Old Rag Mountain

Hey everybody!

Last week before the heat wave hit all of us here in DC, I took a Wednesday off and escaped to the wilderness for a bit. A friend and I traveled about 2 and a half hours south of the city to go hiking at Old Rag Mountain in the Shenandoah Valley. We arrived at 10 am and were happy to find only a few parked cars. I've hiked a couple times before but had no idea what to expect from Old Rag. I very quickly realized however, that our day was not going to be a walk in the park.

Old Rag Mountain is pretty distinct because it stands away from the other mountain chains in the Blue Ridge. After hiking up a steady incline and switchbacking for a solid 90 minutes, we reached the base of the rock scramble. From this point on there were boulders to climb over, crevasses to squeeze through and absolutely stunning views of the Shenandoah. On the left we looked over a valley with smaller hills, farmlands and houses. To the right was an endless chain of green mountains and a skyline that seemed to blend into all that was below it. At 3,291 ft we had climbed to the summit of Old Rag and took a hard earned break.

The entire loop is about 7 miles and was super challenging but so rewarding. It was an incredible way to spend a day away from the craziness that is DC and to just hang out in nature. If you like exploring and adventure, I would highly recommend this day hike. You could even turn it into a weekend of camping if you bring your tents! Just remember to have lots of water and some way to snap a few pictures of the scenery.  

Keep enjoying the summer, and go play outside! 

Alexa 

Dinner Extravaganza

This evening the GWU Admissions Office was kind enough to invite all staff members and student employees to dinner at Carmine's Italian Restaurant in Chinatown! Over 100 people attended the dinner that was full of tasty food and fun conversation. It was great to get together with everyone we've worked with and relax for a bit, particularly with our final exams fast approaching.

The walk home however, was the true surprise. My roommate and I decided to skip the metro and walk the 20 minutes or so back to campus because of how beautiful the weather is tonight. On the way home we ran into quite a few things and I snapped some pictures to record the journey!

In this one, I tried to catch the CAPITOL in my hand! 

Typical GW territory.

Fun night Bike Tour in front of the White House (with blinking lights)! 

Our Hippo:) 

We even passed a group of people celebrating after their Thursday night kickball league. Check out their link http://www.dckickball.org/ !! After a great walk, we made it back to campus and passed our forever loving unofficial mascot, the GDub HIPPO!

For all you future hippos, feel free to email me with any questions! alexab@gwmail.gwu.edu

Alexa

Cab Doz Getaway

So if you haven't noticed, I've come from underneath my rock and you'll be hearing from me a lot  over the next couple of days as I avoid studying (:

Over this past weekend, I was kidnapped by my Colonial Cabinet fam (just kidding!). But all of the Colonial Inauguration staff (Colonial Cabinet and CI Staffers) went on a spring retreat/leadership getaway over the weekend. Although I can’t really say much about the retreat because its a surprise and a little bit on the down low, I can say it was an awesome bonding experience and although we left tired and smelly, we came back on Sunday loving each other more than we did when we left. 

Despite the fact that our more time intensive job commitments begin this summer, throughout the second semester we have weekly trainings, office hour commitments, and other events we have to attend including basketball games, April visit days for prospective students, and two retreats. We had our winter retreat towards the beginning of the spring semester and in past years this retreat is usually held the last weekend in the semester. But, because of some changes in schedule, we had it a bit earlier this year. 

Spring Retreat (:

At our winter retreat!

Chilling during GW's Spring Fling

Buff Out Basketball Game

Stuck together in a random elevator lol

With two trainings left in the semester and one more week of office hours, my cab fam and I  are getting ready to meet all the amazing incoming students. As a result of our overwhelming excitement for the summer, we have given ourselves the name “Cab Doz” which you may often hear us drop from time to time. 

If you are a prospective student-- GET READY!! This summer/fall is going to be exciting and fun but be sure to register for CI! I may have briefly mentioned it in an earlier post but once you register for CI you will be placed in a small group. Each Cab member is a small group leader. We will be there to make sure everything runs smoothly for you, and to also answer any and all questions you may have. The faster you register, the faster you hear from us, and get some Cab Doz lovin (: 

Until next time: if you have any questions, comments or just want to chat-- always remember I am only an email away! anstone@gwmail.gwu.edu

Stay Classy Colonials,

Alyse