Nature will always find a way to make you feel small and your problems insignificant. This place does exactly that for me.
Ash Cave, Hocking Hills State Park, 2024
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Tag Archives: Ash Cave
Life In The Radical Middle
Sometimes I fear that I overshare here. There’s a method to the madness though. You see, as I look around this world, I am practically hit over the head with two drastically different types of messages. One is that the lives of other people are perfect. Perfect kids. Perfect food. Perfect homes. Perfect cars. Perfect looks. Perfect, perfect, perfect! Please read that in the voice of Jan Brady exclaiming “Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!”
Then there are the people who seemingly don’t even try to do something useful with their lives. They have excuses, sometimes good reasons and often just a bad attitude and it never seems to occur to them that they should try a different approach. They are happy doing what they do or maybe miserable but either stuck or ok with it enough to stay the course.
And then there’s me.
While these other two groups live on opposite sides of the spectrum, I’m smack dab in the middle in a place I like to call the radical middle.
I am flawed. I am a nerd who is fascinated by the world. I can entertain myself for hours just driving around looking at things or sitting in a corner watching people from afar. One of my guilty pleasures is a Taco Bell Black Bean Crunch Wrap and a strawberry lemonade. My kitchen is not Instagram perfect and my cat loves nothing more than to dig junk out of the recycling bin and drag it around the house. My hair is a perpetual mess and my idea of a great vacation involves museums and junk stores, alleyway murals, dirty hiking shoes and other assorted things that most people wouldn’t embrace on a normal day – certainly not on their vacation.
I glorify these things and write entire stories about places and spaces that have been all but forgotten. I make a big deal out of a single historic artifact or out of my own reaction to some random thing that caught my attention. I tell you that my thyroid sucks and that life is exhausting and stressful. I tell you that our family dog died and that I like spotting payphones.
Why?
Because if I’m a normal person with a non-social media ready life, I know there are other people just like me. Yet, this is not the image projected by anyone these days and I think we all need to be reminded that a normal life is ok. It’s more than ok. It’s something to aspire to in this insane world.
If you hang around here much you know that I believe winter is for rest and quiet. This hasn’t been the best winter for feeling rested but it has been quiet. I have been staying home, cooking most of my meals and not adventuring. At this time, I’m doing very little outside of work, seeing my fella, and barely keeping up with the basics of home.
Soon my workload will shift again and spring will usher in a new season of adventures. There are trails to hike and many roads to travel in search of enrichment. I have a mile long list of day trips and longer adventures and there’s no way I can get to them all this year but you can bet I’ll try.
I miss driving down a road just to see where it goes. I miss lingering in front of a painting I do not understand to think about how it makes me feel. I miss randomly choosing a restaurant because I like the outside of the building and assume that any place that looks so cool on the outside must be worth a try. Small towns, rural countryside and big cities are all a celebration of America and evidence of who we are and who we have been. They all are worthy of consideration and exploration if you ask me. They may not be the target of a social media influencer and they may not be a tourism destination but that doesn’t mean they are lacking in cool things to see and learn from in the most unexpected ways.
As the above picture illustrates, what good is all the light if it isn’t framed in a little darkness?
This is what I aspire to. My adventures aren’t so adventurous but I do find them exciting and fulfilling as I mostly celebrate the randomness and the normalness of the world around me.
Is this really so radical an idea? To embrace the real? To find the normal and to not just be good with it but to be satisfied, gratified and joyous that there’s nothing wrong with messy hair, a country road and an imperfect kitchen?
Everyone else can pursue perfection. I’m going to pursue the normal, small things of my ordinary life. I’m going to pursue what makes me happy and I’m going to remind you regularly that a normal life is not such a radical concept. It can be a great life after all.
You Can Do It
This is your Monday morning reminder that you can handle whatever life throws your way. No matter how big it may seem.
Now go do it. And if you’re interested in this big place, it’s Ash Cave in Ohio’s Hocking Hills.
Happiness Is….
Happiness is living close to some beautiful state park hiking trails. I complain a lot about the tourists but there’s a reason why they flock from all over the country.
It’s gorgeous here.
There are three parks that are about 20 to 30 minutes from my home and I like to sneak in after work and after the visitors have cleared out. There’s no better to way to decompress after a long day than a couple of miles on a rocky, wooded trail.
Because these parks are extremely crowded, ODNR has taken steps to make social distancing easier in some of the more populated areas. For example, the trail to Ash Cave, where this picture was taken, is now one way. Normally I would skip seeing Ash Cave and instead hop on a trail that goes up the ridge and a couple of miles to another park.
The one way trail forced me to walk with the visitors and see Ash Cave before heading up some wooden stairs and to my target.
Honestly, the detour was a bit annoying but I hadn’t seen Ash Cave in a couple of years and I got a picture out of the deal.
A Workday Picnic
Yesterday I found myself with the unusual combination of free time for lunch and proximity to a state park. So I stopped by a local deli for cheese and veggies on a whole wheat bun and then headed to Ash Cave for a picnic.
I found solace from the world at a table on the far end of the parking lot.
It was just me and the birds and the wind in the trees. Cell phones don’t work out there and I had nothing to do but sit and enjoy my freedom. I didn’t even have a book.
I eventually took a little walk despite looking a bit out of place in my dress clothes but I didn’t care at all. Given that I often eat leftovers at work, this was like a mini vacation in the middle of my day.
No Boys Allowed
I found this on my hike the other day. It was pretty close to the middle of nowhere so it was hard to pass by – especially given that it made me giggle.
Plus, it suits my recent mood as I’ve all but given up on the idea of dating. I met someone kind of recently who I thought had potential but I was wrong. So back to my solitary life I go, wandering the backroads and trails and making pictures of all the stuff I see.
It’s a pretty good life I have and I’m frequently reminded of this by couples arguing in public and parents struggling to manage their difficult kids.
I can go anywhere I please, whenever I like and there’s no one along to say “I don’t know… where do you want to eat?” every time you have to choose a restaurant.
Here’s another fun image from that hike. In case you’re wondering, I was on the Buckeye Trail between Cedar Falls and Ash Cave. It’s an easy hike where you’ll see some wildlife and hear a lot of birds.
