The Case of the Maple Syrup and the Mysterious Box in the Lake

I saw my ex-boyfriend while I was stuck in traffic on the beltway on Friday. This is in no way pertinent to the rest of the weekend, but it did make me giggle an inordinate amount. I tried to look at him as much as I could without him seeing me, while we passed each other over and over again in the stop and go traffic. It's a strange experience watching 5 years of your life drive past you in a raised pick up truck, smoking a cigarette with one foot out the window. While I'd like to draw some grand conclusion about what it means about life and traffic that we found ourselves trapped together on an inescapable beltway of 5 PM on a Friday doom, I don't think there are any conclusions to be drawn. Much like this whole weekend, it just happened. A blur of giggles and trying to avoid being seen by the bitter eyes of responsibility shirked. And who drives with one foot out the window, honestly?

The Maple Syrup festival was DA BOMB! It was full of tiny children, pancakes, syrup and big rocks to climb on. I love climbing up onto big rocks. I love it. The pancake and sausage breakfast was fantastic. The pancakes were big, thick and covered in sweet light Maryland Maple Syrup. In the dining hall, seats were scarce and everyone crammed together at folding tables. We ended up sitting next to a grandma and grandpa and two little kids, a boy and a girl who were determined to manage gigantic pancakes without the help of their adult caregivers. Not pour the syrup all over everything? You may as well not eat pancakes. The dining hall was only heated by a giant round fireplace in the middle of the building, and the cold mountain air ate the heat like it was an extra sausage patty, but it hardly mattered. Eating a delicious pancake breakfast surrounded by many (mostly tiny) strangers was more than enough to give us the warm fuzzies. The food was good. In spite of a 2 hour drive to get there, everyone was happy, and we had a fantastic time. 

After breakfast, hot coco in hand, we wandered over to the maple syrup making demonstration. Watching people boil syrup is about as interesting as it sounds (read: its exactly like watching anything else boil,) but we did learn some maple syrup facts. 

1. This has not been a good year for Maryland maple syrup. So far this season, they've only managed to collect 40 gallons of sap. Boo.

2. Vermont is #1 in maple syrup production in the US. New York is 2. Maryland is 10 (or 18th, depending on which sap boiler you talked to.)

3. One gallon of sap will only get you a baby food jar's worth of actual delicious syrup. It's a lot of work for not a lot of pay off, but man if syrup is your thing, this syrup is some of the best damn syrup I have ever tasted. 

After the demonstration sort of petered out we went and climbed on some rocks by the beach and wandered around the area in general. We spent a good portion of time hopping around on rocks in streams, climbing big rocks, and sitting on rocks (I am not over-exaggerating the number of climbable rocks we experienced.) As we made our way around the lake and rocks, we found a mysterious box in the shallows of the lake. It was just sitting there, water drifting lazily over it, tempting us. Good Lord, I have never seen a more tempting mysterious wooden box. Our theories about its origins (aliens, pirates, old man Jenkins who runs the abandoned amusement park) were endless, and eventually, in spite of the temperature (icy chill) and due in large part to our cajoling, Mitchell agreed to wade into the lake and get the box. 

Look at how shadowy it is! We couldn't just leave it.

I almost don't want to tell you what was in the box. Isn't it better to have this level of mystery in your life than find out that we found a cache of abandoned pirate gold in the lake in Cunningham Falls State Park? We couldn't leave well enough alone, we had to mess with what wasn't ours and now we're cursed forever by... a block of wood with two screws in it. According to Mitchell, "As soon as I was in the water I could see what it was." I doubt that sincerely as he did go further in, grab it and bring it back to shore, but if that's what he's telling himself to mask the soul crushing disappointment, then so be it. It was disappointing, and we had long since finished our hot chocolate, we left. 

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out, eating dairy queen and cheap pizza and making each other laugh, mostly with impressions of one another. Sam and I always get intense giggles when we're together, and Mitchell generally has to tolerate the two of us giggling and trying to explain why at the same time. His impression of this action, which I will at some point videotape, is enough to set us falling all over each other in fits of laughter which generally end in tears. The drive back to Baltimore (read: Responsibility Land where your ex-boyfriend lives) was far more somber, but the end of trips always seems to be that way, doesn't it? 

Stray Observations:

• Sam is an art teacher in training, so when we weren't driving or climbing on things, we were helping prep projects for the kids in her class. I got a blister from coloring. This makes me feel like I am an incredibly good, intense, master color-er. Crayons are my medium of choice. 
• All the men in Frostburg and at Maple Syrup Festivals are very hairy. Particularly in the face. This has led to the coining of the acronym WMDM (Western Maryland Moustache). Finding one, much like finding a regular WMD, is often both horrifying and exhilarating. Occasionally, you can find them on ladies.
• Eww, what? I just found traces of maple syrup on my Blackberry!

Rock Climbing!!