Into the Wild...

The new movie, based on Krackaur's account of Chris McCandless' voyage into the wilderness is nothing in comparison to my outdoor adventures this evening. Wanting more than anything to make it into the woods and be surrounded by trees and leaves rather than people and their filth... I talked my sister into letting me borrow her car for a camping trip. Sickness, a sister in Chicago and poor planning on my part led me to none of the above. However, Laura and Andy did decide to take pity on me and my somewhat urgent need for naturescapes, and invited me for a hike into the wooded wilds of Lincoln, MA.
I'd never been hiking in this area before, but being with Laura, Andy and Jack, their dog, all whom had spent many sunny afternoons exploring the woods and wetlands I followed along happily like a puppy in a new park, noticing little of my surroundings and happily being led into a forested calm. At some point, Andy decided that bushwacking off the trail would bring us closer to, well, something... which eventually led us to nowhere we wanted to be. We walked into Carlisle, along long rural but populated streets and then back into the woods along a trail that we thought could get us back to our parked car. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and we began joking about getting lost in such a small wooded space. After going back and forth on a few more wrong trails our jokes turned less jocular and more, serious.
We eventually made out way to the car, in the dark, with the heroic jack dog by our sides, but tired and happily full of our fun "close call" with the nighttime wilderness. I almost got my camping trip in after all.

Now I am home and drinking hot apple cider with a smidge of rum for effect.
I was told I am to work tomorrow which has completely foiled my well intentioned plan for a vacation weekend, turning it into a mere one day off and 7 day work week, rather than the fabulous and dire time away to refresh myself.

We'll see how long this lasts. Seems I've already made the decision for change.