A Leisurely Stroll Through the Country

Mongello! Well this week sucked as far as Club 8 is concerned. I only got in two workouts, if you can even call them that. I did do a ton of "manual labor" (yard work mostly), but I don't count that. The first workout was only a brisk 2 mile walk on Wednesday. The only good thing about this "workout" was the fact that I got up at 6 am and did it. It's a start!

The second workout really wasn't a workout at all. It was just a nice leisure stroll through the country. Over the weekend, I went up and stayed with Aunt De'Dee, out in the middle of Madison County. Nothing but farmland and woods for about 20 miles and my aunts house is right in the middle. Perfect place to go for an escape. Well this morning, I decided to go out for a little stroll. Nothing big. Nothing strenuous. Just get out and enjoy the countryside. Here's some pictures to show you what I'm talking about.

Other than drive way, This was the first leg of my stroll. I turned down onto the main road for a few feet then found this path through a Sunflower field. This was just beautiful to me! It's almost like what a perfect painting would look like. But, as you can see, this is certainly not the ideal area to run on!

I just love sunflowers. They're such a happy flower. What's interesting about this field is that the owner doesn't grow them for any commercial purpose. He just grows them because he thinks they're pretty and for the seeds. After the flowers die, the seeds will be left for the deer and whatever to come eat. Makes for a perfect viewing area of the wildlife in the area.

This was the next leg of the stroll. Just a gravel road that winds through the woods. It's not very apparent here, but there are these gigantic ditches on either side of the road. Fall in there and break your neck! Again, a very senic area but no good for running or speedwalking.

These next few pictures are back on Aunt De'Dee's land at her pond. I just thought the water lilies were nice.

Isn't that just gorgous?! I've always been a bit of a flower lover, but I can never get mine to look like this. I guess nature knows best. That flower was as big as my head and smelled heavenly!

After the pond, I went in. I have no idea how far I went, but I was gone for about an hour. My pace was only a stroll pace so probably no more than 2 miles. MAYBE 3. I didn't measure or really keep track of the time. The point of this walk was simply to enjoy myself and take it all in. I'm glad I took the time to do it, but back to work tomorrow!!!

Back from "Hotlanta"

Mongello guys! I made it back from Atlanta yesterday. The conference was pretty uneventful. Mostly the competion (I didn't place), a few workshops and seminars, and a big "shindig" (which i didn't go to)

Funny story since I'm talking about the conference: I was my local chapter's voting delegate, so anytime there was a voting meeting, I had to go. Well, I when I went to the Southern Region's Meeting, I didn't know that we had to sit together by state. I ended up sitting in the Florida section. When they found out where I was from, they would either ask me "How fast can you say Mississippi?" or they would say "I can spell that!" or "I drove through there once!". It got annoying after a while. But funny now that I look back at it. Is this what I have to look forward to when I move to Florida?

Anyway, I only did two fun things while in Atlanta. I went on the "Inside CNN" Tour and I went to the World of Coca-Cola. That was really cool and was on par to a Disney operation. I even made my touring buddies try the Beverly (you know that awful tasting drink from Italy in Club Cool). I have pictures if anyone wants to see.

As far as training was concerned... Nothing went the way I had intended it.

First of all, I went for a run on the Dreadmill (I'm not about to go for a run in downtown Atlanta) and did something to my leg. So bad that I had to call a taxi to take me places that I normally would have walked. I was limping everywhere else. Still hurts a little. If it keeps up, I'm going to go get it looked at.

Second, on the second night of the trip, we all ate at Hard Rock and I ate something that didn't quite agree with me. So I spent most of that night "sick".

And on top of that, I didn't get much sleep.

Meals weren't too bad, after the Hard Rock incident, I didn't feel like eating much and when I did, it was only a little bit.

I gave myself a clean slate today. We'll see how it goes!

Random, Yet Cool Pictures of D.C.

We're almost done! These are just some random things that I took pictures of in D.C.

FTC Headquarters

The Old Post Office - I've been up there before. It's really cool and has one of the best views of the city

The National Archives - Just in case you didn't see National Treasure, this is where the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and several other historical documents are kept.

A cool shot of the Washington Monument and the Rotunda of the Natural History Museum

The Navy Memorial

Yay! We're done with D.C.! There is only one more trip report left (from Yorktown, VA).

Rae- I got the frame today. Thank you so much!!! I love it! ....... So does my sister. She stole it from me and it's in her room now!

The National Gallery of Art

I had never really cared for art before this trip. Mostly because I had never been to an art museum before. Now I love it! I still don't like modern art though. It just doesn't make sense to me. I'm more of a fan of classic art.

He's ugly as sin, but still funny. He is in the Sculpture Garden

The Houses of Parliment, Sunset by Monet, 1903

Self-Portrait by Van Gogh, 1889

The Artist's Garden in Argenteuil

(A corner of the Garden with Dahliahs)

by Monet, 1873

This one is my favorite. I have a print hanging in my "office".

Spring by Manet, 1881

Pont Neuf, Paris by Renoir, 1872

The Approching Storm by Troyon, 1849

The Gallery's Rotunda - It reminds me of the Pantheon in Rome (another place that I would LOVE to visit someday)

The Rotunda Fountain

The Washington Monument

Again, in all of the years that I've been going to D.C., this was the first time that I had ever been inside of the Washington Monument. Here are some views of the city from above.

The Pentagon

The American History Museum and the National Gallery of Art Buildings

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

This was the first time I have ever seen this museum. Mostly because we didn't know how graphic it would be and we wanted to wait until my sister was old enough to handle it.


The museum's exhibits are very well presented and take you through the rise of the Nazi regime and the start of the Holocaust to the liberation of the concentration camps and the formation of Israel. I didn't get any pictures of any of the exhibits inside the museum because photography is not allowed inside. But I did get some of the memorial itself.





The only problem with this museum (and it's not really a problem at all) is that there is so much inside that it can get very cramped, espescially when there is alot of people, which there was. So many that we couldn't really stop and look at or read anything. The next time we go, we're going to go as soon as the doors open.

The National World War II Memorial

This is the newest memorial to be added to the Mall. It's pretty simple but pretty in it's own way.

The Reflecting Pool

In all the years I've been going to D.C., this was the first time I had ever seen the Reflecting Pool actually filled with water. We usually go during Spring Break (we're a bunch of partiers aren't we?) and it's usually empty for the winter then.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

"The Wall" as alot of people call it was very crowded (as it usually is) so this is as close as we got. We had all seen it before and found it pretty depressing so we didn't stay very long.

The Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln being one of my favorite Presidents... The Lincoln Memorial is one of my favorite memorials in Washington.

I love the detail in the torches

The National Mall: The WWII Memorial, The Washington Monument, the Smithsonian "Castle" and the Capitol

Honest Abe himself

Me being clever with the camera