Weekend Wrap-Up

 

Trail in the Willie Wildlife Marsh 
Caroga,NY
22 October

one of 2 wooden bridges over the pond

Happy Feet in Crunchy Leaves

pond at Willie Marsh

Ah....I enjoyed a three day weekend (Friday-Sunday) because I took a personal day from teaching on Friday in order to get up at 3:30 am and drive my husband to the Albany airport with other members of the missions team as they headed down to the DR to serve in a nursing home and school for a week.  So.  I did go back to bed and Wow....Hadn't slept in past 7 in a long time!  Since I had had plans to meet a friend for lunch in a small town west of our home, I got ready to go and figured I'd do some shopping while I was out that way.  Well, the sun came out (It had been a rather cloudy morning) as I drove to lunch and I decided I'd invite my friend to take a walk with me on one of the nature trails I had never hiked in before that was only about 15 min north of where we ate.

I hiked solo.  Diane had to get home to help her elderly mom so I drove out to this place. 

The sun came out after a brief rainshower and I hiked just the small loop as a couple I ran into who have hiked there before, said the outer longer loop was way too muddy. They were nice people who are also avid hikers.  He asked to take my photo for his hiking blog!  We talked about hiking the FT Challenge and asked me which were my fave mountains.  I gave him my top fave 5 with fire towers.  It was a nice day in the southern Adirondacks!

Rush Pond Trail System
Queensbury, NY
23 October
foothills of the Eastern Adirondacks

trail in the Rush Pond area

Saturday morning I received a text from my friend who was going to go hike up Snow Mt with me in the High Peaks region.  She was sick so I decided since I've never hiked that mountain before, I better not try it alone.  I instead got an errand done (dropped off an old desk chair and clothing items to Salvation Army) and then headed north to the foothills of the Eastern Adirondacks, about 45 min from our house.  I wanted to walk in the trail system my sister Jill has recommended and that I had never done before.  It was popular that day although for much of the 1.8 miles that I hiked, I was alone.  Many people were running or biking the trails. 

Rush Pond

After that 35 min hike, I drove further north into the interior of the Eastern Adks to a small town called Horicon.  I was looking for a human/taxpayer to sign my ADK 102 Challenge book.  The first shop I went to (that I've been to before) is closed for the season....they won't open again until April.  So I stopped at a 2nd store...a little gift shop/market and the owner was there and gladly signed by book as she knows all about this particular challenge.  I stopped in the center of town to snap this pic:

Brant Lake
town of Horicon
Eastern ADKS

After that, I drove down a road I hadn't been on before, and ended up in the town of Adirondack.  There's not much there other than a post office, some homes and mostly camps......but...a very old Adirondack General Store (that's literally the name!) is there and the last time I went through that way after a deep woods hike, the store was closed.  That was way back in about 2006!   This time, the store was open and although they don't have a lot of merchandise left, the cafe was open and there were some bags of Adirondack Roosters Coffee for sale along with some really good pure maple syrup, from a maple farm nearby.  I bought a bag of coffee and the maple syrup and also bought a pair of hiking socks.  Here's a few pictures from the town of Adirondack:

Schroon Lake from the town of Adirondack
Eastern Region

After that, it was getting to be close to 2:30, so I drove south to my sister Joy's home to drop off a book and get a coffee at Starbucks.  It was a nice drive home and once I was there, I ordered some food via Grub Hub from our local diner for dinner. That evening I did some laundry, played a game of Parcheesi with Claire, and then did some reading.  

On Sunday, I woke up a bit later than usual, which felt great.  I had coffee and some meditation time and then watched church online while I cleaned the kitchen. Then I did some shopping at Target for cleaning supplies, snacks, paper products and ended up getting a Christmas gift from my sister's wish list.  I then prepared vegan sloppy joes for the slow cooker so that it had all afternoon to simmer, and made gingerbread cookies.  Courtney, our oldest daughter, came over to do a couple things (I love that her apartment is only 10 min from us!) and she and I ended up in a local state park for a late afternoon hike.  It was wonderful. I will be sharing more of those photos on the Friday Fave Five post.

This doe blended right into the brush!
We were close enough to almost touch her

my oldest daughter, Courtney and I at Peebles Island State Park
Deer Run Trail

Perimeter Trail along the Mohawk River
Peebles Island State Park
Capital Region, NYS
24 October

After the hike, Courtney came in to take a few cookies back to her place, and I had dinner with Claire. Then I watched a movie via Hulu.  It was  a great flick and a real tear jerker. 

After the movie, I worked on a couple of things for my Book Group and then put some laundry away.  Got everything prepped for Monday morning and was in bed by 10:30 because 5:30 comes very early. 

I hope whatever you did this past weekend, that it was relaxing after the work week.