Virginia Beach

Even though this has been one of the hottest springs on record, we managed to plan our visit to Virginia Beach at a time when a large cold front had taken over the area. Now I'm not one to get chilled easily, but this was just miserable!

Virginia Beach has a great, wide boardwalk perfect for walking along the beach or skating. There's also a bike lane to the left. Don't worry about bringing your bike with you; there are plenty of places that will rent them to you.

We stayed at the quiet end of the beach, close to Rudee inlet. This shows the view towards the more popular end of the beach. As you can tell it was very quiet.

I know it looks nice and sunny in the picture above, but the sun was only out maybe 10% of the time. It was so cold that I spent all day huddled in my chair, wearing my hat, my polartec, my pants, my shoes and my towel ... and still I felt cold.

We went for a quick walk and got to see a rescue. Thankfully it wasn't very exciting; a girl in a string bikini (no joke) and her boyfriend decided to paddle out even though they seemed to have absolutely no surfing experience. The waves kept pushing them towards the jetty, so they ended up having to exit the water that way ... not a good situation because the waves could've smacked them against it just as well. Anyway, the lifeguard came running just as they managed to climb onto the rocks, then two beach partrol vehicles showed up for back up. The end.

The next day really wasn't any better ... in fact, it was worse! There was no sun at all and where the day before the wind had been strong, today it was a fierce, biting, cold wind that seemed to come straight from the North Pole. Any skin left exposed was tingling from the sand getting whipped up by the wind, it was almost like a cheap form of accupuncture.

Sitting in my chair was pure misery (the chair probably rattled with the force of my shivering haha) and so I put my blanket down on the sand to try to keep out of the wind. Blessedly I fell asleep, only to wake up with sand in places there shouldn't be sand and of course still feeling wretched with cold.

Shocking amount of sand on my towel right after I got up.

Fortunately, the place we were staying at had a hot tub and a steam room. I don't usually enjoy them much, but I absolutely loved them that time. The one hot tub faces a large window from which you can see the beach so I had a great time watching all the surfers brave the monstrous waves in their wetsuits.

That evening the wind died down and even the sun came out so we went for a nice little walk on the beach.
















Seagulls in a tide pool.

















The waves were very forceful. See the person standing on the left? Not a good idea ... we saw quite a few people get knocked over. Luckily there was no undercurrent, but hitting the sand that hard can do some serious damage in and of itself.

Quite an intimidating sight!

Virginia Beach is one of the widest beaches in the area, but beach erosion is a serious problem here. They actually use pipelines to pump sand onto the beach to keep it from eroding. This picture shows how the waves 'pull' sand away from the shore.

At least somebody was enjoying the weather; the surfers had some fantastic runs!

Rudee Inlet. A popular place with the local anglers.

I could not resist climbing onto the lifeguard station after they'd left for the day. What a nice view from up there! Not very comfortable though ... I don't know how they do it, especially on hot summer days when the temperature hits triple digits and the beach is swarming with people. That's a lot of responsibility ...

The tide is coming in. Such a nice way to end our little trip.

No profanity, please!


Trip summary:

Rating: 8/10  (no points subtracted for the weather)
Distance: 210 mi
Time spent: 2 days
Entrance fees: free
More information: http://www.vbfun.com/

Rockburn Branch Park

Regional parks can be a dime a dozen. Imagine our surprise when we arrive at Rockburn Branch Park and find the parking lot packed. Not a spot to be found! We end up parking in the overflow field next to the lot.

Nice stream. Looks like any other park, right?

Yes, it offers fantastic athletic fields and play ground, but so do many other parks.

There are bunnies! And squirrels ... and probably lots of other critters, but that's not why people flock to this park.

Nope. People come to play disc golf!

You're probably wondering what 'disc golf' is ... I know we were! Basically, it's golf, except instead of clubs and golf balls they use frisbees. The park is home to an 18 hole disc golf course that's a favorite with locals. Some show up with just one frisbee in hand, but the great majority lugs around big bags full of frisbees for different distances. They take this stuff VERY seriously! Maybe we'll go back and bring a (yes, just one) frisbee sometime.

The trails are okay, but you have to keep an eye out for errant frisbees and we found several ticks on our clothes. Yuck! Probably would not recommend this park for hiking/biking unless you want to play disc golf, or use their other facilities (sport fields, play ground, etc).

Nice old house by the parking lot. We noticed it was near one of the holes on the disc golf course ... and that many of the windows were either broken or boarded up. Coincidence? Hmm ...

Trip summary:

Rating: 6/10
Distance: 35 mi
Time spent: 1.5 hours
Entrance fees: free
More information: http://www.co.ho.md.us/RAP/RAP_HoCoParksRockburn.htm

Black Eyed Susan Day at Pimlico

Although it's location in the middle of one of Baltimore's shadier neighborhoods is far from ideal, Pimlico remains one of Maryland's premier race tracks. Unfortunately, its future hangs in the balance as the debate over slots continues. With dwindling purses Maryland's thoroughbred industry has slown down significantly and many breeders are moving their horses out of state. Gamblers too have moved to nearby tracks in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where they can play the slots in addition to betting on the ponies.

Gallery of past Preakness winners.

The Preakness is the second leg of thoroughbred racing's triple crown and the most important date on Pimlico's yearly racing calender. I've never had a chance to go, but I love going to the festivities leading up to the Preakness, whether it be Sunrise at old hill top, or the Black Eyed Susan stakes.

All the pony riders (= people who lead the race horses) were decked out in pink in support of breast cancer research.

Pony rider in action during the post parade.

This year there was a special race on the card, called the Lady Legends for the Cure. It featured female racing legends from the early days of women's thoroughbred racing. Ranging in age anywhere from 43 to 60 years old, these retired jockeys returned to the track to try their luck once more.

Here they come:

I must say it was a little bit nerve wrecking to watch, but you have to love these gutsy women! I thought they would make them "race" quiet, retired race horses, but these were all young thoroughbreds currently racing. Amazing! They made it look as if they'd never stopped racing.

It was great seeing the smiles on their faces after they dismounted, and I heard several of them say they wanted to go again haha. For those interested, the entire race was filmed as part of a documentary about the first generation of female jockeys, called Jock. Can't wait to see it!

Trip summary:

Rating: 7.5/10
Distance: 45 mi
Time spent: 5 hours
Entrance fees: $3 for general admission. Assigned seats available also.
More information: http://preakness.com/

Centennial Lake

Centennial Lake is a pretty cool park. It has a little bit of everything; lots of different sports fields, miles of paved pathways, a beautiful large lake, and tons of pretty birds!

A great blue heron stands perfectly still at the edge of the lake.

It's caught a fish! I don't think the fish ever saw it coming ... it moved so fast.

Stone jetty by the boat(?) launching area. We didn't see any boats on the water, but in the summer they rent out paddle boats and canoos.

Canada goose. Although they're called Canada goose, they live in this area almost year round.

Baby geese! They're so fuzzy when they're little :)

View across the lake

Even though the lake is the main attraction, the woods are nice too. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of trails that really go through the woods.

A doe hiding in the shrubs. She was standing right next to the path, but still I almost missed her. We watched each other for a while, then she turned around and walked back in the woods.

I loved this beautiful red bridge!

A turtle swimming under the bridge. When the suns out you'll often see them sunbathing on rocks and logs sticking out of the water.

Lillies in the wildlife area of the lake; its roped off and the path is further away from the water to provide the animals with a quiet place.

It was overcast the entire time we were there, but it was still a nice trip.

Trip summary:

Rating: 7/10
Distance: 30 mi
Time spent: 2.5 hours
Entrance fees: free
More information: http://www.co.ho.md.us/rap/rap_hocoparkscentennial.htm

Northview Stallion Station

This time not a trip for the general public, but a visit to Northview Stallion Station, one of Maryland's premier thoroughbred racing facilities.

Our first stop is the breeding barn.

We were lucky enough to watch two mares getting bred. The one above was bred toTwo Punch. Before the mating takes place the mares tail is wrapped and a teaser stallion is brought in to get the mare in the mood. Poor bugger doesn't ever get to do anything. What a job!

I'll spare you the pictures of the actual thing, but here's the second stallion Great Notion catching the scent of his mare.

The stallion barn.

Here's Not For Love, the best stallion standing outside of Kentucky for the past seven years. He was actually pretty mellow and let us pet his nose.

Time to go see the babies!!

The impregnation is over in minutes and most people take their mares back home for the duration of the pregnancy, but some mares are boarded at Northview.

Lots of babies!

Time for a nap!

The newest addition to the farm. What a cute little foal!

They talked to us for a while about Maryland's ban on slots at tracks and how it has affected them and the horse racing industry in Maryland. I already knew it was bad news for the horse industry here, but never realized how bad it really is. Hopefully, slots will get legalized in the future!


Trip summary:
Rating: 8/10
Distance: 98 mi
Time spent: 2.5 hrs
More information: http://www.northviewstallions.com/

Runamuck DC

What, you ask, is a runamuck?

Basically, it's like any other running competition, except there's mud ... and lots of it too! And obstacles; barricades to climb over, ropes to crawl under, a climbing wall to scale, and then some. It's a 5km run up the hill, down the hill, through the shallow sections of the lake, all while dodging low branches and scrambling over exposed tree roots.

I thougth about scratching from the race, because my knee had kept me from training. I also worried about reinjuring my knee, but in the end I couldn't resist and so with my knee covered with gauze and plastic I decided to make a go for it.

The fun started at the metro station. To allow emergency vehicles access to the park, they rerouted all traffic, forcing people to take the metro. Imagine my surprise when a bunch of big, yellow schoolbuses showed up to take us to the park! I've always wanted to ride on a schoolbus ...

View from inside the bus. It was noise and bumpy, but something you have to experience at least once.

The setting for this year's Runamuck was the beautiful Lake Needwood section of Rock Creek Regional Park.

Off we go!

This lovely mess is waiting at the finish line ... no way to finish unless you crawl through it.

The crowd goes wild when someone's going through the mud.

Somehow I managed to run the entire thing without stopping. It took me 7 minutes longer than the last time I ran a 5k, but that was 2 years ago after months of practice and on city streets without obstacles. Not bad all things considered! My (light blue in case you can't tell) top didn't survive the ordeal. I'm considering keeping my shoes for next year, but that's all they're good for.

Did I mention there's also a costumed division?!? That'll be me next year!

Trip summary:

Rating: 9/10

Distance: 16 mi

Time spent: 5 hours

Entrance fees: $40 to run; free to watch

More information: http://www.runamuckfestival.com/

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