So lately I've been busy with family stuff and still being sick, however, I have not stopped taking pictures or videos. I have started to get my adventure on, starting last week. To start the weekend right the family and I went to tour a printing facility in Walkill, NY. We were supposed to arrive by 8 or 9am and do a 2.5 hour tour, then off to Kaaterskill Falls or to Liberty NY to see an abandoned country club, buuuuttttt, we were strapped for time as our doggy was at the kennel and needed to be picked up before 6pm, we left a little late and ended up getting down there by 10:30. Tours stop for lunch at 11 and start back up at 1 so we split ours in half and ended up seeing more than we would have if we took the "normal" tour. It even included some hand made E-clairs from scratch at the on-site kitchen, a treat for sure. Then it was the 2 and a half hour drive home and get ready for the next days adventure.
The following day it was off to Shelving Rock to climb to the summit with my 4, 8, and 12 year old children. The four of us bundled up and drove over two other mountains to get to the trail-head around 2:30pm. My youngest made it about 300ft and decided it was time for a ride. I had planned for this so threw her in the back-pack carrier we've used for all our kids. And up we went in what was supposed to be light flurries but turned out to be more like... Snow. At the top we got out our jerky, trail mix, and drinks, lit a fire and played in the snow. Since it was late we needed to get going so down we went. This time she made it 100ft before wanting to take the "daddy elevator" to the ground floor. On the back she went and we hoofed it down the mountain in record time. Around half way down she fell sound asleep and flopped over to the side like a rag doll, what a pain, literally, as she was then off center in the pack and made it tough to balance in the fresh snow on the icy trail. At the bottom we loaded ourselves into the truck and waited patiently for our friends to try to make it up the hill we had driven down to get to the trail earlier in the day. Nope! They couldn't do it, so after many attempts, and then asking if we could make it up, they moved aside and we flew on up the... first set of hills. After running back down and driving their car up for them, we headed off for the next challenge. A long, steep, winding section of road covered in fresh snow which had a new layer of the days tire tracks frozen solid. I made it 3/4 of the way then slid gently off the road onto the wrong side. After backing around gently so we didn't go off into the valley below, I decided to "park" in a nearby logging path. Un-plowed of course. After making a few phone calls to get rides arranged, we were surprised to see traffic heading up the hill past us, and one of the nice gentleman stopped to see if we needed a hand. After explaining the fact that we only had 2 wheel drive and that we ran out of daylight and good weather, he offered to bring us up to the hunting camp he belonged to to wait for our ride in the warmth and comfort of a cabin in the woods... with a bunch of hunters... in the dark of night... Well it all turned out well enough as I had called my wife to come get us and when she got there an hour later, we all packed into our mini-van and headed home. It turns out we were treated more than hospitably by our outdoorsman hosts, and after filling up on crackers, cheese, and candy, the kids wanted to make sure we go back down that road again to do some fishing. Back home we headed but before we even got to the main road ,we did get to lose control on the iced over road and spin around into the ditch backwards. No harm done, and after a quick stab ot two on the gas pedal, we were back on our way and safely dropped everyone off and home to bed for a well earned night of sleep.
Day 3 involved a nice trip out to enjoy a 1 year anniversary party for a sweet young couple at their local volunteer fire company's rec. hall. An afternoon and evening of laughing, dancing, and visiting left us tired and content, so off to bed at the end of an amazing weekend full of fun, adventure, and quite a few scares.