Wild and Wonderful

Last weekend we ventured into the wild West Virginia for hiking, white water rafting and camping. When we got there Saturday, we made the 800 stair descent to the old Kaymoor Mine.  An abandoned mining town, there are still structures on the mountainside from the days of excavation. The most ironic thing is that these men worked in such terrible conditions, but were surrounded by beautiful scenery I'm sure there was no way they could appreciate. At the bottom of the mountain, past the railroad tracks and beyond the boulders is this:

With a night of 2 hours of sleep behind me thanks to not remembering how to camp and ridiculously sore calves from climbing more steps than the broken Woodley Park metro escalator, I confronted my fear of white water rafting with a few class V waves and a native West Virginian river guide name Scott. Let's just say I know a new meaning of "indefinitely." Ask me about that one later. 

I've been back in the city one day and I miss the quiet, the stars, no electricity. Granted, I think it would take about a week before I missed the city, but sometimes I wonder.