Summer Wrap Up 2011

Congress Park, Saratoga Springs

When Anna arrived back in the states on Thursday, August 25th we resolved to squeeze in as much of our usual summer activities as possible.  Sarah and Sierra (some of Anna's favorite people) went with us to pick her up at the airport and we had a nice dinner of fresh corn (took more than one attempt to get good corn), barbecued chicken, italian pasta salad and Anna's favorite lemon cake from Under the Tuscan Sun.  Steve and Sarah (high school buddies) were able to stay for lunch and it was fun to catch up on everyone's news.  Sarah begins a semester of teaching at the Burlington high school and Steve returns to his second year of law school (just transferred to Columbia).   Steve actually got Scott's humor which made things a bit more relaxed.

Friday, we headed to Moreau State Park for a hike with the idea of tiring Sierra before we got in the canoe.  It was a lovely hike, despite the fact that the theory didn't pan out.  Having forgotten a pair of hiking boots we were able to recover by pairing water sandals with hiking socks, pretty classy and we all enjoyed the hike to the lake look out.

Hike up to the Moreau Lake outlook, Mom without hiking boots wearing classy sandals and socks, everyone is envious

 

At the Moreau Lake outlook

Out next stop was the Feeder Canal in W. Glens Falls, a lovely canoe along the Hudson River which passes right through downtown Glens Falls, under the bridges and into the backyard of the local Finch Paper Company.  Sierra was exceptionally unsettled, but we didn't tip.  Anna was the bowman and Mom's job was to compensate for Sierra's constant weight shifts, all good fun on a lovely day.

Summer to me means a stop at Zack's Drive In for a chili dog and my family indulged me. The car hops run out and take your order and hook the tray to your car window.  When you're done, you flash your lights, unless you are rude and then you honk your horn, and they come and collect everything.  I feel like I'm on the set of Happy Days.

Chili Dogs from Zack's Drive In, Mom's reward

We had an overnight at camp.  We were able to get a swim in, noting that they had lowered the lake in anticipation of precipitation from Hurricane Irene, turned out to be prudent.  It seemed however, that they had drained the warmer water from the top layers, so you had to get in and get moving, but we paddled ourselves and our noodle buddies up to the big beach and back.

Mom and Anna hit on the idea of visiting with Aunt Ida and Uncle Bill in Denmark in a couple years, so we hurried off to the Borders closing sale to pick up a Scandinavian tour guide.  Anna found a great cookbooks with recipes focusing on the use of spices that we had to throw in the basket.  Thus far we have had some wonderful banana muffins, a chicken dish, and a yummy strawberry salad with cinnamon/balsamic dressing.  The deluge began on Sunday, and we tried to go to the movies, but it was closed due to the weather, so we headed to the local Cohoes Water Falls, and they were ripping, the second largest water flow in the east of the Mississippi.  We got to watch Princess Bride instead on video, such a great movie.

Cohoes Falls last December - lots more water Sunday

Monday, I went to work and Scott, Anna, Sierra and our friend Libby climbed Cat and Thomas Mountain up in Lake George.  A stellar day. This is a new area that was private and is now open to the public. 

Cat Mt.

Scott spent some time helping Nelson cut up trees down by a storm and subsequent hurricane that cleared out an acre of land on his property.  Libby spent the night with us and we had a nice steak dinner with grilled vegetables (another request from Anna).  The next days the girls headed over to RPI to visit with friends/cousin.   We headed up to Aunt Elsie's when Anna got home to finish installing her Skype program so she can visit with her grandson and his family now stationed in Okinowa.  The technology team had a few difficulties, but after we sorted out that the phone was in fact the TV remote we were good to go.  We had an excellent conversation with Elsie's son-in-law Rob, and Elsie was resilient despite recent cataract surgery.  We squeezed in an ice cream cone on the way home.

Wednesday Anna had appointments and met me at work.  We headed over to the Cupcake Lab to try out their wares and had a yummy snack.  Did some necessary errand running, had a stroll through Congress Park and met Scott for dinner at Ravenous, our favorite crepe and twice cooked French Fry place.

Thursday involved some regrouping/packing activities.  Friday we had a nice dinner for family-we were able to be outside.  Despite a week long forecast of rain, we were lucky to have quite a nice week of sunny,summer weather. Saturday we headed back up to camp and Linda met us there with a wonderful selections of cupcakes from Sweet Ashley's Treats.  Anna had just received her pictures of Patagonia from her travelmate, Allyson, so we were able to enjoy those.


Sunday, after a fine breakfast of homemade blueberry pancakes and bacon, a game of Blokus, and a final walk with Mom and Sierra, Anna headed west to Kalamazoo via Fredonia.