holiday adventure

The three-day weekend is about over, I guess it’s for the best to get back into the rut, but I sure as hell am not looking forward to climbing back into it.  My kids, Someone, and I took a cottage at Hocking Hills State Park for the weekend.   Someone debated about driving separately because we both know he gets very bored without ESPN and a plethora of movie channels to watch on TV.   Cottages at the park have TV with only four channels to watch.  With thunderstorms predicted for the entire weekend, it really wasn’t likely he would be happy for long.  To his credit, we arrived Friday evening and he survived until Sunday morning. 

We had planned to go kayaking or canoeing with some friends Sunday but because of the rain and thunder rumbling, we decided not risk getting caught out on the river in a lightning storm.  Someone reached his boredom limit so I drove him home, not too far – just a little less than two hours drive.  He was grateful to be home sweet home and I was grateful to not have to concern myself with his boredom.  It’s a beautiful drive through small towns and countryside.  On the way back to the park, I got to select all the music - no oldies (Someone’s favorite), no Justin Bieber (Emily’s choice), and no rappy/hate stuff (Erin’s picks). 

The sun did shine a few moments a few times this weekend.  Most of the time it was cloudy with sprinkles of rain.  We went for several hikes – it’s a beautiful park with huge cedar and ash trees, and some amazing cliffs and caves.  The park is very old and back in the 1940s, the PWA cut steps into the stone cliffs to make it easier for park visitors to explore. 

very long way down over this cliff :)

One of the hiking trails we took is a 9-mile loop.  It’s a lot of up and down hill but the trail is wide and the scenery is worth it.  The kids wanted no part of it and stayed in the cottage area to hang with their friends, listen to music, and graze.  We saw a few people on the trail but mostly Someone and I had it to ourselves.  At the tops of the steep climbs, we stopped to catch our breath and I enjoyed my favorite thing about the wilderness....silence.   No noises from cars, planes, machinery, or people.  The only sounds we heard were birds, squirrels dropping things out if the trees, and sometimes raindrops on the leaves overhead. 

One of the large caves in the park is called Old Man’s Cave.  I can imagine me living in the woods by myself in a cave.  Actually, I’d prefer to live in the middle of the woods in a nice, cozy cottage with modern conveniences and some dogs and cats.  I hate being cold, and I don’t want to worry about being stalked by hungry bears or bobcats. 

click photo to enlarge and read about the old man

So I wonder, are people already crazy when they go off into the woods to live alone?  Or, is it a matter of somebody getting fed up with people, so they go off to get away from the world and become crazy?  Maybe we only assume anyone who lives by himself in a cave is crazy.  That's probably a hypothesis we'll never be able to test with any degree of reliability.