Thursday, May 31, 2007

Never A Dull Moment











Having a child who is involved with event planning as a profession means never having an unscripted moment when she returns home. So it was over the Memorial Day holiday. Daughter#1 flew in from the wilds of CT on Thursday evening after arranging to catch an earlier flight than she had originally booked. She was scheduled to get in at 11:00PM so we were grateful she caught the earlier flight. Besides the usual reason to return home (party with the parents), Daughter#1 was also in town to see a dermatologist she likes and has used before concerning a suspicious mole on her forehead. Years of ignoring sunblock and bad genes are catching up with her. She had hoped to have it removed on Friday, but the Doctor would only biopsy it. Daughter#1 will be back in August to have it removed. I had to work on Friday while she was busy with her trip downtown to see the Doctor, but I did manage to get over to Sandy Run to row during lunch. Friday was hot! Mid 80s and it felt hotter. I did 8 miles and headed home to the air conditioning and cold beer. Later per our usual Friday night schedule, we went out for pizza.

Saturday, Daughter#2, the Son In Law and the Black Demon arrived to help celebrate Ann's birthday. While Ann and Daughter#1 headed out to get their hair done, Daughter#2 and the SIL and myself went on a bike ride along the Rt 123 bike trial. We started in Lorton and rode north past George Mason University and into Fairfax to have lunch at Noodles & Company. Daughter#2 worked there for several months after she took a hiatus from Va Tech and took some classes at GMU. Again it was a very hot day, upper 80s. After lunch and several glasses of water we headed back to our cars. All in all it was a 22 mile jaunt. When we got back home, Daughter#1 was in the midst of preparing quite the feast. We steamed clams, ate deviled eggs, enjoyed an elaborate fruit salad, grilled hot dogs, turkey burgers and one fake Italian sausage for daughter #2 and drank a lot of Coronas. We ate till we were all ready for bed.

Sunday I got up early which made possible by the fact that I had dragged my tired ass to bed so early. I went rowing again and did another 8 miles to Ryan's Dam and back. It was unusually quiet even the fishermen were few and far between. After the row I got cleaned up and watched the Nationals finish up in St Louis with a victory. Daughter#2 and the SIL had headed home and the rest of us were deciding what to do for dinner. Daughter#1 decided we should head to Tim's Rivershore Restaurant and Crab House. Tim's is an interesting place more for the people then anything else. Its one of the few places to eat, certainly in the NoVA area, that sits right on the Potomac. It draws a strange mixture of yuppies, rednecks and marines from nearby Quantico. There are plenty of tattoos and mullets to go around not to mention the 12 yr old girl walking around with a Hooters tank top. I wish I could say it was an unusual site at Tim's, but no. Tim's has a Jimmy Buffet type atmosphere what with palm trees and a Tiki type bar and the seafood is good and reasonably priced and has a great view so we love to go. However, the parking is ridiculous and if you don't go early the wait could be endless. We headed over and arrived just after 4:00. We had about a 10 minute wait - just long enough to grab a round of drinks. Sadly they were out of steamed clams so we got steamed mussels and crab balls instead as appetisers. Its a bit early in the season for hard shell crabs yet plus we're still in the midst of a shortage meaning they are crazy expensive. Frankly I think its due to over harvesting crabs and we might never see cheap crabs again. However the King Crab legs were cheap so we all opted for them. As we enjoyed our crab legs we enjoyed the people watching and some live entertainment. Because the place is so crowed, they set up a stage for this guy to perform on out in the water. It was a bit crazy but unique like the rest of Tim's. Not 5 minutes after we finished up and paid the bill and got in our car, the mother of all thunder storms ripped through the area. Talk about good timing. I felt really sorry for those people still eating, but I suppose that's part of the risk you accept when you ask for outside seating.

Monday I again headed out early to row. This time Sandy Run was crowded. Entering the parking lot I was worried that all the boats would be out, but luckily that was not the case. As I was bringing my oars down to the dock, another member of the club that I know was just docking. I offered to use the boat he was in, which would save me for lugging one down to the water and save him from lugging it up, washing it down and putting it away. A win-win for both of us. The morning was beautiful and the water was flat as glass. I headed up river toward Ryan's Dam again. Once there, I was still feeling good and the boat was running well so I kept on going. I went a mile and a half past the dam before turning around and heading back. I managed to row the eleven miles in almost the same time I usually row the 8 miles so that was a good indication that the boat was really moving. After returning home and cleaning up, Daughter#1 had arranged an outing for us to see the local National's farm team, the Potomac Nationals. Mondays are Washington Post Dollar Days so you can get tickets and Hot Dogs for just a dollar. Since Daughter#1 was using our money, she decided to pass on the $1.00 grandstand tickets and opted for the field box seats behind home plate. The Potomac Nationals stadium is probably no more than 5 miles from out house so its a quick trip. We entered the stadium, got some hot dogs and beer and settled in to watch the game. The Nationals lost to the Salem Avalanche 4-1, but it was a fun time. We saw a few doubles, a triple and a suicide bunt. It was also very hot which resulted in a few kids full of junk food to puke in the stands. Delightful. One was trying to make it to one of the bathrooms and wasn't successful and ended up puking right behind us. Close enough that I got hit with a drop or two of kid puke on my arm. Yuck. After the game we returned home to enjoy leftovers from the night before and we all crashed early again. A theme the entire weekend.

Tuesday morning, Daughter#1 returned to CT. Now we don't know what to do with ourselves. We have no one to tell us what to do.

Miles Rowed this Weekend: 27
Total Miles Rowed 2007: 77.5
Miles Biked this Weekend: 22
Miles Biked 2007: 82

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