Reed Ruddy Landscapes of the Sacred Meaning and Place in American Spirituality

While reading through the Introduction to Landscapes of the Sacred I found that the experience of hail stones coming down on the unsuspecting explorers to be incredibly similar to an experience of my own. While I was in Canada two summers ago me and my fellow companions experienced an intense hail and thunder storm while canoeing down the rivers of the Northern Tier. This storm was probably one of the worst hail storms I have ever experienced and it was only exxagerated by the fact that I had no shelter to find such as a car or home. We got off the water quickly and began to set up our camp shelter where we soon cooked our meal of pasta alfredo and chicken while under a tarp being pelted with massive hail balls. This experience differs from the one found in the book because unlike those unprepared, unsuspecting travelers in the description we were very well prepared for the storm and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It was an interesting experience in nature that not many people can say they have 'enjoyed', but we did and I think we are better for it.