Behind the Wheel

I have lost track of how many hours I have spent behind the wheel over the years. Going to college 8 hours away from my family and having friends throughout the country promises hundreds of hours on the road. This past weekend I drove "up north" to Tawas, MI for Memorial Day. Aside from traffic and idiotic drivers, the most interesting thing that happened was the family of ducks that decided to cross the highway outside of Lansing. They didn't care that they almost caused a 5 car pile up, or that we waited a total of four or five minutes for them to cross. That Mama knew she wanted to get to the other side of the road; what admirable tenacity.

Oh, and FYI, yelling at the geese and telling them to "git" is not going to help Mama along.

Ohiopyle's Natural Waterslide

First, let me just say that I would never have attempted this daredevil stunt if it wasn't for the 60 year old local lady who basically called me chicken. I had to prove her wrong!

I made it down the actual slide like a champ. But, my story doesn't end where the video ends. No sir, I tried to get out of the stream, but the bottom was quite slippery, and my upper body strength, I discovered, is basically non-existent. So, after feeling like Sassy from Homeward Bound for a few minutes, I let the current take me...over a mini-waterfall.

My bumps, bruises, and jammed fingers were worth the glory of the story.

I also want to give a shout-out to my sister, who was such a champ that she thought she could pull me out of the water. Oh my, my, my.

Ohiopyle: Cucumber Falls

The poetry of the earth is never dead. ~John Keats

Standing beneath a waterfall is one of the most surreal feelings one could have. Motion and energy surge around you, yet you are left untouched and unaffected.

Nature has a way of making one feel insignificant.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage