Week One Vacation Faves

As I type this post, I'm sitting in our rented cottage in the North- Central Region of the Adirondack Mountains and looking out at Long Lake....our cottage is just a few steps away from the dock and the sun is shining and the air is fresh and cool.  We are here for another two days....Dave and I....our youngest daughter drove back home yesterday due to work the rest of the week/weekend and our oldest daughter is taking her own vacation (to Austin, Texas!) next week so worked all week at her job.  It was strange at first not to have all 4 of us together....a new normal as the girls grow up and move on to their own lives.

For now, I'm sharing in the weekly FAVE FIVES by linking up at Susanne's site.  It's hard to just post 5 photos capturing my faves from this past week...God has blessed us with  perfect early summer weather up here in the mountains!  We only had one morning of rain and it stopped by about 11:30 a.m.! It's about 8-10 degrees cooler up here than down in the Capital Region and we are loving it.  Here are my top 5 faves:

• RELAXATION!  The best part of this vacation has been the many opportunities to just relax.  We love sitting by the lake on the dock (the dock and beach are private and just for guests of The Shamrock) We are staying in our fave cottage and the front porch overlooks the lake under the pines.  The mornings have not been rushed.  Time to read, pray, chat together, eat leisurely breakfasts, walk. The cool nights make for great sleeping weather.  My sinuses, throat pain and ear pain have all just healed.  We still have no idea if the month of May and most of June was a horrible sinus infection that just lingered or allergies but we are thankful to God that whatever it was seems to have cleared up here in the restorative mountains. We checked in Saturday afternoon and by Sunday morning I was totally fine.

Our "home away from home"
Cottage 1 at The Shamrock

Long Lake from the dock

• FAMILY TIME! Although our oldest daughter chose to take her one week vacation from her job  the week of July 3-8 and go to Texas with her friend Nate from college, our youngest was able to drive up after work on Saturday and spend until Thursday morning with us.  I'm loving the family time....our days were filled with walks, browsing in town, swimming, kayaking, shuffleboard on the lawn, reading together, watching the sunsets, playing Scrabble, and bonfires.  We even had the joy of watching a kit (baby fox) romp around the grounds several evenings in a row.  I'm thankful for family time!

Claire loves the lake!

afternoon walk down a new-to-us road

Dave and I coming back
 from a long morning of kayaking south on Long Lake
Photo by Claire R T

young kit playing on the lawn

Evening time at the lake

Ready for s'mores

• BUCKET LIST ITEMS!  Dave totally surprised me Monday afternoon by taking me into town and getting us a seaplane ride!  Helms has been in service for years and I've had this ride on my bucket list for over 20 years!  We finally splurged and rode up.  What fun it was to see mountains I've hiked, from the sky.  We saw so much of the Long Lake/Blue Mountain Lake area.  I didn't snap many pics as it was just too difficult. And I haven't had a chance to upload them onto this laptop yet. But the thrill of being in the seaplane was so awesome.  I'm thankful my husband surprised me with this!  Another bucket list item was to visit Ozzie's Coffee Bar  down in Old Forge.  The blueberry scones are everything the reviews say they are.  Absolutely delish.  Dave had a green tea frappe, Claire had a dark roast coffee and I had the scone and cold brew coffee. We then stopped to tour the garden at The View Arts Center. (the art exhibit I wanted to see isn't available until August 3 so we skipped going inside the galleries).  I'm thankful for fun bucket list items checked off!

Tom Helms and his seaplane
Long Lake, NY

Dave and I at The View
Old Forge, NY
photo by Claire R T

• HIKING!  What'a trip to the Central Adirondacks without hiking?  Dave and I did a very easy trail to a beautiful waterfalls called Death Brook Falls (a.k.a. Secret Falls).  It was only a 10 minute walk through a flat piece of forest just south of our cottage.  It's in the Adirondack 50 Waterfalls Challenge so I was able to check that one off the list!  Then we hiked down to a pretty pond (South Pond) which isn't an official hiking trail but more of a foot path where local fishermen spend time.  It was gorgeous!  But the big hike was climbing Ampersand Mountain (part of the Saranac Six Hiking Challenge).  Dave is not really a mountain climber but agreed to go.  I love this man!  It was a tough mountain and one of the hardest summits I've ever climbed.  It was only 2.7 miles one way but it was a tough climb.  All boulder steps for the last mile and the summit is not easy to navigate until you are on the peak. I'm thankful we made it up and back.  It stands at 3,353 feet high.  It's stunning.  (the mountain is actually an hour north of our cottage and in the High Peaks Wilderness Area). 

trailhead to Ampersand Mountain
Saranac Lake, NY

Dave just beyond the
narrow passage between 2 boulders the size of small houses!
Ampersand Trail
27 June 2019

most of the trail were rock steps
especially the last 1.5 miles

the start of the summit
Ampersand Mountain

from the summit of Ampersand Mt looking out to some high peaks

• QUIET TIME:   I'm most thankful for the extended time of "quiet time" with the Lord this past week.  Mornings on the dock led me to reflect, meditate, read the Word, and listen to what He has had to say.  Prayer time has been meaningful to me this week.  I won't go into details here and I actually do have a devotional post I hope to put out once I'm back home and have some time to write.  I've also been doing a Bible app devotional titled Women of Valor which has been excellent.  I'm thankful for quiet time with the Lord!

That wraps up my faves.

Dave just told me he wants to walk into town and view the history section of the library.  Yup...we are also book nerds.  So off to the library we go...and I think I'll pop over to the general store to get an anniversary card for my love.  Our 29th annversary is Sunday!!  We'll be home by then so this is my chance to shop.

ENJOY THE WEEKEND!!