Scott’s wedding

Almost 18 months after Beth’s wedding Scott picked 9/10/11 to get married. How you can get married on 9/10/11 and not do it at noon or midnight I have no idea. Thinking about it now if it was me I’d have the reception first and then have the ceremony at midnight with whoever is still around.

The wedding was at the Tides Inn in the northern neck of Virginia. I’ve never been in the northern neck before but have heard about it from boaters and locals. Basically that is the slice of Virginia that extends towards the Bay from I-95 with the Potomac River on the north and the Rappahannock River on the south. I was sharing a room with Beth and Matt. They wanted to room up with me at a place a fraction of the price a few miles away but after all kinds of finagling we ended up staying together at the Tides Inn. Scott, Jen, and my parents arrived on Thursday I believe. The rest of the family all showed up before the rehearsal on Friday. Robert and his crew got about a 30 minute head start and arrived about an hour before I because traffic got progressively worse. I-95 between DC and Richmond is the worst. Especially on a Friday or Sunday. After talking to my Dad on the phone from the road everyone at the rehearsal thought I was stuck in traffic all day. Once I got off I-95 it was my kind of ride on rural highways. I picked up some beer on the way assuming that there would be some point during the weekend where alcoholic beverages would be in need. Of course that came to be true.

The Tides Inn was quite the little resort. They had a marina with boats, a sailing school that was unfortunately closed during this weekend, a beach, a pool, a spa, nine holes of golf, bikes, and the nicest staff. I pulled in and caught up with Beth and Matt. After getting settled I met Mom and some other family in the lobby. As my father and his brother get older they look more and more alike. We did the rehearsal. The weather was perfect after tons of rain the last couple of weeks. I get to make the initial entry in to the ceremony escorting Jen’s grandmother. After being the videographer at Beth’s wedding I got the job again at Scott’s wedding. So after walking down Jen’s grandmother I taped the rehearsal and tried to pick out good points of view that complimented Robert and Tiffany’s video camera.

Before dinner Matt, Beth, Robert, and I hit Walmart to load up on beer. We each got a 12 pack. This turned out to be a smart move later in the night. The rehearsal dinner was more time to catch up with extended family and friends of Scott and Jen’s that I don’t normally see. It was nice to hang out with Mike and Steve from Pburg. It was a buffet dinner. I sat with my parents, Beth, Matt, and others but hard to remember after hanging out and talking to so many people throughout the weekend. I do remember they had some fat slabs of beef for the rehearsal dinner. Afterwards all the youngin’s (or young livin’ folk) ended up at the bridal suite partying it up all night long. This is where the beer run earlier paid out because our beer was the only beer everyone at the wedding had to drink that night. Luckily we loaded up. We were happy to share to keep the party going and let everyone have a good time. After carrying my big cooler over I ran back out to grab my stereo to provide tunes for the party (does anyone else not think of these essentials?). While running up the brick steps in the dark I slammed my foot in to the steps and broke my big toenail. Nothing a few drinks couldn’t solve. We had a decent late night party. Cousins Beverly and Adam hung out with us after showing up a little late.

The guys went golfing around 9:30 the next morning. I was passed out in bed at 9:30 in the morning. Beth got up a little later and started helping out with the wedding set up. Lots of nautical themed items to place around. I eventually got up and presented myself around 11:00. After wondering around the grounds and asking people who worked there I still couldn’t find the dinner location where everyone was setting up so I had to call Robert to lead me. My Dad, Phil, and I decided to eat lunch at the place. I wonder if my brother and I will look so similar in 25 years? Robert was trying to get us to start the afternoon activities and after all kinds of meandering around the pool we eventually took out some boats. We took off in two kayaks and a little motor boat. Robert and I explored the coves around the property. Afterwards Steven and I (UK Steve not Sponseller) took off on a bike ride to the boat yard which was close by. The yard was pretty much full of sailboats that were stored out of the water which we thought was odd for this time of year. Maybe people pulled early with Irene coming in. After the bike ride I had less than enough time to make another beer run. I barely made the 4:00 meeting time for pictures. It wasn’t the worst experience I’ve ever had but by the end I was quite warm in my suit. I had to run back to the room and clean up before the 5:15 wedding meeting time.

Because of traffic or a number of other reasons people were showing up right until the last minute. Again the weather was perfect after a forecast of some rain. The band were two of Scott and Jen’s friends playing keyboard and acoustic guitar. They were quite good. I didn’t hurt that they played music I enjoyed. I heard some Grateful Dead and other classic tunes. They learned to play the wedding song the previous day. The ceremony started pretty much on time. I opened the show so of course all eyes were initially on Jen’s grandmother and I. After seating her I picked up my stashed video camera and attempted to capture the live event. It is not easy to capture a live event without much rehearsal. I remember I kicked the camera stand at one point while trying to change locations. I did get Adam knocking over the aisle lantern and taking 10 minutes to pick it back up. The ringing of the bell was a bit awkward for the parents and new couple. Scott and Jen’s ring was the worst. Another classic shot I enjoyed taking was the family getting up from the front rows and exiting after the new couple. Matt had a drink in his hand. It reminded me of Scott drinking during the rehearsal. I like a relaxed wedding.

We took more pictures while everyone else hung out on the patio and had cocktails and snacks. I took video as well. Mostly of the youngin’s playing on the croquet field. It was quite the setting. During this time and all the others when there was an open or cash bar I was either handed beers or I grabbed them out of my cooler in the trunk of my car. I’d have to say I was a rather cheap quest at the bar that weekend.

At first I thought the dinner set up was odd as it seemed to be separated between different rooms but then as the sun went down I saw that we all had a wonderful view of the sun setting over the river. The courses seemed to take their time but dinner was good. Eating a little over a long period of time suits me well so no complaints. The cake was nice with the wedding couple in a small sail boat on top. Afterwards they had the typical DJ. It is as if all these guys had the exact same training and play the exact same playlist. A big topic of conversation was when I was getting married and my three year plan. It is anyone’s guess when that will happen. I promise that I will not have a typical wedding DJ at my wedding. I am very much a music person and there is nothing worse than the party being killed by some crappy song. A crappy song played LOUDLY. It completely turns me off. I’m planning on a live band at my wedding and I’m leaning towards a full latin ensemble. I went to a wedding with a Guatemalan bride and the latin band closed out the reception with only about a dozen of us guests long after the wedding party left and only after an encore. That is how my reception will end. We did get down to a few good songs. Everyone remembered James Brown the next day. And most of us remembered Tiffany doing the Jersey Turnpike. The Tides Inn staff and I literally were rolling on the floor laughing. She was thumpin’ it perfectly.

After a few bad songs I solicited Scott for after-hour plans. I was ready to ditch the reception and relax in a setting where friends could converse and good music was in the background. It was close to the DJ ending so Scott gave us the key and after a stop for supplies we eventually met back up with Scott at the suite. Not as many people showed up as the previous night. The party didn’t rage too hard or late.

I was told to be at brunch between 9:30 and 10:00 the next day. I was there close to 9:30 but not too conscious. I sat with the wedding party and friends. It was the final time to see the extended family and others I don’t normally run in to. There were lots of kids and they were entertainment during many of the events throughout the weekend. After packing up and checking out my parents and I had lunch at the local cafe. As we left the wind was pushing the rain on top of us even though the clouds weren’t directly above us. The weather held out for the whole weekend. I enjoyed taking the Maryland route home and saw some flooding damage.

the waterfront and Brasserie Beck

Saturday was yet another perfect day in DC. Yet another day to be out and about. Judy and I met up down at the riverfront for a bit of canoeing. Lots of people were out in motorboats and kayaking. We made a loop around the Theodore Roosevelt Island. The wildlife included two blue herrings and some ducks. Not a bad little paddle.

We had reservations at Brasserie Beck, a nice Belgian/French place, at 9:30 so we had some time to kill. Being in Georgetown my perfect idea to kill time is to have some fine brews at Pizzeria Paradiso. The downstairs bar was full and it took quite a long time to get a beer. After a La Chouffe we had a Three Floyds Blackheart. It wasn’t on the menu but after ordering a Three Floyds Apocalypse Cow that they didn’t have the bar tender suggested it. I had yet to have any beer from Three Floyds and they have been on my list for a bit. They have quite the reputation. The Blackheart is an English style IPA released once a year in May. I was quite happy with it.

Then on to dinner. Neither Judy or I have been to Brasserie Beck. It is supposed to be some damn good food with a nice Belgian beer selection. We weren’t disappointed. The gruyere and mushroom crepe appetizer was very good. Judy had the pork tenderloin with confit of cabbage and mustard sauce. I had the choucroute "en croûte" which was a pastry with a few kinds of pork inside. Mine was pretty good but Judy’s tenderloin was most excellent. We were talking about that dish all night long. We’ll definitely be back.

kayaking, fishing, and hiking in the Hiawatha NF

I took a week off before the long Labor Day weekend for a trip up north for some kayaking, fishing, and hiking with the ol' high school crew. A few of us did the Au Sable River two years ago. We were up in the UP of Michigan this time in the Hiawatha National Forest. The first three days we spent in the Big Island Lake Wilderness at a sweet island campsite among some secluded lakes. Then five of the eight of us did a two day kayaking trip on the Indian River. We all met back up after that for a relaxing day at another campsite on another lake.

We packed up the kayaks and our gear and left Ohio at 11pm on Sunday the 30th. We arrived at Big Island Lake Wilderness at about 6:30am Monday a few minutes before sunrise. Most perfect timing. We unloaded our gear, hauled our stuff down the small trail to Big Island Lake, and were welcomed with the most perfect scene shown in the pic above. The plan was to camp on the island on Big Island Lake. Big Island Lake, incidentally, ain't so big. It wasn't tiny, we were in smaller lakes, but being not far from two of the largest lakes in the world this one wasn't so big. It was pretty cool though. Wilderness areas are designated by congress and have tight restrictions to prevent any impact to the natural habitat. For example, no motorized equipment or vehicles are allowed. In fact you are not even allowed to use some mechanical equipment such as the wheel! When firefighters have to fight fire in wilderness areas they have to hike in many many miles and use cross cut saws to create fire lines. The areas are not so remote and large in the east but they are extremely remote out west. Groups can not visit wilderness areas in parties larger than ten and you can't have more than six people at a campsite. Somehow we ended up with eight for two nights.

We were happy to find the campsite on the small island free and quickly established ourselves. It was quite the cool site. Nothing special in terms of facilities, its a wilderness site, but it was a sweet location. The only facilities were a fire ring and an outhouse without a house. If you haven't sat on a toilet isolated in the middle of the woods completely out in the open then you have not enjoyed all that nature has to offer. This was literally a toilet seat in the middle of the woods over a hole with no cover. You sat in the open with your pants down enjoying the wilderness around you. Nothing like a red-cockaded woodpecker doing its thing 20 feet away while you do your thing. We relaxed, napped, and did a bit of fishing that first day after the long drive. At dusk Adam claimed to have hooked a 30 - 40 inch pike, I have a video of him with it on the line, but he failed to bring it up.

On Tuesday we did some fishing and explored the lakes around us. Big Island Wilderness is basically a series of small lakes with portages in between. Some short and some long. After dropping a line for a bit in Big Island Lake Adam, Brett, Matt, Tony and I went on a little excursion to the neighboring lakes. After a short portage we were in Mid Lake. This was a murky lake compared to the clear water of the others. We quickly made another short portage to Townline Lake. Townline Lake was decent size and we explored it a bit later but we were on a mission to go further. The maps don't show it but Townline Lake actually connects to Upper Lake so no portage was necessary there. We hung out in Upper Lake for awhile and explored some small hidden coves. On one side was a small cove that a den of beavers were attempting to dam up. This was no stream or river. This is a freakin' lake. But the beavers didn't care they were going to dam it up anyway. It appeared this cove would have merged in to a marsh land but the beavers had a little barrier up. This had to be over 100 feet wide and they only had about one layer of the dam established but that was enough. It was just a few inches high but it might have done the job and gave them a place to habitat. I've seen some absolutely amazing work done by beavers in my day. I saw a series of dams on a small little stream while at school in SE Ohio and holy crap was that a feat of nature. These guys had created huge ponds with dams 18 feet high stopping what was at the beginning of the year a very small stream. How they held that much water and weight with sticks is beyond me. And they did it about a half dozen times on this stream I saw back in the day. On this occasion in Upper Lake I got to see a bit about how they build since it was only a few inches high. Other than logs, which were cut down everywhere, they used mud, moss, and rocks. The moss and mud was of course used as mortar but they also placed rocks every foot or so. It was interesting.

After hanging out in this little cove created by the 3 inch beaver damn we paddled over to another cove and found a two foot opening to a small pond. The water level must have been high for the year or something because this pond, just like the water between Townline Lake and Upper Lake, was not on any map. There were dead tree trucks everywhere coming out of the pond. Lilly pads covered the area. Matt and I got out to check out the land and found a series of beaver paths. Humans didn't use these paths; it was beavers only. You could see branches and shrubs undisturbed that were just 3' over the path. And at one point was some downed logs over the path that were covered with claw marks from beavers running over them. Cruising out of this area we ran in to a turtle that was moulting or something. The scales on his shell were peeling and for some odd reason he was balancing on a log on his "chest" with his hind legs stretched out in the air. He was obviously in a precarious position as he wouldn't move as I paddled right up to him.

Other than beavers and turtles we say tons of frogs, a few bald eagles, and a few hundred daddy-long-legs. I'd wake up in the morning with about 10 on the outside of my tent. If you put any gear down on the ground you would pick it up with a daddy-long-leg on board. I only saw one bald eagle but there were quite a few sightings during the trip. Woodpeckers were heard often. And they were slow meticulous woodpeckers, not the machine-gun type pecking I've heard in the past. We didn't see any evidence of bears. Evidence of beavers were everywhere but I didn't actually see any. I think we heard them while hanging out near their dammed cove. And unfortunately no trophy fish were pulled out of the water. I was looking forward to some fresh flesh but everything that was caught was under the rather large size limit.

After we explored Upper Lake we checked out Townline Lake a bit. Townline Lake was a bit larger than the others. The campsite on the lake were rather nice. We debated moving camp that night to this new spot. Being at least three portages away from any road the lake was quite secluded. I ended up catching about six bluegill in Townline Lake in a short period of time and that was all the fish I caught that week. The other more experienced fisherpeople didn't do much better even though this was supposed to be excellent fishing waters. Apparently there were some huge fish but not so easy to catch.

Also on Tuesday we ran in to a Forest Service volunteer who was out in the wilderness and asked to give us a visitor survey. We answered questions such as where we were from, what our goals were in the forest, and if we were meeting our goals. Of course he was recording this on all paper. I spend over 40 hours a week trying to equip these guys with mobile devices so they don't have to record data on paper and require some lackey after the season is over to enter hundreds of surveys in to a computer. This causes all kinds of data issues such as errors from misread hand writing, lack of real-time data, data not being entered due to lack of resources, and all the time it takes to do duplicate data entry. I was going to talk to him about his technical requirements but he was a bit too friendly and took too much of our time already.

On Wednesday the same group of us that explored the lakes the previous day drove down to another lake for some more exploration. Ned's Lake was only a mile or so drive away with a bit of a portage. We hung out for the day and Adam I and did some fishing. At the end of the afternoon it was back to our campsite on the island at Big Island Lake. It turned out that it was Brett's birthday and much alcohol was consumed that night. Well actually much alcohol was consumed every day and night. On occasion we had to make a run to the small little general store in the area. One of the guys working there had all of about 10 teeth. As much as we thought of ourselves as hard-core campers it was nice to resupply with beer and ice. Oh yeah... water was important too. One of our two purifiers broke.

On Thursday Adam, Brett, Matt, Tony and I took off for a two day river run. We tackled 10 miles of the Indian River the first day in a little over five hours. It was quite the challenging river. About every 100 feet there were a series of downed trees. This required you to move from one side of the river to the other and then back to the other. This had to be accomplished before the current pushed you in to the downed logs which would clothesline you in the water. No beginners allowed here. Other than dodging tree trunks we also had to negotiate narrow paths through cut logs and paddle over logs that were at water level. There was only one rapid run which was easy but had high water so most of us got a bit wet. The end of our 10 miles was right at the Indian River campsite and we stayed there for the night.

The next day we did about 7.5 miles. The first third was again very challenging, then it got a bit normal, and then opened up a bit with less woods and more open marsh. Normally we were always on guard and didn't have any time to rest, fish, drink a beer, eat, or whatever else one would like to do during the many hours on a river run. I very much enjoyed this challenge, but it was also nice to relax and float a bit without worrying about being taken out by a series of downed trees. At one point we came up on a series of down trees with the lowest one being about 14 inches off the water line. This required us to strip our gear from the straps on the top of our kayaks and crouch down inside the kayak as much as we could. Two of the five of us wimped out and actually portaged around. This was more my style of vacation rather then sitting in the sun all day with a line in the water.

Here are stats on the river run. If you click on the "splits" button on the top right you can see the river run organized in three laps. The first lap was day one, the second lap was an accident, and the third lap is day two. The calorie info is way off because it assumes I was biking. I don't trust the max speed either, no way we went 15 mph in a kayak. I assume it is a miscalculation between plotted GPS points.

We got done early on the river the second day and drove a short distance to the third and final campsite on Nineteen Lake. On the way Adam had an emergency stop at some random outhouse at a campsite or trail head. We decided to drive the car up to block the outhouse door and honk the horn just to make sure Adam knew we were there for him. At Nineteen lake we were to meet back up with the other three guys the next morning on Saturday. Adam and Matt drove in to the Forest Service headquarters before our river run to reserve the campsite for the weekend. It is a good thing as every campsite but the one we wanted on Nineteen lake was full that Labor Day weekend. Ours was not because it again required you to paddle across a lake to get there. This was ideal for us. That Friday afternoon after setting up camp we did a bit of a hike around the lake and next to other lakes (stats). We found a short portage to the neighboring lake. Adam had us hiking to a small shelter at Rim Lake and for some reason he really dug this wooden partial cabin. It had a bird's nest in it along with a family of mice, not exactly where I would set up camp, but Adam dug it. There were many interesting shroom varieties around the forest. Again Adam was all about the shrooms and wanted to pick the eatable ones but none of us trusted him.

On our last day the other three guys joined us around noon. Most of us made the quick portage over to Ironjaw Lake. We did some unsuccessful fishing for a bit and enjoyed the sixth perfect day in a row. Two of the guys took off on a long drive to civilization to watch the first college jockball game of the year. The rest of us thought they were crazy. Later in the day we went on a small hike with some of the guys that weren't there the previous day. We were supposed to tie up our food and garbage each night to keep the bears away. We didn't do this on the island assuming the bears weren't in the mood to swim while we were there. We didn't do it at Nineteen Lake either mostly from laziness. Matt's method was to take his small amount of berries and nuts (he is a vegetarian) and hang them about seven feet off the ground on a stick in the middle of our campsite. This is exactly what not to do when trying to keep bears away. We all got quite the chuckle out of him. I'm surprised his food didn't get eaten by varmints. I kept mine in a water proof bag in my tent. Those bears were going to have to go through me to get my food!

On Sunday we woke up, broke camp, and drove home. No breakfast even. Tony had to get back by 6:00 for a fantasy football draft. We were right behind them and I got home around 6:30. It was a great week in the wilderness. It's nice to get away from work for awhile. Also, as much as I'm dependent on the internet it was nice to be disconnected for a week. I came back to a lot of local news, sports news, national events, and of course work to catch up on. It is late now and I'm still catching up. Good times though and looking forward to the next trip.

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1st time for everything

It was a nice night up until the end. Kirby was back in town and we planned to hang out Tuesday evening. It was a nice day so we met up in Georgetown and went for a canoe ride for the last hour the rental place was open. We’ve been downriver before so we went up river this time. We hung out with some ducks and geese and checked out some old stone culverts. Along the way we saw some small mammal swimming by the shore. Only the top of his head was visible so we couldn’t tell what it was. Once we got close out came the big flat tail with two smacks to the water before he disappeared. I didn’t realize beavers hung out in fast flowing water like that. I’ve seen them do unbelievable things in the hills of Appalachia. That was typical beaver I thought damming up small streams to impressive ponds with huge stick dams. Our guy in the Potomac popped up downstream so we floated down to check him out again. He let us get within a good 10ft before he threw down one big smack and disappeared. On the way back we saw a bald eagle. He made two swoops down to the water but didn’t see anything he wanted. I wonder if he was from the nest I saw on the Mt Vernon trail.

After the canoe ride we ate at Pizzeria Paradiso. A known favorite of mine. Good food and beers were had. It was the bike ride back from dinner that caused the problem. Coming off a 4” or 5” curb I landed at the slightest angle. Growing up on a mt bike I didn’t even register this as an issue. On my road bike my tire rolled over on my rim and I went straight to the pavement. I hit very hard. I wasn’t in pain but I was a bit stunned and could tell something was wrong right away. I don’t know if I tried to get up and nothing happened or if I knew my shoulder was the issue when I felt my right shoulder with my left hand and verified a break to the collar bone. After many thrills and spills I finally broke my first bone.

Pain didn’t set in right away and I pulled myself up out of the street half on the sidewalk. Thankfully Kirby was there and I could just zone out for a minute. A few people stopped in the cars; the first guy got out and made sure our bikes were locked up and we were on our way to the hospital. My guess is we got to the hospital around 11:30. The pain started setting in. I’d be OK for a bit while I didn’t move and then I’d get a lot of pain for a few minutes. Sitting in one place for hours didn’t help at all either. I don’t know how much longer than an hour we waited but it wasn’t more than two hours. Getting in a soft(er) bed and in a different position was nice. Kirby was lacking sleep and passing out in the chair next to me after taking care of me the previous few hours. I got sent off to X-ray after a decent wait with the pain coming and going. With all the flexibility of the x-ray machine and the x-ray table I still was asked to shimmy around on my back which was not at all fun. The doc came in shortly after and did the routine lungs, ears, eyes, and throat thing. I knew they couldn’t do much for it but I expected more than a sling. He said the sling was it and to follow up with the surgeon within a week. I got prescriptions for ibuprofen and vicodin. I walked out of there around 3am. 

Going to sleep the first night was painful but things were much better in the morning. I slept with a pack of frozen vegetables on it. I guess I’ll be sleeping on my back in one position for awhile. Learning to brush my teeth, wash my face, eat, and do everything else with my left hand is a new experience. No biking for awhile.

I guess we’ll see how long it takes to heal. 

Potomac River run

Sarah and I opened the summer on Memorial Day and coincidently finished the summer in similar style on Labor Day. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend. The river wasn't even that crowded. And we were only an hour and a half late to the pick up.

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