Our nation’s capitol

Washington DC the first week of June was hot! And don’t even talk to me about the humidity that caused us to change our clothes in the middle of the day and feel sticky and smelly most of the time. We managed to do quite a bit and get around town and have fun despite the heat though.

We spent last weekend in DC for no other reason than to be a tourist and enjoy the city. And enjoy we did!

First, transportation. I had assumed we’d spend most of our travel around on the Metro or on foot, but we actually ended up mostly using Capital Bikeshare and it was awesome. We bought a three-day pass for $15 each and away we went. It’s the perfect way to see the city. You get to cruise by grand museums, through old neighborhoods with big trees, and through lively business districts all from the seat of a bike.

 

It has been a while since I’ve been to DC and I never really spent much time on the street on a bike. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the plentiful and innovative bike lanes throughout the city. In addition to the typical striped bike lanes, there were two way bikeways between the parking lane and the sidewalk with vertical buffers.

There were some green bike lanes and bike boxes. Most interesting were the lanes in the middle of a busy street in downtown DC. Yep, right between buses and cars whizzing by was an ample bike lane! Despite the traffic, I felt pretty safe – especially because there were so many cyclists and many of them using bikeshare bikes.

Speaking of bikes, we happened to be in town during the DC Tour de Fat. We couldn’t resist the Colorado-based New Belgium event. We were particularly drawn by the main stage having an hour of The Moth! Not only did we get to drink a Ranger beer and see people ride ridiculous bikes (see below), but we also got to see true stories told live on stage without notes – The Moth (I highly recommend the podcast!).

The first night in DC we took advantage of free jazz in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. It was a relaxing way to end a day of walking and biking around the city.  We sat at the edge of a pool, watched people, drank sangria, and soaked our hot feet in the cool water all while listening to Chopteeth (“afrofunk big band” music).

Our trip was definitely fueled by snacks and coffee! We visited Filter coffee near Dupont Circle (they had a Salvagetti sticker on their grinder), which was quite good and had this amusing but hilarious sign on their wall:

We ate red velvet cupcakes from a cupcake truck and thick blueberry pie from Dangerously Delicious.

I want to make note of a fabulous place that had the most eclectic list of beers on tap – Churchkey. I started with a New Zealand IPA called Epic Armageddon, but we quickly moved on to share a sampler of beers and get a sense of the variety. We had a tripel from Belgium – Dulle Teve, a farmhouse ale from Belgium – Saison Dupont, a coffee-infused imperial stout from Canada – Peche Mortel, and a Belgian strong pale ale from Switzerland that was brewed with pinot noir wort – L’ Amoureuse No. 2. So good…

We visited Eastern Market on Saturday morning. The market is part farmers market, part urban flea market, and part indoor artisan food market. While we enjoyed perusing the various flea market items and outdoor plants and jewelry, I think our favorite part was the indoor market. It was well-lit with overhead skylights and full of fantastic looking foods – fresh meats, cheeses, seafood, fresh pasta, pastries and pies, and more! Here are some shots from both the indoor and outdoor portions:

Of course, we took in a few museums. The only two we spent any real time at were the National Building Museum and the Hirshorn (modern art). We popped into the Museum of Natural History and a few others but found that the crowds were a bit too much for us. Here are some shots from the museum portion of the trip:

National Building Museum

National Museum of the American Indian

The Hirshorn

Seth adding to the art at the Hirshorn.

One of the highlights of the trip and something I was very much looking forward to was the journey to Arlington, VA, for food at Ravi Kabob! Their kabobs and bread and chickpea sauce are my all time favorite foods. If you ever get a chance to go there – do not hesitate! Not sure my photo does it justice, but this photo represents a little bit of heaven for me.

After a sweaty but enjoyable few days in DC, we headed out for National airport on the beautiful Metro (hard to ride a bike with luggage…).

That was our weekend in DC. That is all.

Toronto Tourist

In Toronto I walked around fairly aimlessly.  I picked a restaurant or a neighborhood and just set out.  I didn’t do any of the touristy stuff like go up in the CN Tower or take the ferry to the islands.  I just walked and ate basically.

On the way to the Distillery historic district I popped into the St. Lawrence Market – it was Sunday and it was the  “Sunday antique market.”  In perusing the items (see the three photos below), I didn’t find much that appealed to me but it was fun to look at everything. 

This is the first time I saw a carving made out of deer antlers – I didn’t buy it.

One of my favorite parts of Toronto was the transit!  They have streetcar and subway!

The streetcar was fun, extensive, and fascinating.  As you can see from the photo below, there are shelters/stops but because the streetcar runs in the center of the street customers have to mosey out into the travel lane to get on it.  I don’t know that such a “hazardous” boarding method would be allowed in the US. 

Here’s what it looked like inside the streetcar:

Extensive! Below is a mix of subway and streetcar but, of the 15 lines shown below 11 are streetcar! It went almost everywhere I wanted to go. 

Here’s a photo of the streetcar in traffic.  You can also see that they have lots of the Vancouver-like glass house development in the background along the lake.

I did take the subway too and enjoyed their version of the “mind the gap” sign:

Toronto also has bike share!  They have the Bixi system but it’s very similar to the Bcycle in Denver.  I didn’t get a chance to ride it but was happy to see it there and saw quite a few people riding it.

Speaking of bikes, there were these bikes all over town that were locked to signs and completely painted (various colors).  It turns out there is a story. Two artists did this to some abandoned bikes but were initially ticketed! The Mayor pardoned them and commissioned art in this form around the city.

Another thing I saw were these plants with imploring messages stationed on top of bike racks near Union Station.

To continue the non-motorized transit nerdiness, the pedestrian signal was a more laid back figure than we have in the states:

Oh, the Canadians…stay tuned for more on Toronto!

July Wrap-up

July was packed with activity - July 4th weekend activities, happy hours, bike events, hiking, etc. However, I did not cover everything in previous posts and now that it’s August, it’s about time.

Notably missing is the Moonlight Classic and my participation with team Hell on Wheelz .  The Moonlight Classic is a benefit bike ride that starts at 10:30 pm, has you ride 10 miles around Denver, and ends with a big party at the state capitol afterwards.  The Hell on Wheelz team was well-organized and pubcrawling-centric.  Good fun but it was late for me with the pre-party at El Diablo, the late start for the ride and leaving our second pub at 11:30 with 8 miles and two more pubs to go.  I left early but had a fun time riding with the team of devils with blinking red horns.

This is a photo Jessica took while we were waiting to start riding:

This is Jessica at El Diablo, that devilish girl:

I hiked to Lake Isabelle near Nederland – this is the lake:

I hiked in Chacos (sandals) and was surprised to encounter so much snow!

I also did some hiking in Boulder with my friend and colleague Pat.  Where we parked was spied on by a little white dog that stuck its head through a hole in the fence.

We hiked to Royal Arch, which is this:

It was a steep climb to the point that the trail had stairs (made of natural stone not concrete stairs).  This is Patrick at the top.

This is one of many chipmunks that was not afraid of people:

In my walking life I tend to take alleys for some reason and I was treated to the sight of a raccoon mom and two of her babies this month.  This is the mom:

These are the babies:

Other July activities are covered in previous posts but I wanted to share these too.  This is G from the Blah Life reporting – over and out.

G’s Blah Year: 2010

January

Not an exciting month.  Yawn.

February

This was the month that winter eating really hit.  My friend Nadine and I spent the better part of a Sunday making cupcakes.  Here’s one of mine:

There were also a couple of weekend days that could basically be considered Denver-Boulder food tours.  Here’s me at Proto’s at the end of one of these tours.

March

Of course, the Academy Awards Show is in March and I went to Lisa’s for our annual champagne-drinking-Oscar-watching event:

I spent a few chilly but fun days in Moab, Utah, with Trisha and Kara.  This is Kara and I on a hike in Arches National Park:

Delicate Arch

It also snowed in Denver.  This isn’t rare but I did get some mediocre photos. This was one I took from the door of my condo building as I headed out for my walk to work:

April

I went to my first roller derby – lots of fun actually!  It is about as violent as you’d think.  One woman had a black eye and lots of them had bruises, but they looked to be having a good time…

I attended my first black tie event – the Downtown Denver Awards.  I posted extensively on my girly anxiety related to what to wear to this event.  I think I did an ok job in the end:

Hiking started in April! 

While descending Bear Peak outside of Boulder, my ankle turned on a rock and I landed in a prickly bush.  Unfortunately, my attempt to break my fall I ended up landing on my thumb.  It was sore for several weeks.  This is my in my blah hiking wear on the trail (my hiking wear is basically this and it will be featured in most hiking shots).

Oh, on and near the summit of this hike, there are always gobs and gobs of ladybugs!  Note the piles of them in the background of this photo.

May

The memorable event in May was going to DC for the WTS International Conference.  This was the first WTS conference I attended.  It was worthwhile but exhausting with social events in the evenings and getting up early each morning.  One of the highlights was a mobile tour to DC’s Union Station where there is a fabulously designed bike station!

Did get a chance to visit Fredericksburg, VA, and Chatham Manor, which is a beautiful garden and old plantation.  It was also the site of late night mischief in my high school years…

There are so many old, huge trees, some of which I think are “historic” and are preserved and kept upright with bolts and wires.  There are even enormous ginkgo trees.

Also got to visit with Jake and Morgan!  Here a photo of those gorgeous children:

June

Hiking season begins in earnest!  First was Cameron and Bross (both done on the same day).

Then there was the West Elk backpacking trip with Lisa.  I have an entire blog post about this trip, but here is photo that isn’t in that post (I think my eyes are closed – typical):

July

July was a fabulous outdoor month.

The trip to Glacier National Park was the most memorable thing I did in July.  This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

In Colorado, there was backpacking into the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness area and climbing of Humboldt.  Colorado in summer is heavenly. 

The view while pumping water:

The ascent with Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle shrouded in clouds behind me:

The summit ridge:

Bonus!  Lots and lots of not-at-all-timid marmots.

Then there was also the ascent of Torreys via the Kelso Ridge – so much fun (really!).  Here’s me on the ascent:

And here’s me on the “knife edge” – I’m actually quite scared here but trying to look tough for the camera.

August

Summer was winding down for me.  Lots of allergy “desensitization” shots had my immune system so worn out I was getting sick a lot.  I did get out with Lisa though – we hiked Devil’s thumb.  The mushrooms and flowers were the most memorable from this hike:

September

Attended both the Fort Collins and the Denver Tour de Fat events.  Tour de Fat is New Belgium Brewing’s festival of bikes, beer, and freaks!  Thousands of people come out on bikes in costume – it’s a good time.

This is me (left) with Amy and April on our way to the Tour de Fat opening parade.

September also is peak time for the changing of the Aspen trees leaves to golden!  Combined a trip to Buena Vista for the Autumn Color run with a leaf-viewing trip.

The annual Rocky Mountain National Park camping trip to listen to the elk rut is a September event.  This year Lisa and her family joined us.  Me and Lisa!

October

New York City baby! Loved NYC.  There is so much to see and watch and experience. 

Loved the subway:

Loved Central Park:

Loved the food – but actually didn’t get many photos of it.

Rail~Volution was in Portland, OR, in October also, but there is a post on that.

November

Not a lot happened in November.  Went to Joyful Journey Hot Springs for Thanksgiving – that was lovely.  No phone, no internet, no TV – just reading, soaking, eating, and napping.

December

A crazy month but nothing to speak of…

Happy New Year!