A Walk in the Woods

This weekend was a nice respite from the oppresive heat of the last few weeks and I took full advantage by spending some time outdoors. Saturday I went to the driving range and realized that a small bucket of balls isn't really enough to get grooved in, next time I'll return to the large bucket. After the range I went to the North Raleigh Char-Grill and got a tasty hamburger and sweet tea with crushed ice. While waiting on my food I conversed briefly with an Auburn graduate wondering why it was so crowded and I suggested it was a holiday weekend and football season. Then I moved onto a husband and wife that were State fans who were talking to a UNC fan, both were headed to their respective games. I subtely mentioned that they should find a tv at 3:30 and watch a real game. After lunch it was GAME DAY!!! Another game in favor of the good guys.

Sunday I skipped church and communed with nature at my favorite fishing hole in Hillsborough, Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area. Unfortunately, this trip turned out like many of my others to the pond and I was skunked again. I wasn't too bummed as I just enjoy being outside enjoying the weather. After fishing, I continued west to Elon to see the G-units. We had lunch and I gave them a ride in the new ride. I think they liked it and seemed to be easier for them to get in and out of which is a good thing.

Monday I checked another North Carolina state park off my list by visiting Medoc Mountain State Park in Hollister, NC. When I first arrived at the park I think was the only person there besides the rangers which is highly unusual for a holiday weekend but no complaints from me. I found the trail head and ended up hiking around 5 miles or so to the whopping 300' summit of Medoc Mountain. It was a beautiful day and other than breaking all of the spiderwebs along trail I had a great time.

Upon returning home I relaxed for a bit and then finisehd reading "Into the Wild" by John Krakauer. I picked it up at the ATL airport last Sunday after reading an article about the upcoming movie and plowed all buy 60 pages or so while in the airport. If you know me, that's a lot of reading, especially at once, so it's a great book. It's about the true story of Emory graduate Chris McCandless' journey through the west and Alaska as a vagabond. The novel provides an insight into McCandlesses thoughts, travels, including interviews of people he interacted with along the way. As a bonus, a movie is to be released in a couple of weeks. Check it out!

Another book I recently read (yes two books in two weeks!) is Walker Percy's southern literature classic "The Moviegoer". I highly recommend this one as well.