Winter trip plus a few random photos.

Yesterday I felt great after my visit to Baltimore, and since it was a beatiful day I decided to drive the whole way to the opposite side of Maryland to see some waterfalls and have some time to think about life, as I do a lot these days. I'm becoming quite the philosopher these days. I'd like to share these thoughts and photos of my trip. Comments are much appreciated.

I broke into Swallow Falls State Park in Maryland recently after the heatwave had melted the snow and then the cold froze the melted snow into solid ice. I came to this very long staircase which had become a solid sheet of ice the whole way down. Without giving it a second thought I dove down the steps and rode it like a frozen slide the whole way to the bottom. No knowing how I would get back to the car as the whole hillside was a sheet of ice, I  continued around the closed trail falling many times and coming close to falling into the river which had swollen to a torrent of whitewater. In hindsight, not the best plan I ever had, however it was the most fun I've had on a trail. This whole experience made me think of the way I used to be. There were times that we all used to just jump in the jeep, head a direction and we would have fun no matter what. The perfect example of this is a time Andy and I went to northcentral Pennyslvania near Elk state park. We drove around in the winter, not really seeing anything or doing anything. If I explained the whole trip in detail it would sound quite miserable, especially the part were we had to sleep in the jeep in 0 degree weather because it was so cold with the wind that that big fire we built offered no head whatsoever and we were both too broke to afford a hotel, but it was not miserable, we had a lot of fun. Today I find myself more indecisive, thinking about where I will have the most fun, and how to make everyone happy instead of just enjoying the moments we all have together. My point is that we all don't live in the moment enough, and most of the time I find that if I am not enjoying myself it's because I  am thinking about whether or not I'm having fun. Life is filled with endless opportunities, and throws us a lot of curveballs sometimes, and just being aware brings happiness if you let it.

 During this hike I spent countless hours in this spot admirng all of the detail in the frozen bush and the falling water. It's weird, over the last 6 months my whole views of the world have changed. I've become completely out of tune with all politics and news, lost my belief in religion, and in doing so become more in tune with things around me. I feel more connected with nature and the people around me then when I  believed that we were all created by a god.
 There are a lot of beautiful people, places, and things all around us, all we have to do is take some time to appreciate them.

When I see a person I wonder what they are like. Above me is a photo I took on the shores of Presque Isle on Lake Erie. You can't tell by the photo but I waded through a snow drive waist deep in my work clothes to get a picture of the ice dunes.  It was definitely a miserable experience to be soaking wet and cold the rest of the day with nothing to change into. I should mention if you've never been on Presque Isle in the winter, it was probably -15 degrees with the windchill. To my surprise there was a person out enjoying the "beach". What were they thinking about at the time? Who are their loved ones? What do they do? Are they wondering the same things about me? Anyways I could go on forever. Here's some more pictures.

 There's a lot of old connections I miss. I was glad to catch up with an old friend who I really enjoy having intellectual conversations about with. Although we usually have different views of world affairs we usually have a lot in common and always enjoy a great debate with each other. There's a lot of other connections I want to reestablish.

 It's funny how much 1 person can affect your life...

 and each one of them in different ways...

and some of them really make you think harder about who you are and who you want to be.
A good friend once said "Some day we will know what pisses you off Tim." Well there's really only one thing that pisses me off. It's when I, myself, or someone else focuses on the negative instead of the positive. I am working to eliminate all negative thoughts from my head, or at least turn them around when they start to appear. Instead of looking at people's weaknesses, let's see their strengths. Instead of planning to have fun or being indecisive on what to do, let's just do something and make the best of it. I know I plan on doing it.