The Camping Weekend: Lake Hope and Hocking Hills

We went on a weekend camping trip.  We were delayed by a day because of predicted severe weather.  We got out on Friday morning and started our adventure. 

We went to feed hummingbirds at the Lake Hope Nature Center.  I was the only one who got any action.  Hubs tried.  K had the magic behind the camera.

 Hubs set the tents up underneath tarps.  Heavy rain was predicted.  Normally the two tents aren't quite this close.  (We take a sleeping tent and a changing/bathing tent.)

The longest campsite we can find there.  Our favorite site! 

My people fished and I was taking pictures-- surprise, surprise.

I added a year.  My girlie made me a banana bread birthday cake.  They even remembered the candles! 

The two tents and the tarps.

The sleeping quarters.  Now, it says it is a 5 man tent.  As you can see, one queen sized air mattress and one cot fills it.  

We started our hiking at Ash Cave. 

We moved on to Cedar Falls.  Unfortunately, a number of trails and the main trailhead were closed permanently because of three deaths this spring.  People die in Hocking Hills every year.  Three people died at Cedar Falls because they tried to get too close and fell 100 feet.  If you follow the trails and stay on them, it isn't an issue.  Every single death was from people leaving the trail.  I might add, Ohio State Parks has a lot of signage and always has. 

We previously hiked this trail.  :(

Out of focus, but you can see that the trails aren't always very wide and the steps are covered in sand. Sometimes the steps are steep.  Keep in mind that most people we saw were hiking in flip flops.  I don't know how they did it.

On the quest for Old Man's Cave . . .

I just read that this bridge is slated for replacement this month.  Um, she was a bit bouncy and the deck definitely needs some love. 

Dinosaur Scale, if memory serves.  At least that's what Hubs called it.

Old Man's Cave. 

Drat it all.  Humans.  I was selfish and didn't want to share the view.  I wanted the joint to myself.  Is that too much to ask?  

The cable and post system that they have in some places is new.  It is because of the spring deaths.  

Watch your head, Hubs!

At Conkle's Hollow Nature Preserve, they had a field full of native wildflowers. K got the butterfly net out. 

'

She caught herself a monarch.

A trail that those with disabilities can enjoy.

The American Ninja Warrior challenge.  :)  She did end up with a wet foot after one of the passes. 

The ferns growing on the rock I thought was very interesting.

Rock House.  This is where we took our Christmas picture. 

A summer azure.

Hubs was on the hunt.

Got an azure. 

The sunset.

I swear that they hose the wood down before they sell it to us.  Hubs was struggling to get the fire going.  He was using a tote lid as billows. 

Dinner to the left, bathing water to the right.  I ended up throwing the corn on the cob into the fire.  It was wonderful!  We also had green beans in there and potatoes.  I picked them up from a farm market stand at a gas station.  

A young bull frog.

My birthday prize. It's a little guy that holds about 1000 songs and PJ took up 624 of those.  (Hubs preloaded it for me.)  I've since taken all of the 2000 PJ bootlegs out but one (Las Vegas), took the singles out and added Jack White, The Dead Weather, Raconteurs, The Afghan Whigs, The Misfits, CAKE, Fugazi, Talking Heads, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, Temple of the Dog and The Pixies.  :)  I needed me some more music than just PJ.  Love PJ, but needed variety.  

Playing cards after dark.  

I won!

The net that held my many phone parts.  Phone parts you ask?  Why yes, Hubs ended up gutting my phone down as far as he could because my phone dropped out and into the bathing kettle of hot water.  He stripped it down (thank you Leatherman!) and left it to dry overnight.  It did work after the dunk.  We had dried it out the best we could.  About an hour later, the keyboard locked up.  The next morning, Hubs put it back together and it now works as good as ever.  Hooray!  :)  Hubs is my hero.

The morning view out of the foot window.  That would be our tent light hanging there. 

The blind photo camera picture out of the window above my head. 

My friend, Aimee, teases me about all of the bug spray and sunscreen in the back door.  Okay, we have four mostly used sunscreen containers, but we have 5 different versions of mosquito spray.  Different deet.  No deet. Outside, deep woods, sportsman.  We have it all.  After all of the teasing, Aimee admitted a need while attending a picnic.  I reminded her of all of the teasing.  

 Breaking down camp.  It's a lot of work.

Yes.  Yes, we are.  My lil iPod came to me loaded with all of my PJ CDs.  We even listened to the Mansfield, MA 2003 boot all the way home. 

We had a great time.  We even stopped by Sonic for the first time.  Never mind that I shut three of my child's ten digits in the door.  (She's okay.)  We all got slushies and got on our way.  Yumola!  :)

Because he won't let me throw them away . . .

These were in my laundry to fold this evening.  They have a large hole under the one cheek.  "Can't I throw these away?"  Well, you see what his response was.

"Just put x's on the legs like you do so that I know not to wear them to work.  I did once wear x'd pants to work.  S just loved it."

Am I the only wife who has a husband who doesn't want to throw things like this away?  I've taken to putting these type of garments in the kitchen garbage and then scrape dinner leftovers on them to ensure that they will remain in the trash.

They are breezy.  He could at least use them for a rag, but he will still wear them painting and mowing.  Ugh!

Transformation of the Comet Darner

I was tending to my gardens this morning and saw what appeared to be a cellophane wrapper in my lilies.  

It wasn't cellophane.

Hubs reported that it was a newly emerged Comet Darner and while it is common other places, it is quite rare for us.  

He told me to watch it for a few hours and I would see how it would change.  

The wings are clear and glassy.  Just slightly lined.  The body is just filling with blood.  You can see how it isn't completely filled up yet.  

(A hair blurry.  If I got any closer, it would have flown away.)

The wings are lined.  The body is changing color.

Look at how the body has changed as it has dried in the sun. 

Class dismissed. :)

The tall and short of it.

My cousin and I have always been close.  Obviously, Jenny is a hair taller than me.  That's why in high school we shared a locker.  I had a locker next to her boyfriend and so we shared.  She could use the top shelf and I could use the bottom.  I could never use the top anyhow because I couldn't dig anything out of it if it got in there.

We took the girls to the Cleveland Zoo today.  I won't bore you with zoo photos.  There were a few interesting things:
1.  You could feed a giraffe a lettuce leaf for $2 each leaf.  I told my friend that I need to rethink my employment.  I said that I could probably make my salary in a few days at the zoo.
2.  A lady decided to jump one of the common green space fences to lay a blanket out and to change her child in the middle of EVERYONE.  She was about 20' from a bathroom with a changing table.  I know because I just used the loo with my cousin's daughter.
3.  There were some interesting clothing choices.
4.  It was 70 during what is normally the dog days of August and yes, I wore the coat all day.  I still have it on.
5.  I talked Jenny into working the zoo backwards and I think that was a good thing.
6.  We had a delightful picnic at the table right in front of our car.
7.  They need bigger bathrooms.
8.  The critters seemed happy.  There was even a bunny snacking on grass in the flamingo enclosure.
9.  Happily, we skipped construction traffic.  We weren't certain of our success until we got almost all of the way home.
10.  We didn't enter one gift shop.
11.  We didn't purchase one food product, though I did see a woman who had her child lose control of his hot dog while shedding his bun.  She paid $4.50 for it and went back and asked for a replacement.  I was stunned that they gave her one.
12.  We didn't run into rude people.
13.  Our kiddos were good.  :)

We had a great day!