It has just dawned on me that this is the first weekend in a long time when I don't have anything planned. No events to go to, no barbecues, no guests staying with us etc. It's just me and the family.
Tomorrow I'm going to take the family to a place called Pullen Park. It's got a carousel, traIn, paddle boats, playground etc. I'm going to go to the grocery today and pack a picnic.
It's the simple things in life, right?
I also plan on working on the next #tngpodcast which will focus on religion and spirituality. I'm excited to work on it, it's always fun and it's a stress reliever for me. I get very lost in the work and that's a good thing.
What about you? What are/have you done this weekend? What are you excited about accomplishing?
Pullen Park
My weekend will mainly consist of a bit of packing. On Monday I'm flying to Canada for a 3 week family holiday touring around the country (I'm from England). Starting from Vancouver we're heading to Kelowna, Canmore, Jasper, Edmonton, and then at 26 hour train journey back to Vancouver on the Rocky Mountaineer. We have family on my farther's side in Edmonton and Toronto, and there's going to be a gathering in the former. I can't wait. It's been about 5 years since I went abroad, and this is the first family holiday in even longer. It should be a great time. I also paid the deposit on the house I'm going to be renting from September when I move to Sheffield for my masters degree. Exciting times ahead. I'm going to be recording a video diary/documentary on our journey in Canada, so maybe I'll post it up here when it's done.
We're spoiled as hell in DC. We've got a national park (Rock Creek Park) inside the city that goes on for miles and is just gorgeous on its own, just steps from my house. Specifically, there's a paved road in there called Beach North that, during the weekends, is closed to traffic entirely and is flush with bicyclists and hikers. It's one of the best trails I know of on Earth, and last time I went out on it I did 25 miles, all the way into Maryland and it never stopped being just as fantastic. Here's a shot from when I was out there in September. I think I'll do that again tomorrow. Because I like to show everyone, Look how magnificent it is there
Rock creek is awesome. I stay at the Sheraton near there and have run that section of the trail a few times. It's very nice and it's a rarity for a city like DC to have something like that right downtown, for sure.
Well overall I'm pretty fucking stoked for this weekend. The band I've been practicing with for the last couple weeks is having a show tonight. Though I'm not comfortable with all the songs yet, I am going to get on stage to play the last two with them and close out the performance. After that, I'm gonna party with my sister to celebrate her birthday. And if I'm not too hungover tomorrow, then I'll be playing a round of golf with my friends. EDIT: Show cancelled, guitarist has kidney stones :(
Hot Springs can be a wonderful time. There's a place in Idaho that I would highly recommend checking out. It's called Gold Bug hot springs. It's about a short 1-2 mile hike in and it's all amongst sage bush, so it smells amazing. When I was there it started snowing so the whole forest was lightly dusted white while we relaxed in the springs. It was awesome. Have fun. Which ones are you headed to?
Gold Bug looks great. I'll definitely add it to my list of future destinations. I went to Deep Creek hot springs -- apparently it's become pretty well known since the 70s, which would have been nice to know beforehand to help with finding it... The hike was about the same, about 2 miles in, although pretty much in desert. Fortunately it wasn't a hot day. It was a good time.
I'm going to a brewery tour this afternoon, and a Bavarian festival later on tonight! Can't wait to drink beer and eat sausage. Tomorrow might be spent doing a beverage trail, not sure on that end though. Picnics are a great time.
I plan to plan as little as possible. That's a beautiful park tng, enjoy!
On Sunday, i went to a festival here in Chicago called Pitchfork. I'm usually not a fan of festivals but my friend was working there so i got a free ticket. I saw Real Estate, Kendrick Lamar, and this electro-pop chick called Grimes. Real Estate and Kendrick were both cool, i was not really a fan of Grimes. Beck played on Friday and Neutral Milk Hotel on Saturday, i'm bummed that i missed both of them, but it was a last minute thing. I had never been to Pitchfork before, and seeing Real Estate reminded me that i need to make more music so i'd say it was a successful night, despite the back pain, dehydration, and nauseating amount of obnoxious suburban college kids.
You went to P4Kfest? Dammit. I'm jealous and would love to go to that festival. Grimes is...well. In my opinion Grimes is more of an industry made phenomenon than anything else. The rest of those artists are fantastic, especially Real Estate.
Yeah, i just wish i could have gone on a day with bands that i really wanted to see. I wasn't even sure id have a ticket at all until Sunday afternoon, so i didn't have much of a choice. I've mentioned it on Hubski before, not sure if it was to you or someone else: i was interning at this studio last summer while Real Estate tracked their latest album there. They're cool, really chill guys and i'm glad i got to finally see them live. Grimes is insanely cute. In my opinion, at least (the whole night i was trying to get my friend to go backstage and hit on her). Her singing voice just sounds too much like a baby mumbling for me to be into her music. A lot of the sounds she uses in her tracks are really interesting, though.
That's beautiful beezneez. That last photo reminds me a lot of the time I spent in Glacier National Park. It's a neat experience to be able to hike with summer clothing on and encounter snow. What kind of mushrooms are those? Did you encounter any wild animals on your hike? Glad you were able to be outdoors, I'm envious.
To be honest I'm not sure what type of mushrooms they are (hence the pictures), but I've heard word from the Colorado Mythological Society that very few, if none at all, native mushrooms in this state are fatal to consume. Regrettably I saw no mountain goats, no bighorn sheep. The trail was densely populated.
A bit(lot) late, but I don't mind sharing. DISCLAIMER! MY WEEKEND WAS A LONG, AWESOME DATE! DESCRIPTION TO FOLLOW Friday night: Date night. Craft Beer and a few movies, (Ommegang Rare Vos Amber, and The American, for examples)
Saturday: Farmers market in the morning, cooking farmers market goodies (Did you know you could find really awesome locally sourced pork in Detroit?) until early afternoon, kayaking from about 2 until 7, and then crockpot Jamaican Jerk pork loin with more awesome beer for dinner. I stayed the night saturday, got back to my place to do homework Sunday afternoon. All of this with a wonderful, intelligent, kind, and GORGEOUS (I'm omitting all of the other adjectives that come to mind for the sake of brevity) young woman who really loves my company (and cooking).
This weekend I've been utterly unproductive, mainly because yesterday it was goddamn 38 degrees C (100 fahrenheit) so I just went swimming with some good friends in a nearby river. Today will probably be less hot. I'm looking forward more to spending a couple of days camping in Belgium with said friends next week. That's gonna be great fun - hope the weather will be good.
Took my kid to a neighborhood jazz festival (should have been called a blues festival) last night, it was pretty good, she was prety Luke warm on it. I have a pot roast in the slow cooker for tonight, think I'll serve it over egg noodles. Supposed to go to a three year olds birthday party tomorrow and back to work in the evening.
I spend a good amount of time at 3 year old's bday parties these days and the best ones are as much for the adults as they are for the kids. I was actually bummed that I just missed the most recent as they roasted a whole pig, had beer pong, cocktails and horse shoes. Oh.. and the kids played. It makes me wonder, were my parties like this growing up and I just didn't realize that the adults were having more fun than us? Good luck with the roast.
I sat in the park today afternoon (Saturday) with my friends. We talked about random shit and drank copious amounts of water (it was about 30 degrees here). Cambridge (the one with the good university) has some really nice parks. I was in Parker's Piece, which is often used for cricket games: and in the middle there is Cambridge's most famous lamp-post, Reality Checkpoint - so called because drunken students walking across the park are awoken from their stupor at 3am, as they stumble into it. At least, that's one of the stories that tourists are told about it. To be honest, most of the stories that you hear about Cambridge are total and utter bollocks as lying to tourists is a traditional local past-time (especially if you are doing a punt tour). Tomorrow I'm going to go to Cambridge again to have a full English breakfast with some of my old school friends. Egg (fried or scrambled), bacon, sausage, baked beans (courtesy of the famous British company, Heinz), mushroom and tomato. Maybe some black pudding if you have been well-behaved.
"Reality Checkpoint," -I could have used one of those on several occasions in college. I've never played, or watched a game of cricket before. You play?
I don't play it, although I was made to play during PE (physical education) lessons at secondary school (between 11 and 16), along with everyone else in the class. I've never watched a full game because they are really fucking long (five days of six hours each for Test cricket, which are international games such as the Ashes).
Going to dinner with my bandmates at our singer's parents house. Souvlaki = delicious. aside from that it's work and sleep, man. I look forward to the day that I actually have a "weekend" on the weekend.
Well yesterday I ended up spending most of the day helping with some family business. Played through (most of) CoD Ghosts for the first time last night and then went to bed. Slept all day until about now (3:17 PM EST) and I don't know what I'm looking forward to for the rest of the weekend. Definitely contuining on with Hemlock Grove and The Strain (tomorrow night), so there's that.
This evening, the coffee shop I work in will be open in the evening for a drum circle, which I'm excited to be a part of, and tomorrow I will take my first day off from work in two weeks, which will be invaluable for my mental health. EDIT: I'm also about to make a dope hamburger, which will undoubtedly be a high point for the weekend.
shit your life is way cooler than mine. I want a drum circle.
You don't have to move to an Island to find drum circles, though that doesn't sound half bad. They were all over the campus where I went to school. -The University of Montana.
Any particular island you'd recommend? :D I've got so many options!