Exploring a New Ski Area

Frank and Susan at Pineridge Cross Country Ski Area, 
also a Christmas Tree Farm

We drove up uneventfully on Saturday and got to Pineridge just as it started snowing! We enjoyed the Chili Slide run twice and got in 2+ hours before heading to Albany for dinner at the Albany Pump Station, where we spent a few hours by their fire in the massive old Quakenbush Pumping Station. Great beers (samples of the Doppelbock, Winter Warmer, and Rum Barrel Aged Poor Soldier Porter) and good food! After a pretty harrowing drive into the Adirondacks, we made it to our place at Caroga Lake, where we had to shovel out the driveway to park! Exciting!

Lots of snow at Lapland Lake

Sunday brought a lovely sunny day at Lapland, which did not make for great skiing snow, but still a good time! After skiing, we enjoyed Todd's porter and IPA by the wood stove at Caroga Lake.

Snow Day!

Exploring Reston's golf course on skis!

As Greer said, "A-mazing"!

On Friday, January 23, I met my friend, Lucy, at a cafe in Durham, NC, to celebrate her 40th birthday. I was down on a work trip from the Washington, DC area and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Lucy. We've been friends since 1993 when we were both Rotary International exchange students in Belgium. 

Frank, Susan, & Lucy in Chicago in 2012

While catching up over pastries, who approaches us, but my friend, Greer, who lives in NYC. Greer and I met in college. See below from college days when Lucy, Greer, and I got together with Lucy's host brother, Matt, and Lucy's Belgian ex-boyfriend, Jean-Philippe. (That was complicated.)

Greer, Matt, Lucy, Susan, Jean-Philippe in NC in 1995

Why was Greer in North Carolina? Greer grew up in the Triangle and was down visiting her childhood friend, Anna; our alma mater, Guilford College; and some Piedmont farmland near the goat dairy where she used to work.

Susan & Greer in California in 2006

Since she'd been at Guilford, she said it seemed perfectly natural to scan the cafe and see me. We exclaimed, hugged, and all four sat down to chat before we had to go our separate ways. What wonderful serendipity. Thanks, Guglhupf, for being just the sort of place that would bring us together!

Back to Lapland Lake

Frank and I had a great drive back to upstate New York for a whirlwind weekend! It snowed on Saturday and overnight from Saturday to Sunday, which made for beautiful trails at Lapland Lake. Luckily there was no ice or snow on the way home.

A snowy Saturday for Frank and Susan

A new experience: Ice formed in my hair

Mountain Climbing

The way to Upper Spring Trail (some other skiers ahead of us)

On yesterday's day trip to Whitegrass in Canaan Valley, we climbed 700' from just below the Harr Shelter at 3280' to just above Roundtop Shelter at 3960'. Near the top, we used our camera's self-timer to capture these three photos below -- great views and Frank on the move!

Susan, Frank, & Canaan Valley

Frank, Susan obscured, & Canaan Valley

Frank, Susan, & Canaan Valley

2014 Retrospective

Remembering: 
Polly (April 1948 - October 8, 2014)
Terry (April 1944 - October 12, 2014)

Move 1

After Jeff & Terry's wonderful hospitality in Chevy Chase, we moved in with Lowell through Air B&B for almost 3 months. We loved South Reston: the great outdoors, driving to work through the neighborhood, Flippin Pizza nights, Lowell's back yard.

View from Mt. Ralph

Travel

So much skiing; Sam & Julia's wedding; Shenandoah spring & Glen Manor Vineyard; beautiful May visit to Chicago; some family time in TN; Tim and Meaghan's wedding (see Mt. Ralph pic above); Lewes weekend and Delaware breweries; Michigan - always love it; Grand Teton - fantastic hiking and our longest hike - 19 mile loop by Lake Solitude and up and over the Paintbrush Divide; WV - hiking in streams, essentially; and a late fall trip to Arizona - the beautiful desert, especially, the desert botanic gardens

Arizona State view

So many awesome walks in DC: 

• From Ballston to Dupont Circle
• From Chevy Chase to Silver Spring
• To Chevy Chase from downtown on several scenic routes
• Beer crawl with Todd around the National Mall

Reston Area Highlights: 

• Cross County trail - hiking to Oakton and almost to Dogfish Head
• Lake Fairfax Loop
• Roller blading on W&OD and finding Old Ox Brewery off the trail 

  

  Frank (on blades) at Old Ox
• Other fun: Zumba, Charlevoix 5K; Turkey Day 5K

Team SCORE at Reston's Turkey Day 5K

Culture

Serial podcast, Andrew Wyeth exhibit at National Gallery; lots of good Netflix streaming movies; Women of Vision exhibit at Nat'l Geographic; Politics and Prose night (a book reading, walking in the snow). Good concerts: VH show at Tally Ho, Robbie's son opening for him, and more.

Matt Scannell of VH

Food Highlights - nowhere near everything, but...

• Dinner at Dino's Grotto - met a woman from Newfoundland! 
• Le Pain Quotidienne
• Cristiano's in Upstate NY - pizza with sweet red and green peppers and 'shrooms. Delicious! Hooked on garlic knots; they were a perfect snack with beer after skiing -- don't forget to add some Parks & Recreation!
• Soffritto's in Delaware
• Lancaster's Hammond's pretzels
• Zucchini hash
  

  

  A fine summer breakfast

Animal antics
Always - the nephew and niece kitties. Frank saved a turtle on the way to work one day, not to mention all the frogs we dodged in Lowell's driveway; the baby fox in South Reston; Lowell's ducks, chickens - oh, the trauma! And our new neighborhood cat, R/Pasta 

Wonderful and Unexpected: 

• Heather brought me Edward Gorey post cards from the Gorey House on Cape Cod. Love him. 
• Don't forget the conference call spoof. Funny!

Move 2: Buying a house in Reston and living close to Emily & Jeff! The yellow jackets, camelback crickets, and ants made it their home too.

Jeff & Terry working in the new kitchen in August

Susan's Work Highlights:

• ESC coaching continues. Thank you, Sherry.
• ESC-US - thank you to my favorite Study Group!
• Thank goodness for the Bethesda library - loved working there and walking there! Fantastic winter walking!
• Great experience with Amy and the Standards for Excellence Institute
• Nonprofit Capacity Conference and potential partnership with Shira
• Connections with Isaacson Miller
• NTBTF in May - reuniting with my beloved ESCers
• SCORE - Fantastic Leadership Conference; great to visit chapters; really interesting people (a history of weaponry); fascinating clients; WE Think DE program
• Encore Conference and visit to Phoenix

  

  Susan's proud accomplishment

Saving skiing to the end because skiing gets a lot of blog love.

Skiing

New, East Coast Places:at Jeff & Terry's and around Chevy Chase + further afield at Osceola Tug Hill, Lapland, Gatineau and Ottawa (where we met an exceptionally friendly French Canadian man)

Border Crossing Drama:

On the way to Ottawa & Gatineau, we were flagged, our car searched, questions flew: "When were you last in Canada?" and "What do you do for work?". When we said we were going skiing, the agent wanted to know where our skis were. We pointed them out in the back seat! Cheeky, I guess. She told us to pull over and go in to the office. We encountered another unfriendly Canadian (an oxymoron, we thought). He said, "You drove all the way up here for skiing?". I chuckled and said we were "pretty intense" about skiing. He was not amused. The job question came up again. I said "consultant," and he asked suspiciously, "What kind of consulting?". Two other agents searched car. They asked if they should expect to find anything sharp. We said, "Just the tips of our ski poles." A few minutes of anxious waiting later, we were on our way to Ottawa and Gatineau!

Ski Season Starts

Frank on the trail at Whitegrass

Frank and I were happy to start ski season close by at Whitegrass in Canaan Valley, WV. It was very cold on Saturday, and we were out with the masses, but we enjoyed a bit of quiet time on the Cabin Mountain Trail and had a fun ski down the Three Mile Trail. On Sunday, it was much warmer, and we skied some fine track on the Snow Farm and explored the Timberline and intermediate Hawthorne trails. Besides skiing, weekend highlights included a stay at the Black Bear, lunch at the Hellbender, and a stop at Heather's friend's bar, the 50/50 Taphouse in Winchester on the way home.

October 2014

Terry, Jeff, Susan, and Frank in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2011

2009 had been quite a year or so we thought then. I sprained my ankle; Anthony got the flu and could not come; Frank added 3 hours to his 10-hour journey by driving to the other Davis, WV; Todd had an inner ear affliction; and my grandfather died. 5 years later, we headed back to West Virginia for peak leaf weekend.

The leaves were in fine form. In the mist, rain, and fog, the color popped. Up on the ridge, we couldn’t see very far and experienced the wettest trails ever. It was like hiking in a river!

West Virginia color

On Sunday morning, we got messages that Frank’s mom had been rushed to the hospital. We learned later that she’d had an aneurysm in the night and died before reaching the hospital. An incredibly disciplined woman who crafted a highly satisfying life and home, she had seriously and conscientiously invested in her health. She should not have left us at 70.

That Sunday started the grieving process as a family with absolutely no warning. We were heartened by her ability to be an organ donor, giving her lung, kidney, and liver. Her 13+ years of volunteer service at the U.S. National Arboretum and U.S. Botanic Gardens were honored and a flag was flown over the U.S. Capitol. We took walks and reminisced over family photos. We continue to live with our new reality. (Read more about Terry.)

Now two weeks later, I’ve just returned from a work trip in Phoenix & Tempe, AZ. A worthwhile professional trip and a restorative desert experience for the incognito explorer.

Skyrocketing into the Top 10

Wow! Visiting Grand Teton in September made for fantastic hiking weather! Our host, Hugh, said we enjoyed the best weather of the summer.

Our second two hikes on the trip have made it onto our Top Ten list! They are: 

• Table Mountain in the Targhee National Forest just west of Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) 
• The 19.6 mile loop up Cascade Canyon across Paintbrush Divide and down Paintbrush Canyon in GTNP.  

Wildlife Sightings: a bear and a moose on the trail.

Table Mountain, Targhee National Forest, WY

Cascade Canyon Views, GTNP

Susan & Frank, nearing Paintbrush Divide, GTNP

Paintbrush Canyon, GTNP

Other trip highlights included sitting out on the deck during Snake River Brewing's happy hour (multiple times), pizza and red and black ales at Wildlife Brewing Company in Victor, ID (after the Table Mtn hike), and roller blading on GTNP's awesome trail. 

Frank enjoying happy hour

Susan & Frank roller blading, GTNP

  Check out all the photos here. 

Back in the Mountains

When we visited Grand Teton in 2009, we barely saw the Tetons. In early June, it was cloudy and rainy for much of our visit. Many of the classic hikes were not possible because of ice and snow, so we planned this trip in the hopes of great late season hiking weather. So far so good.

To get to Grand Teton, we took the scenic route from Salt Lake City through the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache and Caribou National Forests, which took us by Bear Lake and through the Star Valley and Snake River Canyon. 

Views from Mt. Glory

Upon arrival, we took our host's advice and drove up to Teton Pass to hike up Mt. Glory. Pretty much straight up, we got nice late afternoon light and views of the valley and mountains in all directions.

After our hike, we stopped at Q Roadhouse and Brewing Co -- great outdoor seating with heat lamps. We enjoyed the rhombus IPA for Frank and farmhouse ale for me, quinoa hush puppies (hipster or what?), and a burger with pretty amazing house-made bacon. 

View from Amphitheater Lake Trail, GTNP

On Tuesday, we roller bladed on the valley floor from Gros Ventre Junction toward Jenny Lake. We got in about 6 miles one way, and battled a fierce head wind on our way back. We arrived at Snake River Brewing Co. in time for happy hour and recovered from our blading in the beautiful late afternoon sun with their Stout, Sahti, and the artichoke dip - amazingly delicious! We attempted a lecture on the Gros Ventre Wilderness at the library, but found it to be standing room only, so we perused a Yellowstone exhibit comparing historic post card and photographs.

Cheeky Marmot, Garnet Canyon, GTNP

Wednesday brought us our first big hike (~12 miles). We joined quite a crowd of hikers, picas, marmots, and at least one bear on the trail to Amphitheater Lake and Garnet Canyon. Hiking bonus: we found a pristine Snickers bar on the trail, and after asking 5 hikers if they'd lost it, we claimed it for our own!