First Weekend of Autumn

Ben and I headed out for an overnight camping trip Saturday morning...we were torn between Polliwog Pond and Hoel Pond as our spot, so we did a drive-by on both, and decided on Hoel Pond...there wasn't anyone else around at Hoel Pond, while we would have had neighbors all around us at Polliwog...


We got the pick of the litter at Hoel Pond, a super site that could have happily hosted 5-7 tents, but had a perfect spot for ours down by the water, and our own private beach!


After setting up camp and having lunch, Ben and I took a hike along the shore of Hoel Pond down to another beach that some may recognize from a blog from long ago...it was chilly, this late in September in the Adirondacks we often have already had snow, but we went in swimming and then walked back to our campsite in the water...



Here's a view of our campsite from the water...



Ben was a little chilly by the time we got back, so he warmed up by changing out of the wet stuff and then playing in the tent for a bit, reaching out for his shoes when he was ready to get them back on and help me gather firewood...


Later in the afternoon, the wind started to pick up and the sky to cloud over...it looked like rain, but it never did...Ben enjoyed a snack down by the pond while watching the whitecaps cruise by...


We cooked dinner over a campfire, using a mess-kit that Ben got for his birthday...


Ben's spork was the big hit of the evening...although the beer-cap-studded "table" was a close second...


Ben loved "pot-walloping" the dishes after dinner...pot-walloping is old-school, dirty dishes are pre-scraped into the fire (food and other stuff burns before the evening is over), the dishes are filled with water and sand, which is swished/massaged/rinsed around until clean...


He loved it so much that he insisted on doing all of the dishes and flatware...it might not be politically/environmentally correct, but I'm a big fan for single overnight trips, the dishes get clean, and less soap (try none!) gets into the environment...


Ben was very excited for cutting sticks and roasting marhmallows, except, as it turns out, for the roasting marshmallows part...he likes putting them onto the stick, and then eating them raw before anyone gets a chance to burn them...


We got dressed for bed, and into the tent by 7:15 for reading and ghost-stories...I had to stop reading at one point to put a bit more water on the fire (to make certain it was out) and had to take a picture of the sky over the water...beautiful...

Geek Moment Alert - skip down 2 clicks to avoid gushing about my Ipod

My Ipod Shuffle is the size of a book of matches, holds 1 gigabyte of music and books on tape, plays for 12 hours on a charge, and in its Nalgene container can survive more abuse than any piece of electronics should have to face...

After reading a Scooby-Doo story and sharing SPOOKY ghost stories, Ben went to sleep, but as it was only 7:45, I did not...I listened to a mellow mix of Mozart, Bob Marley, Patsy Cline, Eric Clapton, Marc Cohn, and Sarah McLachlan for a while...listening to the wind and waves and Ben's breathing and feeling the night-air cool down bit by bit...after an hour or so, I flipped through the selections until I found my audiobook version of "A Sand County Almanac", by Aldo Leopold...it was simply perfect...the night moved ahead, the segments of the story unfolded, and Ben reached over to hold my arm in his sleep...


My Shuffle, when wrapped up with its ear buds, fits perfectly into a 2-ounce nalgene jar that will likely survive the end of days, and provide hours of enjoyment to the roaches that still live on Earth...

We now return you to the Blog...

Ben woke up at about 4:30, and came over to snuggle...we got up as soon as it was possible to see and put some water on my ancient "any-fuel" stove for tea/hot-cider/and oatmeal...


The spork made another appearance, as did the NFA's flag, and after the sun snuck up over the first tree around Hoel Pond, we went for a canoe trip...


It was a beautiful morning on the pond, although it was still pretty cold...Ben wrapped himself in a fleece blanket and talked the whole time about the fog on the water, the hawk we saw fishing, the drips from my paddle freezing his neck, and the warmth of the bottle of hot cider in his hands...

After the paddle, we packed up our camp and headed over to meet Mommy at Paula's Airport Cafe, and on the way over we saw a huge group of turkeys getting their breakfast along the side of the road...


We had a great 2nd breakfast, and filled Mommy in on the fun that we had while camping...

After unpacking my Element, I headed up to Plattsburgh to get my car serviced and to catch "Resident Evil: Extinction"...a movie with zombies, Las Vegas and Milla Jovovich...a trifecta in Jamie-world...





After the movie, I drove home through a gorgeous afternoon in the best place in the world before getting back home...I stopped in at the Harrietstown Town Cemetery to admire the view...



My current plan is to live forever, and it's working perfectly so far, but if I have to die, I'd like to either be buried in this place or have my ashes spread in one of the other great spots in this super spot where we live...