Independence Day Weekend

Sorry for the delay, but i assure you it was worth the wait.

This weekend was… well, I can think of several adjectives that would apply. So I think I’ll just tell you about it and you can pick your own.

Thursday Evening: picked up with Randy, Dave, and Ellie at the Morristown Station in NJ (near my office)

and set off for the Adirondacks. More specifically, to Michelle Hales’ family’s cabin on Loon Lake.

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Our arrival was shortly delayed due to holiday traffic, but enriched with car games and sing-alongs.

(some of these photos are from Dave Almond. thanks dave)

When we got there I was surprised at how dark and quiet it was. I had forgotten that anywhere could be so dark and quiet as it was there. Were I a lesser man I might’ve been a little spooked. It was also a bit chilly. It doesn’t get chilly at night in the city. It’s probably the humidity. It was refreshing. Michelle and company (Brooke, and Jim and Emmy from DC) got there later, but we were in bed already.

Friday: We woke to a beautiful morning and got out there to familiarized ourselves with our new surroundings.







The morning consisted of swimming (the water was surprisingly warm, and we had beautiful, sunny weather all weekend), canoeing, playing on the dock, and so on.

Later we took the boat out and did some skiing/wakeboarding/tubing. I don’t remember when the last time I went wakeboarding was, but I was a little rusty.

Tubing was pretty funny, but I think the humor is of the “you had to be there” variety, so I’ll not try explaining.
Then we ate. We did that several times a day, but this is the only occasion it was photographed.

1st and 3rd by dave

That evening we drove up to the town of Schroon Lake where there was a 4^th of July show going on.



I wasn’t expecting much from a small-town firework show. They took those expectations and blew them out of the water. It was pretty legit. But lest I forget that it was a small-town show, a couple times a big ol’ firework would explode on the ground rather than the sky (which, by the way, is ideally where you want them exploding), but that just added to the overall experience. The finale was amazing, at least in quantity.

shots by Dave

When we got back we made a campfire and hung out there just talking about things and telling awesome stories. You don’t need to know the details.

dave again

Saturday: After a fairly late arousal and breakfast we went out on the boat again for more skiing and boarding.





Day two found me a little better on the wakeboard the second time ‘round. but the wake wasn't big enough to get much air. still good fun though.




I felt like getting back in the water at one point, so I decided it might be fun to just get dragged. It was. I wasn’t able to hold on very long, and I couldn’t see where I was going while I was up, but it was fun just getting bounced along the surface of the water, holding on with all my might.



When we got back one of Michelle’s relatives in the neighboring cabin had dropped her glasses off the dock, so we helped them look for them, but to no avail.


Then it was lunch and out on boat again for tubing. I didn’t feel like tubing because my elbows were all rubbed raw from the last time, but I had a good time driving.

My best moment driving was when I whipped Randy and Ellie around into a wave and sent them both flying off the tube way up in the air. Unfortunately no one got photo of it.

After dinner, a game of Ticket to Ride, and dessert, we played an amazing game of In the Manner of the Adverb, then another round of campfire stories and intellectually stimulating conversation.

Sunday: we pretty much just packed up, cleaned up, and headed out. Unfortunately the rest of the day was a little more eventful. We made it a good 120 mi. towards home when the car overheated and died.

We rolled it back to a parking area, then headed back down the freeway to a rest stop where we ate and got some phone numbers.
The car had cooled down by the time we got back, so we put coolant in it and it started up fine. It was leaking the coolant at a fairly steady rate though, so we decided we would try getting to the next exit with a gas station and see how it was doing, and if possible just buy enough coolant to make it home. ‘Twasn’t to be though. When we got to the gas station I popped the hood to check it out, and there was coolant spraying all over and it was overheating again. So we called a tow truck and a cab (after figuring out the best way of getting home would be metro north from Poughkeepsie).


We had to wait forever for the cab, but it found us eventually, and we barely made the 9:30 train. A couple hours later we were home sweet home.
Thanks Dave, Ellie, and Randy for being so cool about the whole thing. it would've been lots worse if you guys complained, but everyone just took it as an adventure, and everyone did their part to get us safely home. you guys are the best.

I wish I had a better ending, but despite the bit o’ tragedy it was still an incredible weekend.