Over Memorial Day weekend, we ventured out to Dolly Sods, WV for a three day, two night backpacking trip. This was my first trip to Dolly Sods after a couple failed attempts in the past due to scheduling and monsoons. We were greeted with perfect weather that lasted the entire trip and all ended up suffering varying degrees of sunburn. The trails were soggy and the camp sites were scarce but we certainly weren’t lacking for food. I believe we could have made it another three days on everything we packed back out. Dolly Sods is at around 4000 feet but the elevation change in the area is pretty mild so it makes for easy hiking. Compared to hiking in the typical Virginia spots, there are countless meadows and exposed ridges which provide beautiful views throughout the hike. I’m spoiled now and it’s going to be hard to backpack in Shenandoah National Park again. I think I just need to move out west… You can see lots of pictures here.
I’d been to the National Aquarium once before. I think it was on a field trip while in elementary school and I remembered it being amazing. So when my friends started talking about going on a day trip to Baltimore to check it out, I figured what the hell. I’m sorry to report that the place wasn’t as magical and wondrous as I remember. It can’t be that I’m old, cynical, and difficult to amuse now. My guess is that it’s under new management. They added a dolphin show that was pretty fun to watch I suppose. A really dorky kid got picked out of the audience to be an honorary dolphin trainer during the show. I bet he’ll come back in twenty years and think it’s lame then too. If he lives though the beating he’s going to get at school on Monday when he tells his classmates that he wants to be a marine biologist now, that is… It really wasn’t that bad and a great excuse to go run around with my friends. I’m sure they’re blogging about their pending career changes as we speak. I took lots of pictures of the sad creatures in captivity. One final word, stay away from the fried fish sandwich in the cafeteria.
