Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Apples, Pumpkins, and Baseball

It's fall.  Want proof?  In the last month, we've been apple-picking, to a Nats game with Uncle Justin, and to the fall celebration at Burke Nursery.

Way back on September 15, we drove an hour to Stribling Orchard.  The attraction to this farm was its variety of apples and it's location: the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Now that I have a garden, I've gotten really into food preservation and bought my own water bath canner, which I'd used precisely once (come visit and we can crack open my jar of pickles).  Applesauce is one of the items that can be canned without a pressure cooker, so I was excited to get some practice in and have an excuse to eat apple crisp day and night.

9-15-12 - Eve
9-15-12 - You can't beat the mountain air!
9-15-12 - New Wagon
The farm was lovely, gave us a chance to try out Alison's new wagon, and gave Alison a chance to eat apples off the ground for two hours straight.

9-15-12 - What?  46 apples seems reasonable to me!
I did eventually make four jars of applesauce (and we've already eaten one - physics works!), two apple pies, and two batches of apple crisp.  Yum!

The next weekend we watched the Nats vs. Brewers game with Uncle Justin.  It started off great, with a beer and brat tailgate, but as the Nats crushed the Brewers (I secretly wanted the Nats to win, I'm sad to say), Alison got more and more angry and we left after the fifth inning.

9-22-12 - We wore red Wisconsin shirts to disguise the fact that we were rooting for the Nats.
We went to Florida, then Nathan took an extra day off.  One luxurious, beautiful October day off together.  However, we were beat from the trip, so we drove eight minutes to Burke Nursery's Pumpkin Playground.  There, Alison got to take a hayride, see some goats and chickens, play on numerous farm and halloween-related play structures, and rode down huge slides on a carpet.  Over and over again we rode those carpet slides.  She is going to be an excellent roller coaster partner when she hits that coveted 53" mark.

10-6-12 - I jumped the gun because these slides were fast!
10-6-12 - So much joy from a fake horse
10-6-12 - I wanna go fast
10-6-12 - Alison picked this pumpkin out herself
The first time we visited DC was in October and that's why we got hooked.  It is hands down the best time of year to be here and we are soaking it up!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Paddle Boats in the Tidal Basin

Every Friday I pick up Nathan at work and get to park in the paddle boat parking lot along the Tidal Basin.  Every Friday I think about how long paddle boating in the Tidal Basin has been on my DC checklist.  Every Friday I leave without a taste of the (surprisingly) salty sea air.  In mid-September, I finally arrived early enough mark it off my list.

Alison came with me and did a great job of not jumping into the water.  She even tried to help me paddle.

9-14-12 - My Little Helper

It was a lot of fun.  Hard work for one person, but you do get great views of the Jefferson Memorial and you could paddle to the other side and back in an hour if you were motivated.

 9-14-12 - Jefferson Memorial from the Boat

9-14-12 - Mom, What's That?!

We stayed out on the water almost 40 minutes before the novelty wore off for one of us and I was asked to go back.  I would do it again.  I wonder how long the wait is during Cherry Blossom Season?

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Florida: Part IV - Disney

I have a love/hate relationship with Disney.  They are the best company EVER.  They do an excellent job of getting you excited for your trip and making sure that everything you do is as easy as possible.  At work, marketing throws around the phrase "surprise and delight" a lot and Disney is amazing at it.  When I start my own business, I plan to run it just like Disney.  On the other hand, my god, everything is fake and it disgusts me that I get so much pleasure from it.

10-4-12 - Surprise & Delight

That being said, we stayed at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, which is the same place I stayed on our family trip when I was 12.  I won't stay there again.  The campus is too big (it took us 15 minutes to walk to the food court) and it turns out we spent next to no time at the resort itself, so the extra money I spent on a "water view room", was wasted.  Alison enjoyed our Finding Nemo decor, though, and now knows the names of all of the main characters, plus their species names.

 10-2-12 - Our Resort

On our first day in town, we went to Epcot, Nathan's favorite park, which had celebrated its 30th birthday two days before (that's right, Epcot is only three days older than Nathan).  Though there are fewer rides than Magic Kingdom, the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival was going on, and we discovered what makes Epcot truly amazing: alcohol!  (The food's not bad either.) 

10-3-12 - Nathan, his commemorative stein, and Sugar Ray (were you aware that his career has hit rock-bottom?  Well, he now plays three times nightly at Epcot)

Alison was wowed by Figment's Journey into Imagination ride (which we were the second, third, and fourth people to ride that day) and by the aquarium in the Finding Nemo section.  She even found Nemo, a video that I'll post later on her blog.  We had lunch in (mock) Morocco and dinner in (sham) Japan.  Life was good.

 10-3-12 - Playing all by ourselves in the Journey into Imagination Ride

10-3-12 - "I find Nemo!" - Alison

10-3-12 - Morocco

The next day we visited the Magic Kingdom.  I am a very big fan of the Magic Kingdom.  It has better rides.  We rode on almost everything, minus the Hall of Presidents (awww) and the Peter Pan ride.  Alison had a very clear favorite.  When we finished the It's a Small World ride, she tried to climb backwards out of the boat, screaming, "Go Back!".  We went on it twice and that was about all we could take.

10-4-12 - Kings & a Castle

10-4-12 - Astro Orbiter

10-4-12 - I guess Disney CAN make you younger

We had a nice dinner in the sit-down restaurant at the hotel, put Alison to bed, and ate mini-Mickey-cakes. 

Dare I say, this whole trip was "magical"?  No, I dare not, but we all had a lot of fun.  Our next trip is my choice since we planned to travel for both of our big birthdays.  I can't wait!  Any suggestions?

Monday, October 8, 2012

Florida: Part III - Corkscrew & Sanibel

I find myself in a lot of birding hotspots, not on purpose, but because Nathan is a bird nerd...fortunately.  That's how I ended up in my favorite spot of the whole trip: Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  This place reminded me a lot of Congaree National Park, except it was more lush, green, and filled with odd plants that I'd never seen before.

 9-30-12 - Corkscrew Swamp Santuary Boardwalk Loop

 9-30-12 - Did not see any dinosaurs

The highlight of the trip for me was the rainstorm that made everything smell delightful and look rich and inviting.  The highlight of this stop for Nathan was seeing the rare Ghost Orchid in bloom.

9-30-12 - Ghost Orchid (white flower slightly North of center, Photo Credit: Nathan King)

We didn't see the Wood Stork, which was the inspiration for the protection of this sanctuary, until the next day, randomly by the side of the road but we did enjoy the views and the rain.

 9-30-12 - Soaked

The next stop was Sanibel Island, which was meant to provide a couple days of R&R before we entered the jaws of Disney.  It delivered. Last Monday was a near-perfect day.  It started with a run at sunrise on the beach, some fun in the sand, and then a trip to the "Ding" Darling Wildlife Refuge.  Again, a bird sanctuary without a lot of birds, but it was gorgeous and the weather was perfect.

10-1-12 - I know, typical beach sunrise, but I never get tired of seeing it in person

We drove to The Green Flash on Captiva Island for a lunch overlooking a coastal waterway and decided that Captiva is definitely the island for us.  It is secluded and the houses are much nicer.  They probably don't cost much more than our house in DC, right?  Wrong, they start at $2 million.  So much for that idea.

Alison spent the afternoon playing on the beach, swimming for the first time in the ocean, and then spending almost an hour and a half in the hotel pool.  She was in heaven, then she took a wonderfully long nap so we were in heaven.

 10-2-12 - This makes me laugh so hard (Photo Credit: Nathan King)

For dinner, we tried Gramma Dot's, which was supposed to have the best Key Lime Pie on the island.  It was amazing.  Everything from the main course to the Belgium Chocolate Shell holding our fruit to the pie.  I would definitely recommend this place.  Our pre-bedtime walk on the beach is where I realized that a day doesn't really get better than this.

The next morning we spent some more time with the ocean until I saw a Moon Jellyfish a few feet away and decided it was time to leave.  We stopped at the De Soto National Memorial, which honors a guy that reminds me of James Cameron, in that he hit it big on his first trip as a conquistador to the new world and then decided to come back, just for the adventure.  He died trying to claim Florida for the Spanish Crown, what a shame.

10-2-12 - Armor is surprisingly heavy! (Photo Credit: Nathan King)

 We ended up in Orlando by suppertime on October 2nd, and we were ready for Disney.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Florida: Part II - Everglades

I thought I knew what the Everglades looked like already: deep, stinky, humid jungle with water everywhere and rare orchids attached to every tree trunk.  I think I had been misinformed as the Everglades reminded me more of my first look at the Serengeti, than of the jungle vision I had from Susan Orlean or the second season of Dexter.

This was not the best time of year to see wildlife.  On the famed Anhinga Trail, we saw only two alligators.

 9-29-12 - First alligator sighting (Photo Credit: Nathan King)

 9-29-12 - This guy was sleeping so close to the boardwalk, I could have touched him

9-29-12 - I think I'd like to be an Anhinga in my next life.

We drove all the way down to the coast and the Flamingo Visitor Center, then took a boat tour. 
 
 9-29-12 - Pa-hay-okee Overlook

9-29-12 - This the view that reminds me most of Serengeti

9-29-12 - River of Grass (Photo Credit: Nathan King)

 The boat tour was exciting because, in the same brackish canal, we saw one saltwater crocodile and one freshwater alligator.  Our guide assured us this was the only place in the world that we could see both.  We also learned of the ultra-toxic manchineel, which can burn right through your skin.  Fascinating.

 9-29-12 - Mangroves Everywhere

 9-29-12 - On a boat

The highlight of the boat trip, however, was seeing two dolphins so close that one of them spit on Nathan.


The next day we drove the Tamiami Trail to Shark Valley Visitor Center.  There is a 15-mile loop here where you can take a tram ride, walk, or bike and see wildlife and amazing scenery.  We'd just missed a tram, so decided to bike the whole trail.  Again, not an alligator in sight, until we stopped at the look-out tower at mile 6.5 and noticed a whole group of baby alligators perched on lilypads eating insects and calling for mom.

 9-30-12 - Baby Alligators

 9-30-12 - You'd probably look like this too if you were about to complete your first 15-mile bike ride!

 9-30-12 - Bike trail from the overlook

We ate lunch on the Miccosukee Indian reservation and I couldn't resist ordering a fried gator bite appetizer.  Nathan made me feel better by assuring me that the alligators were raised on farms, not shot as part of the airboat ride attraction.

9-30-12 - How I discovered that alligator tastes like less-chewy calamari.


Everglades was amazing, our next stop was Sanibel Island

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Florida: Part I - DC to Almost Shipwrecked at Sea

Nathan is 30, the new 15, according to the Baby Boomers trying desperately to make themselves feel better about being old.  Even so, we are having a tough time relinquishing our 20's, so we decided to escape to Florida for Nathan's birthday.

Our first day was a day of travel.  Taxi to the train to the airport for a plane, then a rental car all the way down to a beachside hotel in Pompano Beach, FL.  I really enjoyed The Beachcomber hotel, which gave us an ocean view room with a balcony equipped with lounge chairs on the sixth floor.  It was dinner time when we arrived, so we enjoyed the last hour of sunlight on the pool deck, eating bar food and listening to the guitar stylings of Mr. Pat Hayden and his CD of background drum accompaniments.

 9-27-12 - Poolside Dinner

 9-27-12 - Dinner & Dancing

We got in a good walk on the beach in the full moon, then went swimming, Alison's favorite thing to do these days.

The next day, I took this picture during a run on the beach.

 9-28-12 - Pompono Beach @ Sunrise

We skirted around Miami, stopping only for some Pollo Tropical, and spent the rest of the day at Biscayne National Park.  Since 95% of this park is underwater, we felt it only fitting to take to the seas. 

 9-28-12 - Nathan & Alison in front of Biscayne Bay and islands we kayaked around

Did we go on a nice, safe glass bottom touring boat with our 2-year-old?  No way!  I really wanted to kayak along the mangrove coast and convinced Nathan that we could all go together in spite of the looming thunderstorm in the distance. 

9-28-12 - Ready for the boat ride

The guy setting up our boat looked at the storm and repeatedly said, "Well, that's not good".  He also told us that much of Florida City and the edges of the Everglades are overrun with gangs and that we shouldn't get out of our cars.  So, we took his opinion with a grain of salt and got in the boat.

The trip was amazing.  We saw a lot of ibises, herons, and egrets, plus some plumes of mud kicked up by a probable stingray.  We kayaked all the way out to a pair of islands and when we turned around and floated along their Northern edges we saw trees covered in cormorants...and a terrible-looking storm cloud closing in on us with lightning in the distance.  Then it started raining.  I don't think I've ever paddled faster in my life.  Alison did a great job in the boat and liked to lean over the side to feel the water.  We survived and will most likely live to do some more family kayaking.  This was a good adventure for the first full day of our trip.