Day Trip Double Down

Saturday, January 28th, 2012:

Jamie, Mike, and I decide to head south for some warmer weather. We decide on a general direction and decide to just randomly stop at places we see along the way. Our first stop was at an old aqueduct from the 1800's.

 These old iron gates are covered in bugs and rust. I like them.

 Mike waiting to ambush people as they walk by, he's pretty much being a creeper.

 We are walking in an aqueduct here that once flowed over the river far below us. It was a pretty cool place to stretch our legs. Also came up with the idea to play paintball here.

 For the next segment of our trip, we decided to leave our decisions up to a coin. We flipped a coin at a road intersection that brought us to this footbridge for the Appalachian Trail over route 70.

Then we arrived at the origin of all trails and flipped the coin at every trail intersection to determine which direction to hike to make a loop consisting of 5 different trails. We ended up at this sweet overlook. I should mention that I was the Keeper of the Coin, Jamie the Coin Flipper, and Mike the Grand Determiner.

My pictures end here, but the trip did not. We went to Popeye's for lunch, a sweet glass shop, an REI, and a delicious Indian restaraunt. This was the end of daytrip 1.

Sunday, January 29th, 2012:

I needed to do a solo adventure today so I decided to head to one of my favorite places within 3 hours of home, Swallow Falls State Park. I walked the falls trail and took a few photos, stopping along the way to take it all in.

I set up my tripod to get myself on that ledge to the right of the falls. My remote control for my camera decided to stop working, so I set my timer and had 10 seconds to get up there. This ended in me getting a little wet.

At swallow falls, there was a group of kayakers going over the falls. This was just perfect timing.

By the way, I found a fortune of diamonds on my hike.

I stopped in this mini-cave to take a nap. Great rock for it.

The night ended with a sunset over Deep Creek Lake.

I did not eat here, but I took this photo to remind some friends of a good time we had in the past.
I did eat here, however, and I got the most manly, delicious meal I could ask for.

Overall I say it was a successful weekend.



Myrtle Beach

For a Christmast present, I took my parents down to Myrtle Beach as they were long overdue for a vacation and they always refuse to do so. There isn't much of a story to this adventure, as I had to keep my ninja fights and bear wrestling to a minimum for the safety of my family, but I did take a few pictures, mostly at the Ripley's Aquarium. Enjoy.

 It looks like all I  did was go to the aquarium, but most of my time was spent on the beach. Our hotel was literally on the beach and so every waking minute I had alone, I would be out on the beach.

 We also went to a state park south of Myrtle Beach where we walked through an old castle, which was perfectly aged. I have been fascinated by rotting/rusting/decaying structures for some time now.

The beach at the state park was also nice. Here are a few things that I killed by punching:

 Also, if you get the chance. Eat at Deffy's. It's good and cheap.