Zion National Park

We decided to go down to Zion and check out the park. I had never been and my fiance was telling me it was worth checking out. It was also one of the few places in the state that was not going to get hit with bad snow or other bad weather. So off we went. We were initially going to take the truck, in case we hit bad weather, but we ended up filling the truck up with empty boxes and stuff to clear out the apartment. So the car was filled with camping stuff and off we went.

The drive down was mostly uneventful due to it being dark all of the trip down. We arrived really late that night and basically set up the tent and crashed. The next morning I finally got to see some of the park. It was pretty cool to wake up to a full moon and canyon walls nearby. We ended up doing Angel's Landing which was a pretty scary hike. I wasn't a fan of the drop offs, 1000 ft on each side but after I got up there and started heading back, I thought it was nice. The views were simply amazing. We enjoyed the hike up and back then had a nice lunch on a sunny rock. I am not in shape for either the elevation or the hiking right now. I haven't had a chance to do serious hiking in quite a while so I was struggling a little. Plus wearing knee-braces doesn't do me well either with my balance or with my energy. But I did it.

We didn't have much time left of the day to do another big hike so we went back to have a much needed nap. After that was a nice night hike. Too bad the moon wasn't up at that point. The next day we did a couple of small hikes and then left. It was really nice out there and then we came back to snowy winter.

3 Star Training in Maine

I just completed 2 days of training and a 3 star sea assessment up in Maine at a 4 day symposium What a very long drive there and back too.. I thought I was going to be spending 4 days on the water but it turned out that the navigation class I took was just an all day classroom session. It was still a really good class in spite of no water time. The two day training was also very intense. The instructor thought it was a one day training and was trying to cram in a ton of information and have us do many things. Once I pointed out to him that it was a two day training, he relaxed a bit and we went back to the docks quite exhausted. The 3 star award is a leadership award, not just a skills award. We had to be able to demonstrate we could lead a group, navigate and do rescues as appropriate for the conditions. I was not able to do a good hand of god rescue and hope I never have to do one, but I will work on it anyways.

On assessment day I was a bit nervous. We had another instructor to assess us, and although I had met him before I hadn't paddled much with him. I actually wasn't sure he remembered me. There were 6 of us altogether but three of us were all from the same training class, it was nice to know a few people. The assessment went fairly well although Mother Nature was against us, we didn't really have big enough conditions so we ended up staying quite close to the rock faces and working against the ocean swells. It is amazing the power of the ocean. Maine was also an awesome venue to do this in. About halfway through the assessment, one of the other students pointed out that he felt everyone would pass, I had to disagree with him. There was one person who was looking a bit weaker in some areas and wasn't playing a good leadership role either. Everyone else looked great.

I did in the end get my 3 star sea kayak award. Part of the advice I received afterwards was that I needed to work on timing of my braces, I needed to keep an eye on the big picture when doing rescues, and that my finesse strokes were great but I should keep my arms tucked in more. I also feel I need to work on my roll some more.

The funniest thing that happened during the assessment. After I had been stuffed back in my boat as part of a controlled rescue, I was paddling around among the rocks when a large swell lifted me up turned my boat around and dropped the bow and stern up on the rocks but left me suspended upside down in the water. I ended up leaving my kayak again and came up laughing. I actually had a bit of a hard time to push the kayak up off the rocks. I got stuffed back in while we all laughed about it then I had to eat something to try to keep the cold at bay. The Maine waters were quite cold. I am glad I was borrowing a dry suit from a friend (even though I didn't like the rear relief zip).

Crabs and fireworks

I was invited to join some people for the 4th of July celebrations. I hadn't really done anything either here in DC or any place I lived for the 4th so I wasn't sure but I figured these were people I was paddling with and a good time would be had. And I was right. I knew a few of the people at the party and met others which was nice. We talked about kayaking and watched some kayak porn videos as well as one girl showed off her Africa pictures from when she hiked Kilimanjaro.

The day started off with moving boats around and getting them down to the put in before the streets were closed off. After that we sat around talking about the Africa pictures while snacking on all sorts of junk goodness. We enjoyed a crab boil and dessert before walking down to the put in. It was very strange to be walking against the crowd dressed for kayaking but without the kayak. We had several comments, the best of which was a remark about expecting that much rain. We paddled out around Roosevelt Island to where we could see the monuments and parked ourselves. With one sea kayak and about 8 white water boats, the sea kayak held the beer stash. The fireworks were great, coming up from behind the monuments. I shot some video, a bit shaky from the current but still cool. We paddled back in the dark with the flow of traffic this time. Loaded up the kayaks and gear and walked back. We ate more food and stayed to watch more kayak porn while waiting for the traffic to die down. What a great time. It makes me sad to think that I didn't do this last year because I let my self get talked out of it.

MAFK

I went to the Mid-Atlantic Kayak Festival this weekend and I had a pretty good time. I was a little disappointed at first that the conditions would not be present for me to do the BCU 3 star training but I think it worked out best in the end that I did the training on flat water then did the ACA L3 assessment the next day which is also on flat water. I learned a lot of new things and learned how to do a lot of old things properly which was great. The last day saw more conditions when the wind picked up and I had a chance to play with some bigger waves and learn how to better control my boat in wind and wave. It was a good weekend all around for learning. It was also nice to just spend the whole weekend up at the camp grounds and not have to worry about tenting (we stayed in cabins), food (they cooked for us), and entertainment (the speakers were great as was the live music). They announced that they would be holding the festival again next year which is great for them. The classes were quite small this year but I think that once word gets out, the classes will be filled up more next year. This was definitely a good way to learn new skills while staying close to home. The drive was barely an hour to get out to the location.

More paddling

I have been trying to make friends with some of the white water people and so this gave me a chance to go out paddling with someone on sunday morning. It was quite nice to get back out on the white water side of things, but again I noticed that I have to work on skills and practice more of the basics. I don't think I forgot what I had learned last year but I didn't really have much time last season to really work on the skills that make up the foundation of white water kayaking. So I did some practicing of peeling in and out of the eddy lines as well as just paddling up into the current to get in shape again. I have to work on my core muscles as they don't seem as capable of paddling like they did at the end of the paddling season last year. Oh well. I did have a great time getting out. I missed my roll a few times and I think I am getting a little sloppy with my roll so I will have to pay more attention to that and break myself of some bad habits. It was good to get out.

I did do a quick day hike after I got off the water mostly because I am trying to break in some shoes. It was a really hot weekend and I was also curious if the full leather of the shoe would also cause my feet to over heat. I didn't notice any over heating which was good but I did notice I was tired from the paddling which caused me to hike a bit slower than usual. I think the shoes are a little too small. I will have to look into getting one size bigger. I like the shoes and would like to have the correct size.

Back on the Potomac

I was out on the Potomac today trying to get back in shape. I seemed to do well at the kayak festival last week, but I also feel I could do better. So I grabbed the boat and gear and headed out to the marina and hopped on the water. It was more of a slog then I thought it would be. I have been paddling my short boat off and on over the winter in pool sessions but other then last weekend, this month has been the first time I have been able to get my long boat out of storage and used again. I didn't make it very far either which has me a little concerned. If I can't paddle my boat on flat water, what makes me think I am ready to take my short boat out on the white water. Will I be in shape enough to paddle against the river to get up tot eh fun play spots. So I pressed on. I paddled about an hour out and back then I went home and relaxed. It was nice to be out on the water but I don't think the flat water has as much appeal to me anymore. I was thinking of being more serious with the white water this year, but I think that this made the decision for me. I will be paddling some white water tomorrow so I will see if I am in better shape then.

La cabane à sucre

We were up in Montreal over the Easter break. In fact I took off quite a big stretch of time so I could do something else after I got back from Easter. The weather was rather cold, but the trip was worth it. I wanted to get a bunch of things done, but in the end I didn't really do much more then relax and try to have a pleasant visit with family. We arrived early Friday morning after a long drive and tried to get some rest. I didn't have much success so I just got up and went down to chat. Later that day I finally bought some blue jeans. I haven't had a proper fitting pair in at least 2 years and felt it was finally time to get a pair. I ended up with 4 pairs that I found at the second hand store. Nothing like a pair or pre-broken in jeans. Saturday morning is traditionally when we get together with my grandparents and have breakfast at a local restaurant together. This was fun as I got to show off my book to everyone. After that I rested and did almost nothing. Sunday we went to downtown Montreal to go to the bookstore and browse as well as tour a little bit of Montreal as my guest had never been there before. I had hoped to hit the leather store as my parents were telling me about this really nice coat they had on sale, but alas they were closed. It was Easter after all. Monday was another relaxing day as we went over to a friend's house to chat, show off my book some more, and get my knees tortured by her. I was happy to hear that my knees are doing much better. I also helped her with some knitting help and showed off a piece of lace I was knitting the last time I visited with her.

Back in the White Mountains

It was really nice to be back in the White Mountains even if it was only for a long weekend backpacking and snowshoeing trip. This trip was the last trip of the winter season in our search for snow. We finally found some, which was great if a little on the wet side, but at least I was able to play with the snowshoes I was testing. A small group of us left out of Lafayette campgrounds and hiked up to the hut at Lonesome Lake. The views were amazing and we had a great time. Once we arrived, we had more fun running and making tracks around the lake, and soaking up some sun with the great views. We were scheduled to stay that night in the hut before moving on to another shelter for the following night. The hut was great and we had fun playing some games and relaxing. The next day we hiked out to Kinsman Pond shelter and soaked up a lot more sun as well as played on the frozen pond, took some macro shots of lichen and mosses. We eventually all made it up to the top of North Kinsman mountain and the views were even more amazing. I had a chance to do some glissade back down to the campsite and had a great time doing it. The last day saw an overcast day with the threat of rain. We actually got the rain just before we hit the hut again. We ducked in for some warmth and to eat a quick snack. The stop over turned into about a 2 hours stop with us helping to eat some of the deer with bacon wraps that were left over from the party that had occurred the night before. Too bad we couldn't have joined in the party as it sounded like it was a blast. The hut was too full for us to spend another night as they had booked well in advance of us and filled the bunks.

In Pursuit of Snow

It is funny how I keep moving further south put then start spending more time seeking out snow in the winter. As my attitude towards outdoor activities has changes, and my personal life too, I have been seeking out more to do over the winter to stay active and fit. My summers lately have been filled with kayaking, some day hiking and a few backpacking trips. Since I don't have the equipment to kayak in the winter I have been turning more to hiking, backpacking and snowshoeing. But were is a person to go for snowshoeing in an area that rarely gets snow? Why West Virginia and Pennsylvania of course! So it was off to Pennsylvania this weekend to find some snow. Unfortunately the area had a warm spell over the last week and the 12 inch snow base out in PA had melted down to nothing. Sigh. Oh well. Winter hiking it was. I hadn't been feeling well over the last couple of days leading up to the hike and was barely eating this trip but I felt good and was able to still hike at my usual pace. I did discover that drinking on a really empty stomach results in almost instant drunkenness. Walking on rough trails while drunk without tying of boots is bad. Hilarity ensued as I had to be walked to the bathrooms to prevent falling into the cold water on the trails. Oh well. When you gotta go, you gotta go!

The mileage was kept low on this trip as we assumed we would be slogging our way through lots of snow. In the end, we were at camp early and had tons of fun sitting around, talking and playing Uno. Strip Uno was suggested but it was simply too cold. The shelters we stayed at were almost luxury on the trail. There was a real bathroom area (pit toilets), a wood pile provided, fire places at each shelter and a pump for water (potable). Each night was quite cold and I was playing with a 15 F bag. Unfortunately this bag doesn't do anything to keep me warm once the outside temperatures get below 24 F. It got below 24 F and I ended up having to switch bags with someone who had a -20 F bag and complaining they were too warm. I was much warmer after that. Time to get a better bag if I want to keep doing winter backpacking.

WV high point hiking

A friend set up a car camping event that I and a few people I knew decided to go on. The goal was to drive up as close to the peak as possible then hike the rest. Given the wintery conditions the hike could have been anywhere from 14 miles down to 1 mile. Although there is a road that does go right to the summit, we were expecting the roads to be in bad shape due to all the snow. We did have two AWD vehicles just in case the roads were that bad. In the end, although there were some drifts across the road, the road was actually passable all the way to the summit. So our difficult hike turned into a quick stroll to the summit. That was about the only easy part of the whole trip.

We arrived to the campsite late Friday night and had to scrap back snow to set up the tents. Once set up we were still a little hyped up from the drive and snow removal that we stood around for a while talking and freezing out butts off. The temperature was already reading well below 0 F. Deciding it was late enough, we all went to bed around 1:00 am. The following morning was a late morning and due to the cold temperatures, we had 2 people decide to leave the next morning. The remaining 6 decided to stick it out. We drove up to Spruce Know and 'bagged' our high point. The temperature had been quite cold in the morning but climbed steadily all day long to a high of about the freezing point. We then did another hike in the area and I had a chance to finally play with my new snowshoes. Yeah! Not quite enough snow but it was still fun. We got back to camp while it was still light, meaning 4:00 and got a fire going and split some of the wood we had. Saturday night was much warmer then Friday night and most people slept warmly that night. Hot water bottles in each sleeping bag also helped. Sunday dawned clear and bright. We left camp to go on a secret hike which turned into a caving exploration, totally awesome. We will have to go back better prepared. Due to the stream running through the cave, we couldn't hike in too far without getting cold and wet. We found out that day that the low for Friday night had been -24 F. I have never camped out at that temperature before, but at least I now know I can do it in a car camping situation. Question is, could I do it while backpacking. We ended up having a 50 F degree temperature difference over the weekend. No wonder Saturday night felt so warm.

Gauley Fest

I decided spur of the moment to go to Gauley Fest this year out in West Virginia. Basically this is a festival about all things white water. And boy do these people know how to party. Good thing I had earplugs with me. I arrived Thursday evening and started helping to volunteer. Since I didn't know anyone, I thought this would be the best way to get to know people and at least I would have something to do other then listen to music. I still don't have any white water gear of my own. I was kind of hoping I would win a boat but I knew that was slim. But since I was volunteering I did hear about an opportunity to go white water rafting. Someone had a few spots available in their raft on Saturday that they wanted to fill and me plus someone I was volunteering with dropped everything and went. I ended up switching over to another raft that had even less people in it and eventually the other guy did too. So we were 9 people spaced across two rafts. It was perfect. The water was a little cold, but great. There were two raft guides in the raft I was in and we had such a great time. As this was not a paid trip, they were in it to have fun and fun was had by all. I managed to get some great pictures of the rapids before and after, and shot some video too. This was some really big water as they were doing releases from the dam. We did the Upper Gauley river which has a lot of class III to V rapids.

On Sunday four of us went out again on the Upper Gauley and thankfully the two guides managed to wrestle up a couple of helmets and an extra PFD for the two of us. Between that and my gear bag, we managed to dress warmly enough. I was kicking myself for not staying up Saturday night and enjoying more of the party. At least I should have tried to pick up a helmet. I did manage to snag a great deal on a rain coat. It normally retails for 300$ but the guy was selling for 25$ and no that is not a typo. I'd have picked up another for my dad (and I did ask) but they didn't have anything larger then a extra large and the vendor said it was closer to a large. Oh well, I do have extra rain coats now and will give him one from the pile that fits him.

We didn't get off the water until almost 5 then I still have 5 and a half hours to drive back to DC. That was a long drive and I was really tired. I feel like I am still recovering but I had such a great time. I am definitely putting this on my calendar of things to do next year. Hopefully I will have my own gear so I can actually go and play on some of the Lower Gauley.

White water fun

White water fun
Originally uploaded by Canadian Loonie

Went out and did the second class in the white water series. This class we worked on getting a roll, which we already had, and more current work. We went up to the Maryland chutes and no one was around, which is odd for a saturday morning, so we went and played in the hole created by the current. I found out that leaning forward when in the hole is bad as the water catches my bow and flips me over. Since I haven't learned how to stop this I have to just go with it. At least I can roll back up. It was a really hot day and there wasn't much shade but we all had a great time.

Monster on the Potomac

Monster on the Potomac
Originally uploaded by Canadian Loonie

The kayaking group took out another group of people to kayak the Potomac at Belle Haven. It is a very nice paddle with a dyke marsh on one side to explore and little creeks and rivers on the other side. We chose to explore the other side leading to a rather drawn out crossing. The wind and chop from passing boats did make the crossing a little hairy for the less experienced, but it was a good trip. As we rested in a cove I noticed a log sticking out of the water that from a distance looked like Nessie's head. A badly shot picture and we could start our own stories about the monster of the Potomac.

Long paddle, long day

There was a paddling event that happened out in Fountainhead, a local park that is part of the reservoir system. Meaning no swimming, alas as it was a very hot day with no clouds, the sun seemed relentless. Good thing for sun block, although I did miss a few spots close to my shirt line. I'll have some interesting tan lines after this. We were a fairly large group with different levels but we all managed to paddle about 11 miles according to the final GPS reading. GPS being operated by the ever interesting cigar smoking paddler. While we had shown up expecting a shorter paddle, we did do the full 11 miles. Afterwards we collapsed in an exhausted heap and didn't move for 2 hours. Then off we went to a white water evening social paddle.

Call us crazy but we somehow found the energy for another 2 hours of paddling. We started just goofing off in the boats on the flat part of the river but decided we had had enough of flat water and quickly paddled over to some moving water at the Maryland chutes. After learning how to enter and leave the current without flipping, we then started rolling in the current. It is good practice to say the least. It was certainly less forbidding after doing it a few times. Looks like both our rolls are in good shape. Wish I had some pics of the event, but alas no one had a camera. Hopefully next time.

White water kayaking

I had a chance to try some white water kayaking. My boyfriend organized the class and someone dropped at the last minute so he squeezed me into the slot. He also went out but with a group of friends as we went on on the class last weekend. He is so sweet! This was a beginner level class meaning they assume you have no skills. But since this was a group lesson, they tailored the class to our skills which was nice. I normally do sea or touring kayaking, I have a very nice 18 foot kayak that is about 20 inches across. I don't have to fight to hard to get the kayak to go straight. Now the white water kayak on the other hand was about 6 feet long and about 25 inches across maybe more. And very flat on the bottom. I really had to focus on doing correct stokes or I would send the boat around in circles. It was lots of fun to play in the white water kayak as it is very responsive to little stroke changes.

They had everyone do a wet exit from the kayak, which is basically you flipping over the kayak then pushing yourself out. So at this point everyone is wet. It was a very hot day so I think everyone was grateful to be wet. Once everyone was mostly used to moving the boat around we started learning sweep strokes to change direct then bracing to help stay upright in turbulence. The group split up after that with one group learning rolling and the rest were going to go run an eddy line. Most of the group did not make it past the first current area so the group of 6 dropped to 2 plus one instructor. I made it up past the current line. Further upstream the 2 of us plus the instructor worked briefly on rolling and bracing a little more. My roll was good. and off we went.

Running the eddy line was really scary at first. When you see it and watch someone go over it I had to wonder how I was going to make it. I didn't make it the first time but I did roll back up. The other guy didn't make it but he didn't flip either. I didn't make it the second time but my roll was really getting good. The other guy flipped and decided to wait for us on land so he could rest. I did make it over the eddy line on the third run then flipped again on the forth try and rolled back up. I decided I was too tired to try again and I got a little water up in my sinuses so I was done. But I was very happy that I seem to have a very good roll in a white water boat under moving water conditions.

I was so happy that my boyfriend managed to get me in. He seemed to enjoy hearing about how the class went. The instructors were telling him how some of his group were really good and pointed me out. He had to fess up that I had been paddling flat water for a while now and had most of the skills down. I think he was flattered though. They were surprised to find that I had never done white water before.

It was a long day and I have found out that white water kayaking is very exhausting. I think I got a better night sleep after spending about 3 hours on the water with the class. I think the sun and heat also played a role in that. I used spf 45 and didn't get any colour on me. Might be worth dropping down to 30 just to get a little colour. I am white as a ghost. It is a little scary.

Three Ridges Backpacking

A friend organized a big backpacking trip that started on Thursday and ended Tuesday. We joined up with the group Friday late afternoon. It was about a 3 hour drive from DC and we thankfully left early enough to avoid most of the traffic. Apparently everyone gets the same idea to leave town at the same time. Although this was Memorial Day weekend so it is understandable for this weekend. It is a traffic nightmare. We also took an alternate route which helped us avoid much of the traffic. The trip called for us to set up a base camp then do day hikes from that location. This worked out very nicely and meant we could carry up all kinds of luxury items for use at the base camp but not worry about lugging the extra weight around during the day hikes. I brought in a camp chair to help save my knees.

On Saturday we hiked up to look out peak then around and down a side trail with a waterfall. I took some pictures with my film camera. I hope the pics turn out. Not sure if I will be scanning any in to post but I will try to get one in if there is one worth posting. Saturday turned out to be a really long day. We had to hike out 1.6 miles to get to the cars then shuttle over to the trail head and drop a car at the trail end. Then we hiked 7 miles over ups and downs, then a further 1.6 to get back in to camp. We were exhausted. I don't remember cooking much for supper. We did eat but it was pretty light fare.

Sunday was a much flatter hike and was another waterfall. We had about 7 stream crossings to get to the waterfall. It was kind of fun but after the first 3 crossings, it started to wear thin. The water was cold. I ended up pulling wool socks on halfway through to help keep my feet warm on the crossings. I had on some capris pants that I am testing and they were just short enough to stay mostly dry which was nice. I also noticed on this trip that even though I mostly wore braces, I didn't experience any knee pain. Mostly I was tired from the long miles but no knee pain. This is a good sign. I am not sure if this is from the almost two years of trying to not use them or if this is from taking glucosamine/chondroitin. I just hope this is an improvement that keeps up and doesn't backslide.

We left Sunday after the waterfall hike. Even though I wanted to stay an extra night, I didn't really want to hike back up to the base camp. The next morning we were both glad that we left a bit earlier.

Lake Anna weekend

We were out this weekend at Lake Anna in Virginia. The lake is used by the nuclear electric plant as a tertiary cooling system. As such the lake is usually warmer then the air temperature. And we had fun playing in the lake with our kayaks. This was a teaching and learning weekend put on by the local paddling club. The club has several paddling piracies and our piracy had the best showing.

We had a lovely night paddle Friday night to explore the lake. It was a shame the sky was overcast as we couldn't see the stars until later when we had arrived back. For this event, my boyfriend was going as an assistant instructor and I as a student. I got to learn about different ways to do assisted and unassisted rescues and tried to further develop my forward stroke. My boyfriend was helping to teach rolling and forward stroke.

After the classes on Saturday, several people started goofing off which eventually lead to someone standing up in their kayak. So I thought I would try it too. I managed to stand up but didn't stay up for long. I was up longer the next time but it is certainly harder than it looks. I now have a lovely set of bruises on one leg from getting into and out of my kayak several times. My boyfriend worked on fine tuning his strokes and rolling, I think they look great but we are our harshest critic. Saturday night was bbq night with a large fire followed by a flares demonstration. People brought in their expired and old flares for people to play with. And with permission from the local authorities we got to watch flares going off in the rain. Yes, it rained, but that didn't really stop the fun.

Sunday morning was overcast but thankfully it had stopped raining. The two of us went out for a really nice leisurely paddle and got to enjoy the calm serenity of the lake. The air temperatures were cool and the water was warm so we paddled off into the mists. What a beautiful area. The rain came after we got off the water and changed into dry clothes, of course. We had to take down the tent in the rain and load the kayaks. What a wet mess. I'm glad I had rain pants with me.

Lazy weekend

This was a lazy weekend. We managed to get in some repair time on the kayaks and tightened the replaced deck lines and put in foam padding to make for a better fit. I think my kayak might be a bit too big for me. I likely should have gone with the Force 3 but I didn't want to buy a boat I had never paddled before. I had tried the Force 4 and had really liked the one I had paddled. I didn't think there would be that many differences but I guess there were a few. Sunday was quite windy with winds of at least 10 mph and gusting up to 15 mph. That may not seem like much but in a kayak on open water, it is a lot. The waves were not too bad but the wind was awful. I had been having trouble with my forward stroke and was working on trying to improve it. So once I killed my arms, the proper movements all came together to give me a good stroke. Now if only I can remember that on the next paddle. We had to fight the wind back and over about 2 miles. Once on the other side, we did manage to get some rest in the lee of some trees, but the current was pushing us back out in the the wind. Mildly challenging conditions but at least I have improved some.

Horrible weather mix up

What a horrible weekend. We had such great plans for Saturday but the weather was calling for miserably rainy conditions so everything was moved to Sunday. Instead we drove around picking up paddling supplies and kayak foam to fix the fit of our kayaks. And it was a beautiful day. Saturday night the weather forecast changed and the weather that was called for on Saturday instead was moved to Sunday. When the forecaster was asked about this seemingly repeat of weather he just shrugged and said nothing. So Sunday was absolutely miserable with rain and wind. We did managed to get some help in at the Boat House to help them get a start on the season and look good doing it. I feel a bit bad that we couldn't stay longer but we tried to go to the paddling event that had been moved form beautiful Saturday to awful Sunday. Oh well, you can't win with the weather, all you can do is accept it and try to find something else to do.

I finally rolled!!

So I am not 100% successful at doing a roll but I did do a couple on my own with no help. I am really happy that I am getting there. There are still a few problems with my technique, but at this point I need to just get the roll to work consistently then I can start fine tuning it. I am rather bummed that I will not be able to make it to the next class due to a business trip and poor planning. There is no class after that then there is one more at the beginning of March. So I have one more class session left then I have to start working on it in the river. I guess once the weather warms up I can spend the rest of the summer working on it. Fingers are crossed but it seems that all the lessons and hard work are starting to pay off.

This was actually a rather busy day for me. After the rolling session, there was the coffee time. Then I rushed home to get ready for a movie meetup. The movie was Fool's Gold. After that was supper at a tapas place. I had never had tapas before so it was interesting. I bit pricier than I wanted to pay but it was still good. The movie was also good. I liked it as it didn't require much thought or attention to follow it. Very good since I was very tired from the kayak session earlier. I probably should have just taken a nap and rested up but I went out. I also grabbed the wrong coat and found out it was very windy and cold. Fleece jackets don't do much to stop the wind so I was cold. DC doesn't have a closes system so if it is cold at ground level, it is generally cold in the tunnels, just more out of the wind. I am glad the bus came right away otherwise I would have been very cold. I even walked up the big escalator to generate some heat.