ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

Last summer, Robin and I took our nieces, Jackie and Sophie...along with our nephew, Isaac, camping in Ohiopyle State Park.  The trip was geared to doing kid oriented activities...but we could tell that Jackie, who was twelve at the time, would soon be ready to move onto to some bigger kid adventures...white water rafting, waterfall exploring, and hiking...the kind that stuff that Alex and I do on our yearly camping trips together.  So, a promise was made to Jackie that, come next summer, she could join Alex and I on our yearly adventures. Alex, Jackie, and David Raymond on an adventure to Jonathan Run Falls -- June 20, 2019 All good adventures start with going out for breakfast...so, after Alex, Jackie, and I had the gear packed and left my father's house...we headed to the Bedford Diner to get our day started.  Fully aware that we couldn't check into our campsite at Ohiopyle until 3PM, I planned on a few small excursions on the way...basically bringing out the f...

It's impossible for me to forget my first camping trip.  I mean, it's literally impossible...I still have the scar on my left ankle where I embedded my father's hatchet when I was 8 years old!  Yeah...irresponsible, eight-year-old, me missed the log my dad told I could practice on and gave my ankle a pretty good whack.  I waited almost two hours until my mother went up the the bathhouse to tell my dad out of concern that both he, and I, would get in trouble!  As much as I like to tease my dad about that incident...I have a lot of memories of those first camping trips to Rocky Gap State Park, which include a lot of firsts:  my first time sleeping in a tent, my first mountain pie, my first canoe ride, my first evening campfires...and yes, my first "hatchet incident." One of our first camping trips to Rocky Gap State Park.  My father enjoying some dinner with my brother, Jacob, and I in the background. -- 1981 Taking a canoe ride on Lake Habeeb with ...