Afternoon View - Hillside Neighbors

Although we can hear Cher's greatest hits booming from somewhere up the mountain, things are otherwise quiet at the moment as folks get ready for this afternoon's Mad Hatter's Party. As usual, we are unprepared for a Hillside theme, so Aaron has fashioned a hat for himself out of newspaper. It's also Uniform Weekend or something and we've seen roaming groups of identically dressed cops and firemen go past our site. Next year I'm totally bringing a Burger King uniform. What?

Afternoon View - Hillside Check-In Cabin

I've just arrived with my loyal companions Aaron and Chris for three days under the trees at Hillside Campground in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. The guys in this photo have had the site next to ours for the last three summers and we always seem to get here at the same time. It's 75 and completely clear, which bodes for a quite chilly evening, as summer nights so often are up on the mountain. Do they make electric sleeping bags?

UPDATE: I've added a photo of our new tent, which much to Chris' everlasting frustration has more ropes and material than we know what to do with. Experience tells us that this will vex him mightily all weekend.

Afternoon View - Tranquility Base

We had a relatively quick exit from Manhattan this morning on our way to Hillside Campground in the Poconos Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania, where today I begin my tenth consecutive summer of Hillside weekends. After our traditional lunch at the fab Jefferson Diner in northern New Jersey, we arrived more than an hour earlier than usual. No traffic, no thunderstorms, for once! Aaron and Chris are fussing with the tent and shortly after set-up we'll be down at the rec hall for the nightly bonfire party. Ah...Hillside.

Iowa Sen. Merlin Bart: Gay Families Don't Deserve To Use State Parks

Iowa state Sen. Merlin Bartz wants to mark sure that state agencies don't extend right or privileges to gay couples, even though his state legalized same sex marriage last year. One the things Bartz wants to stop is the plan to allow gay couples to use the family campground portion of state parks.

The rates or fees for camp sites are the same, whether you’re a family or a non-family, but the state allows families to put up more than one tent on a camp site. “They’re changing their language even though the state legislature has not had a debate on this particular issue,” Bartz says. Bartz is a member of the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee which meets on Monday. He’s asked D.N.R. officials to explain their proposal at that meeting. Bartz says he wants to be “vigilant” and keep state agencies from writing rules that extend new benefits to gay couples. “A lot of the advocates of gay marriage in Iowa have said, ‘It doesn’t affect anything. Nothing has changed,’” Bartz says. “The reality of it is that everything is changing.” Bartz concedes the D.N.R. might be sued if they fail to ensure “family” policies for camping apply to gay couples, although Bartz says the state may be sued by gay marriage opponents if the rule is changed.

The campground rule change will be voted on this summer. Why must it be VOTED on?