What we've been up to...

To celebrate Anatoly's Birthday, we visited the San Juan Islands where we camped, cycled around San Juan and Orcas Islands, hiked Mount Constitution, and enjoyed our first taste of sea kayaking in the calm waters of Henry and Jones Islands.

After taking sea kayaking classes, we planned our first kayak camping trip together. We ventured on a three day tour where each day we paddled off the coast of a different state (Assateague Island, MD, Cedar Island, VA, Cape Henlopen, DE).

We rented a catamaran fully loaded with camping gear and sea kayaking equipment and took it into the back country keys where we got up close and personal with nurse sharks, black tip sharks, bonnet head sharks, stingrays, barracuda, lobster, shrimp, mating horse shoe crabs and Portuguese man-o-war jellyfish. The Keys were rich with life!

On the first day a guide introduced us to the neighbors. He spotted box fish, a beautiful tropical fish that hangs out in shallow water under the mangroves. 15 minutes later he spotted a 3 foot brown nurse shark sunbathing in the shallows. He had us surround her with our kayaks. Then he stepped down into the water, quietly approached the shark from behind. In a blink, he grabbed her by the tail and pulled her out of the water, holding her up with his other hand behind her neck. It was amazing. We all had an opportunity to stroke her back and fin. Every few minutes he spotted something exciting and showed us how to spot them ourselves.

We used the catamaran as a taxi to transport us between the keys and as a campsite where we ate and slept under the stars and discovered new constellations. Dolphins found us and surfed off our bow as we cruised. We also spotted huge 4 foot long sea turtles. The Keys themselves were gorgeous. It was 360 vibrant degrees of water meets sky with a blush of water meets island meets sky.

This was the trip of reassessment. Originally planned as a point to point trip, we intended to begin by paddling across the Florida Bay from Key Largo to the bottom of the Everglades. We would then paddle up the coast to Ten Thousand Islands but, alas, nature conspired against us!

Each day brought us new challenges. Our initial launch was hijacked by wind and waves forcing us to regroup and find a new launching point the next day. Our encore launch brought greater progress but the evening met us with clouds of no-see-ums. Due to the unusually mild winter, we discovered we would be sharing our trip with the local bugs. Getting around them, meant waiting until the sun was up before emerging from the tent and escaping back in before sun down. The shorter paddling days coupled with the never ending winds that blew against us regardless of our direction prevented us from reaching our original destination. Instead we took our time exploring the local wildlife and looping back to where we launched.

The days were gorgeous. We paddled along side nurse sharks, dolphins, and crocodiles. One day, at slack tide, we entered a channel to investigate a lake. Just a few yards away, a dolphin swam with us the whole way through the channel. She played as she swam, diving, spinning, and tumbling like a ribbon in the current. On the way out of the lake, a crocodile swam up between us and slowly escorted us out.

Island hopping in Maine! Our target was the area from Mt. Desert Island down to Isle Au Haut. We launched from Deer Island and started in the direction of Isle au Haut. Then we made our way around to the surrounding islands. There were lots of 'come as you are' camping island choices there. We designed our route to give us the ability to do a circle through some of the sites in this area without doubling back on ourselves in the loop. We were also never more than a long day's paddle back to the put-in in case we got layed up with 'The Perfect Storm' during our visit and had to hole up on one spot for the whole trip. Speaking of which... on our visit to the Isle Au Haut general store, we ran into Linda Greenlaw, the only female ever to captain a swordfishing boat. She is also a bestselling author, and the inspiration for George Clooney's love interest in the 'Perfect Storm'.

We got about 6 inches of snowfall so we bundled up, grabbed our snow tubes and trekked over to the local elementary school to show the kids how sledding really works. When we got there we found a nice little patch of hill and started building a ramp at the base of it. At first, nobody paid much attention to us but as we scooped, dumped and packed and our little pile of snow started forming into a nice big handsome ramp, we started getting some curiosity. One kid eagerly started helping us finish it and volunteered to do the honors of testing it out, just to make sure it worked. So when we were done, we looked up to find a line had formed to try out our ramp. We all got to catch quite a bit of air.

For Cyndi's Birthday, we travelled into the mountains of West Virginia. It was our first time cross country skiing and we discovered a newfound love for it. We also fell in love with the yummy fresh made veggie chili served at the Whitegrass Lodge!

Four of us set off from Georgetown in Washington DC, on a six day journey to reach the mouth of the Potomac River. Instead of doing this trip in a car, which takes only a couple of hours, we chose to do it in our kayaks.

When we started out the river was deeply imprinted by the hand of man but as we travelled further south, civilization fell to the way side and nature started taking over and then it was really pretty.

As we continued down, the water texture got more interesting too. The river widened and gained a longer fetch (when the wind blows the water) creating more waves. We paddled through exciting wind storms and, as we got closer to the Bay, the water got saltier, the tides more noticable, and the waves even larger.

We camped overnight and paddled along the cliffs below Westmoreland Park, Southeast of Fredericksburg, VA. The second day we ventured down a quiet stream full of intriguing twists and turns.

For Barbara's Birthday, we planned a camping trip in the Shenandoah National Park. We enjoyed a couple of great hikes, some excellent food in camp, and some relaxing entertainment around the campfire.

We spent the weekend hiking Old Rag and the hill behind the PATC Meadows Cabin. It was in belated celebration of Dave's birthday in early November.

With Christmas comes the opportunity to spend time with old friends. This is an especially favorite hike for the dogs. We tramped through the woods all the way up to the Falls.

On a beautiful day in the middle of winter, we decided to do a 'Crazy' paddle trip out to Thomas Point Lighthouse.

To celebrate Cyndi's Birthday, we returned to Canaan Valley for a long weekend of snow romping. We skied downhill and cross country and enjoyed toasty fires and the hot tub back at the cabin.