Richmond Love

I recently had the opportunity to get on the lower James River flowing through Richmond, VA.  I was immediately struck with the interesting juxtaposition of the natural and urban environments.  Beautiful Class III water, tall buildings, wading herons, bridge pier upon bridge pier upon bridge pier, lush vegetation, long stretches of pipes and walls, tongues of flowing water and natural rock, extreme outdoorsy types, hardened urban dwellers, and more.  It was quite a surreal contrast that i really enjoyed being in the midst of.  To add to the awesomeness of the area, when i was riding to the put-in and wandering around at the take out, i was passed by dozens of mountain bikers coming off of trails, road bikers pulling in from winding road routes, climbers toting crash pads to hidden bouldering spots, and an full array of paddlers (kayakers, canoes and rafters).  In addition to the obvious outdoorsy types, i also observed a rainbow of ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientations, ... it was a wide spectrum of people.  Clusters of spiked leather jacket wearing punkers hanging out under the bridge piers, bikini clad sunbathers on tiny strands of sandy river sides, a flock of flamboyantly dressed guys walking up a river side trail, solitary transient types carrying clothes in plastic grocery bags, smartly dressed couples holding hands enjoying each others company along the river, families with fishing gear, all were present and enjoying the beautiful resource in their back yard.  As i sat with the sun setting, soaking in my surroundings, i was also struck with how little litter there was (at least near the access points).  Now, i realize that a huge urban center and a large river interfacing will have it's share of environmental issues, but this lack of litter was surprising.  And almost on cue as the sun was dropping and this lack of litter struck me, i began noticing folks coming up from the trails leading from the river side walking by a trash can and throwing their garbage in it on their way home or to their next adventure.  I witnessed every walk-of-life i mentioned above go through this action in a very non-nonchalant and natural way.  ...i think i'm in love with Richmond.  I look forward spending more time in this gem of a location.     

Unfortunately, i didn't have my phone or camera with me, but i did find tons of photos from the exact same area on the interweb.  I pulled and posted a handful below that reflect some of what i witnessed:

Kids Books and Paddling

The other evening when reading to my daughter, i realized how much kayaks and canoes are constantly infused into out children's stories.  If you haven't gotten your kids into a canoe or kayak before, you need to!  Chances are they're already primed to do it from bedtime stories.  :)

Here are a handful of images i scanned from books off my daughters shelf:

Richard Scary's Best Word Book Ever

I Love Daddy

Jamberry

Baby Beluga

Mama Do You Love Me?

Random Coloring Book

Canoe and Kayak Planters/Gardens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why "Frog Hollow"

I'm often asked how i came up with the name "Frog Hollow" for the company i founded.  For any one reading that is not familiar with Frog Hollow Outdoors, here's a link: http://www.froghollowoutdoors.com/index.html.
The quick answer is that Frog Hollow was the name of family land where we first ran the business.  My grandparents, and great aunt and uncle bought the land in northern Durham in the 20s.  My great uncle named his half of the property Possum Trot and my Grandfather named his half Frog Hollow.  ...pretty simple really.

Well anyway, the other evening i came across a Hoppin' Frog, Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin Beer at Sam's Quick Stop.  I was compelled to buy it, and yes, it was tasty.  Somewhere near the bottom of that flavorful 22 i got to thinking about all the other things out there named Frog Hollow.

One i had come across repeatedly online was Frog Hollow Farm.  This is an organic farm out in Cali that, from their web presence at least, seems pretty great.  I came across at least 2 other farms in the US with Frog Hollow in the name as well.

Then there is of course the old TV show Frog Hollow.  ...well, the certainty behind using "of course," might fade for anyone who didn't grow up in the NC Piedmont, is under the age of 35, or didn't watch kids TV shows in the 70s or early 80s... but if you did/are then you might very well remember the puppet, the banjo music, the old pickup truck, the dog and the old country store.  Here's a little clip i found online.  


So what else out there holds the name Frog Hollow?!  There's a bunch of stuff!

This is a fun one.  This is a song by a band called Frog Hollow that evidently wrote the theme for Ken Anderson's 1970 Australian surf film of the same name.  ..which i definitely need to see now.  The song's pretty groovy and got me thinking about surfing the Falls Dam wave today :)

...There's a sweet glade run in Whistler!

 

I also came across this amazing endurance mountain bike race series called Frog Hollow.  They have a 25 hour race!  Here's a link to the race page: http://www.gropromotions.com/FROG_HOLLOW.html.  And i like their little mascot logo dude.  He looks like he's having a good time!

 

Then, oddly enough, there is a well attended paddling event in PA called Frog Hollow that has evidently been going on for over 30 years.  Watching various video clips of these events is a bit painful for me.  As an instructor and guide watching these clips as canoes and kayaks float by all i see is: no PFD, unbuckled PFD, no PFD, kid with no PFD, beer, boat parked upstream of a strainer, no PFD, beer, boat stuck in strainer, beer, no PFD... you get the idea.  I know these guys are all just out to try and have a little fun on the river, but common sense does not seem to be a part of the whole situation.  I will say that watching clips from 2008 thru 2012, with each passing year i was seeing more PFDs.  ...if you're looking at video clips on YouTube please take note that all of ours are titled with FROG HOLLOW OUTDOORS and none of them take place in PA.

Anywho, there are many more Frog Hollows out there and i have a desire to check them all out at some point in my life.  Whether it be a song to listen to, a show to watch, a beer to sip, a slope to be skied, a long ass race to be peddled, an unsafe paddling event, or yummy veggies to taste.  For better or for worse Frog Hollow here i come!