With nice weather comes awesome opportunity. Liz had the day off today, so I took a vacation day as well. We started the day with a great breakfast and packed up to visit the Little Grand Canyon.
I did a little research and found a few things causing me some pause, like: -The rock ledges serve as snake dens for the copperhead, cottonmouth, and timber rattler, along with a few nonpoisonous species.
If you are familiar with GPS's at all, you'll see what's missing. Any sign of any road.
After that, we began our hike.
Overall, it was going quite well. We most definitely saw a snake, had issues keeping track of the trail, and were eventually eaten alive by mosquitos. You see, you're probably thinking Grand Canyon thoughts: open to the sun, rock edges, etc. In reality, we were in the middle of the woods, following a dense swamp/creek for parts of the hiking.
About two miles in, we lost the trail. We considered exploring a bit further, but this would have been the third time somewhat guessing. Also, the exploration would have been taking place on a muddy slope covered by dead leaves, allowing for a fantastic fall. So at that point, we mustered up our resolve and intentionally went back into the mosquitos' nest to get out of the woods.
The trip this morning was full of peace. We saw Amish women tending gardens, clothes on the line, men raising a barn, experienced driving through expansive orchards, saw a small church, and spent time in an old cemetary.
-Contains slopes up to 80%.
-Flash floods occur in the canyon.
-Extra caution should be used where the trail is near the bluffs.
-Be aware of hunting seasons.
-Poison ivy, dead snags and poisonous snakes are present in the canyon.
And all of that was from the TOURISM website! Umm...Liz?
"Let's go, and if we change our mind, we can just go somewhere else!"
Needless to say, we packed our bag and headed for the canyon. Being the true road-trippers we are, we had our handy-dandy Garmin doing all of the navigating. By the way, these are the best tools to have if you want to see something new. It lead us through an Amish country amidst other places.
As we approached, though, our GPS looked something like this.
If you are familiar with GPS's at all, you'll see what's missing. Any sign of any road.Realizing that was the end of its assistance, Liz made it a point to take a number of photos of the map we found next to our car.
After that, we began our hike.Overall, it was going quite well. We most definitely saw a snake, had issues keeping track of the trail, and were eventually eaten alive by mosquitos. You see, you're probably thinking Grand Canyon thoughts: open to the sun, rock edges, etc. In reality, we were in the middle of the woods, following a dense swamp/creek for parts of the hiking.About two miles in, we lost the trail. We considered exploring a bit further, but this would have been the third time somewhat guessing. Also, the exploration would have been taking place on a muddy slope covered by dead leaves, allowing for a fantastic fall. So at that point, we mustered up our resolve and intentionally went back into the mosquitos' nest to get out of the woods.After four miles of hiking, we hadn't seen anything "grand," but had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves (even though we were too out of breath to say it).
On our way home, we found an old cemetary and parked the car to check it out. There were a number of old graves, the one I found most interesting had a handshake carved into it. After very brief research, all I could come up with was that a handshake isn't too uncommon, and often represents one leaving the world in peace and good order.
The trip this morning was full of peace. We saw Amish women tending gardens, clothes on the line, men raising a barn, experienced driving through expansive orchards, saw a small church, and spent time in an old cemetary. Liz made a comment about how the majority of people know so little about what is right around them. All of our experiences today were within half an hour of our home, but people who have lived here for years have never seen what we saw.
On the flip side, the lives of the people we witnessed today have little interest in experiencing anything "outside of their world" with little reason to. They are at peace and are self-sustaining. It is just amazing to think of how many small, tiny worlds fit into one big one.
On the flip side, the lives of the people we witnessed today have little interest in experiencing anything "outside of their world" with little reason to. They are at peace and are self-sustaining. It is just amazing to think of how many small, tiny worlds fit into one big one.
Glad to have not had to dig a plot to bury one of us in from a snakebite or fatigue, we headed home, had a sandwich, and took a nap.
Liz and I had decided to check it out, and we invited Ellen along for the fun. None of us realized how big of a deal it really seems to be. This is a community-wide event and very family-friendly. It was great to see little kids from the community throwing water balloons at some of our college kids. It seems that the university really does have good relationships with the community.
As far as Jason's maiden voyage on the "Summer Breeze", he had my grad, Chris Jones, at the helm. 
As soon as the "Summer Breeze" hit the water, Jason struggled a bit to get in the boat (read this as foreshadowing...) , but off they went!
It seemed as if all was going well as they began to round the second buoy, except Jason seemed to be getting shorter. 
And then...
...it was over. Similar to its ancestor, "The Titanic," the boat took on water gradually and then toppled. Fortunately, this was all too common (The Yellow Submarine didn't make it one paddle-length from the shore) and there was assistance. 
Today was a fantastic way to start the summer early and we look forward to what is to come. Summer concerts, weekend events, outdoor opportunities...this is going to be fantastic! 
