Konza Prairie

I am in Kansas for course I need for my next job. Since everyone had to be tested for COVID, we had a couple of days on the front end to allow for testing. Well, mine came back about 9 am today, so I took a quick drive out into the prairie.

I found the Konza Prairie preserve, a joint venture between Kansas State University and The Nature Conservancy, about 90 miles away. Since the thought of hanging out in my hotel room all day wasn't appealing, I jumped into the rental and took a drive through the countryside.

It was a beautiful drive. A bit west of Topeka, I crested a hill and the wooded bottomlands gave way to the prairie of the flint hills. Some road construction added a solid 45 minutes to my drive on the front side of the trip, but it was still a pretty pleasant trip all things considered.

I took the 5 mile hiking loop. Good thing I brought sunscreen, since there wasn't much in the way of shade along the majority of the trail. A couple of other people were out there, but it was otherwise fairly desolate. Just what the doctor ordered.

Have a great week!

Marc

Cunningham Falls

We loaded up this past Saturday for a mini road trip here in Maryland.

First up was Roddy Road covered bridge, just north of Thurston. It was a nice little break from the drive, with the wonderful sound of the river.

From there, we made our way into Catoctin Mountain National Park and Cunningham Falls State Park, where we made the less-than-one-mile hike to Cunningham Falls. Along with 18 million of our closest friends. 

Okay, so I exaggerated a bit...but in the moment it felt like the rest of the state wanted to see the falls, too.

Catherine found a nice little diner where we ordered some take out, and then we found a fun little ice cream store on the way home.

Happy Labor Day!

Marc

Birthday boy

 Nothing terribly new here - we celebrated Ian's birthday this weekend - hard to believe it has been another year.

I thought I'd pull the camera out this evening, to get some photos of the kids.

And since it had been so long since I asked Catherine to sit in front of the camera, I asked.

Have a great week everyone!

Marc

Parenting/COVID Paradox

I have heard it said that parenting and our COVID response are similar, in that the days are long, but the years pass in a blur. I'd say, yeah, that sounds about right.

It is hard to believe it is almost August. I have not had the camera out much this year - I hope to get back in the swing of things.

Nothing special here. I just figured I'd snap a couple of photos of the kids. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Marc

Shenandoah

I took the kids to Harper's Ferry yesterday (Saturday) so we could hike up to split rock to watch sunset and hopefully catch a glimpse of comet NEOWISE. The conditions looked like they were going to be perfect - with the exception of the beastly heat and humidity. When we arrived at Harper's Ferry, it was 98*F and crazy humid, and unfortunately, the rest of West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland all had the same idea - there was no where to park.

So I asked the kids if they wanted to go home or make the 2 hour drive to Shenandoah. Since NEOWISE will not come around for another 4000 years, they opted for the chance to see it at Shenandoah. The comet sets pretty close to the horizon in the northwest just after sunset and rises in the northeast just before sunrise - so we needed to get to a location that can see 15-20* above the horizon, which is not easy around here (too many hills and forests that come right up to the road, or fields that are too small to get that 15* up).

So we made the drive, and loved the scenery and the fact that we went from 98*F to 79*F in that time. The only problem was, there were some clouds in the south and west that were making their way to the north.

Those clouds were slow moving, and while they gave us a pretty-enough sunset, they totally obscured the comet we really were hoping to catch a glimpse of. We stayed up on Stony Man (the cliffs you see in the photo above) until a bit after dark in the hopes the clouds would dissipate - but they actually got more intense. Coupled with a storm to the south (nifty little lightning show) and a looming long drive home, we made our way back to the car.

We made one last stop at a pull out on Skyline Drive, but again, the clouds on the horizon had grown worse - no chance for any of us (and there were loads of people at that pull out) to see the comet.

Oh well - we tried and we had a nice time up in the mountains. NEOWISE will be getting closer to Earth for the next  couple of days - hopefully we can catch it one of these days.

Cheers!

Marc

Happy Memorial Day!

Another relaxing day for the Skinners as we close out the long Memorial Day weekend.

Ian and I did some hiking with his Boy Scout troop - threw down about 8-9 miles on a trail not too far from home. It was nice to get back out into the woods, even if it was a chilly'ish day (mid-upper 60's).

Catherine and I checked out a new rental later on Sunday, we filled in the application this morning, and have our move it date scheduled for late June.

Ian turned in his Eagle project to his sponsor for his approval, and then we start pushing it through the national organization wickets.

All in all, a very nice weekend!

We all hope you had a nice weekend - full of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that so many sacrificed for us. Cheers!

Marc

Early May Quarantine

Catherine called me over to a her-side-of-the-family phone call, and Lucy mentioned something about the blog. That got me thinking it had been a couple of weeks since my last photoshoot of the kids.

Voila.

Both kids came down for the dining room shoot.

We hope everyone is staying healthy!

Cheers,

Marc