All Right, 90 degree plus heat, Beat It!

And stay away for a while! It's not August yet! A four day wave of 90 plus degree temps and DC's notorious humidity hit us from Sunday to Wednesday. It was not a lot of fun, especially since it kind of hit us out of nowhere. I usually like to keep my energy costs low by only using the AC or heat (in the winter, rarely) when I have to, and for short periods of time at that. Couldn't get away with that earlier this week, it took a bit to cool the apartment enough so I didn't feel like I was in a damp, humid blast furnace.

I take solace that on Monday the pool at my apartment complex was open, it is closed for repairs after being open for a mere one week. I take more solace from the hike I did on Sunday. There's a section of the Applachian Trail near Purcellville, VA called the Roller Coaster - sorry I won't pay for the full description. I woke up too late to complete the full 14.6 mile hike to the Trail Center and back. But a through hiker told me the part of the trail I didn't hike didn't have much to look at, so I stuck with my 8 miles or so. I will say this, while I hiked most if not all of the roller coaster, it did not feel like I hiked 4800 feet of total elevation gain. The only thing that made the hike tough was the heat and humidity. Maybe I've been hiking for many years now and some things don't seem tough anymore. Or was the heat making me think not so straight even though I obviously did not drink any alcohol?

Today's hike will be in Black Hill Regional Park, MD. Supposed to be 2000 feet of total elevation change, and is only about 30 miles from me, maybe 40 with the Beltway. I can handle that trip even with gas prices at their current levels. The Black Hills of South Dakota this won't be, but I will enjoy the hike nonetheless. I need to get in as many miles as possible before the Pikes Peak trip in September. No heat today and I may even get to test out my new raingear!

Other fun stuff: Get a chance to see Jonathan Coulton perform if you can. This guy is hilarious, Paul and Storm were really good too. Coulton does the funniest version of Baby Got Back, totally acoustic. I know, I saw the show in Vienna, VA last weekend. I'll go back to see him again for sure. Check out his website if you haven't already.

Other notes: No more drinking beer at Wednesday night sporting events. Not worth the trouble of feeling like garbage the whole next day. I am old.