Gone Fishing

     Spending the 4th of July in DC took a lot out of our all-star group of friends, as any good celebration should right? At least when you're 22, capable, restless, and living in our nation's capital things are bound to get interesting. No parents home here. Although exhausted from the day before, I rallied for an early lunch and an afternoon in Leesburg, Virginia. Danny was nice enough to invite myself along with Brian to his "other" home. Turned out to be a pretty sweet ranch packed with plenty of toys, good food, two labradors, comfy beds and a convenient river through the woods. After waiting on a few compadres to arrive we strapped on our adventure packs (shown above) and set out into the tick infested forest.  I say that because when we got to the "river bank chill spot", I found at least three little guys burrowing there way into my legs. On a better note, there were raspberry bushes along the entire trail that provided a terrific afternoon snack. The other guys were not so interested in the berries and left me in the dust. I was perfectly content with taking my time to eat as many fresh raspberries as I could -- I just wish I had a bowl of frosted mini wheats and an oversize spoon to go with it, right dad? After romping through the single track to the river it was finally play time:

#berryhappy

     I'm really not the kind of person to say, "Hey guys can you take a picture of me fly-fishing so I can show everyone!". Brian is not either but I snapped him mid cast anyways. Distance shot! I can assure you Brian needed a few tips before looking somewhat natural. Great time though! I was the only one who caught a small (really small) trout but it felt good to cast the line regardless. It was also highly entertaining watching Brian's face untangle a classic fly rod mess. We also swam upriver and jumped off a tall tree that hungover the water. Way cool. Wish I had a picture of the launch pad but conditions were not camera appropriate nor did I want to be pressured into doing something potentially harmful to my well being. Flip might have taken place anyways ^_^ Another highlight of the day was hanging with Brooks, Danny's black lab who is about 5 years old. Brooks loves to swim but couldn't figure out why he was going so slow up river. I've never accelerated a dog through water and have them be okay with it, until now. We both took a break and hung out for a bit:

     All in all it was a great afternoon and thank Danny and his parents for the hospitality. Brian had a flight the next morning around 9am so Danny had a brilliant idea to get up way too early and head towards the DC monuments and memorials. If you don't know, I really dislike getting up early however it played out to be a spectacular sight. Stay tuned.