Please read this...Special autumn day at Fort Massac Encampment

Saturday was one of those glorious, and totally unanticipated, days which pop up occasionally during the middle of October. Sunday wasn't bad, either.

Yours truly and The Other Half made their traditional, annual trek to the Fort Massac Encampment in Metropolis last Saturday morning. We were joined at the very popular event by hundreds and hundreds of people who made a trek back in time to Fort Massac State Park in Metropolis.

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the event, the encampment gives visitors a chance to experience what life might have been like in colonial times and the early 1800s in what is now Southern Illinois. 

(It's worth noting that a restored fort at the park which had been closed for a while was reopened for last weekend's encampment.)

The encampment offers a wide range of sights and sounds and aromas which, at least for the two of us, make for a very nice way to spend a Saturday in autumn. Quite honestly, though, last Saturday's weather was a bit on the warm side, not that we were complaining.

We had an opportunity at the encampment to visit with a lace maker and a "maker of fine gourds." Both involved almost magical processes which turned threads and gourds into works of art. 

Yours truly was glad to be able to get a once-a-year-or-so fix of fife and drum corps music. I can't explain why I like such tunes. Just do.

Food was an important part of the encampment, too. As we were walking up to the area of the park where the encampment was taking place, we were greeted by all sorts of wonderfully delicious aromas. I can't vouch for how "authentic" some of the goodies were, at least in terms of life in colonial America, but they sure did smell good. I did treat myself to an anise cookie, fresh-baked in a stone oven. 

As we were wrapping up our little time travel adventure at Fort Massac, we met an author and his wife from Cadiz, Kentucky. The author has written a novel which is set during the time of the American Revolution. The author's first name, by the way, was "Jeff," only with a "G." We shared special memories of how people have managed to mispronounce our first name in some very special ways. Oh, and I brought home a signed copy of his book.

All in all, we had a very nice time last Saturday morning at the encampment – another special memory on this interesting Journey Through Life.