In no particular order, here are some of my peak experiences from our trip:
- Watching Jasper learning to swim. Hilarious ,and eventually, beautiful.
- Watching my beautiful feet (heheheh!) in the sun-rippled water
- Observing the kids absorb all the wonders around them. Their awe helped renew my own.
- A quiet morning canoe ride on Lake George with just my husband. Alone time with him is so rare (when it’s not time for bed!). The water there is so clear we could see so much beneath the surface and spent a lot of the time quietly paddling together, observing the land and waterscape around us.
- Teaching my daughter to pee in a hole in the woods that we dug. Truly, this was such a high for me. I loved that she was completely open to it and didn’t mind having to do it more than once. Much better than an outhouse! Go ahead, call me a freak.
- Walking into Marcy Dam with my kids. I was so proud of L4 for walking the entire distance in by herself. L1 carried her out (much to her chagrin) because rain was threatening and we wanted to break camp and be on our way to the next destination before the rain arrived. The shot of all of us in the middle of the Adirondack mosaic is from Marcy Dam.
- Watching the full moon rise over the tree tops as I walked along the road in South Meadows in the High Peaks region. I was by myself for a few minutes (again, a rarity!) and was completely at peace. I used to hike more in the Adirondacks in my teens and early twenties. I loved it and was on my way to becoming a 46er, with over 30 of the peaks climbed (two with my 14-month old baby on my back!). The High Peaks were one of the things that brought L1 and I together. When we met and I told him I was working toward climbing all 46, it was as if he didn’t believe me. He said, “Oh yeah? Which ones have you climbed?” in a voice that was challenging me to actually even know the names of any of them! I think I impressed him that morning at 6am (we were at crew practice in college) when I rattled off the list of those my boots and I had traversed. Seriously, even though neither of us admitted it, it was love from that first morning. *happy sigh*
- Returning to the campground of my youth with my own children and watching them grow to love it as much as I did.
- Having the kids sleep through the EIGHT HOURS of thunderstorms on our last night. I didn’t sleep much that night and was miserable because the tent was leaking a little and the storms were right on top of us and I kept thinking and hoping that the rest of the people camping around us were safe and dry and trying to tell myself that it wouldn’t be that much longer until we’d pack up and go home. I am SO GLAD the kids were oblivious to all of that and that the trip didn’t end on a sour note for them. They were a little cold the next morning, but happily ate lots of oatmeal while L1 and I packed up all of our gear in the remaining drizzle.
Overall, I have a feeling of contentment and satisfaction from our trip and look forward to some fall camping. It was so good to be in the outdoors in such a manner again.
Wow that was cool to read. Almost felt like I was there. Sounds like ya’ll had a fun trip!
[…] 17, 2009 by willowluna Back to the Adirondacks in August, my favorite month to visit the region. A list for you, just like last […]
[…] Our camping trip was fantastic, but much too short. Both kids kept saying so over and over. Our Adirondack days were filled with the beautifully familiar and the sweetly new. We ate, we laughed, we adventured. We even stayed dry during a rain storm our second night (unlike 2008!) […]