SteveKirsch.net

I went to see Little Miss Sunshine last night. I recommend seeing it.

First off, there's nothing Steve Carell can't do. I mean, consider the range...

"Brick" in Archorman
Brick: Yeah, I stabbed a man in the heart!
Ron: I saw that! Brick killed a guy! Did you throw a trident?
Brick: Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident!

"Andy" in The 40 Year Old Virgin
Andy: You know how when you grab a woman's breast... it feels like... a bag of sand.

"Michael" in The Office
Michael: Toby is in HR, which technically means he works for corporate, so he's really not a part of our family. Also, he's divorced, so he's really not a part of his family.

Enough said about Steve Carell. Everyone else in the movie was perfect as well. Each character had an extreme and unique personality, but collectively they were a believable family. The actors' abilities to pull this off made the movie.

The movie is often funny, especially when it needs to be, but overall it's not a comedy. It sets an example for all definitions of the word family: Always support one another but do it without enabling, forgive, love unconditionally, be truthful, and maybe most important -- let each other be themselves. I'm sure there's more in there. Make your own list after you see it.

This past weekend Dad and I went on our first rafting trip together. This first adventure was relatively close to both of our homes at Ohiopyle State Park. If you visit that link you may notice an image of a small waterfall on the main page. Yes, it's the same waterfall that I took more than a few pictures of. That's because the waterfall is pretty much the most interesting thing to see in Ohiopyle. The town is literally four blocks and is made up of what looked like 3 or 4 rafting outfitters, 2 restaurants, an ice cream shop, and an outdoor equipment store. I'm not being critical. It's a perfect, little Allegheny Mountain town.

We stayed at this not-so-perfect place. I'm not going to put the name of the campground in the blog because the owner may come after me with a shotgun (which is almost what happened when I failed to see the check-in sign and drove into the campground without stopping). The first statement in the Overview section of the web site is: "so-and-so is a privately owned campground". That pretty much sums it up. It's basically this guy's crappy backyard. Evidently, the part about "hot showers" only applies if the guy remembers to fill up the old, rusted propane tanks that sit outside the shower facility. Dad noticed a lot of Lone Ranger memorabilia at the check-in (which we think is also the owner's house). We deduced that the guy is a Lone Ranger fanatic that logs onto teenage chat rooms in his spare time with the screenname "LoneRanger16".

After we set up the tent we took the bikes into Ohiopyle to ride the "rail trail". One side of the Youghiogheny River is an active railroad and the other side is a rail trail or a railroad made into a biking and walking trail. We headed up-river 10 miles towards a town called Confluence. Confluence got its name because the Youghiogheny and two other rivers flow into each other there. As interesting as that is, we decided to head back to Ohiopyle about 1 mile before we got to the town. By the way, if an old person ever tells you they walked uphill to school both ways, don't dismiss it until you ride the rail trail in Ohiopyle State Park.

After the bike ride we headed back to the campground, ate a nice dinner prepared on Mom and Dad's propane grill, had a short debate about whether or not we were "roughing it", took painfully cold showers with spiders, Dad had a quick Texas Holdem lesson, and then to bed -- correction -- then listened to a very loud group of women camping across from us yap for three hours.

Despite the discomfort of sleeping on rocks and the loud women, the morning came rather quickly. We dismantled the tent, had some Honey Nut Cheerios, and we were then off to Ohiopyle again for some rafting. We got into town a little earlier than we needed to so I could get some more pictures of me and Dad and my car. When we got to the rafting check-in, the first thing they have you do is watch the safety video, titled by Dad and me as the "Death Video". I've seen enough safety videos in my life to know that this one was different. The narrator (Dad says he should have been wearing a Grim Reaper costume) only spoke for about two minutes, but the message was clear: "People have died doing this. You could die doing this. If you don't want to die then don't do this". I guess since the booking is non-refundable at that point, it's in their best interest to scare the uncertain folks from going on the trip. Like SCUBA diving, it's not fun (or safe) to go with someone that doesn't want to be there.

We were assigned a smaller raft and paired up with a father and daughter (Bob and Sammy) and our guide, Nyoka. Bob and Sammy were nice enough. He liked to talk and she was extremely quiet. She was about 16 years old and I could clearly see that she was embarrassed by her father. Typical teenage daughter response. I think I'm at an age where I can still understand the school-going generation below me even though I'm better associated with working adult generation above me. Dad didn't catch on to Sammy's humiliation and later described her simply as "weird". I guess Dad thought Sammy was weird just like Sammy thinks her father is weird (she probably thinks me and Dad are weird too).

Nyoka was a great guide. She is a guide-in-training from Charleston, WV that first came to raft the Youghiogheny in the spring. That's all it took for her to decide that she wanted to move to the Ohiopyle area and be a guide. Dad and I could tell early on that she was a beginner guide. She didn't confess her novice status to us until after we navigated "Dimple Rock" which apparently kills people sometimes. We also learned that she happened to flip a raft there at some point. When we got to Dimple Rock, Nyoka left our raft to go through the rapids on a different raft with a more experienced guide first. I'm not sure if that was the reason, but when she came back up to take us through she made it look easy.

It's really unfortunate that you can't easily take a camera on the river. We had lunch along the way which was nice break. The thing to mention about lunch was the deer that makes a living by hanging around the lunch area. People threw the deer bread. It walked right up to people and almost ate right out of their hands. Dad and I were literally about a foot or two away which I'm sure is the closest I'll ever get to a deer. It was a treat. The deer was beautiful. I would love to have a picture.

As the day came to a close, I learned that sunblock should have been used (I realize that a lot. When will I learn!!??). Our fears about low water were unfounded. We were told that the water level was actually above average. The weather was perfect. We conquered the Lower Yough. It was a great day. We got back to our cars, headed a few miles south to Farmington, PA to get gas, and treated ourselves to a beer and a nice dinner. I'm already looking forward to our next -- trips.