Swallow Falls

My first camping trip of the year!  My friends and I headed out to Swallow Falls State Park in western Maryland.  There we are, at the top of Maryland's tallest waterfall:

Okay, yes, all of us on the trip are from the west coast, so it wasn't all that spectacular as a "tallest" waterfall.  To us, it was more of a waterstep.  But that didn't prevent its being quite beautiful.  And you could clamber around on rocks and even go behind the falls a bit, which was obviously fun.

We also encountered an army of tiny frogs at our campsite.  I mean, tiny:

They were everywhere.  Some were as small as my pinky nail.  It was impressive.

Add campfires, star-watching, a resounding thunderstorm, tarp forts, canoeing, more hiking, good conversation, freakishly large (beautiful) moths, and an almost continuous bout of hysterical laughter (it happens when Stephanie and I get together...what can I say?), and you have good times.

Skywatching

Every clear Friday, Johns Hopkins opens it's observatory to normal folk like myself.  Last night, I got to see Saturn and two of its moons, various stars, and a few globular clusters through their crazy-big telescope (although it's not as crazy-big as these are).  It was gorgeous.  And it didn't hurt that there was this little kid up there with his parents, who gasped with delighted excitement every time he saw something through the eyepiece.

There are so many things to be excited about seeing in this world of ours.  I hope I don't ever outgrow delighted gasping.

Floccinaucinihilipilification

flɒksəˌnɔsəˌnaɪhɪləˌpɪləfɪˈkeɪʃən/
-noun

Definition: The estimation of something as valueless or trivial.

My friend Lauren taught me this word this week.  It makes me very happy just knowing it exists.

Relativity

It is amazing how gloriously cool and refreshing 75˚ feels after a 99˚ day...