Camping

Over the weekend I went camping with some friends (including a toddler and a dog) in Hocking Hills, a woodland state park nearby. It was typical American family camping, with a crowded campground on a paved road, campers, a bath house, a pool, and plenty of supplies; but two of us did at least sleep in a tent. We hiked a 2.5 mile path along the rim of a scenic cliff-walled valley, which for me was the highlight of the weekend. I would have liked to do more exploring, but we still had plenty of fun, even without a kayak. The weather was perfect after a cool rainy week that had us worried. We fished, cooked outside (managing to narrowly avoid disaster at least once), encountered a few snakes and other wildlife, and tried several of 24 interesting flavors of soft-serve ice cream at a camping store. While not the epic survival tale of man against nature that I prefer camping to be, it was really nice to get away from everything for a while and spend some time in (relative) isolation with some of my favorite people.