Just the other day, I was saying that I don't really know where the summer went. It seems like it is already over, and I haven't done anything. My photo roll would argue otherwise. Maybe I was just too busy taking pictures to notice the season passing me by.
Either that, or I was enjoying some tunes. I'm not sure I've ever seen so much live music in so little time -- and for so little money. A friend gave us a last-minute tip that local cover band Popgun was playing for free as part of Pickerington's Summer Concert Series (top left). That same Friday, we were planning to watch Scott's cousins play, so we stopped by the excellent al-fresco entertainment before we paid $10 cover to see The 3 Speeds at Ruby Tuesday (top right). I am still surprised that we managed to see two national (international?) acts without shelling out a cent: We Were Promised Jetpacks at the Columbus Arts Festival (middle left) and Uncle Kracker at the Canal Winchester Labor Day Festival (middle right). Some other shows were worth every penny. How could we pass up seeing Spoon at KEMBA Live! (bottom left) and Willie Nelson at the Ohio State Fair (bottom right)? And one was even on a school night!
I hadn't been to the state fair since I was a kid, so I took advantage of the occasion to tap into my inner child. I beat Scott on a race down the Giant Slide, ate ice cream by the butter sculptures, and scoped out all the other food vendors from the SkyGlider (top). Back on the ground, we strolled through exhibits about Ohio's natural resources and agriculture, including a display of some prized zucchini (middle left). We agreed that some specimens from our garden could have put those ribbon-winners to shame; besides squash, we had solid, regular hauls of tomatoes and potatoes in our first foray into at-home agriculture (middle right). The garden was one of two new adventures for us this summer. We also bought a vintage Serro Scotty camper (bottom left). We found the 1976 Sportsman on Facebook Marketplace, and upon bringing it home we thought we might have bought a lemon because the electricity didn't work, but eventually (after figuring out the fault lay with us, not the camper), we got the lights on (bottom right).
Throughout the summer, Scott and I had regular bets over billiards that were related to improving the camper (top). I lost many times, but the Scotty (and Scott, too, I suppose) are better off for it. Besides shooting pool, rocking out, and planting veggies, we got active by rappelling at High Rock Adventures (middle left). The rope plummets were challenging, but a big part of the thrill was doing them in such naturally peaceful surroundings (middle right). Sometimes, we opted to watch sports instead of participate in them. Taking in a Clippers game on a summer night is becoming an annual tradition (bottom left). I just wish that ballgame had as fun "half time" entertainment as Bat-n-Rouge, where the Flaggots skillfully let their freak flags fly (bottom right).
Other times we went out of town for some recreation. At Camp Akita we got competitive with some fellow OU grads about who was daring enough for the high dive (top left). Scott took multiple leaps from the board, even though his initial execution was off, but wussy me only did a couple of jumps off the platform. However, I was a contender when we drove into Athens and hit up some nostalgic haunts like The Pub, a well-known hub of competitive drinking (top right). But mostly, we enjoyed each other's company in a cabin above a calm lake (bottom).
Another weekend, I went further afield to catch up with my old OU crew at Wintergreen Resort (top left), whose location high in the Blue Ridge Mountains meant it was frequently shrouded by clouds (top right). When we descended to the valley below, we found better vistas, including at Veritas Vineyard (middle left), where the magic-potion bottles of a wine flight were just the medicine I needed (middle right). We also did a tasting at Bold Rock Hard Cider Barn (bottom left), where we sampled the refreshment of the creek that runs through its back yard (bottom right). The next day, we dined at Devil's Backbone Brewing Company Basecamp Brewpub. The lunch was delightful, but water droplets had dropped into the valley, creating a dreary downpour that was not worth memorializing in a photo.
When we weren't out calling on friends, we hosted some important visitors. Exchange students Dito (top left) and Sharla (top right), both from Indonesia, were supposed to do their senior year in the States, but their program was canceled due to COVID. By the time borders opened up again, they were already starting college and couldn't come for the whole year. Instead, they spent a week in DC, and a week with host families around the country. During their separate weeks with us, we showed them our mundane Midwestern life, but they did do some special activities with all the students being hosted in central Ohio. We joined the group on a field trip to Ruff Farms (bottom left), a huge soybean operation between Circleville and Chillicothe, where we got a backstage tour of Tecumseh! before watching the outdoor drama later in the evening (bottom right).
The weeks we were home away from home for Dito and Sharla coincided with me finding a new home myself: a new job at the Supreme Court of Ohio. I proudly put the sticker for AFS-USA, the organization that arranged the exchanges, on my office window in the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center (top). As part of my onboarding, I got to take a tour of the building, whose rooms make a prima facie case of it being an artistic and architectural triumph (bottom left). I also was able to watch oral arguments in front of the top court, whose chambers are fit for a movie set -- which they have been (bottom right). After writing all this, I guess I have to admit that my summer was a bit of a blockbuster, too.
