3-Day Weekend!

I've been looking forward to this extra long Labor Day weekend... I hope that you have Monday off too and are able to relax and enjoy the last weekend of summer. It's great to get one extra day to do things that you don't have time to do during a normal 2-day weekend. This morning, instead of taking Tahoe and Ashley on our typical neighborhood walk, I surprised them with a car ride. Where did we go? Fountainhead Regional Park - Tahoe's favorite park!

Remnants of Hurricane Isaac were suppose to make their way through our area so we made our way to Fountainhead early to avoid the rain. It was warm and super humid - the humidity was 98%! The muggy heat did not stop Tahoe and Ashley from enjoying our jaunt on the trail.

Ashley was happy to be on the trail at Fountainhead

Although this pic is blurry, I can attest that Tahoe was also a happy pooch

Happy dogs at Mile Marker 1...

Still happy at Mile Marker 17!

O.k., I admit it. We did not walk 17+ miles. Mile Marker 1 is Mile Marker 17. The trail at Fountainhead is an out-and-back trail which roundtrip, totals 18 miles. So the Mile Marker post pictured above has a 1 MI on one side of it and 17 MI on the other side of it.

All in all, it was a nice little hike. I was glad to have the extra time to take Tahoe and Ashley out to a special trail.

A Day for Dogs

Today is National Dog Day - a day for appreciating man's best friend. Here are 50 ways to celebrate as recommended by the National Dog Day website.

How are we planning to celebrate? A walk, extra long bellyrubs, and a vanilla ice cream cone, of course. Tahoe and Ashley love vanilla ice cream cones!

If you come across a four-legged friend today, be sure to stop and give them some extra love and attention today. If you are lucky enough to have a four-legged friend in your family, be sure to dedicate some time today to give back to your dog for all of the unconditional love that your dog gives you.

Dog House

I'm in the "dog house." Tahoe and Ashley are not very happy with me. They have reminded me that this is their blog and as such, it should be about them and full of dog-related content. They won't even stop and pose for pictures during our walks until I update you on how they are so, here goes...

Tahoe is doing well. He slept, ate, took care of Brian, and kept Ashley in line while I was away. He acts like he didn't miss me while I was gone but I know better; his tail was extra wiggly when I arrived home from my trip.

Ashley is doing swimmingly. She slept, ate, coerced Brian for treats, and taunted Tahoe. She likes to think that she kept the "boys" in line while I was away.

Hopefully this post will get me out of the "dog house." (Between you and me, if I had to be in a dog house, I wouldn't mind being in one of these luxury dog houses.)

Tahoe and Ashley...

Refusing to stop and pose until I write about them

Colorado Rocky Mountains

Yesterday, I flew from Tucson, Arizona and landed in Denver, Colorado. I met up with my mum at the Denver Airport and we made our way to Estes Park, Co. Estes Park is a town that sits close to the entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park. The elevation of Estes Park is 7,522 feet (2,293 meters). It's surrounded by mountains, aspen trees, pine trees, and lots of wildlife including grizzly bears (yikes!) and black bears, elk, moose, deer, and lots of other critters.

Estes Park, Colorado

The chipmunks love peanuts

Today we took a tram ride up Prospect Mountain. Prospect Mountain is approx. 8,880 feet high. We fed the chipmunks and birds peanuts at the top. We also did a hike around Lily Lake. Later, I was feeling a bit adventurous in the afternoon so I went running around Estes Lake (3.5mile loop)... I'm going to have to try it again tomorrow because I felt like I was running with half a lung! Must be the altitude.

Aerial tram ride up Prospect mountain

On the tram with mum

Bird in flight at the top

Lily Lake

The trout I caught was that big - catch & release policy so sorry, no pictures

A memorial to Enos Mills at the dog park in town

Adventures in SoCal

Babu and I have been quite busy the past few days. After our time in Los Angeles, we drove through Hollywood and Beverly Hills and made our way to the coast of California. Our trip took us to several beaches including Malibu, Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach. We worked hard on our tans at each beach and soaked up plenty of sun while taking occasional dips in the cool ocean water. In Malibu, we even found time to visit the Adamson House, a beautiful Malibu home built in the Spanish style. We also spent two nights in a hotel near Redondo Beach which allowed me to take morning runs along the beach from Hermosa to Redondo.

After spending a few days touring a little bit of the coast and beaches, Babu and I headed back to Tucson. Of course, we couldn't resist taking a little detour at the Joshua Tree National Park. (We only spent a few hours at Joshua Tree but Babu is sure to visit it again soon and do more hiking there.)

Today, was my last full day in Tucson. Babu and I decided to spend the morning hiking in Sabino Canyon near Tucson. Temperatures in Tucson reached 113 degrees this afternoon. It was a hot day so we tried to stay cool by relaxing at the pool and visiting the gym.

 Below is a little photo montage of our travels from the past few days...

Hollywood

Did I mention that we also visited Universal Studios?

...And the Mission at San Juan Capistrano?

Malibu

Sorry Tahoe and Ashley, no dogs allowed on the Malibu Pier

The Adamson House

A bathtub built for dogs at the Adamson House... crazy Babu!

Posing by the beach

Joshua Tree National Park

Babu climbing rocks at Joshua Tree

Giving a Joshua tree some love

Tram ride up Sabino Canyon

Smelling a Creosote bush - nice!

LA & the Dodgers

Yesterday, Babu and I made our way from San Diego to Los Angeles, CA. On the way to LA we stopped at a really nice beach in Laguna, Crystal Cove State Park, to catch some sun, waves, and to do a little hiking. It was a warm, beautiful, and sunny day - a perfect day in California.

We arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon and began preparing for the big game - we had tickets to see the Dodgers v. Rockies at Dodger Stadium. We bothed donned our Dodger t-shirts, Babu put on his cap, and walked to the stadium. Just about everyone in attendance was for the home team - we were surrounded by Dodger blue. Our seats were just about on the field, right next to right outfield (and Ethier). Babu and I settled into our seats, Dodger dogs in hand, and enjoyed the (three hour) game. Of course, the Dodgers won, 6 to 4, just as Babu predicted.



In our seats at Dodger Stadium

Exploring San Diego

Yesterday, Babu and I drove to San Diego, CA from Tucson, AZ. We plan to be in San Diego for the next few days. Today we spent time exploring the area, driving, snorkeling at La Jolla Cove, and hiking at Torrey Pines State Reserve.

Warning sign outside my hotel room in San Diego?

Guam getting some love in La Jolla

Relaxing at Torrey Pines State Reserve beach

A view down the beach at Torrey Pines

Sweat Your Thorns Off 5K Recap

SYTO5K - Finish Time: 24:52
Lesson learned... Don't eat a spanish omelette before running a 5K.

Thanks to a Lifetime Fitness treadmill, I was able to avoid the scorching desert heat and run my 5K race indoors. This was the first 5K "race" that I've ever attempted on a treadmill. All in all, it went o.k. I started off with a 1.0 incline and kept increasing my pace every two minutes or so. Then, at mile 1.5, my breathing got heavy and my stomach started to churn. (After hiking the Linda Vista trail with Babu this morning, we went out to brunch where I ate a huge spanish omelette and easily downed three diet cokes. Surprisingly, the combination did not sit well in my stomach at race time.) It was also during this time that I noticed that the treadmills next to me had become occupied with people. I began sweating like a fountain and felt a bit self-conscious but, I pushed through the discomfort. The nice thing about the treadmill was the constant distraction that it provided. I could control the pace, watch the miles and calories go by, and watch my vertical distance increase - o.k., seriously, who needs to know that you've gone 90 vertical feet in 12 minutes?

Posing on the treadmill

Running, before the spanish omelette attack

Weekend Travels & More

Happy weekend! What do you have planned for this weekend? I have replaced my usual Northern VA puppy dog scenery with thorns and desert heat.

Saying "bye-bye" to Ashley and Tahoe - see you soon!

Saying "hello" to a prickly pear

Yep, I'm off on travel and spending this weekend in Tucson, AZ to visit Babu. I flew in to Tucson late last night. When I woke up this morning (at 6:00am), Babu wanted to go on a hike.
Here's how the conversation went...
Babu: You want to go on a 2 mile hike?
Me: Sure. (Thinking: 2 miles, how tough can that be?)
And here's what really happened... 4 miles (and many, many vertical feet later), Babu is scratching his head saying "uh-oh, I think we got off the trail." Needless to say, by the time we finally turned around on the trail to head back down the mountain, my one water bottle was bone dry. Luckily, Arizona has a law that it is illegal to refuse a person a glass of water. Babu and I drove from the hike to a rental car company where we were each given a cold bottle of water upon request.

On the Linda Vista Trail

Posing with Babu

Now it's off to the gym to participate in the 3rd Annual Sweat Your Thorns Off virtual 5K race, hosted by the Boring Runner. Since I'm in Tucson, surrounded by cacti and desert, I thought it only appropriate to get off my butt and run a 5K. Plus, I really do need to sweat off the cactus thorns that I picked up from this morning's hike. Update to follow...

The Diamond State

This past weekend, I made my way up to Delaware not once but twice, to participate in the Diamond State Masters regatta. Luckily, I didn't have to do all of the driving by myself; my pair partner, doubles partner, and teammate extraordinaire, Stephanie, split the driving with me.

On Saturday, Stephanie and I raced in the pair and doubles events. We placed 2nd in the pair and 4th in the double. This was the first time that Stephanie and I raced the pair and double together and the first time that Stephanie raced either event ever. We only had a few practice sessions in the boats prior to the race so, all in all, we performed well in both events.

The "launching dock" on Noxontown Pond - Diamond States

Posing in front of our boat, the Callahan

Getting the Callahan rigged for the double

On Sunday, we raced in the four and the eight events. We placed 1st in the four and 1st in the eight. Both events had multiple heats and we won the overall awards for both events, meaning that we had the fastest time of all boats that participated in the different heats for both events.

The winning 4+ line-up, posing in front of our boat

Medals and the overall award for the 8+

Ashley, excited for the bling that I brought home

Driving to and from Delaware on Saturday and Sunday certainly made for a very long weekend. (Honestly, there hasn't been a day in the past 8 days where I've been able to sleep past 5:00am and not go to the boathouse!) I also missed spending the weekend at home with Brian, Tahoe, and Ashley. But, I must admit that it's been really nice to get back on the water and race - of course, the first place finishes are pretty sweet too.

Olympic Fever

Olympic Games XXX

London 2012

Have you been swept up by the excitement of the Olympic games? Brian and I have been tuning in to watch as many events as we can on the television. Brian is even following a number of Olympic athletes on twitter. Everyone in our household seems to have their favorite events... for Brian, it's diving, for me, it's rowing, for Ashley, it's sleeping, and for Tahoe, it's sucking on blankets. 

O.k., "sleeping" and "sucking on blankets" are not really official Olympic events but, I bet that Tahoe and Ashley would be champions if they were.

Ashley excels in "sleeping"

Tahoe is an elite "blanket sucker"

Heat Wave

It seems that the dog days of summer are back. Today's high temperature was 101 with 70% humidity - yuck! Poor Tahoe and Ashley... they both start to pant and get over-heated after 5 minutes outside in this heat. We've adjusted our afternoon walks to try and keep them as comfortable as possible. After today's walk, I decided that they needed something to help cool them off - ice cream!

Tahoe running with his tongue out

Ashley on the path

Hot dogs

Yummy - ice cream!

Nom nom nom.... nom nom nom

Did you know that in London, there is a doggy ice cream truck? It's known as the K99 Doggy Ice Cream Truck and it serves two doggy-friendly flavors of ice cream for $1 a scoop. Since we don't live in London, Tahoe and Ashley had to settle for store bought Edy's ice cream.

London's K99 Doggy Ice Cream Truck