Winter Games

Today is the last day of the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. I was able to watch a good portion of the Games. My favorite event has to be the Biathlon. I think that the intensity of this sport is unrivaled. Full-on cross-country ski race then stop to shoot accurately at a target over 160 feet away, all while having a heart rate near maximum!! The breath control and shooting accuract required to be successful is unbelievable. Check it out at www.biathlonworld.com.

Here is the Final Medal Count for the Games (for the top three finishers):




United States
Gold - 9
Silver - 15
Bronze - 13
Total - 37

Germany
Gold - 10
Silver - 13
Bronze - 7
Total - 30

Canada
Gold - 14
Silver - 7
Bronze - 5
Total - 26

WAY TO GO UNITED STATES!!!

I want to give a round of applause to all of the athletes that competed in the Olympics. Your talent and commitment is undoubtedly the highest of any. Great jib to everyone who competed!!

I also want to highlight my favorite group of athletes, those from Lake Placid (the best place on Earth). They are:



Haley Johnson - Biathlon (comeskiwithme.blogspot.com)


Tim Burke- Biathlon (timburke.us)


John Napier - Bobsled (http://bobsled.teamusa.org/athletes/john-napier)


Bill Demong - Nordic Combined (http://skiing.teamusa.org/athletes/bill-demong)


Lowell Bailey - Biathlon (www.lowellbailey.com)


Andrew Weibrecht - Alpine Skiing (http://skiing.teamusa.org/athletes/andrew-weibrecht)

I am biased, but the above athletes are my favorite:)

Check out the rest of the Olympic results and the amazing competitiors here:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/

Again, congratulations to all the athletes on their hard work, determination, and guts to make it as far as they have. I look forward to hearing about the future success each of you will have in your careers.

San Antonio

I am blessed to have a Mother-in-law who loves to fly us down to San Antonio to visit her. We've been there a few times in the past couple years and every time she has something new for us to do. Here are some pics from the last trip we took...


On the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio!!


MMMMMM...Cookies in Boerne (pronounced "Bernie").


In Fredsrickburg, a Cowboy town in the Texas Hill Country.


Good food in Austin...


Above the Casa Rio restaurant on the San Antonio riverwalk. I highly recommend this place for authentic Mexican food.

Backpacking!!!

We went backpacking a few months ago (obviously, by the look of the warm weather). It was Samantha's first time backpacking, or even sleeping in the woods!! She did awesome:) The whole thing is so simple. You carry your whole life on your back, for however long you are hiking. Your days are: Eat, walk, sleep, eat, walk, sleep...SOOO fulfilling. Here's some pics, enjoy:)

Travelling...

Since I've posted last (and even before that), I've done a bit of travelling, mostly to Lake Placid. Hence, my lack of blog posts (in addition to mass amounts of school work). I have been training, albeit sporadically, depending on when I get home from the hospital and how many hours of sleep I can cram in. As far as the training, I'll get to that in a later post because it is very exciting and I know that all three of you (my loyal readers) are very interested in what my training has been like. For now, here is a slide show of some High Peaks adventures...


LAKE PLACID Summer!!!


This is the summit of Whiteface mountain. Whiteface is THE mountain to ride in the ADK's. This is in the summer on a pretty foggy and rainy day. We drove up most of the mountain, then walked through a tunnel that went straight into the mountain leading to an elevator taking you to the summit.


Here is Lake Placid (the actual lake) from Whiteface summit. You can see (from left to right) Buck Island, Moose Island and Hawk Island.


This is along Route 73, between Keene Valley and Lake Placid.


Here's Samantha on a rainy morning in Lake Placid. This is at the best place in the world to get coffee, AKA the COFFEE BEAN, right on Main Street Lake placid, overlooking Mirror Lake.


Here's me approaching the summit of Cascade Mountain. That was an awesome hike. Short, steep, and great views.


My beautiful wife having fun on the top of Cascade. The temperature was 20 degrees cooler at the top than it was at the bottom!!!


A morning on Mirror Lake.


A paddle board and a swimmer doing laps in Mirror Lake. We were there exactly one week after the Lake Placid Ironman. Everyone was still geared up for triathlon. Each morning I saw numerous swimmers doing laps in Mirror Lake in the Ironman course.



LAKE PLACID Winter!!!


Here is my brother, Dan and Brother-in-law, Shannon, on the observation deck on top of Little Whiteface.



Here is part of what you see from Whiteface Summit. Unfortunately, on this day, The Slides were not open to ride. I look forward to a trip up to LP when they are open, because I recently converted back to skiing (from an 8 year hiatus). It will be fun to do some backcountry skiing after riding a snowboard for awhile:)



Shannon. Man of the hour, 24/7/365 :)


So the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery has this s'mores dessert where you roast your own mallows over a sterno flame...unbelievable. They also brew my absolute favorite beer, UBU Ale. Also, their New England Clam Chowder is the best thing since sliced bread. Whenever we go there its UBU Ale and Pretzel Nuggets, New England Clam and French Onion...done.



Did I ever tell you that I LOVE the Olympic Center?


Outside the Speed Skating oval.


Winter hike on the Whiteface Landing Trail.


It's not Lake Placid without the toboggan:) Dan and Lauren on Mirror Lake with their sweet ride.