This weekend, we were graced by the presence of none other than Richard "The Body/The Blade" Canlas. He flew in Friday for a weekend of bike riding, sight seeing, and general tomfoolery.
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MS150 2009- Day 1
Rich is in the Green- doing his usual pose |
Richard was part of our MS150 crew and is notorious for hazing new-comers to the cycling world. He's actually the one that coined the phrase "there is no honor in taking your foot off the pedal". Meaning, if you EVER got off the bike to walk up a hill, you might as well not finish and prepare to be made fun of for weeks by everyone. But in addition cycling, we always enjoyed hanging out and he's a super nice guy.
Friday, Zeke took Richard for a quick ride on the Mt. Vernon trail, then we met for dinner at
Acqua Al 2 in Eastern Market to carb up for their big ride in the morning.
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| Entrance is lined with autographed plates |
It's the second branch of a restaurant that opened in Florence, Italy in 1978, and for authentic Italian, it's about as real as you can get. The food was phenomenal and definitely an experience. The menu is arranged for 4 course service, so we spared no expense {for waistlines or wallets} when making the choices. We ordered Caprese salads for the 1st course, Risotto and Penne alla Vodka for 2nd, shared the 40oz Porterhouse with sides of spinach for the 3rd, and 4-part dessert sampler for the 4th. Everything was so fresh- I was in heaven!
We washed it all down with Prosecco and Chianti straight from Italia- I left the restaurant as one happy lady :) Well, happy until someone backed into us on the way home!
It was a Lexus coupe in front of us... we were at a stop light and they were driving a standard and rolled backwards into the front of my car! It was a little bump, but at this point in the night I was convinced they smashed into us and my car was totaled. I was pretty upset when Zeke didn't chase them. He and Richard were trying to convince me that everything was ok, it was a tap, and there's no damage- so it's better not to attract cops to us. I wasn't having that- and I kept repeating "My neck! My back! My neck and my back! I want $150000!" and "I want a check! Write me a check!"
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| So apparently after a few glasses of wine, I turn into Ezelle. |
Once we got home and I assessed the damage, I realized there wasn't any and quickly shut up.
The next morning, Zeke and Richard got up bright and early to embark on a 56 mile ride called the "Blue Ridge Challenge".
I'm so proud of Zeke- he made it all the way through! Now... one year ago, this would have been a fun leisurely ride for him. Since we've moved, it's been tough for him to hop on the bike whenever he wants. He pushed through and survived the biggest hill he's ever done- Mt. Weather at Bluemont. He "climbed" a 2 mile mountain that has an 8 percent gradient. {for every 100 feet he rode, the incline went up 8 feet }. He made it to the top!! I'm a proud wifey :)
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This is the best pic he took.
He's not a picture nerd like me. |
While Zeke and Richard toughed through their insane bike ride through the hills of Virginia, I challenged myself to walk across the street and buy booze for my strenuous day by the pool. I brought my level of classiness back to normal by picking up the makings for a nice Saturday by the pool:
Excited to soak up some rays, I suited up and went up to the pool only to find all of the lawn chairs "reserved" by towels and everyone in the water. One of my biggest pet peeves! If you're going to chill in the water- fine- but consolidate your towels to one chair! Be considerate and don't hog space the whole day, especially when there are about 15 chairs total. I spent the first hour laying on the concrete on my towel. Not cool. I glared at the selfish pool dwellers through my shades, hoping to get my point across telepathically.
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View from the concrete...
Empty chairs. Ruuuuuuude. |
Finally- some chairs opened up just as my friend Rachel met me. Perfect timing. We chillaxed and slowly drained the box'o'fun... one plastic cup full at a time. I actually met a few of my neighbors, and we all made fun of the lifeguard every time he blew the whistle for us to get out of the pool for his 15 minute "break" every hour. Yeah... it's pretty ridiculous. It's like adult swim, only the adults still aren't allowed to swim.
After the boys got back from the ride, we all went downstairs to
Lost Dog Cafe for some pizza & beers, then headed back home to shower and rest up for the night.
Considering I spent 6 hours at the pool and Rachel and I killed about 1/2 a box of wine, I was pretty toasty {skin & sobriety}, so my "nap" turned into a deep slumber. No way I was going out. Zeke & Rich met up with some friends in Clarendon.
This morning, we all woke up bright & early, cooked breakfast, and watched some Tour De France {which I'm sooooo tired of already}. After I peeled my hubby off the couch, we went downstairs to another neighborhood favorite,
Bangkok 54, for some Thai food.
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| Dumplings |
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| Shrimp, crab & pineapple fried rice. |
We also presented him with his souvenir-
Then we headed into DC for some sight seeing. Since Rich is a lawyer, he wanted to see the Capitol and Supreme Court building. It's an absolutely perfect day- we got some great pics!
Library of Congress
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| Jefferson Building |
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| Madison Building |
US Supreme Court...
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| Hangin on the steps! |
One of my favorite things about this city is how it's designed- the views of the landmarks are so unique from different angles. Every time you turn around, there's some historical landmark or building staring at you. Absolutely breathtaking!
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| Capitol from the steps of the Sup. Ct. |
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| Hide and Seek in the columns |
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| Wreck 'Em! |
Next we walked to the Capitol...
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| <3 More pretty flowers |
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| Washington Monument from the Capitol |
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| Cool guys- "The Body" and his classic pose |
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| Love the turquoise color of these light posts. |
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| Shout out to White Oak! |
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| Zeke the squirrel whisperer |
Next, we walked to a bar on the Hill, the
Capitol Lounge, to catch the end of the World Cup. Just as we sat down, the US ladies' team scored their 2nd goal!
The game took a downhill turn, and left shortly after they lost :( We decided to head home and take Richard to the airport. Overall, we had a great weekend! Richard is going to work on recruiting the rest of the Canlas cousins to come visit next Spring/Summer and bring their bikes for a big group attempt at the same trail he and Zeke did. Where you at guys???
Thanks for coming to see us Rich! WRITE ME A CHECK!
