Red, white and bluebs

Today we drove down to Pratt's Falls, to see what it looks like without snow on the ground and to experience it without Aidan throwing up in the car. (See Pratfalls and Pratt's Falls for the account of that delightful day) It amused us to see that there were fewer people there today - sunny and hot - than on our previous visit, which was cloudy and cold.

We hiked down to see the falls, which we could not do on our prior trip. It is beautiful:



We walked on a loop trail, which was a little over a half mile long, then drove on down to Highland Forest. Again, we wanted to see it without snow on the ground and, again, we found it funny that there were far more people there during our January visit. We started hiking the same trail we had hiked in January, and were again enthralled by the towering trees:


We had been hiking for about 45 minutes when we stopped to explore a little stream:


While visiting the stream, we first heard the distant thunder and noticed the darkening clouds. We were about halfway through our hike and decided to press on. At first we thought - and hoped - that the storm was going to go around the park, but it soon became apparent that it was not. We went as fast as possible and just when we reached the main road through the back of the park, the storm reached us. Holy cow. The rain came down in torrents, the lightning flashed, the thunder rumbled and the wind was fierce.

Luckily we soon reached the maintenance compound for the park and while no doors were unlocked, we were able to stand under an overhang and put the building between us and the wind. We were soaked:


Aidan exclaimed at one point, "It's just like Storm Stories!" Thankfully, it was not. We waited out the storm, which ended up including small sized hail, and then squished back to the lodge and the main parking area. By then the sun was shining and the wind had dropped back to a nice breeze. We sat at a picnic table to dry out a bit in the sun before climbing back into the car.

As we drove through the country toward I-81 to head back north to home, James spotted a farm that features U Pick blueberries. What lovely blueberries!



We arrived home damp and tired, and glad not to be the subjects of a future Weather Channel story.

Happy camper

Aidan spent this week attending day camp at Beaver Lake Nature Center, our wonderful local nature resource. We told him that he could attend one day camp this year, within reason, and after looking at the Beaver Lake program, Cub Scout day camp and a few sports camps, he chose Beaver Lake. And we chose this week because two of his Cub Scout den mates were also attending. (And can I say just how glad I was to NOT be at Cub Scout day camp again?)

Each day between 9 am and 3 pm, the campers hiked, played games, learned about animals and plants, and generally had a great time being a child. Each day I took home a sweaty, dirty, tired boy who smelled of sunscreen, bug repellent and nature camp.

Yesterday they painted camp t-shirts and today they had their fellow campers sign their shirts. Here is Aidan at the end of camp today, holding his "I survived camp" certificate:

Believe it or not, the socks that he is wearing in the photo were WHITE when he left home this morning!