A swarm of locusts

   With the warmer weather, bugs are making a resurgence. They're starting to hit my windshield when I drive. There are huge wasps everywhere and today one of them ambushed me as I was getting out of the car and kept trying to get inside. Last week, I was walking around in a park and these huge, dollar-coin sized bees were just hanging out in the middle of the path. I stopped and was thinking about turning around when out of nowhere an old man came up behind me and felled one with his hat. As it hit the ground, he crushed it into the dirt with his shoe, turned around, and gave me a big smile. Then he walked on, and I saw him waving his hat around at more bees further down the path. I don't think I have the stomach for this approach.

   Today I explored one of the towns across the river. It was really pretty, but it was also packed with tourists coming to see the castle there, so I ended up leaving after taking a walk along the river. 

   I'm not sure what this is, but it was really cool. It looked like a bunch of narrow, deep pools with ladders descending into them. In the park across the street, there was a fenced off area with weird power-plant-type metal structures and an official-looking cement building that seemed like it might go a few stories underground. I thought it looked like something out of Jurassic Park, but the picture I took of it came out pretty lame, so I'll leave it to your imagination. 

   On my way home, I drove up into the mountains and parked, hoping to go hiking. But when I got out, I got attacked by bugs and couldn't find the trail, so I gave up and went home. This is one of the creeks near the parking lot.