Geocache in the rain

Sunday, Dj and I braved the rain and went on another geocache adventure. My boss told me about his place on the Alleghey Passage, a bike trail built from former railroad tracks. We had a beautiful drive--things are finally getting green. It was sprinkling a little, but we still enjoyed our walk very much, especially a little short cut up and over a mountain. Plus we picked up a travel coin to take with us to Seattle.

Woke up to the sun and it turned to rain

We like to camp. We go as often as we can. Since we've been married, it has rained on all of our camping trips except for TWO. We are so glad that we got such an awesome tent as a wedding present (Thanks Uncle Glenn and Aunt Louise); it has kept us amazingly dry through countless showers and storms. This weekend was no exeption. We headed to Cedar Creek State Park, picked our spot next to a tiny, bubbling creek, set up, and started dinner. We were happily enjoying our fire and nice warm weather, when out of nowhere, rain started to fall, as well as the temperature. When we woke up the next morning, to more rain, our little creek had grown in size. We decided to do a quick geocache, then head back to Morgantown, where it was of course sunny.
There were a ton of morel mushrooms all over our campsite. We decided to take home the ones we accidently knocked over and give them a try. Pretty tasty.
We still felt a little adventurous and decided to do another geocache at Fort Necessity, this time a mulitcache. Although I have lived close to this place my whole life, I had never been there. We learned about the start of the French and Indian War, George Washington as a 22-year old leader of the Virginia militia, and the constucting of the first national road. The first stop of the cache was Fort Necissity, a simple, and really small structure. Washington was sent to build a road and find out what the sneaky French were up to. Instead, he started a war, and ended up building a fort of necessity to protect the troops.
The next stop was to Major-General Braddock's grave. Braddock was killed in battle, and Washington buried him right in the middle of the road out of fear that the Indians would deface his body. Washington had the army march right over his newly dug grave to hide all evidence. Braddock was not a friend to the Indians; when they wanted to join him in fighting agains the French, the Indians asked him for some land in return. Braddock said the land is for the British and not the savages! Almost 50 years later, Braddock's body was discovered and moved while builiding the national road.
Our last stop delt with Jumonville Glen, the site of the first fight of the French and Indian War. Washington and his gang snuck up on the French, and depending on who you listen to, someone started a skirmish. The French general, Jumonville, ended up dead. Washington took off, built Fort Necessity, and prepared for battle. The French and Indian's came, and Washington was forced to surrender. The British sent Braddock over from England to show the colonists how to fight, but that didn't go to well either. Somehow the British won this six year long war, something I've never really understood.

Things I'm liking lately

Such a great book. Don't tell anyone, but I even stayed home from work to read it all day. Just a well written, creative story, and now one of my favorites. Can't wait for the second to come out!!

Bought this and love it. So easy to use, and food tastes so good with real wheat flour.

Great movie! It had my heart from the jump in the out house.

This just made me laugh.

If you have a couple million hours to spare check out this website:

www.hermitagemuseum.org

Who wants to come to St. Petersburg with me?

Nothing beats goat cheese spread on crusty bread. I could eat this all day everyday. The real reason I want to be a goat farmer.

I've never been a Charles Dickens fan, and as a whim I dvr'ed PBS's "Little Dorrit". I am so glad I did, because I love it! It is the funniest thing I have seen on tv in a long while, and the suspense, waiting for the next episode, is killing me! If you've missed it from the beginning, come on over sometime--I just preordered it online. It is just that good.

Geocache Weekend

Somehow we got the hook-up on trail maps for our GPS. We have been reintroduced to the art of geocaching, and spent the weekend searching for hidden treasures. The first adventure led us down the Decker's Creek Rails to Trails and our very first find. Then we got a little more adventurous and headed to the muddy wasteland of Snake Hill Road. Dj found a multi-cache that lead us from lookout point to lookout point, with views spectacular. Snake Hill Road is directly opposite the river as Cooper's Rock, so it was neat seeing views from the other side.

View of Cheat Bridge... and beyond.
View of Cooper's Rock. Hopefully, things will be green soon.

Oh say can you see...

After Becky was done showing off her poster at the nerd convention in Baltimore we decided to go see the sights. We visited Poe's grave, walked by a Dental museum, (it was closed) and ate some good eats at a local Indian restaurant. But I would have to say the funnest location we visited was Fort McHenry. At first look you might think that it would be a little boring as did we. But after a quick ten minute movie and a walk around the Fort you realize what an important historic place Fort McHenry really is and with the new found knowledge of the events that inspired the Star Spangled Banner you leave with a feeling of reverence and respect or the many brave men that fought for principles that they strongly believed in. It kind of left me wondering what happened?

After leaving Fort McHenry we went to the Hampton Estate, a huge mansion established by Captain Charles Ridgely. It was pretty cool. We determined that if you have too much money and you don't know what to do with it all, you build a huge home and furnish it with paintings and stuff.

This is a cedar of Lebanon that Eliza the wife of the son of the Governor who was the nephew of the captain brought back from their honeymoon in Europe. Its 200 years old.

Ah, roommates

While in Baltimore, I was able to meet and catch up with some old roomates. Anica has been living in Baltimore and was actually working a quick five minute walk from my hotel. When I got into town, she was nice enough to show me around; before I knew it, I was right at home. We drove by the hospital where Poe died, two John Hopkin's campuses, lots of projects, and interesting sculptures. We stopped for a cannoli in Little Italy, my very first ever. I had a great time catching up again, and re-realizing how great Anica truely is (like I could forget). It was fun to meet her for lunch breaks, walk around Baltimore, and talk politics and other fun stuff. We were also able to drive down and visit Sina and her adorable family before they take off across the world. I haven't laughed that hard in a while, rehashing old times. We unanimously decided Connection was great place to live that semester.

Society of Toxicology Meeting

This week, I was able to attend the annual Society of Toxicology meeting in Baltimore, MD. I was unsure what to expect, and was feeling a little over my head. But I really enjoyed it; I went to some really interesting talks on nanoparticles (go NIOSH!), California wildfires and the toxins created from ash, and the horrors of artifical sweeteners (or non-horrors--eat all the Splenda, Sweet-N-Low, Equal, and Truvia you can, cause they got two thumbs up from the nation's experts). I was lucky enough to present a poster at one of the Nano sessions, regarding my research on silicon. It was a great experience. I was supposed to recycle/trash my poster afterword, but I didn't have the heart. I think I'll use it as a rug for my living room instead.