Back at this road trip, photography, art, blogging thing, day 1.
Fair warning to you, my dear readers, but my travel blogging is going to have a new ingredient! Anxiety. Its whats for dinner. And breakfast. And Lunch. And happy hour. I deal with it daily and my comfort zone has shrunk over the past few years of mostly not traveling, so there’s going to be a LOT of growing pains. But, as I can’t spend the rest of my life not living, I’ll give this a go and try to bear the bad stuff so i can experience the amazing stuff. Come along, why dontcha, and witness my anxiety and my anxiety-coping humor in all its annoying glory. I’ll try to reward you with pretty pictures and fun stories along the way.
As is usually the case with me, I spent my morning hours pre-departure panicking, taking moments to breathe and trying to calm my tummy. Thanks, anxiety, I had thought you might actually be excited to hit the road and fine new and interesting places to torment me. Jerk.
All my errands were taking longer than expected, but there was A Moment…I was waiting in the pharmacy drive-thru when I saw a young man walk out of his place of employment next door. He approached a car that had stopped at the curb. The people inside appeared to be his parents who had brought him a bag lunch and the family puppy to say hello. He spent a few minutes chatting with them and petting the puppy before grabbing his lunch and jogging back inside. It was a wholesome moment and a small reminder to look around and appreciate being in this world even during the most mundane tasks.
My first stop of the day was designed to reward me for actually hitting the road, rather than making extensive plans with no follow through: Glory Doughnuts! Being 90 minutes away in Frederick, I don’t visit as often as I’d like, but thats probably a good thing because I have little self control when it comes to vegan donuts. I hadnt even been to see their new location on West Patrick Street! I limited myself to just 2 donuts and a delicious coffee.
My next stop, nearly 2 hours further down the road was Highland Thrift Shop in Grantsville, MD. I discovered them on one of my previous trips and bookmarked them as worthy for a return. Stretched my legs, browsed the racks and left with two pairs of ridiculously-cute-but-impractical-for-camping shoes for $2 each.
My camp site for the night was Blue Rock State Park in Blue Rock, Ohio. I had a little trouble upon arrival because you have to reserve/pay for your site via phone or web site, but theres no cellular reception in camp and I had to drive some ways off to make it happen. Once that was taken care of, I settled into a big, beautiful camp site and let the dogs stretch their legs. It was quiet and clean and wonderful…until I ventured into the bathrooms. Vault toilets are meant to be in closed rooms with a lids on the toilets, This is done for a very good reason. These vault toilets were a clear example of how NOT to do it. There was a zig-zag entry into the bathroom, but no door. Then there were a couple of stalls with shoulder high (shoulder height on my 5’2 frame) doors. No lids on the toilets. And Every Single Surface Was Covered In Bugs. I mean, COVERED. Like a horror movie. Flies, gnats, others of all kinds. Just NO.
Skipping the restroom had my bladder waking me up before dawn, but I was game for finding coffee and a clean restroom…