Backpacking

Nell and I went Backpacking from Thursday to Saturday last week with the Fuzzy/Panda sisters, and it was immensely fun. Here's a tip to having a enjoyable backpacking trip: bring a small, plastic magnifying glass. Everything is cool when slilghtly magnified. I had hours of fun looking at rocks, bugs, and fungi through the glass.

Speaking of which, fungus is the coolest thing in the world. The amount of work that a fungus does to keep the forest ecosystem running is breathtaking. Immediately upon arriving home I purchased the Audubon Guide to Mushrooms. There is nary a more diverse or cool looking kingdom under the sun. Interestingly, most of the fungus we encountered on the trip turns out to be edible. Gross. You'd have to be pretty hungry to eat that funky looking stuff.