Maryland in the Fall

Fall colors, rolling hills, carved singletrack, blue skies, bright light through the forest.

Perfect Autumn Saturday ride with a friend.

Illuminated path!

Diverse forest. New scenes and trees each section.

Could ride this 100x. Blurry SL was too fast for photo.

Patapsco State Park, Avalon area, outside Baltimore

D.C. in the Fall

Kansas City in the Fall

Home for 5 days - perfect timing for Kansas City Fall colors. Fun morning at Jacob's Well Church, Classic Cup on the Plaza for brunch with Kendra, and Nelson Sculpture Garden.

Photo: Nelson Sculpture Garden, Shuttlecocks by Claes Oldenburg

Photo: Nelson Sculpture Garden, Reclining Figure: Hand, 1979, Henry Moore



Photo: Nelson Sculpture Garden: Large Torso: Arch, 1963, Henry Moore

Photo: Nelson Sculpture Garden, Tom's Cubicle, 1967, Alexander Calder

Mt. Hood at Sunrise

Had the chance to visit Mt. Hood while in Oregon; here, RH took this sunrise photo from Portland. We traveled west of the city, through Columbia Gorge and stopping at Waclella Falls, Hood River and its Full Sail Brewery, and the lodge at Mt. Hood. It's not ready for ski season, yet, but soon!




Photo: Wahclella Falls, OR - Columbia Gorge!

Double Dutch

Wanted to post this totally fun photo of the First Lady jump roping.

Photo: CNN
Event: Healthy Kids Fair
http://tinyurl.com/yzwn97u

Fort to Sea Trail

Yesterday I hiked the Fort to Sea Trail, from Lewis and Clark's winter camp to the Oregon coast. An amazing forested 6 mile hike in the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park.

Photo: Fort Clatsop, the winter fort

Photo: walking through forest with National Park Superintendent, mile 1

A Lewis and Clark historian accompanied us, as well as the Park Superintendent and other Park Service leads, which provided an enhanced tour of the history and ecology along the way.

Photo: Ridge, around mile 1 of trail.

Below: Ocean in view! (exclaimed by the Corps of Discovery, as recorded in their journals)


Sunset Beach, Oregon. End of the trail.

End of the Line

End of the Line. Well-done documentary about state of the world's oceans and the effects of overfishing. In a sense, 50% of fish we eat are stolen.

Premiered at Sundance Film Festival. I saw it last week when a Congressman held a screening at the Capitol Visitors Center.

http://endoftheline.com/

Apple Festival Season

Virginia is rife with apples and Apple Festivals in the Fall. We headed west this weekend to enjoy the life of the harvest around Charlottesville.

NO ONE wanted to go on the hayride - so that was sad. And we didn't pick our own apples. Mainly, we ate the apple donuts and drank the local wine. Pretty lazy all-around, which was fun.

Hart of the Hill

Sculpture: "Mountains and Clouds," Alexander Calder. Inside the Senate Hart Building.

Recess is over and I'm back on the Hill. These are the only mountains I see these days, though an enjoyable sight, I think.

Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Work week on the West Virginia section of the Potomac. Looking forward to the Fall colors.

The Interior

There was a live alligator at this Dept. of Interior party the other day. Just 'cuz.

*Well,* I'm realizing it was a celebration for the new Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, so now it makes more sense.



Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar (speaking) and Sam Hamilton, Director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Nice view from the rooftop of the Interior.


There was also an African porcupine.

Boat House

Discovered a new boat house - a 3 mile bike ride from my house and in the District. Pretty nice. Glad to find another adventure spot on the Potomac.

Fletcher’s Boat House, Inc
4940 Canal Road, N.W.
Washington, DC 20007

DEMOLITION

Did I mention I went to a DEMOLITION DERBY when I was in Montana? So rad. The stunts were part of the Missoula County Fair, another treat.

This post isn't just for the cool cars and motorbike jumping --- it's mainly to tell the story of how the County Fair people put a *stamp* on 1-year-old Elsa's hand when she entered the arena. We agreed that there was probably a HUGE danger of Elsa leaving the stadium and trying to sneak back in, crawling, or some other manipulative antics, so we were glad the Fair staff patrolled this.

3 Years

I’ve been reading a lot about Lewis and Clark, lately – a compulsive part of spending most of my late summer in Montana. I am amazed at what they did and saw in three years. Trekked across a new country…and back. Trekked is an understatement. Surviving the new terrain was a lot of the accomplishment.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the “3 year” time period. Law school was three years, my knee injury was three years. I’ve been thinking about it in the sense that a lot can happen in three years. Lewis and Clark journeyed from St. Louis to Oregon and back. Sagajewa had a baby. Life in the West changed.

Soon, I will have lived in D.C. for one year. A quasi-one-year, as I've lived here off and on since 2006. I suppose I’m reaching around the three year mark for my transition to D.C. life. In terms of jobs, I never hit the 3 year mark in any of them. I’m ready to.

Something about Lewis and Clark has been motivating me lately. It's the hope that a lot can happen in three years.

Montana Ranch Life

I spent most of last week on a Montana ranch. The proper adjective "Montana" before the word ranch in this case also meant the typical cow-wrangling included a panoramic view of the spectacular Rocky Mountain Front and the best ecosystem for GRIZZLY BEARS in the lower 48.


The week was a constant corporeal experience between my eyes widening to capture the great view and my stomach clenching in fear of a grizzly bear joining me in my 1/2 mile walk back to the cabin at dusk.

We would go on 'grizzly bear viewing' hikes, as well, and I was glad we only saw moose.

Photo: lodge

The other great part about our ranch was that our neighbor was David Letterman. He owns a 6,000 + acre ranch on the Rocky Mountain Front. After driving dozens of miles on a lonely Montana dirt road touring conservation land - we saw one other driver that day - Mr. Late Night himself, waving as he passed by.

David Letterman's property, photo below. He has a conservation easement to help protect this landscape for the grizzly bears.

End of the Rainbow

I'm in Missoula, my last stop in the Big Sky state. I found the end of the rainbow and the Jehles!

Tennis 500

I accomplished one of my life goals yesterday - to see a pro tennis match. I was glad to achieve this via watching superstar Andy Roddick play at the Legg Mason U.S. Open Series tournament in D.C. Thanks to A.H. for taking me!

Andy is so good that he had to outshine my lil' goal by accomplishing a giant goal himself: in the match he earned his 500th career win, a milestone that puts him in an elite rank of only four active players.

Cotter Kids

Chris & Cathy's Owen. Kevin and Lisa's Mary Clare and Paul.

Emerald Isle, North Carolina, with the entire family.

July 4, 1776

Our beach vacation last week started off with some history, inland, with a tour of Williamsburg, VA, on July 4. Along with staying at the "1776" hotel, it was a great way to celebrate Independence Day with the Jehles, Hayes, and Trotters.