The first are the people that head north. They own cottages on lakes throughout rural Michigan, and if they don't, then they're roughing it by camping. They drive boats in the summer and drive snowmobiles in the winter, and they drive their vans home from their cottages when they're done. They're proud members of the NRA. They hunt with guns. They hunt with bows. They fish. They eat what they catch. They love PBR. They make fires without lighter fluid. They're the poor man's Bear Grylls.
Families in group #2 are the ones that head south. These families are scared of the outdoors. They like ocean views over lake views. They like condos. They like hotels with pools. They like having meals served to them. They like fruity mixed drinks. The only deer they want to see is Bambi at the Magic Kingdom. Water temperature below 85 is just unacceptable for swimming. If a bug comes within 10 feet of you, it's time to call the front desk and see if you can get some comps.
My family was in group #2. Usually, that meant heading all the way down to Florida, though occasionally for us, it meant Las Vegas (gambling for mom and dad, business cards of hundreds of escorts for my hormonally-charged self and my brother).
Approximate traveling I did before the age of 18
We liked getting pampered on vacation. Woods? Bugs? Smelling like campfire? No thank you. That sounds more like work than vacation. Until this past year, the closest I ever came to "camping" was sleeping in a tent in our fenced-in backyard, or going to Cedar Point with my high school girlfriend's family and having all of us sleep in their camper on the campgrounds (AKA, a gravel parking lot next to the park. Though showering in a wooden building was more than enough "roughing it" for me at the time).Even when we drove down to Florida, we went the "high-class" route, by driving a classic high-top van. We were able to turn the backseat into a bed for napping and were able to hook up a Nintendo to the TV. I'm pretty sure that same van today wouldn't be allowed within 500 feet of an elementary school.
So my nature survival skills are suspect to say the least. I've never made a fire. If I caught a fish, I'd probably get tears when trying to take the hook out of its mouth. I mean, they're like . . . slimy. I've only been camping twice (and it wasn't until this past summer), and I was actually disturbed about not being able to get any signal with my cell. How do I know where I am without my GPS dammit! The sun? What is this, communist Russia? And I certainly had no reason to go gallivanting through a forest in the middle of winter without having a board strapped to me feet. So when Danielle suggested a snowshoeing hike last weekend, pre-blog Alan would have said "eh, there's English Premier League soccer on, and frankly, I've seen trees with snow on them before." However, blogging Alan says, "eh, there's English Premier League soccer on, and frankly, I've seen trees with snow on them before . . . but I DO have a new camera I still want to play with so what the hell." And so we were off.
Granted it wasn't exactly Mt Washington, but for my virgin experience, Callahan State Park in Framingham would do. And Danielle, Jim, Charlie, Lisa and I had a delightful little time.
Charlie and Lisa's dog Sassafrass prepares for the hike by getting high off of . . . life?
Sassafrass shows off his new-found energy
Beware the 2 foot vertical
Charlie used his snowshoes for the first half, but he graciously lent me his for the back end. They didn't make that much of a difference on the packed snow, but certainly came in handy in the deeper powder.
Brock Landers without Chest Rockwell
A hike well-done
All-in-all, a nice little Sunday morning. I'm not running out to spend $200 on snowshoes, but I'd do it again on a borrowed pair. Though I'm still just a bit off from getting my Bear Grylls on and dropping out of a helicopter into the middle of Siberia. I'm an engineer. Technology exists for a reason dammit.
- Doing the trapeze with Lisa on February 5th at 4:00. I think they still have slots available.
- My friend Meg is starting up her own 52 New adventure. That's phenomenal. Go check her out. We're already talking about combining efforts hitting up US soccer in NYC and possibly a European vacation. Looks kids . . . Big Ben . . . Parliament.
You can't go to freaking LONDON! You have to go somewhere where English isn't their native language or it doesn't count.
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