Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Work-a-holic Rehab




After a few weeks of working 7 days a week, I did the unspeakable...
I took a day off!Iactually didn’t necessarily NEED a day off but I have been told that it’s healthy to do every once in a while
.
So I forced myself to do no work for one day. The original plan was a beach day in Delaware but mother nature nixed that plan with thunderstorms. So instead I decided to enjoy one of my favorite past times.. hiking!

Note to self: Staying up til 5 am playing spades with the boys is probably a bad idea before waking up to go hiking.
(Even more important) note to self: trying
to wake up a friend who was hanging out
the night before and convincing them that going on a vigorous hike early in the morning will be met with extreme resistance
None-the-less... I made it happen. We got a late start to the day, but I decided to stop and pick up a wide angle lens to capture this mini-adventure. And now I get to share it with you.

We went to Great Falls, VA and walked into the visitor’s center. We were greeted by a nice lady who we affectionately called Betty (on the premise that she looked like Betty White). Everyone knows I like a challenge, and clearly so did Betty. As we walked in she said “You two look like strong, strapping, athletic, manly Mandingo men that can handle the toughest of all trails easily” (slightly exaggerated, but I’m sure she thought it). Then pointed us to the toughest trail they had... Hell yeah! I‘m excited.
She however forgot to mention that they just changed the trail so a lot of the markers led to barricaded paths. Forget being Mandingo men, we were guinea pigs.. I’m sure she was thinking “if they survive, then we will re-mark the trail”. It started off with some rough terrain, nicely wooded areas, expected bugs and wildlife, and great views (from points off the path that we were not suppose to go).




We were suppose to follow the blue markers... that was a joke.. Most of them led to barracaded paths and rocks that the average person should not have been expected to climb.

The views were worth the potential absolute death falls
But then... as we had to start scaling cliffs, jumping rock piles, shimmying down narrow ravines, and trying to keep our ankles from breaking we just kept saying “We gonna have to have some words with Betty when/if we get back!”.
Before we left, she did ask “Do you beautifully built, striking black men (still exaggerating) have water?”.
But what the treacherous granny meant to ask was “Do you all have a overnight gear, first aid kit, wildlife survival handbook and last will and testament prepared!?”

I chased this lil frog (about the size of my thumb nail) all over the damn woods trying to get a picture of him... finally got it! This butterfly on the otherhand, not only showed off in couture poses but stalked me for the rest of the hike #vaincreatures


Come'on.. I been running 3-5 miles every day for the past two weeks,



did you really think I wouldn't throw in a picture of me with my shirt off and "sweat dripping aaaall over my boooody"!?

So 3 hours later! we finally get back to the main path that leads us out of the park.
We are alive, all limbs still in place and one more trail conquered. It was fun, relaxing and well worth it.



Luckily my phone wasn’t working in that area so it was a true day off and great exercise. Now... Back to work!


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1 comment:

  1. Can I get that photo with the shirt off in a 8x10???? ... oh and nice blog. Glad you found a hiking buddy cause you already know! =)

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