Best of 2011

Here it is. The long awaited, much anticipated, best of the best of my 2011 travels from the Northwest in the summer, the Northeast in the fall, and down to the Southeast for the winter. The best pictures, the most memorable places, and the coolest experiences spanning the country from coast to coast.

The adventure started in June as I headed off to the Northwest. This is the River Gorge near Taos, NM. Tough trail running, but worth it for this spectacular view.

Sunrise at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern CO.

The tallest of which are over 600ft high.

Hanging out at Zapata Falls, near the dunes.

The famous Manitou Springs Incline near Colorado Springs, CO. Apollo Anton Ohno's workouts at this particular area are the stuff of legend. For me, it was the most grueling 37 minute hike imaginable.

Biking around the Garden of the Gods. It was way cool to watch the pros race a time trial in this same area just a month later.

A nice, long, snow filled hike up into Rocky Mountain National Park during a Fourth of July weekend camping trip in the Roosevelt National Forest near Allenspark, CO. 

Woke up to this sunrise after stopping at the Rabbit Valley campgrounds on the border of Colorado and Utah (last stop before Utah on I70. Free)

The most scenic drive on the trip, coming from the east side of I70 down to Moab, UT. The combination of river, canyon, and mountains was breathtaking!

A traffic jam on the interstate led me here to crack open a beer and enjoy, right in the heart of Mormon country, just outside Salt Lake City.

This was a fun and dangerous shot to get in the heart of Mt Hood National Forest on a camping trip to recover from the Rev 3 Portland half-ironman.

The clouds almost opened up all the way to reveal Mt Rainer while hiking in this beautiful national park.

Gorgeous sunset in Seattle over one of their many lovely lakes. Surprisingly, Seattle was a particularly good place for open water swimming and running with all the numerous parks and lakes located throughout.

At the Parliament building in Victoria, BC. My favorite pic of the trip with me in it.

View of the Washington coast from Chuckanut road while on my 105 mile journey from Vancouver back to my car in Anacortes. Had to ride straight into a headwind the entire day.

My first taste of Montana's exquisite beauty. On my way to Glacier National Park.

Descending down into Flathead Lake in Montana.

My favorite pic from Glacier.

The best parts about Yellowstone National Park include Old Faithful.

Tons of wildlife!

Beautiful colors from all the lakes, geysers, paint pots, falls, and even canyons!

And my favorite. This snake eating a fish that my little cousin found near a stream. Way cool!

And did I mention it's another great place to ride a bike?

A Grizzly and her three cubs in the Tetons. My first bear sighting!

A young black bear seen on a hike in the Tetons a couple days later. He hung out with us for a bit until I told him to go on his way (with loud noises and arms flailing, big knife and bear spray at the ready...)

Solitude Lake in the Tetons. Completely frozen over and beautiful as ever.

View of the Tetons from afar. I found the sharp, snow capped peaks absolutely captivating.

My favorite view of my favorite mountains. This was from atop Mt Albright Peak in Grand Teton National Park. This one was a nice 17 mile hike (approx. 5000ft of climbing, most of it over the last 4 miles to the top) up to the Static Peak Divide and then a quick scramble up the peak to the right. It includes some good views of the Alaska Basin as well.

The Boulder Flatirons made for a great hike and sweet view. The town was the real experience though. Definitely had the easiest people to talk to and best layout for getting around by bike. I will be back.

The St. Louis arch from a unique angle. The start of my Northeast trip!

On the ferry ride back from Macinac Island. With no cars allowed, it made for a great place to hike or bike and if you eat sweets, I hear the fudge is delicious.

Cincinnati from the other side of the river in Kentucky. There's a Hofbrauhaus here. Not as good as the one in Munich of course, but nonetheless still awesome!

I came across these falls when I took a wrong turn somewhere in New York.

And these falls were on my way out of New York.

But these falls were by far the biggest. I'm sure you can guess where they are.

One of many nice, little picnic spots found in the Northeast. This one in upstate New York.

So many beautiful lakes, all over the entire Northeast.

Even the swamps in this area were stunningly pretty.

The view from Snowy Peak in the Adirondacks. I barely made it back before dark on this hike. Then went back out in complete darkness to make sure an older couple made it back safely.

The moment the clouds finally broke on my way back down the Algonquin Loop in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks.

Sunset over Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT. One of my favorite towns. Small and quaint with great people, plenty of stuff to do and a good, vibrant downtown.

The White Mountains of New Hampshire. An exquisite place for riding a bike or hiking. This is likely my favorite pic of the trip.

The sunrise on top of Mt Cadillac in Acadia National Park.

The first place the sun is visible in the continental US.

Biking around Acadia National Park is the way to go. Most of the park is only accessed through carriage roads which do not allow cars.

The coast of Maine. Best place, hands down, to lie around and cook dinner while reading a book. Almost every town along the coast has a beautiful little spot like this one. Not to mention getting fresh lobster from a Lobster Shack is one of the most amazing meals I've had.

Zakim Bridge in Boston. The spires on top represent the Bunker Hill Monument a few blocks away.

Beautiful spot in the Boston Commons park located downtown.

This statue of George Washington was in the perfect location at the perfect time.

Even the street signs in Boston seemed artsy.

Downtown in Providence, RI. Another very cool city.

The capitol building in Providence was spectacular at night.

Hartford, CT, didn't have much to offer, except for this park to run at (Bushnell Park) and the Mark Twain House not too far away.

My first view of NYC! On the ferry from Staten Island.

Inside of Grand Central Station.

Grand Central and the Chrysler Building in one shot.

Times Square! More amazing than I had always pictured it.

Even better. My face on a Times Square Billboard!

A castle in Central Park? Seriously? Way cool!

The Statue of Liberty at sunset from afar.

At the White House!

A gigantic teacup? Sweet! Even Winston-Salem, NC, has some unique places to see.

On my drive through the Smoky Mountains to Grandma's house!

Looking for crocs around Lake Alice at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Found one! And as it turns out, this town is a great place for winter triathlon training. Even has a pretty sweet downtown as well!

The beach in Navarre, FL was quite awesome. And another great place to run, bike, and swim!

It's always a treat when you can catch the moon out in full at sunset. Good night 2011!

Can't wait to see what 2012 has in store!

Florida Panhandle

December came, and it was starting to get cold in Tennessee and thus that meant, it was time to move on. And where do you go for good winter weather in that part of the country? Florida, of course! My first stop was the town of Gainesville where the University of Florida is located.



And what a beautiful campus it was!

This spot by Lake Alice was perfect for reflecting.

And it even boasted Alligators! Though the only one I saw was this tiny little guy.

Overall, I think Gainesville ended up being one of my favorite spots for triathlon training. Beautiful, soft, flat trails to run on could be found easily (and free) at the Morningside Nature Center. Bike lanes and wide shoulders were everywhere. Running and cycling groups were massive and even the old guys who didn't race would churn out 20mph rides on Florida's flat and smooth terrain. And most important was the weather. The night I left I was still in T-shirt and shorts and perfectly comfortable. Not to mention the excellent downtown nightlife fueled by the swarms of gorgeous girls attending the university. And being such a relatively small town, a perfect parking spot to spend the night was easily found with walking distance of the bars, restaurants, and coffee shops.

After Gainesville, it was off to visit the panhandle city of Navarre, located in between Pensacola and Destin, to visit a cousin I hadn't seen in forever ago. Once again, with great weather, bike lanes and wide shoulders to bike on, a beautiful state park located 30 miles north of the beach, and tons of fast runners and cyclists around, it was, like all of Florida it seems, an excellent location for winter training.

This part of Navarre beach was where I did a lot of my biking and running.

The white sand beaches here were beautiful all parts of the day, but especially at sunset.

And here the moon shines brightly over the coast as I close out my travels for 2011.

Tennessee

For the month of November, I hung out with my Grandma. There was plenty of shooting, drinking, reading and great times with family I hadn't seen in all too long. It was awesome.

Seeing this tree again, in all it's fall splendor, simply meant, I was home again. Not my childhood home, but Grandma's home. That wonderful, special place out in the middle of the country with the best food imaginable and the best person I know.

And here she is, on our way to Sunday church service.

And another favorite. My beautiful aunt. Who used tickle me mercilessly when I was little. I haven't forgot...

No trip to Tennessee would be complete without a weekend excursion to Nashville nightlife. Luckily for me, my friend Sam, who I met in a coffee shop in Burlington, was in town so this night I didn't have to go it alone!

We stopped in to check out Coyote Ugly first, but, understandably, she wasn't digging it. A good thing too, as with all the excellent live music we found later, staying in one place is not the thing to do here!

Music is so big here, they even have these signs to make it easier on the musicians. This is definitely the place for some of the best (and free) live music hopping you will find anywhere.

Even the street performers would blow you away and mesmerize you with their talents. These guys were really, really good! Though even outside, my ears were ringing in no time...

Surprisingly, this area was a pretty good spot for triathlon training. Just 30 minutes (or 60 minutes by bike) away was the town of Sewanee and the beautiful University of the South, where there was a swimming pool, excellent trails for hiking and running, and being located on a mountaintop made for one heck of a painful climb to get there followed by an amazingly fun descent back down. Combine that with highways with wide shoulders and nice, smooth country roads with light traffic, and middle of nowhere Tennessee actually makes for a decent place to train when the weather is good.

The University of the South campus was likely the most beautiful I've seen thus far. Besting all of the Ivey Leagues. But with it comes an Ivey League price as well...

And lastly, what else would you do out in the country? Why, shoot guns of course! Here I am with one of my little cousin's hunting rifles.

And here I teach another little cousin how to shoot my new Christmas present.

It was a complete blast and much fun was had by all! Though my Grandma wonders why we need all the practice. All she uses the range for is sighting in her rifle for deer season once a year.

The Great Smoky Mountains

On this trip, I wasn't able to venture into the park itself, however, I did get a good taste of it's amazing beauty with a couple hikes and a gorgeous drive through it's heart.

But first, I found this awesome little teapot in the town of Winston-Salem while visiting my friend, Ellen.

Together, we drove to the town of Boone for a nice 5 mile hike in the area. This part of the Smokies had some excellent, easy hiking that would be perfect for any family or first time hikers looking for some good exercise in the great outdoors. Also, make sure to try the food while in this small town of Appalachian State University. From what I tried and all the reviews I read, this place has some fantastic and well-priced restaurants!

And as always, the views are breathtaking!

This was shot from the heart of the mountains on my drive through them as I was looking for a good place to sleep for the night.

This spot won out.

The early morning fog of the next day blocked some views, but allowed this shot, where the sunlight can be seen reaching the foliage in the distance.

And as the fog started to clear, more of the beautiful fall foliage was to be seen.

The hiking I found in this area was again, very easy going, but no less spectacular.

Driving out of it, I knew this was a place to return to. The roads in this area were twisty, fast and fun and were being taken full advantage of by plenty of motorcyclists. Someday I will come back with my road bike for the descent down from this location (almost directly south of Knoxville). And the ascent too, of course...

The Nation's Capitol

Washington D.C. I was a little afraid to come here after all the news I had heard regarding theft and burglary, but after some research, it seemed it was likely overblown like it usually is. However, in order to stay at the hostel inside of town, I was going to have to leave my car outside of town, as even if I wanted to pay the exorbitant price for overnight parking inside the city, my car would not fit inside a parking garage with the storage box on top. Now this is where I was worried. However my research revealed that though there were quite a few burglaries from the three big parking garages that offered overnight parking, when taken into account the vast number of cars that were parked there every day, the probability was actually quite low. So I chose the one with the lowest number of incidents and drove to the Huntington parking garage on the southwest side of the city. After sleeping in my car overnight and not once noticing any suspicious characters lingering around or sauntering by and no broken glass to be seen, I deemed it safe enough to chance leaving my car, with nearly ALL of my worldly possessions aboard, for at least one night. Thus started my second two day non-stop walking and running adventure for the week.

One thing about the Nation's Capitol is the beauty of the architecture.

For just about every building around downtown.

Big clocks and beautiful stonework are par for the course.

And of course, the Occupy movement was here in force.

Oddly, this was one of the few darker colored buildings that I saw.

Here is the famous White House! Hi Barrack!

And again from the east side.

The Natural History Museum was quite amazing.

Besides all of the cool, dinosaur bones, there was tons to see and lots to learn!

 

This Smithsonian building was the coolest of all! From the outside at least...

The Smithsonian art museum was surprisingly interesting. I absolutely adored all of the paintings of nature stemming from the mid 19th century.

The sculpture gardens were quite cool, but they had nothing on this one, located a few blocks from the HI hostel. You're the man, MJ!

This tree, however, was my favorite "natural sculpture".

The Capitol Building, in all its splendor.

Oklahoma! Being represented at the WWII Memorial.

The Reflecting Pool. Not doing too much reflecting at the moment... 

The Lincoln Memorial was huge!

The Air and Space Museum was way cool. And, like all the other Smithsonian buildings, totally free. Sweet!

And lastly, I stopped by George Washington's crib on my way out of town, but this was all I could see without paying one of those exorbitant fees.

All in all, it was a great trip. I met some awesome people at the hostel (as usual) and had some great beers and food for relatively cheap prices. Though I did have an interesting night. After getting back in from the bars, I walk into a room that feels like a blast furnace. After an hour or so of trying to get them to fix it (they couldn't...), I'm lucky enough to get another room. This room, thankfully, is the perfect temperature! I'm psyched. It's 3am, but I'm finally going to get to sleep... and that's when the simultaneous snoring started up from the other occupants of the room! Ugghhh... if it wasn't for the great company I always seem to meet at these places, I'd prefer to sleep in my car.