A Parade, A Carnival, and a Sandwich

It is the time of year again when Adamstownians thoughts turn toward the Carroll Manor Fire Company Carnival. It is hard for me to believe that this is now the 5th year in a row that we've enjoyed the festivities. (See the reports for 2006 and 2007)

This year we went on parade night. The parade consists mainly of various shapes, sizes, and colors of fire trucks from Frederick and surrounding counties. The kids love the parade for the same reason they love Halloween - free candy from strangers. I think the parade is sorely lacking a marching band or three. I'm almost tempted to dust off the old saxophone and organizing a band. Maybe next year.

It was then down to the carnival itself. It was mostly the same rides from years past. The kids branched out a bit though, and went down the big slide thing that is named "Slide". They also rode some old favorites including the carousel and the bugs.

As for the sandwich, well, my favorite part of the carnival is officially the pit beef sandwich. Love me the pit beef.

Wordle Cloud

This is how all the tags from my Flickr photostream look in a Wordle. The bigger the font, the more the tag was used.

Click through to the picture for links to instructions on how to make your own.

Life in a Tent

Back in the day there was a Memorial Day camping tradition, the stories from which have grown into legends. Now many, many years and a week later, I found myself once again sleeping in a tent in the woods.

This time the cast of characters included we four Roths along with two neighbor families, totalling six adults and eight kids. The venue was Cunningham Falls State Park. On Friday night, we loaded our Outback to the brim, and made the short drive north on Route 15 to begin our adventure.

Despite nearly a decade in its bag, I was glad to discover my REI tent was complete and intact, as was my memory of how to set it up. It was not long before we were all settled around the campfire, roasting some dogs, and washing them down with some beer.

Saturday morning dawned with signs of ominous weather. I know this because I was awakened well before said dawn by my light sleeping son who was more anxious than I to begin the day. By the time the bacon was sizzling over the fire, it was clear the weather was not going to cooperate with our plans of outdoor fun and adventure.

We managed to wait out most of the storm in nearby Gettysburg, PA enjoying the adventure of Indiana Jones. It was then back to the campground where the last hour of the storm we spent in The Kingdom of the Crowded Tent - which was more than enough time.

Luckily, the weather broke, and we were able to hike up to the falls which were overflowing with water from the rains and rednecks from our campground. The kids enjoyed the hike, and the boy especially enjoyed the challenge of the river.





After this hike, one of the two families we were camping with, whose tent had not done so well at keeping the outside out, bugged out. The rest of us stuck around for another tasty meal cooked over the campfire. Then the other family also decided to call it a trip, leaving the Mighty Roths as the sole survivors of the expedition. We decided to stay the night, and so I was able to once again see the dawn, thanks to that same son I mentioned a couple paragraphs ago.

We struck camp, reloaded the Outback, and said goodbye to campsite 73. We stopped off at the lake to play for a bit, then headed back home. All in all, it was a good trip.