they say that the astronomical autumn officially starts on september 22nd, but in my opinion, autumn begins the moment the air starts smelling like the first week of school. today i went for a bike ride and enjoyed the scent of wet leaves and caught a chill. happy fall to all my northern hemisphere friends!

last weekend i went camping for the first time in my life. i've always liked the idea (having watched every season of yuru camp) but didn't have enough activation energy to actually make it happen... until now! along with 2 others who are deeply un-outdoorsy, and one former boy scout who quit in 7th grade, we piled into a car and drove out to a campsite in long island.

home (a budget 10 person tent)

one thing that shocked me was just how dark the world gets outside of the city. there is no such thing as "pitch black" in manhattan—every source of light bounces off a million surfaces and buildings and then into the sky, which has a permaglow that shines like a full moon. out here i couldn't see shit without a lantern.

tent setup in the dark

ooga booga! fire!

i asked my friend who lived in seattle (because i assume everyone in seattle camps and backpacks and every other crunchy hobby you can have in a place with actual nature) what i should do while camping. she said that 50% of my time will be spent cooking, 25% eating, and the rest cleaning up.

this proved to be pretty accurate (although i ended up having some spare time to play some poker too). somehow food just tastes better prepared outdoors, so i was basically stuffing my face nonstop. we made pretty simple meals since it was our first time cooking with a portable burner, but next time i wanna be fancy and chef it up like this korean youtuber...

prepping some late night ramen

holy loaded potato with canned chili

meat glizzy

veggie glizzy

i also brought all my coffee supplies to make a fresh brew every morning. supposedly aeropress is the standard for camp coffee, but i had no issues with my pourover setup. in fact it was so good i gulped down 4 cups and then spent the rest of the afternoon feeling like i was gonna blow up.

it just so happens that this campsite sits along the north shore in long island. it was too cold to go swimming (the atlantic is freezing) but i enjoyed walking along the rocky beach and admiring how round the stones are. they looked just like jellybeans.

i took a half-nap on a bench and saw some folks fishing, though i don't think anyone caught anything. it was nice to let my mind wander while i watched the waves lap. i sometimes wonder if i should live somewhere quieter, somewhere slower.