the surface and add some wood putty. But that's just cosmetic, so it might not happen for a bit.

Brian came over today and helped me lay the flooring in the entryway. It's Marmoleum tile, a type of linoleum made from linseed oil and other renewable materials.

The contractor is finished with his part of the job as well. The last item was to add some wooden lattice beneath the deck, to prevent raccoons and other animals from taking refuge close to the house. I have yet to take a picture . . will post one later, but it might be after Christmas before it happens.

Floor is nearly done!

2007-12-16T16:38:00.000-05:00

We completed a floor installation marathon yesterday. Doug, Tyson, and Sarah all joined in the fun . . fitting pieces in the tight spaces of the kitchen was the biggest challenge. We still need to install the tiles in the entryway, fill a few gaps, and replace the baseboards. Then we can move on to getting new furniture (primarily a couch, bookshelves, and dining table) and working on the baby's room! Things are still a bit in dis-arry in these pictures, but they should capture a sense of what the floor looks like. Painting is almost finished too, except parts of the kitchen.

Floors again

2007-12-11T21:49:00.001-05:00

Next installment - I have used about 1/3 of the wood now . . .

Floor Status

2007-12-09T22:31:00.001-05:00

Here is what it looks like now . . .

Bowling alley??

2007-12-08T22:35:00.001-05:00

Nathaniel helped me work out the logistics of laying our bamboo floor this evening. We have approximately 1/9 of the job completed. It sort of reminds me of a lane at a bowling alley - a long, narrow strip of new flooring along the outer wall of the addition.

We are installing bamboo "floating" floor from Ikea. It looks pretty good so far. There are 31 more boxes waiting . . . the 35 boxes of flooring, plus 6 boxes of underlayment, filled the entire back of the car with no room to spare. Fortunately the car survived the trip home.

Plywood party

2007-12-08T22:26:00.000-05:00

Brian and Nathanial helped me install a layer of plywood in the addition today. We needed to raise the level of the floor, so that it would be the same hight as the floor in the old part of the house. We put down a layer of pink rosin paper, and then screwed down the plywood.

The contractor is pretty much done with his work at the house. He finished up some loose ends this week. Now we need to finish the floor and the painting before we can move on to baby's room . .

Redeeming lost space

2007-11-27T19:27:00.001-05:00

Some of you asked about the space between the cabinets that could be seen on some of our earlier photos. The planned cabinet could not be installed there in the normal fashion, because a header, which supports the house, is in the way. So they cut a corner out of the cabinet and mounted it into the space. It actually looks better than we expected; we anticipate using it for storing cookbooks and maybe some decorative items.

The new dishwasher

2007-11-27T19:10:00.001-05:00

Not much to say - but this is what it looks like, installed and ready to go.

Energy Star

2007-11-26T22:50:00.001-05:00

We got the new stove and dishwasher installed today. Actually the stove is not energy star - EPA does not rank stoves, I think because their is not much variation in their energy use. The dishwasher, however, is a very energy efficient model from Bosch (not the Anonymous one . . ). I think the black looks pretty good too.

Forestry Stewardship Council

2007-11-24T22:53:00.000-05:00

At least some of the wood used in our addition came is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. I was reminded of this when we removed the new baseboards from the addition walls in order to paint yesterday. Home Depot, among other suppliers, sells wood certified by FSC. What does this mean? Wood certified by FSC comes from sustainably-managed and harvested forests, where management seeks to reduce erosion and maintain wildlife habitat (which is often sub-optimal in plantation-style monoculture forests). You can read about it at http://www.fscus.org/.

A blurb from their website: "FSC promotes responsible forest management . . . encouraging the development of national and regional forest management standards, and by providing public education and information about independent, third-party certification as a tool for ensuring that the world's forests are protected for future generations. There are currently more than 23 million acres of FSC-certified forestland in the U.S. and more than 225 million acres globally."

Paint on the walls

2007-11-24T22:23:00.000-05:00

We painted most of the addition today. Covered the walls with 2 coats of the gray/blue, and the ceiling in white. Started on one of the walls in the original living room too. We will need to do the kitchen and the ceiling and entry way in the old part of the house as well, but the contractors need to finish some drywall work first.

Painted into a corner

2007-11-23T23:05:00.001-05:00

OK, we are not really having too much trouble with the painting so far. I put a coat of white on the ceiling in the addition and on some of the walls. We hope to start on the wall paint ("silver skates") tomorrow. Check out the fabulous taping job done by Tatiana . . . we are hoping we won't need to use the back door for a couple of days. The cat was not happy that she can't see out as well with the plastic obscuring the view - she was pawing at it and giving us a sad look.

The kitchen returns

2007-11-23T23:01:00.000-05:00

We stopped by the Milazzo's today to get some of our kitchen stuff, and began unpacking boxes in the kitchen. It's been fun to figure out where everything should go - and great to have lots of space!

Old stuff

2007-11-22T12:50:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of our old sink and countertop, waiting to be carted off. I overheard the contractor mention to one of the workers that he planned to recycle it, which made me happy. One of the largest sources of trash in landfills is construction debris . . . lots of potentially valuable material is deposited in landfills, while we spend energy and money on growing and mining "virgin" materials. We need to make a better effort to "close the loop", particularly on non-renewable materials. There won't be any more copper, iron, or oil -- all that exists is already present on the earth. (OK, end of sermon - I couldn't resist. I am an Environmental Science teacher after all).

Autumn at Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T12:45:00.001-05:00

We are experiencing the latest "fall" that I have ever seen this year. The trees started to turn a couple of weeks ago, and have been at peak for the past week. Hard to say if this unusual pattern is a product of climate change, the drought we experienced this year, or a combination . . but we are at least 2 weeks behind normal, probably more. The view from our back deck is really nice though, so I am enjoying it!

Staples and paint

2007-11-22T12:38:00.001-05:00

I had the day off yesterday, and spent most of it working on the addition. Brian came over and helped me rip out the old flooring in the entryway, and we also worked on pulling staples out of the floor. There were hundreds of staples - I continued working on it throughout the day, and I now have most of them either pulled out or pounded down.

I also made a trip to Amicus Green Design, where I got some paint. We are using "no-VOC" paint from American Pride. This paint has no volatile organic carbons, which means it is less likely than regular paint to be a source of indoor air pollution. I picked up a 5-gallon bucket of white for the ceiling and some other area, plus some of the "silver skates" gray/blue that we had selected for the walls in the addition. The picture is of the sample that we painted out - does not look like much on the picture so you will need to just come over and see it after we are done! We are hoping to paint this weekend . .

More counters

2007-11-20T20:47:00.000-05:00

Got the rest of the counters in today. Lots of gray, but we think they look pretty good. Our new sink is nice and deep too . . could even work as a baby bathtub!!

A long expanse of gray

2007-11-20T13:52:00.000-05:00

This is the rest of the counter, laying on the floor and ready to be installed. As I write this, it has probably been installed already - the

sink and faucet were in the house last night as well.

Countertop

2007-11-20T13:50:00.000-05:00

They starting installing the countertop yesterday. It's a gray laminate. Looks pretty good . . and will hopefully look better with the black appliance that we ordered yesterday (actually just the stove and dishwasher - we are keeping the fridge for now because it's less than 2 years old.)

Nails and staples

2007-11-18T22:52:00.000-05:00

Not much happened during the past week because the contractor was on vacation. We did have time to remove the old floor in the former living room area. We took out carpet and a layer of thin wood, leaving an original hardwood floor with LOTS of staples and nails in it.

Microwaves and cabinet doors

2007-11-09T18:03:00.001-05:00

We had some adventures tracking down a microwave this week. We had been planning not to get one for over the stove, but when we had to re-do the design because of the load-bearing wall locations, it turned out we had more space available. They installed the microwave today. They also put in a few more base cabinets and the doors on some others. All that remains is the countertop and sink, plus an odd spot where the header interferes with the natural placement of the cabinet. Not sure what we will end up with there. You can see the spot on the first picture - above the coffee maker.