Chilly Windy Day at Cabin John Creek Park

Today I decided to go into the DC-ish area with QB so I could find some activity- photo inspiration while he did some work. I looked up parks that were close to where he was going to be, and decided to visit "Cabin John Creek Park". I figure I'll get plenty of opportunities to do such a thing from time to time since I am regularly off in the middle of the week. The idea of walking, jogging, or hiking on some park trails sounded absolutely wonderful. And it was. However, I didn't not expect the rain yesterday to bring such cold wind for today. Yesterday's walk/jog was in very temperate weather, no wind, and the sun even came out a few times.

Today was overcast, chilly, and windy, but I was not going to let that stop me from my little adventure. I dropped QB off and headed to the park. Once I stepped out of the car and had a little look around so see which direction I needed to head, the chilly wind gave me a good blasting. I was glad I put on some extra clothes before I left the house, but for the first few minutes I wondered what I got myself into.  I can do alright in cold weather if there is no wind. If there is cold wind I can really be a wimp. Also, calorie restriction tends to leave me a bit colder, and I often need an extra sweater when I go places.

I snapped a few pictures, but then decided I need to warm up quick, so I started jogging down the dirt trail. A few flowers were starting to bloom, and the grass was starting to green up, but the trees were still bare. It still took me a little while to warm up because I kept finding things I wanted to take a picture of. Ha. After a while, everything was toasty expect my ears and the tip of my nose.

Overall, I covered just over 2 miles of the trail. There was a stream that more or less followed the trail, and the terrain was somewhat hilly. After about 35min, my ears were really getting cold so I put on my scarf, took a few silly pics, and started the walk back. When I got called back to the car, I realized I needed to find a restroom with a quickness. QB wasn't done yet, and there was a mall close by, so I decided to make use of their restrooms.

I ended up getting another mile of power walking in at a mall while waiting for QB to finish up since he was a bit longer than expected. I didn't feel like taking mall pictures though after all the neat nature shots. Besides, I don't think I could have said many nice things about the people I saw there...that's all I am going to say.

The first few pics are my favorite, artsy ones, then I add some for fun and some just to show the trail.  

Ok, now for a couple of me having fun with my green scarf. :-p

And finally, here are just a few of the trail. :-) 

Dangling the Carrot: The Three for One Deal

I needed some motivation to get outside, exercise, and get back into my photography hobby. So, I decided to combine all three at once. A few times a week I will take my camera outdoors and take pictures as I walk, jog, bike, etc, to where ever. My new project started today.

First, let me tell you that I also follow Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition. I have another full time blog that I have been posting to for over 6 months now. This Kaleidoscopic-CRON Existence. I made a post about this new hobby on this blog earlier today, go HERE for that post.

I am basically using my urge to get outside and love of photography to inspire a regulate source of physical activity. Hence the "dangling carrot". My mind loves to employ all sorts of mental gymnastics to get to from point a to point b. In this situation, the results seem win-win-win. :-)

For today's adventure, I just stuck to my country neighborhood. My husband (QB) and I live on the side of a mini-mountain in North Virginia. Since I stayed cooped up all winter, I kept the activity part mellow today by combining walking and jogging. I want to build up to not only running, but also some serious trekking and maybe trail running so I can really open up the photo opportunities.

I will be playing around with the template colors, so expect some visual changes soon. 

I need to get a pedometer today because I want to keep track of my distance, too. I didn't go too far today, maybe 1-1.5 miles, but there were hills involved. Ummmm, hills.

Well, here are the photo results from today. Enjoy. (The birds are mine, btw)