“Hey honey, I have a great idea about how to celebrate your 50 th birthday. How about we spend the weekend in West Virginia with a bunch of my friends whom you barely know? We’ll leave you behind at the house while we go out and do a bunch of outdoor activities you don’t enjoy. And by the way, would you cook us dinner the night of your birthday?” These are not the words of a sane man. Fortunately, Valerie’s back has been bothering her recently, leaving her unable to swing a baseball bat or a meat cleaver to any great effect, and so I’m alive today to recount the story of our weekend. First, though, I must correct a slight distortion on my part. I did not actually ask Valerie to cook dinner (the rest of the first paragraph is true). Rather, I mentioned that I had signed up to bring a vegetarian main course and Valerie, knowing that I’d opt for something along the lines of a quinoa-crusted, kale-wrapped tempeh infested habanero tofu lentil curry, acted in her own self-i...
One man's journey into the great outdoors of Washington, DC and its environs.