Weekend Get-Away, With Wind Chill Factor

Spent Saturday and much of Sunday with friends at Maumee Bay State Park, near Toledo, Ohio, situated on the waterfront. Seven of us rented a cabin for the night, a two-floor building with lofts and a gas powered fireplace and - thankfully - good heating. The weather was bearable for starters, so some of us got a walk in along the 2 or 3 miles of boardwalk over the assorted wetlands. A nice walk; we spotted six deer maybe 50 yards away, eating vegetation and hanging out.

Later that evening, as if it were not cold enough, a front blasted through, across the adjacent "Scottish links" golf course and against the western wall of the cabin. It was good and cozy inside as the wind chill factor dipped well below zero. We played an inane game called "Spoons".

Driving to the lodge for dinner earlier that evening, we had to stop the car for eight single-file deer (perhaps the same party we had come across on the hike) who crossed right in front of us like a fairly fast freight train. They were heading for the links, perhaps to graze on the rough. Or maybe a late tee time.

My family's association with state parks goes way back, and they have been a wonderful diversion from reality for us - ever since the kids were puny. This weekend was no exception, even with single digit temps and the wind raging outside. It was good to share a weekend and a cabin with our old friends (by which I don't necessarily mean the friends are old so much as the friendships are old... However, to indicate some degree of longevity, some of us stayed up watching a Peter, Paul and Mary documentary, an old PBS funding drive mainstay. And at least one of us knew just about all the words to these 40-50+ year old songs.)

On Sunday, after a quick tryout of the ping pong and pool tables, and some antics on the raquetball court on my part (wherein I proved I could whack the thing at least -actually at most - about four times in a row), we said our goodbyes, trotted off into the wind and our cars, and in our case, my wife fed some leftover grapes and crumbs to a seemingly early and misguided flock (there were 100 of 'em!) of robins.