An A-maize-ing Time

Everybody should have a friend who runs a corn maze. One of our favorite fall traditions is to visit the Maize Quest Corn Maze, which is owned and operated by our fine friend Hugh. There are so many different attractions and other fun things to do that it is basically what Disney World would be like if it were on a farm in Pennsylvania. Our favorites this year were the Bamboo Maze, the Corn Box, the Pumkin express, and the Super Slide (I may be making these names up). We had more success with the actual corn maze this year, but ran out of time to finish. Maybe next time.

In addition to all the fun things to do, and the great weather (thanks be to Dave), it is also great to see a bunch of our friends, and their offspring. It is quite a group we've put together.

So thanks to Janie and Hugh for hosting what I would say is the best Corn Maze visit yet!

Here are some more shots. Click through for bigger versions.

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.

The Police in Hershey

Thanks to some much needed and much appreciated overnight babysitting from Grammy and Grandad, Shelley and I were able to travel to Hershey, PA to see Andy Summers, Stewart Copeland, and a fellow with the unlikely name of Sting - better known as together as The Police. This was a concert I never thought I would see given that they broke-up just before I was the concert going age. I've seen Sting at least 4 times since then, but to see them all together was a whole different ball of wax.

But before I talk about The Police, let me first say a little about another trio with another Sumner on bass and vocals - namely Fiction Plane. This hard driving trio from London, led by Joe Sumner opened the show, and let me say I went from "Who are these guys?" to "Hey, that guy looks like Sting!" to "We need to buy their CD!" (Left Side of the Brain) They were quite good and had the energy and agnst that The Police had back in the 70's. Shelley said that Joe sounds just like his dad, and though I did not hear it, she knows more about this kind of stuff than I do, so there you go.

But on to the main act. When the Police finally took the stage, my first impressions were:

1) Sting looks not too different and way better than I expect to at that age.

2) Stewart looks like an older, wrinklier version of Stewart Copeland.

3) Andy Summer's hands (especailly on close-up) looked as wrinkled as though he just got out of the tub, but he still has his chops.

They kicked off the show with Message in a Bottle, then went right into Synchonicity II. Of course they did Roxanne, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, and Every Breath You Take. I was more surprised and pleased to hear songs like Voices Inside My Head, Truth Hits Everybody, The Beds Too Big Without You, and Next to You. I was also suprised that the songs were as similar to the recorded versions as they were, and I should know since I've been listening to these songs on records, cassettes, CD's, and MP3's for 20+ years. That being said, they were still able to bring a freshness and energy to the songs that made it all worthwhile.

So what impressed me most about the show? Two words, Stewart Copeland. Sting was fine, even if he lowered the key or lowered his part on many of the songs., Andy was great too, though it often felt like he was not aware he was at a concert. But it was simply stunning how much energy Stewart has, but he manages to channel it all into something that sounds more like music than anything I've heard from a drummer. This really stood out on Walking in Your Footsteps and Wrapped Around Your Finger, on both of which Stewart played all kinds of hanging junk that I can't even guess the names of. I should have known Stewart would steal the show when he kicked off the concert with a big gong blast.

A great concert and a great concert experience. Here is the set list as well as I can reconstruct it:
Message in a Bottle
Synchronicity II
Voices Inside My Head / When the World Is Running Down
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Driven to Tears
Walking on the Moon
Truth Hits Everybody
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
The Bed's Too Big Without
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking in Your Footsteps
Can't Stand Losing You
Roxanne
First encore:
King of Pain
So Lonely
Second encore:
Every Breath You Take
Third encore:
Next to You

11 Down, 14 To Go

One of my life goals is to visit at least 25 countires. So far, I have visited 11:

United States
Canada
Mexico
Virgin Islands
France
Bahamas
United Kingdom (but only England)
Germany
Austria
Italy
Switzerland



create your own visited countries map

So, what's next? We don't have any trips outside of the U.S. planned, but new some countries near the top of my to-visit list would include:

Spain
Ireland
Scotland (though part of the UK so I don't know if that counts)
Iceland
Costa Rica
Australia
New Zealand
Japan

A Little Trip

If the mind starts to go, could the body be far behind?

The four of us and Charlie journeyed to PA this past weekend. Friday night we visited with the Lamberts and the Flickingers for some burgers, dogs and remember whens. The thing I did not remember was to bring along a memory card for my camera, thus no pictures. Even so, we had a great time catching up with our old friends and their young children.

On Saturday morning, we took the short drive to St. Peter's Village. I recalled many an adventure I had as a youth jumping on the big rocks across the creek. What I did not recall was how much more slippery these rocks are when wet. Ella was attempting to cross between a rock and another hard place when she started to slip. Trying to save her, I slipped too. We both got wet, but for me, that was not all. As I smashed my knee into a very hard rock, I realized my Super Hero days might be behind me.

Before this learning experience, we took some shots:



The adventure continued with a visit to Great Mom's, and a stop at Zern's. At the former, the power went out for about 30 minutes, and at the latter we learned you can no longer buy boxes of purple Swedish fish. Saturday night we left the kids and the dog with Oma and Opa and saw Knocked Up then had a fairly decent dinner at Ludwigs Inn & Oyster Bar.

All in all it was a pretty good trip

Duck Brown Goes to San Francisco

Duck Brown and I spent most of last week in San Francisco for a business trip. I managed to keep waking up in EDT, so had a few chances to shoot some pictures in the morning before getting busy with work.

So, here are some of the shots. Click through for bigger versions and some explanations of what they are.

Pictures From NC

I realize it is two weeks later, but here are some shots from our Memorial Day trip to North Carolina. To read more about the actual Pig Pickin', read Dave's post. Don't blog like my brother.



The cousins pose on the porch on Sunday morning.



A rare shot where Alex's head seems small.



Ella and Thomas - her all time favorite fur-friend of the week.



Seeing Spider-Man 3 made Alex want to climb.



Dave was more than half-lit in this shot.



Why not play some golf at the baseball game?



I blame Dave Hill for this picture.




Unlike Alex, Zoe has crazy good climbing skills

Pig, Bull, and Chicken

We spent a long Memorial Day weekend in North Carolina attending the Second Annual Pig Pickin. Read Dave's blog for more details on what is involved with turning a 72 pound pig body into a delicious meal. I will tell you that he has the knack, and as they say in Charolette's Web, that was some pig.

We also did some other fun stuff in NC, including visiting downtown Mebane for some good pizza, seeing Spider-Man 3 in Durham, and attending a Durham Bull's game. I'll do another post with pictures from the weekend once Zooomr is back online.

On Monday night, aka Going Home Eve, I noticed some suspicious red spots on my shoulder. I would have written them off as bug bites had our neighbor back in Adamstown not informed us that her daughter and constant friend and playmate of Alex and Ella had the pox. The Chicken Pox that is.

To cut to the chase, I don't have the pox, since I had them a few decades ago. My doctor says I either have shingles or bug bites. Ella, on the other hand, definitely has Chicken Pox, and it seems Alex may have them, too. Looks like we'll all be speding some more time together over the next few days.

So, if any of the 60 or so people at the Pig Pickin or the 10,000 people at the Bull's game get some red dots on themselves, I apologize.

Great Mom is 92!

This weekend past, we traveled to PA to celebrate my grandmother's 92nd birthday. We had a hard time choosing a present for her since she is notoriously hard to shop for, and I figure if she has yet to acquire something in 92 years, she probably doesn't really need or want it.

Here are some party photos for your viewing enjoyment: