Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Back to camp

After the baby shower I returned home and finished packing the car with all the stuff we didn't bring on the bikes. We needed more stuff because we were bring Saige and Maya Rae for an overnight stay. We spent some time packing more bedding, food, clothes and bikes.
Loaded up and away we went. I have to say at that point after all that biking and NO sleep and then a dash back for the baby shower....I was fried.
When we got back to camp there was all the exploring for the girls to do. They tore around on their bikes for a while. Jody and I fought with the fire in preparation for dinner. Finally, we got the fire to actually burn. Saige and Maya husked corn and wrapped it in foil. We put that on the fire. We fried up some NOT-dogs and had some mac salad too. We had had lots of whining, complaining and tears from Saige but after we got her all fed she was fine. Maya was ready to move in the moment she arrived :)
After dinner we scrubbed up and went into town to the cutest little "movie house". We watched A night in the museum (or something like that). It was a hit.
Back to camp for marshmallows and finally off to bed. Jody and I had added to our bedding and slept much better.
On Monday we woke up and the girls were in a much better head space. All spunk and smiles. We had to tare down camp by 11am. After we packed up we rolled down the hill to the Gorge main parking. We spent the rest of the day hiking up Watkins Glen Gorge. That took the afternoon but was really fun! My camera died after the above shot but we had a great time :)

Baby Shower

At 10 am Ben drove to the camp site and collected me. I had to get home and get the girls so we could go to our cousin, Jenna's, baby shower at noon.We had a really nice time. We all agreed that this was a great shower. There were a few games like baby bingo that the girls got into. The cake was adorable. Food was great. Company was lovely. Jenna looked fabulous!The shower took place at Seneca Lake park in a shelter by the water park. It was a beautiful day for it too. Jenna received sooooooo many wonderful things for her baby boy (who is due in July). We watched her unwrap gifts for an hour or more when we had to scoot. Jody was expecting me back at the camp site at 4 and I still had more packing to do. Hugs to all and off we went.

Camping

This is me sleeping in our camping chairs. If it doesn't look to comfy- its not. However, it was way more comfortable then the sleep we got all night.
After arriving at the camp site finally at 8 pm. We found we were sandwiched between to families that had come together. They asked if they could trade with us. We said sure. We waited while they packed up a huge tow behind camper and trucks and all their stuff. We took their site which was great because now they were on one side creating a kind of wall and the other side was just woods......(great for peeing in in the middle of the night....we were parked a distance from the bath house.) Those folks kindly helped us set up our tent and even built us a fire as a thanks. :) The bedding we brought was pretty minimal. We ended up sleeping on what was very hard, very packed ground. I personally suffered! OUCH! All night long. In the morning I hit the chairs.

Biking to Watkins Glen

So- mid week Jody came up with a little plan.
Lets bike to Watkins Glen and camp for the weekend.
Sounded fun and easy enough so we went for it. Of course, first I had to spend an arm and a leg and buy every single piece of camping gear a person would need....like a tent for example.... because we owned none. I did that. Jody spent an entire evening rebuilding me a bike. My old gray bike was just not cutting it anymore so he took bike we had lying around and swapped tires, added new grips, a giant grandma seat, a speedometer etc to make it all new and shiny for me. This bike is great. Its gears are better and its comfy. I like it.
So here we are all packed up with our gear on a trailer and us all suited up feeling enthusiastic :)This is us 6 miles up the road. I chilled in the shade while Jody made a few adjustments to the trailer arm. There was about 100 lbs of stuff to drag.
We took a nice long lunch break in Lodi, looking over a vineyard out to Seneca Lake.
This aint a pretty picture :( This is me looking like hell after climbing some seemingly endless hills. I was on the edge of tears and felt just how I looked. 10 miles in.
This was really pretty so we stopped to look. There are some incredible views down that way.
The trip was 32 miles long and took 8 hrs. Of course we took numerous breaks and I took forever coming up the hills. We stopped for pizza in the evening and that took some time. Plus at the end we spent an hr and a half climbing to the top of Watkins Glen park while pushing our bikes. That was torture!!! We are talking 3 giant, steep hills that went up and up and up. If you dont count that final torture the biking was fine. 32 miles is alot but not undoable.
I found that I felt just fine the next day. Not too achy at all.

Dress Up

Heres Maya in a standard around the house outfit.
How glamorous!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Hiking at Tauganic

On Sunday after our NYC bike trip we slept in. When we got up we had nothing going on so we scooped up the willing kids and went to Tauganic for a hike.
I informed the girls that they could did into their picnic lunch when they got to the bridge. This kept them motivated for a while.Bench break.....Ahhhhh.The night before Saige slept over and this is the little art project that the girlies got into. :)
After an hour of uphill we made it to the bridge. We had never gone this way before so we were so surprised and excited to see another waterfall tucked back there.Back down the other side was easier though we started to get into the "I stubbed this and I broke that" grumbles of little girls who had a fun night of sleep over parties but very little sleep.This led to daddy having a heavier load to carry.Look at these crazy strong people just taring the forest up!
(ok- it was already bent..lol)

Bikin in NYC with Jody

Lately I have been just crazy running here and there and as a result Jody and I have had very little time together. So, last weekend Jody and I took a Swarthout Coach to New York City.
The reason we went to was to bike along the Hudson River. Because Jody drives for Swarthout on the weekends he often takes this route while waiting for the passengers to return to the bus.
Dorky pic.The bus parked along 52nd street- ish. We biked along the water till we got to the George Washington Bridge and the "Little Red Light House".
Jody saw this light house when he was in nursery school and has spoken of it often over the years. Its not all that little but in comparison to the bridge its itty bitty.
Heres the history of the light house. I think if you click on the image you should be able to
read it.
On our way down the river I saw this fruit stand. When we were ready or lunch we came back here. It didnt look like much from the outside but when we chained out bikes and stepped inside it was a huge store tucked under a bridge. It was cool. That was one thing that I noticed about the city...how every little noock and cranny was used for something or another.We got our wraps, fruit and chips and sat the waters edge. As we munched, we watched every vehicle imaginable pass by us. Planes, ships, boats, cars, trucks, trains, motorcycles, bikes, scooters, skates, strollers, ETC ETC ETC!
It was relentlessly noisy but fun to watch.Potty stop. The play grounds were full of children and the restrooms were from the 40s I think. I could see why people would love it in the city (though its not my thang). You can see the generations of tradition in every structure.In all we biked 13 miles.
After the ride we put our bikes back under the bus and got changed.
We walked for a while with no real goal and ended up in the middle of a block party. It was all food, food, food and a few vendors selling 'stuff'. Just the amount of people kept me interested.

We walked until we reached Central Park. I was very sick of walking when I saw a row of bike rickshaws. Jody and I hired a nice guy named Mike to drive us around the park.Now this is the way to travel!!!
As he drove us around, Mike gave us a tour. "This is this- that is that" etc. It was cool. I had no idea how little I knew about this park. Honestly I didnt understand what the big ol deal was with Central Park. "So big deal its a bunch of grass in the middle of a city"..... OOOHHHHH- NOOOOWWW I get it!!!! Its freakin amazing. Really beautiful! So much to see. So much going on. LOVELY!!!After an hour long ride we were done. That was great time. You could come to NYC and spend an entire day just exploring Central Park. Who knew !?!
After our ride we went to look for an Indian restaurant. Before we found one we came across this Cuban place. Good enough. Nice little place. We ate like pigs. We were sooooo hungry! Good stuff. Then we jumped back on the bus and 6 hrs later we were in Ithaca, then home.
Good times!