go hike a mountain

March 29, 2008

Our second day in Washington, D.C., was reserved for the Adventure Expo. It was in a convention center and there were rows of booths set up with travel information for several of the states and many countries overseas. We grabbed a few brochures on hiking and kayaking and made some new friends. The whole point of attending the expo was to hear Andrew Skurka talk about his last achievement, The Great Western Loop. You can read about his adventures at http://www.andrewskurka.com . He’s basically one of the fastest and most light-weight hikers there is. Last year he was named National Geographic Adventure magazine’s Adventurer of the Year. He covered almost 7000 miles by foot in about 7 months, so I bet you can imagine why. Anyway, Jesse has been reading a lot about him lately. He got to have his picture taken with him, too.

After Skurka, we listened to Gordon Wiltsie, an award-winning expedition photographer talk about his travels and treks. We bought a copy of his book afterward.

In between speakers, we chatted with a fellow named Trevor who will be on his way to Africa soon to do some cave exploring and research. He gave us some very good advice about looking for sponsorships. We didn’t get his email address and I don’t think he has a website, so I unfortunately cannot let you guys know how his adventure is going. I did manage to find his portfolio (it’s amazing what you can squeeze out of a google search: trevor cave africa national geographic) which you can view here . Perhaps he’ll email us when he returns so we can let you know if there are any publications about the trip. But we hope he’s safe.

After the convention, we decided to visit the monuments and grab a bite to eat. The hotel we stayed at was in Chinatown and this elaborate sign forms an arch at one of the ends.

This was a statue outside of one of the Smithsonian Museums.

Here is the house where Abraham Lincoln died.

The White House.

The World War II Memorial.

This is the Lincoln Monument from one side of the reflection pool.

And this is the Washington Memorial from the other side.

I guess I didn’t realize Lincoln’s statue was so large.

The Korean War Memorial is pretty spooky because these statues are just looming there in the darkness. Every now and then a flash from someone’s camera would fire and look like flashes of lightning on the soldiers.

We returned to the hotel by 9pm and got our last night of sleep on the road.

March 30, 2008

We couldn’t visit Washington, D.C., without trying for the extra-credit highpoint. I found some directions and a description of the area which said the actual highest point is fenced off. We found the place. We climbed a hill. It was pretty windy.

When we returned home and I read another description of D.C.’s highpoint, I’m not so sure we really found the exact best spot we could stand in, but we know it’s in the same area.

With this last highpoint, it was time for us to make the 8 hour drive back home. It’s not easy getting back to the daily grind, but we made it home okay and Jesse and I have both returned to work. We’re safe and nearly broke, but happy. Thank you everyone that has left kind words on our page or shared a bed or a hot meal. And to our families, especially, we love you all. I’ll try and make another post soon with a summation of our trip.

postscript: One of the speakers at the expo had mentioned that he couldn’t finish one trip without already thinking about the next, and Jesse and I are just the same. We’ve already made plans to hike the North-South Trail which is 77 miles - the length of Rhode Island. We’ll attempt to cover the trail in 3 days (that’s an average of 25 miles a day), the Memorial Day weekend. Check the site soon so you can read about how we’re both trying to get in shape for the hike and what kind of gear we plan to take.

postscript 2: Look at how different Jesse looks in just 2 months of being on the road.

Day 1

Day 59