Sunday, January 25, 2009

Swamp Tromp through the Everglades - January 2009



The Everglades trip was awesome. There were eleven of us this year (left to right):
  • Gary Gibson
  • Mark Massey
  • Susan Iwaniw
  • Paul Semenec
  • Mike Semenec
  • Armand Van Den Bogaert
  • Me
  • Albert Van Den Bogaert
  • Rachel Doran
  • Ludo Van Den Bogaert
  • and Betty Dawson (not pictured)

It was a four day adventure - we left from Chokoloskee and spent the first night at Pavilion Key. We then ventured to the haunts of the Watson Place, the Lopez Place, and back to Chokoloskee.

Details to follow....

Monday, January 12, 2009

Everglades Bound...

Joe Long and Gary Gibson - Everglades 2005

It is approaching MLK Weekend - that can only mean that it is time for another Swamp Tromp through the Everglades! In Washington the crowds will be shivering through an inauguration. Me - I will be basking in the Florida sun paddling my kayak through the Everglades. Oh, I miss my kayak and Florida winters!

This year we are planning to leave from Chokoloskee and head toward either Pavillion Key or Rabbit Key for an island overnight. Then it's off to the Watson Place - Gary has dreamed of a return to the Watson Place for years - it's haunted you know. It also has monster mosquitos! I think we are planning the final night at Lopez River - one of our more frequent destinations. All our plans this year are for land camping rather than using the chickees. In 2005 there were 11 of us and we stayed one night on Sweetwater Chickee (see photo below). While Sweetwater was rated for 12 people - it was very cramped and I was afraid to roll over for fear of falling in! There was a gator under the chickee most of the night - with every swish of his tail, the bio luminance glowed - it was awesome.


This is the Sweetwater Chickee - taken as we were leaving. That's Ludo VanDenBogaert and I believe the other person is his son Brian. Again, from the 2005 adventure.


Sunday, January 11, 2009

Secretary of Arts


Quincy Jones (right) recently made a comment that the next time he talked with Barack Obama it would be to suggest the establishment of a cabinet level position for the arts. Can you imagine - a cabinet level position in support of arts and culture? Maybe we could see support for arts in public schools - what a novel concept - and a whole new twist on whole child education.

What do you think - Secretary of Arts and Culture? See the op-ed piece in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/opinion/27ferris.html?_r=2


Monuments by Moonlight

The DC monuments by moonlight are awesome! Last Friday, the Maryland Hiking Meet-up Group I belong to joined up with the Sierra Club for a memorable (for a number of reasons) sneaker hike around the monuments. The hike was lead by Jim Finucane, a knowledgeable and fun hike leader. Jim’s leader apparel included a beanie with a propeller on top – not exactly suited for the 30 degree weather but most appropriate for his personality – he said it was a gift and that he really needed a place to wear it.

Toby, Liz and I were late getting to the meeting point – by about thirty minutes. We took the subway in but traffic getting to the Greenbelt station was terrible. And of course, we sat on the train for another ten minutes before it left the station. We got to Federal Triangle and went looking for the group – first our part of the group (Kellie, Daryl, MaryC, and Dega the dog) which we eventually met at the Washington Monument and then the other part of the group, the Sierra Club part. We finally merged outside the Air and Space Museum. You would think it would be easy finding a group of 15 people at 8:00PM on a Friday night on the DC Mall – wrong! The miracle of cell phones made it happen!

So we missed Jim’s tour of the Capitol grounds – with all the construction for the inauguration on the 20th. We stopped at the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden and admired the great art from above as it was closed for the evening. Then we were off to the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. The Jefferson Memorial was awesome in the moonlight (and has indoor heated restrooms!). From there we walked along the tidal basin to the FDR Memorial – what an awesome place at night – having been there during the day, I had no idea how different it came across on what was rapidly becoming an overcast and cloudy moonlight night. We wondered through the Korean War Memorial with haunting soldiers on patrol, past the Lincoln Memorial, and though the Viet Nam Memorial. By this time it was nearing 10PM and there were still folks there doing charcoal rubbings, reflecting and mourning – will it ever end? One remarkable thing about the hike was that the fountains were all working – the fountains at the WWII memorial and those at the FDR memorial – I think it must be that they are putting on a good face for the inauguration crowd because they would otherwise be down for maintenance this time of year!

About the time we were at the Jefferson Memorial – I got this craving for Chinese food – Chinatown Chinese food. At FDR I voiced it again, and by the end there were six of us headed to Chinatown. Micah, a wonderful young man on the hike and a Washington “foodie,” recommended Full Kee Restaurant on H Street. So sometime after 11PM – the six of us descended on Chinatown for dumpling soup and a few entrees of some really fantastic ethnic dishes. Since we had been hiking for about four hours in about 30 degree weather, I really welcomed the hot tea too.

I got home somewhere around 2am, I think… and didn’t get up until about noon the next day. Talk about sleeping in after a wonderful hike.

I recommend the monuments in moonlight. I would love to take my camera and try to capture some night time images. Visitors beware – I feel a need to alter my DC tours to include some “night life” as well.