All in all, it was a nice relaxing day at the beach. However, we are hoping for some cooler weather to come our way. Our A/C needs a break... and I'm going to gain 20lbs if I keep eating all this ice cream! =)
Sunday, July 18, 2010
We're having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave!
With temperatures topping 90 degrees for the umpteenth day in a row, we tried to beat the heat and humidity by heading to the beach today. We went to Salisbury Beach on the North Shore and apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea... the beach was PACKED with seas and seas of people. You had to search far and wide for a place to lay your towel, but we had a fun though. We took a few refreshing dips in the ocean to keep cool. The water temp in the Atlantic is only about 60 degrees right now... it was quite chilling! We played with my new favorite beach toy - the Waboba ball! It's a small ball about the size of a hackysack and it bounces on the water. It's a lot of fun! We were playing catch, skipping it off waves, etc. I highly recommend it for all you water lovers out there! We also checked out the sandcastles on the boardwalk. Every year they have a sandcastle building contest at this beach and I will say they're nothing like the overturned bucket castles I used to build as a kid!
All in all, it was a nice relaxing day at the beach. However, we are hoping for some cooler weather to come our way. Our A/C needs a break... and I'm going to gain 20lbs if I keep eating all this ice cream! =)
All in all, it was a nice relaxing day at the beach. However, we are hoping for some cooler weather to come our way. Our A/C needs a break... and I'm going to gain 20lbs if I keep eating all this ice cream! =)
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Playground of the East
We just got back from a nice, long weekend in the Adirondacks, a mountain range in Upstate New York. The Adirondack Park covers over 6 million acres, which is bigger than the state of New Hampshire… in other words, it’s about the same size as Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Glacier, and the Great Smoky Mountain National Parks COMBINED. We went to the High Peaks region near Lake Placid – the two time Winter Olympics village (1932 and 1980).
We snuck out of work a bit early on Friday and began our 6 hour trek to the Adirondack Loj Wilderness Campground, where we would call home for the next few days. We drove through MA, NH, VT, and took a ferry across Lake Champlain into NY. The drive was beautiful going through the mountains. We made it to our campsite before dark (that was our goal), just in time for dinner. Thankfully, Mike and Julie had already been there for a few days and they had a fire started and our tent all set up for us by the time we got there. That was huge!
The next morning, we woke up early and cooked bacon egg and cheese bagels on the grill. It was the perfect energizing start to the big day of hiking we had ahead of us. In the Adirondacks there are 46 mountains in the High Peaks region that were once thought to be above 4,000-ft (it has now been determined that only 42 of them really are) and the big thing for hikers is to climb to the summit of all the major peaks to become a member of the 46ers.
With our laces tied and Camelbaks filled, we set off for a hike. Kenzie even had her own backpack to carry her water and some snacks – it worked great! We were hoping it would slow her down a bit so we could actually keep up with her, but she is a freak of nature, barreling up and down the mountain with ease. We hiked from the Adirondack Loj to Algonquin Peak. Algonquin is the second tallest mountain in NY with an elevation of 5,114-ft. It was a 9.6 mile hike round trip. The climb was pretty difficult as it got progressively steeper and rockier towards the top. My heart was pumping by the time we made it to the summit, but the view from the top made it all worth it! We sat on some rocks, enjoyed the scenic vista, and ate our snacks before making our way back down. Hiking down the mountain was surprisingly not much easier than the way up, because of the steep pitch. It took us about 6 hours to conquer this hike. Once we got to the bottom, we bee-lined straight to Heart Lake (the lake on our campground) and went for a refreshing swim. Kenzie was swimming circles around us like it was the happiest day of her life.
That night we rewarded ourselves with a grill FULL of steak tips – so good! After dinner we were exhausted and just hung around our campsite, played bags, and had a campfire. There is so much to do in the Adirondacks – hiking, swimming, canoeing/kayaking, biking, cliff jumping, etc. – you feel like you have to cram so many activities into one day. I like to call it the Adirondathlon.
Day two, we gave our stiff and tired legs a rest from hiking. We drove into Lake Placid to check out the town a bit. Then we went to High Falls Gorge where the AuSable River rushes 300-ft down ancient granite cliffs. I was told over 1 million gallons of water flows through the gorge every day – it was quite impressive!
Then, we drove toward Whiteface Mountain and saw an old fashioned A&W restaurant – of course we had to stop for some cheese curds and root beer floats! On the way back towards Lake Placid, we found a spot on the AuSable River were people were hanging out in the river, picnicking, swimming, sun bathing, cliff jumping, you name it. It was a really fun area. I was quite bummed I didn’t have a beach towel or I would have taken a dip for sure. It is definitely on our list of things to do next time we go back.
That night was the 4th of July. Around dusk we staked out a spot along the road that goes to the campground and watched the Lake Placid fireworks display. They shoot the fireworks out over Mirror Lake. We were pretty far from town so we couldn’t see the lake, but we could see the silhouettes of the mountains in the backdrop. It was beautiful!
The next day, unfortunately we had to pack up the tent (and everything else) and head home. I was not ready leave! On the way out of town, we did a shorter hike to the top of Cascade Mountain, another of the 46ers at an elevation of 4098-ft. It was 4.8 mile hike roundtrip. It was very hot that day, but I was glad we decided to do it. The hike was awesome! The trail was interesting the whole way up and it ended with a rocky ascent to an amazing 360 degree view. The breeze at the top was incredible too. You were instantly cooled off once you reached the peak and rejuvenated you for the hike back down. In total this one took about 2.5 hours complete.
With 2 of the 46 High Peaks under our belt, we started the journey back to Boston. As of now I have no intentions of joining the 46ers club, but I am definitely motivated to climb a lot more of them. I am already trying to figure out the next time we can go back. It has become my favorite place for camping. It is such a beautiful area with so much to do. It truly is nature's Playground of the East.
We snuck out of work a bit early on Friday and began our 6 hour trek to the Adirondack Loj Wilderness Campground, where we would call home for the next few days. We drove through MA, NH, VT, and took a ferry across Lake Champlain into NY. The drive was beautiful going through the mountains. We made it to our campsite before dark (that was our goal), just in time for dinner. Thankfully, Mike and Julie had already been there for a few days and they had a fire started and our tent all set up for us by the time we got there. That was huge!
The next morning, we woke up early and cooked bacon egg and cheese bagels on the grill. It was the perfect energizing start to the big day of hiking we had ahead of us. In the Adirondacks there are 46 mountains in the High Peaks region that were once thought to be above 4,000-ft (it has now been determined that only 42 of them really are) and the big thing for hikers is to climb to the summit of all the major peaks to become a member of the 46ers.
With our laces tied and Camelbaks filled, we set off for a hike. Kenzie even had her own backpack to carry her water and some snacks – it worked great! We were hoping it would slow her down a bit so we could actually keep up with her, but she is a freak of nature, barreling up and down the mountain with ease. We hiked from the Adirondack Loj to Algonquin Peak. Algonquin is the second tallest mountain in NY with an elevation of 5,114-ft. It was a 9.6 mile hike round trip. The climb was pretty difficult as it got progressively steeper and rockier towards the top. My heart was pumping by the time we made it to the summit, but the view from the top made it all worth it! We sat on some rocks, enjoyed the scenic vista, and ate our snacks before making our way back down. Hiking down the mountain was surprisingly not much easier than the way up, because of the steep pitch. It took us about 6 hours to conquer this hike. Once we got to the bottom, we bee-lined straight to Heart Lake (the lake on our campground) and went for a refreshing swim. Kenzie was swimming circles around us like it was the happiest day of her life.
That night we rewarded ourselves with a grill FULL of steak tips – so good! After dinner we were exhausted and just hung around our campsite, played bags, and had a campfire. There is so much to do in the Adirondacks – hiking, swimming, canoeing/kayaking, biking, cliff jumping, etc. – you feel like you have to cram so many activities into one day. I like to call it the Adirondathlon.
Day two, we gave our stiff and tired legs a rest from hiking. We drove into Lake Placid to check out the town a bit. Then we went to High Falls Gorge where the AuSable River rushes 300-ft down ancient granite cliffs. I was told over 1 million gallons of water flows through the gorge every day – it was quite impressive!
Then, we drove toward Whiteface Mountain and saw an old fashioned A&W restaurant – of course we had to stop for some cheese curds and root beer floats! On the way back towards Lake Placid, we found a spot on the AuSable River were people were hanging out in the river, picnicking, swimming, sun bathing, cliff jumping, you name it. It was a really fun area. I was quite bummed I didn’t have a beach towel or I would have taken a dip for sure. It is definitely on our list of things to do next time we go back.
That night was the 4th of July. Around dusk we staked out a spot along the road that goes to the campground and watched the Lake Placid fireworks display. They shoot the fireworks out over Mirror Lake. We were pretty far from town so we couldn’t see the lake, but we could see the silhouettes of the mountains in the backdrop. It was beautiful!
The next day, unfortunately we had to pack up the tent (and everything else) and head home. I was not ready leave! On the way out of town, we did a shorter hike to the top of Cascade Mountain, another of the 46ers at an elevation of 4098-ft. It was 4.8 mile hike roundtrip. It was very hot that day, but I was glad we decided to do it. The hike was awesome! The trail was interesting the whole way up and it ended with a rocky ascent to an amazing 360 degree view. The breeze at the top was incredible too. You were instantly cooled off once you reached the peak and rejuvenated you for the hike back down. In total this one took about 2.5 hours complete.
With 2 of the 46 High Peaks under our belt, we started the journey back to Boston. As of now I have no intentions of joining the 46ers club, but I am definitely motivated to climb a lot more of them. I am already trying to figure out the next time we can go back. It has become my favorite place for camping. It is such a beautiful area with so much to do. It truly is nature's Playground of the East.
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