More Travels with Sam, S24O and backpacking

Sam and I have been getting out quite a bit this early fall. Driving, biking, or walking, Sam is ready to go.

One of early random road trips was up to Malabar Farm state park. Why? Because we threw a penny at the map of Ohio and it landed nearby.

We found a nice hiking trail to a small cave there:

And a cool blue butterfly:

Sam has a budding interest in geology, so our next trip was to Flint Ridge State Quarry:

One of the internet comments about this place asked, where's the flint? Uh, look down, you're walking  all over it.

We rewarded a morning of hiking with lot of meat for lunch at the City BBQ in Newark:

Later was a quick trip just to Columbus, first to the Shrum mound in Columbus:

And then to the sword in the stone:

Alas, neither of use could draw it out, so Britannia will have to be without a hero for a bit longer.

We finally got an S24O in this year, to our usual spot. Alas, the frozen yogurt place on the way there was permanently closed, so we went to the Kroger next door to get some ice cream bars. I saw this bike parked outside:

Note the custom dual layer home-welded bars. Possibly a sign your bike is too small:

On this trip, Sam was riding my/his/now mine again Xootr:

He finally tired of the rough ride of the small wheels, so we recently got a Raleigh Redux off CL for him, putting the Xootr back in my hands.

But on this ride, I rode my free Trek:

We played a bit of chess then retired to the tent to read for the evening.

I was hoping for a quiet Sunday night, but someone down the road was still blasting music for a late night Labor day eve party. Luckily we had ear plugs, so we managed to get some sleep.

The next day, our usual Tim Horton's was drive thru only. Not the best on a bike, and the line of cars was long anyway. This time the nearby Giant Eagle provided our breakfast for us:

The next weekend, the boys and I met my fried Charles and his son Stephen for an overnight backpacking trip to Twin Valley Trails:

After dinner, Charles had makings for s'mores. Sam had to make a marshmallow free s'more due to his braces, but he made it work:

After dinner was a chess tourney, Sam emerging as the champion in a surprise upset over Henry:

The boys and I had a tent, while Charles and Stephen hammocked:

We hiked out the next morning:

Across the dam, Henry was trying to race away from our barrage of dam jokes:

Lastly, Sam and I managed to catch the Scioto Fest this year. We parked at Antrim park and rode the tandem a dozen miles down to Scioto Audubon park:

The promised food trucks turned out to be a single food truck. Happily we enjoyed Thai spring rolls with spicy sauce for dinner, and a local beer for me:

The point of Scioto Audubon park is the climbing features, but we stuck to the small stuff:

and the obstacle course, where Sam was chased by a giant tire:

We crossed the logs into the sunset:

And played around until the band started up at dark:

We had some pizza (more food arrived!) and another local beer (for me), while we listened to the local band Hebdo.

It was Sam's first concert, and it was really great to be out seeing a live band, hanging out with your kid, on a beautiful fall evening.

We got up early the next morning to ride home past downtown Columbus in the pre-dawn:

And more donuts for breakfast on the drive home. Not a bad fall so far.