How NOT to have a productive day

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Editor in Chief

Hi. It’s me, Editor-In-Chief Rocky, here to make our apologizes for the missing post today. Our traveling correspondent and main author, Dusty Roads, is having a BAD day. And that is really bad with a capital B! She just locked herself out of the house for the 2nd time in a week.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if the spare key she keeps hidden hadn’t fallen out of its hiding place yesterday and she brought it inside and yes, you guessed it, she didn’t put it back out.

So now she’s spent all morning running around trying to find a way to get back in. Inspiration finally hit her. The pet sitter, my 2nd favorite human, has a spare set. So She called Diane and yes, Diane had the keys with her so off Dusty went to pick them up.

She just got back in and wanted to put the spare key back out in its secret place and, well, umm, let’s just say it was shiny and it had tape on it…two of my favorite things. Well, I don’t think she’s in the mood for me to tell her where it is right now.  She’s turning the diningroom and livingroom upside down and inside out because she knows she left it on the diningroom table yesterday. 

I think I’d better just sit back and watch. Sooner or later she will give up and I can sneak it back out  for her to find. It is rather amusing watching her stress out like this. But I can tell you any creative juices have taken a run for it for today.

 Scout is preparing a Scout’s Tips column for tomorrow in case Dusty is not back on track by then.  So please accept my apologizes and thanks for your patience.

Rocky

WOW Another Monday!

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I dropped the ball today. I usually take time on Sunday to prepare a post for today but instead I went “gallivanting” out to Plymouth Harbor to take pictures. Apparently while out there I caught a cold that has settled into my lower back..OUCH***..But enough excuses..Let me ramble on a little and you can comment with your cheers and jeers .

First Plymouth Harbor is  a pretty little harbor. The Mayflower isn’t out of winter dry dock yet so it was pretty quiet. I like their sea wall. It isn’t just this cement wall rather it’s made of stone and cement. There are rocks set in the top row that kind of point up. It reminds me of a moat on a medieval castle. I think it’s mostly decorative.

 I got a couple of nice sunset pictures. The sunsets this time of year seem to be more pastel than red.

 

When I got home I was reading one of my travel magazines that came Saturday. There was an article about Arizona ...Arizona for all seasons… so I checked that out. It covered the whole state and since we won’t have time for the southern end , south of Phoenix, that section was merely interesting but not useful for our upcoming trip. The northern recommendations involved mostly road trips and did hit some of the high points we have planned. One place that came up in the article and in an article in Popular Photography was Canyon de Chelly. I wish we had time for that but I think this trip is going to be packed to overflowing. We’ll have to see.

 

And the last but not the least thing I want to mention was an article in the same Travel Magazine about The Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota. Sandy and I were there last June and had a wonderful time. In the article this family was there for  2 days…1 weekend….48 hours and they saw, according to the article, everything we saw in a week!

There are pictures with the article too. They even went to Crazy Horse Memorial.

 Like us they used Rapid City as their base but they didn’t mention much more about the city than that. They went to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial (We only drove by Crazy Horse) Wall Drug, The Badlands (can I assume they mean they drove the Badlands Loop?)and Custer State park. They mention seeing buffalo, antelope, big horn sheep, the Beggin’ Burros and prairie dogs…Ok I got all those with my camera too and I bet they didn’t get a prairie dog with a flower either!

Scout

 But to do it all in 48 hours? I like the way we did it much better. Even if the authors think we were slow it seemed like we had full days so I wouldn’t do anything different.

Well, that about wraps up my travel thoughts for the day.

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Not much to say about the spring trip until we start booking and that’s going to be soon. I’ve started exploring options for the 2012 trip but that’s still in the early, early stages..not ready for publication so I’m not sure what we’ll talk about tomorrow but I’ll think of something. Toss out some suggestions if you like. Maybe they will get my creative juices flowing. Maybe Scout has some tips up his furry sleeve.

Lake George, NY

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I think I mentioned that I saw the booth for Lake George at the AAA Marketplace and even when I told them I was from the area, they pressed the brochures and materials into my hands. I wouldn’t want their gift to go to waste so I decided to go through the information and see what I thought of the area if I looked at it through a tourist’s eyes. By the time I finished I was ready to book my next vacation in the Adirondacks!

Let me go over some of the points that caught my attention and that would make me plan a vacation in my old stomping grounds.

First of all, Lake George is beautiful no matter what time of year you go. Having spent approximately 1/3 of my life in the area I can attest to that. So the first thing the brochures addressed was the lake. 32 miles long it is always sparkling, clear and clean , a spring -fed lake. In the summer cruise boats ply the lake. In the winter there’s ice skating and ice fishing and a Winter Carnival.

When I was growing up the Ticonderoga was the largest boat and sailed the whole length of the lake. As I recall it was a full day trip. The Mohican was a smaller boat and only cruised the southern portion from the piers in Lake George Village to just north of Bolton Landing, stopping at the Sagamore/ Green Island after it’s turn around. That’s certainly changed. The original “Ti “ & Mohican have long since retired but there are new boats including a paddlewheeler. The last I knew the Mohican II, listed on the National Register of Historic Places ,was still conducting narrated tours along the shoreline.

One of the things that I don’t remember doing as a “kid” is white water rafting on the Hudson River. That and slow-tubing or lazy river tubing are new offerings, or at least new to me…not that I never went “tubing”. I seem to remember “tubing” on the Schroon River and Trout Lake. We always seemed to have a big old patched inner tube around somewhere. Now there are commercial Tubing companies Like Adirondack Tubing Adventures and Tubby Tubes.

Another attraction that sounds familiar but I can’t picture is Natural Stone Bridge and Caves. Located in neighboring Pottersville. The brochure describes it as ranging from easy walking tours to challenging cave crawls. I would definitely go there again. I’m sure I went as a child but like I said, I just can’t visualize it. Be nice to refresh my childhood memory or see it through adult eyes.

The Hot Air Balloon Festival in September is something that is has been added since I lived in the area. It’s been over 30 years since I lived there so I would expect that things would change! Now, I am not a “ballooner”, I’ve never been up in one but I would love to attend this event just for the opportunities to take pictures of the colorful balloons.

History buffs or maybe even ghost hunters can’t skip the forts. There are forts everywhere in the area. The Syfi channel’s Ghost Hunters Series has even done a couple of shows there. One in Fort Ticonderoga and I believe one in Fort William Henry. In fact there’s a tour called Spirits of History Ghost Tours that runs from Memorial Day to Mid-October. Even Fort Edward on the Hudson River get’s into the act. There you can find the Old Fort House Museum, one of the oldest frame buildings in upstate New York.

There are trails and mountains everywhere for the hikers or if you prefer the water sports, boating, water skiing, freshwater scuba diving, para-sailing or just hanging on the Million Dollar Beach at the end of the lake. If you do decide to hike, be sure to summit Prospect Mountain. Not a hiker? No problem as you can reach the top by taking a 10 minute drive up the Prospect Mountain Veteran’s Memorial Highway. Once on top you can experience the 100-mile-view of the surrounding mountains.

The Great Escape was called Storytown when I was a kid but it’s grown up and now is a Six-Flags Theme Park.

And the places to stay…well, everything from rustic campgrounds to RV parks to cabins or motels to a hotel on an island reminiscent of the great hotels of the 50’s & 60’s like was featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing”. I worked with the photographer at the Sagamore as a teenager. I remember them announcing cha cha lessons on the veranda! I know there have been many renovations done to the Sagamore but I expect it is still the showcase Hotel on the Lake.

I mustn’t forget to mention that Lake George becomes the motorcycle capital of the east for a weekend every summer when the Americade, the world’s largest motorcycle rally, comes to town.

　There’s so much more I could tell you about the area but I think you might enjoy finding out for yourself.

Roaming Around Marshfield

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Leaving the Sanctuary, I hopped back on RT 139 and headed toward the coast. One of my friends had suggested I check out the Marshfield coast and beach area for photo opportunities.

It was getting late so I stopped for lunch at Gerard’s Turkey farm. Just a quick Turkey sandwich and back on the road. When I pulled up along the sea wall it was apparent that I wasn’t the only person who was enjoying a lunch or snack in their car while watching the surf.

Once I finished my lunch I hopped out and took the stairs down to the water. Sea gulls soared over head and waves crested and crashed . The colors were amazing. Another gentleman called down to me about how pretty it was today! He had a point and shoot and was trying to capture the view as well. My guess is that his pictures will be just as good as mine. Point and Shoots do a great job for this type of photography as I learned when I took one to Hawaii.

Here on the water the breeze was brisk and had a cold edge to it. I climbed back up and decided to drive around a little bit to see what else might be in the area. I found the Green Harbor Marina and a quaint little stone church.

I headed back to the sea wall as it was approaching sunset and I thought I might get a good picture. Unfortunately the sea wall itself blocked the rays from the setting sun putting the water in shadow. Seeing that I sat for awhile just listening to the waves crashing and watching people feed the gulls.

I finally roused myself to head home. It’s times like this that remind me why I love living close to the ocean. I couldn’t have been more relaxed if I’d just come from a $100 spa treatment. It’s the whole experience, the sun, the sounds, the smells. Here in Marshfield the sea smell was crisp and salty. I’ve been some places where rotting sea weed makes the shore stink at low tide but there was none of that here today.

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As I headed into the west I watched the sunset spread soft , muted pastels today…no fiery red sky. A fitting end to a wonderful day.

Back to the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary

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Finally a day off when it isn’t snowing or raining. That’s not to say it’s beach weather but it’s a lot nicer than it’s been. The sun is out and although there is a stiff breeze it isn’t that cold, cutting wind. I have to drive to Plymouth so I think I’ll swing up to Marshfield and see how the sanctuary survived the winter. I intended to get there during the winter but it seemed like there was a winter storm every time I got a day off. So here it is …almost spring…and I’m just getting back here now.

As I pulled in to park I saw that the little garden and bird feeders were still there next to the entrance. I scared a flock of blackbirds but then I think I saw a flash of red. I think they may be red wing blackbirds.

My goal today is to make it to the end of the main trail. A friend of mine asked me if I’d been there yet. He said there are often deer and that you can almost always see a red-tailed hawk or two. I knew it was the wrong time of day for deer to be out in the open but I mainly wanted to see the area.

I started down the path and right off the bat met up with another couple who were really walking fast. I stopped and let them pass ahead of me. I wasn’t looking to run a race. I think I have seen this couple here before, He, like me, takes pictures and she seems to be along for the walk.

I took the right path down by the pond. There were ducks and swans and the ever-present Canadian geese. I passed the otter slide on the left but it didn’t look like it had been used in a long while. I entered the woods and here the path was still covered with snow and ice so I had to step carefully. I took the “Secret” Trail along the boardwalk that led to the meadow where I saw the deer last year. All was quiet, the leafless trees making for a surreal landscape.

Back in the woods I followed the boardwalk until the trail split. I went right this time and took the loop trail which is just what it says…a loop. Back on the boardwalk again I hooked up with the main trail and followed it up to a wooden platform. This must be the Fox hill Observation platform and the end of the trail. I sat there listening and looking out over the varied terrain thinking about what it would look like in a month or two when spring has really “sprung”. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a movement. A large bird was flying low over the landscape. It was too far away for a picture so I just sat and watched. It landed on a fence post and I used my telephoto to get a little better look. I think it was a hawk but I couldn’t tell what kind. Maybe the red-tail I’d been told about?

It didn’t stay there very long before it took off circling higher and higher. It was soon joined by 2 others, the three of them dipping and gliding in a kind of ballet in the sky. I’m not sure how long I watched but eventually I figured I should head back. Other than the 2 people I had met when I started out, I hadn’t seen another soul.

Leaving Fox hill I took the right trail again. This one was marked River Walk. I had started it last visit but had turned around. This time I was determined to walk the whole thing and I’m glad I did.

The Green River was slow and meandering here, it’s smooth surface acting as a mirror for the trees along it’s banks. Not too far in the river made an oxbow and led me around to a pretty wooden bridge. This too was reflected in the calm river waters.

Crossing the bridge led to a board walk over a swampy area and on to another bridge. Once I crossed that bridge I recognized the other end of the River Walk. I was back on the main trail. A bit farther on is a little trail to the right that I remembered from last year. It’s where I got the picture of the buttercups and sunshine. Today it was just dead grass but it still held a surprise. As I headed out of the last bend a hawk took off from the tree right in front of me. I got a good glimpse and then he was behind the tree line.

I moved up to the end of the trees only to see him winging upward to do the same soaring dance I’d seen the other 3 hawks do earlier.

I continued along the main path until I reached the duck blind. I let myself in and probably spent a good 30-45 minutes there watching the geese play on the pond. They were splashing and bobbing like so many little kids playing. They all seemed to be in pairs too.

By now it was definitely time to move on. I still wanted to find the Marshfield beach .

I was impressed by the condition of the trails and the blinds. Everything is groomed and some of the fence posts looked new. If they are, then the Audubon folks have been busy indeed as winter hasn’t even come to an end yet.

　

　

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