Zac

It has an awesome climbing gym, so points for that. Otherwise, I might as well have been in Upstate New York. Not a bad place at all, just your average suburban shopping plaza sprawl-fest.

I’m visiting the Earth Treks climbing gym this weekend, which is apparently in Timonium. Is there anything else in Timonium? I have absolutely no idea, but Baltimore’s close enough that it probably doesn’t matter.

I’ll be staying about 15 minutes outside of Baltimore this weekend—so I might need to kill some time in the city. Haven’t quite figured out what to do yet, but it looks like I’ll have plenty of options.

This photoset piqued my interest. Beautiful country, from the looks of it.

Having never been to a National Park, I wasn’t sure what to expect (or whether Shenandoah was typical of National Parks):

The landscape is beautiful, much better than I had imagined. But I wasn’t thrilled with the park’s layout. You can drive along the top of the entire ridge, and then stop to hike from dozens of parking areas. Which is a blessing and a curse—you can see the ridge-top views from your car, but that makes the downhill hikes somewhat anticlimactic (though there are supposedly some very nice waterfalls).

Part of my disappointment probably comes from the fact that I only spent a day in the park; I’m sure there are plenty of hidden treasures to discover (backcountry permits are available, apparently). But since everything seems so car-accessible, I didn’t feel the sense of adventure that some other wilderness areas seem to possess.

Having said that, I still had a great time. The scenery is wonderful, and definitely worth visiting if you’re in the area.

I’m heading down to Charlottesville for a few days to visit some friends at UVA. Should be fun, although I have absolutely no idea what to do there.

Nice little town.

When I was 4 years old, I had a surgery done at Tufts-NEMC. I don’t remember much about it, but my parents say Boston was nice.

I broke down once in New Hampshire, on the way back from a trip to Maine. Within 10 minutes, a helpful farmer had stopped, called a tow truck, and driven us to the local mechanic. Everyone we talked to there was friendly and willing to help in any way possible. Random motorists smiled and waved for no reason at all. Seriously, New Hampshire is officially the friendliest state in the world. Or maybe I just caught it on a good day.

I went to a concert at a bar in Poughkeepsie once. I’m not sure if there’s any reason why I’d want to go back.