Our last day at Camp Sunrise

On our last day in camp, we went for a nice paddle on Upper Saranac Lake, down to the camp that Muz and D rented for the 12 years before they found Sunrise (with one summer at another camp on Hoel Pond in between). It was bought and torn down and a McMansion is in the process of being assembled/extruded on the bones of the old camp;this is a well-established trend in the Adks..."Wealthy Spanish Landowners" (think Zorro) from somewhere else buy a nice old camp and put up in its place a 15,000 square foot glass-faced monstrosity and monument to their having lots of money (often they have all of the charm of a Motel 6)...there are exceptions of course, behind D, you can see the boathouse of Sandy Weill's camp, which I understand that they restored in a manner that is in keeping with the traditions of the Adks...


We all paddled south down the lake, into the wind, with Ben holding his pirate hat in place and Maggie providing both guidance and inspiration...


On the way back, we stopped for a snack and a swim (at least for Gail and Jamie and Maggie, Muz and D and Ben watched us slip and slide down the rocks into the cooling water)...


When we got back to camp, Maggie went for one of her last swims for the summer, she headed back down with Muz and D this morning when they left...

When it was time for Ben to go to bed, he asked Muz to read him a story...we had a great month with Muz and D at Camp Sunrise , and are already counting the days until we see them again (and until we return to camp)...Thanks, and we love you!

Sunrise Odds & Ends

Muz and D left this morning, and I went through my pics from the month, and came up with a couple that had to make the blog...


A great view of Whiteface from the camp...


Maggie and Cedar sleeping on the forbidden couch...


An impromptu cocktail party on the front deck when Dan and Kristi and Rowan were visiting...


Jamie and Gail reading the 7th Harry Potter book...


Ben and Jacob (green shirt) and Phillip (blue shirt) move the goal together during a soccer practice...


Muz and Ben decorating birthday cupcakes...


A gazillion mergansers hanging out on the float...

Gail's Birthday, Part 2!!!

The Birthday continues...

{sorry for the goofy shot honey, but it captures your "HAPPY" quite nicely}

We had a delicious supper, kicked off by melon and prosciutto, with Gail at the head of the table...superb steaks from Shaheen's Market (in Tupper), great lightly-sauteed veggies, and...you'll see...


While Muz and Ben prepared a surprise for her, Gail went out to the boathouse to enjoy the evening, and to let the champagne breathe...


The surprise came out...cupcakes decorated by Ben, with re-lighting sparkly candles stuck in them at fun angles...


In the midst of the fun, a bevy/gaggle/pod/pride/herd of merganser ducks (we counted 1 mom/aunt/babysitter and 28 or 29 teens) came cruising by with much noise and diving and some running along the top of the water...not a stealthy bunch...

We opened some presents and toasted the birthday girl and then...



Dug into the cupcakes...moist chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, and tons of sprinkles...Ben had 1 and a half cupcakes (he took the top half of his second one and gave me the bottom), and Maggie ninja-ed her way up to the table, like a well-oiled shadow, and grabbed & ate & swallowed one in 1.47 seconds (paper included)...please nobody inform PETA, we didn't mean to...

We finished the party off with some sparklers, and then just sat enjoying the evening for a few minutes, until the no-see-ums moved in a chased us back to the house...all in all, a nice celebration of my love's birth.

Jungle Book

After lunch, Ben talked Muz and D into watching some of the movie The Jungle Book with them...Maggie came along for a nap...it's a nice way to spend an intermission-esque space in the middle of the day...


It's been so great to have Muz and D here for this month, it's going to be a big adjustment moving back to McMaster Road, and not having them around...for all of us...

Gail's Birthday!!!

We woke Gail up with a chorus of "Happy Birthday to You!" this morning at a bit before 7am (yes...we let her sleep in)...we noodled around a bit in the morning before heading out for her first-ever paddle out to Tommy's Rock...


We paddled right by the Colgate Camp on the way out, this is where our wedding reception was, and where Gail's family stayed before the wedding...


Ben fueled up on "goldfish" during the paddle past Dry Island, while Gail paddled fiercely, you can see D and Maggie in the background...


This is a picture of tiny, but wonderful, Tommy's Rock...the jumping cliff is on the other side of the island...there are swimming and snacking spots all over this rocky knob sticking up out of Upper Saranac Lake...


We pulled our boats up at the ex-dock spot on the northern side of the island...


Gail is quite certain that Ben is not old enough to jump off the cliff, and probably won't be for 30-40 years...


I did the traditional run-around shot, balancing the camera on a flatish portion of rock...

We had a picnic-ita, and explored for a bit before heading back to camp for the rest of the Birthday, pausing briefly to watch a couple of boys who had paddled over to jump off the cliff...

A Paddle with D, and soccer practice

We went back to the Jones-Osgood-Church trip yesterday, just Ben and D and me...it was a great day...we kept it simple by paddling down to Osgood and back up again, which meant that we didn't have to work out the ferrying of cars from one end to the other, which is much more difficult (for us) than you would think...


The water was as smooth as glass at the put-in...


Maggie has settled into the routine of kayaking quite well, although she did crawl up to the front of the boat (on the inside) a couple of times...


We had lunch on Osgood Pond, with Ben and Maggie helping...I don't know why we needed the hunk of wood moved, but Ben was positive...


Ben had another great soccer practice, running himself into a lather of sweat, and fell asleep within seconds of his head hitting the pillow...

The Deathly Hallows...

We got 2 copies of the 7th book in the Harry Potter Series yesterday afternoon after a great paddle, and spent much of today reading this awesome book...I finished a bit ago, and Gail is wrapping up the last few pages right now...we took turns being in the lead, and each would wait for the other at the end of a particularly great chapter or passage (I'm looking forward to the "post-game" with Gail when she finishes)...


It was a superb finish to a spectacular series of books for children of all ages (literally)...if you haven't read them, I would strongly recommend giving them a chance...start with the 1st one though...

Jones to Osgood to Church...ahhhhhh

Thank God for weeks of almost continuous rain!!!

One of our favorite paddle trips involves paddling down from Jones Pond to Osgood Pond to Church Pond through a series of rivers and smaller ponds and channels...one of the tough things about the trip is that beavers love it also, so they are alway busy (as beavers...duh) damming the route up, which results in its getting clogged up and filling in...

Sometimes, especially when the water is low, the trip can be a real workout...climbing in and out a gazillion times, losing shoes in bottomless muck, dragging boats across shallow stretches, giving blood to angry mobs of insects and leeches, etc...(ask Uncle Steve about his trip along this little piece of heaven)...

Today, we were lucky...the rain of the past days (weeks) along with shockingly lazy beavers made for a delightful trip that bumped this route to the top of our lists for the summer...we saw tons of beasts, very few insects (no leeches...), never had to get out to drag boats, and had a generally superb time...



Muz and D and Maggie-Moo paddled easily through the twisty river stretches, despite their canoe being designed for lake cruising...


We passed under 2 bridges along the route in close formation...

On the way down to Osgood Pond, we saw tons of turtles, kingfishers, fish, a new (to any of us) bird (that I think is a spotted sandpiper), and a juvenile beaver (that didn't know enough to be scared of people, and just moved out of our way rather than diving)...



Right before our traditional stopping spot at the top of Osgood, I spotted and grabbed a tiny painted turtle that was sunning itself in an attempt to throw off the chill from the previous night...he was a cutey, and Ben loved looking at him during our break...when we were ready to take off, I walked him back upstream and let him go near where I found him...


Gail and Ben sang a hearty rowing song while crossing Osgood...we normally face a head-wind, which today was missing, so the going was easy...


After Osgood, we head through a connected series of tiny ponds and dug channels...we passed a group of hikers with backpacks, which you can see crossing the bridge ahead of Gail in the picture above...


We, of course, found a nice spot down near Church Pond to have a great picnic...anyone who doesn't bring a table with them when paddle-picnicking simply doesn't know any better (especially when travelling with starving yellow labradors)...

A great day and a great trip, and on the way home Gail and I picked up our (2) copies of the 7th Harry Potter book, and our comparing notes at the end of each chapter (as we have done through the last 5 releases)...she's ahead after this blog-entry, but I'll catch up soon...

Montreal Getaway

Gail and I went up to Montreal for a 3-day/2-night getaway, while Ben stayed with Muz and D at Camp...everyone had a great time...

We drove up Tuesday morning, it's about 2 hours from our house to the hotel we stayed at, Hôtel XIXe Siècle, in the old town...our plan was to eat and rest and eat and sleep...we started off with a walk through Chinatown (only a short walk from our hotel), and lunch...

After lunch, we wandered down into the old town to scout out future eating destinations...we were disciplined in our approach to food while there, and managed 4 meals each day: breakfast, elevensies, a mid-afternoon snack, and a late supper (with a nap in the afternoon)...

We did a little shopping, some reading in pretty parks by the water, a bit of admiring the architecture, eating & drinking (of course), and also meandering around looking at people and horses...there were fireworks on Wednesday night which were pretty...

One of the things that I loved most about the old town was looking at the joints between the past and the present...the brick wall of this building was built around the already existing wall of an old stone building...that ancient building is gone, but the wall (and silhouette of the house) remains...


This corner piece brings together 3-4 different building materials and eras of old town construction...



One of our favorite meals was elevensies on Wednesday at Chez Suzette, a creperie in the old town...Gail and I got the best seat in the place, with windows facing down 2 streets at ground level...they had great crepes and dozens of options for what goes inside...


Another central location in our orbits around and throughout the old town was the "Place Jacques Cartier", where we had some wonderful food and drink...the picture above was taken at a cafe where we enjoyed a nice breakfast on Thursday morning before leaving...we also enjoyed superb calamari and adult beverages at a brasserie closer to the water, and a world-class dinner at Chez Queux, a classic French restaurant, including somewhat rude/disdainful waiters and superb food...another great dinner was had on the terrace dining area of Restaurant du Vieux Port, where we enjoyed great seafood and, surprisingly, one of the best steaks I've ever had...

We had a great time in Montreal, and hope to go back again soon... incredible food, blissful naps, quiet reading by the water, boom-y fireworks, sleeping in...it was all great...special thanks to Muz and D for making it possible!

Tommy's Rock

Ben and I went out to Tommy's Rock, a tiny island on Upper Saranac Lake, for a picnic...it is a short paddle from our camp...you can just make out the boathouse over Ben's left shoulder in the picture below...it's a fun little paddle on a gorgeous lake, and I have been coming to this island for almost 40 years, so it's always a nice time...there is a jumping cliff on the eastern end of the island, but Ben decided that he wasn't quite ready for it...yet...

We ran all over the island, exploring every inch, and picking out the best "post-lunch-swim-spot", and choosing our picnic spot...



The island was purchased by the Upper Saranac Lake Association a number of years ago, and is open to public day-use...


We pulled in at a small notch on the northern side of the island where a previous owner had at one time built a dock (the same person also built a "shed" with beds/windows/stove/etc. before the APA caught up with him...this eventually resulted in the sale of the island to USLA)...


Our picnic spot was at the highest point of the island, so that we could see everything around us...Ben loves drinking out of my Camelbak hydration backpack...


He had his first-ever hot-dog sandwich, and loved it...mayo, ketchup, bread, and leftover hotdogs sliced lengthwise make what may be the best sandwich the world has ever known...


After we had finished out lunch, a couple of kids came over to the island from one of the nearby camps with their grandma, and played on the island with Ben...this girl's name was pronounced "Tone-uh" (I don't know how to spell it), and they raced all over the island together...she was only a year older than Ben, so they got a long very well...


We found this deer poop on the island during our wandering, which prompted Ben to wonder about how it got there, he decided that they either came over in the winter when there was ice or swam over for picnics like we did in our boat...I love my boy...

The boys, who were a couple of years older than Ben, started playing with bags from their snacks to catch the wind, which picked up a good deal during our 3 hour stay, and talked about kites and parachutes...we also got to watch a float-plane land on the lake between us and Dry Island, a camp/resort on a 12 acre island that allows people to enjoy the Adirondacks for only $24,000 per week...