A Little Downhill

During our time in New York, we traveled to Watertown for a little downhill skiing. The resort was small and the slops limited, but it worked well for us considering I had not skied in almost 10 years and Steven was a first timer. To my surprise, it came back to me almost immediately. I was still wedging my skies at the end of the day, but I contribute that more to fear of injuring myself than ability. Not sure what happened, but I definitely had less fear back in the days.

Steven took a two hour lesson and can be seen above with his instructor. He ended up working much harder than me or Amie as he had to side step up the mountain only to ski back down for about eight seconds. He did take one trip down the big slope at the end of his lesson with the instructor. As he would attest, those instructors are great skiers and it is amazing how they keep up with you and ski backwards with you when necessary.

Now I just have to talk him into skiing with me again!

Winter Adventures

We thought (well maybe a little more me than Steven) that it would be fun to travel to upstate New York for some winter fun after the Christmas holidays. It was quite cold and way more snow than either of us had seen in a while. We ventured to Lake Placid, got in a little skiing, and rang in the New Year at the Hoot Owl in Canton (more pictures to come later).

Steven can be seen above modeling Amie's fabulous ear muffs.

Our first experience venturing out onto a frozen lake (Mirror Lake in Lake Placid).

It was a wonderful trip, although Steven has vowed not to need another snow and cold experience like that again for about 10 years, while I could do it again tomorrow.

We are now home and after a slight snow dusting of the city, it has almost come to a halt. Lots of ice on the roads and very little milk and bread. A very different scenario in comparison to the northern states.

Riding the Ducks

The entire time that I was in Philadelphia I wanted to ride the Ducks. I finally got the chance when I was visiting Kathleen in transit to a conference that I was attending outside of D.C. We went to Baltimore for the day and decided to ride the Ducks. It was a fun journey that gave you a taste of the city's history on land and of course by boat. It was a good time, but I am not sure that I would do it again. I think part of the excitement was lost because we only had about 7 people on our tour.

LA Goes To LA

Visiting Venice Beach with Amie

This was a store front on the way home from the beach. How cool!

New Years Part II

Carters Lake was about 15 minutes from our cabin. After crossing a rather large and intimidating dam we came to a large field that was surrounded by the lake with picnic shelters, horse shoes, and a play ground . At other entrance points to the state park there are a number of hiking trails. Our intent was to make it to one of the trails that went along the lake's edge, but we never quite found it. Maybe next time!

We did find a two mile trail with an entrance just off the road that brought us into the park. This picture was taken along that trail. Unfortunately a piece of it ran along a power line trail and so you get a little of that in the background.

Group shot minus a few who stayed behind at the cabin.

New Years Part I

We traveled about an hour north of the city to Talking Rock, GA where we spent three days in a cabin with a group of friends that we made through kickball. We arrived on New Years eve day and stayed until the Saturday after. The house sat on 16 acres, was three stories, and had a hot tub and pool table. The inside was gorgeous with walls of all natural wood. Not a single one had been painted. It was a great environment in which to relax. We spent three days eating, playing games, relaxing by the fire, and hiking. It was a wonderful way to spend some time outside of the city and celebrate the new year. We have already decided to go back again in the spring for another long weekend.

The house also sat on a creek. A short hiking trail traveled along the creek and provided a good path for all of those whose dogs traveled along for the weekend.

More pictures to come!

Visitors From Afar - St. Simons Island, GA

At the end of March we went to St. Simons Island in Georgia for a weekend with Steven's family and some friends of theirs that came over from Scotland and England. This is a favorite vacation destination for their family and also where Steven's brother was married several years ago. It is a beautiful island that is family friendly, very relaxing and quite scenic. While on the island we took a trip to visit Ft. Fredreca where for $3 you can explore one of the original British settlements. This settlement was meant to protect the colonies up the coast to the north from the Spanish that were further south in what is now Florida. The small fort was built facing the sound and was successful in protecting the other colonies from Spanish invasion.

You can find Spanish moss all over the island. It is nice to take a drive around the island so that you can see all the pretty vegitation and of course all the large homes of its rich inhabitants.

We even found a few orange trees while we were visiting the fort!