When Every Leaf is a Flower

Our monthly forays are starting to sound like a conga line of camping trips in Algonquin park, but living where we do, and having such a great destination so close, and with the park being so diverse with so much to do there, well you'll just have to forgive us for returning to it over and over again, and seeing autumn leaves in Algonquin is as wonderful a display as seeing the Mona Lisa without the lines. You'll have to forgive the dozens of dozens of photos in this post. It is long and pic heavy, but two days ablaze in Algonquin is about as good as it gets.

For those who have never been, Algonquin Park is one of Ontario's largest and most accessible provincial parks. It is home to a pile of campgrounds and a handful of museums. There are art galleries and lodges, cabins and yurts, remote interior camp sites and hiking trails that go for hours or days. Since we have four distinct seasons Algonquin transforms monthly and offers activities ranging from dogsledding to sunbathing, from mountainbiking to ice fishing, and about everything between. Every season is my favourite in Algonquin, but only in the moment thereof. Its hard to imagine why anyone would visit the park in the spring when portages are filled with mud and mosquitoes are biting ferociously, but then you surge down a whitewater run while the creeks are swollen from the spring flood, ephemerals blooming along the banks, and trees flashing bright green buds and springtime suddenly becomes the very best time to visit the park. And so on for every time of year. A different adventure, a different reason to visit, but always a fantastic time. 

For this trip we decided to forego the hiking trails and fall lookouts and booked interior campsites only accessible by canoe. In order to complete the trip, we needed to rent a boat - we already had paddles, life jackets and so on. So we went rental shopping and found that renting a canoe from Mountain Equipment Coop in Barrie would save us mucho bucks but add about an hour to our drive to the park. After work we drove the old Mercedes to Barrie arriving just after dark, and loaded up our boat.

Our canoe was a Fibreglass prospector. It was heavier than I had hoped, but with only 2 portages and a price of $20 for the first day, and a mere $13 per day thereafter, it was worth it. I strapped down the canoe while momma ran next door to pick up Subway for dinner, and then we hit the road headed for Algonquin. We arrived in the dark, and spent the night unaware of the fall colours exploding around us. In the morning we woke up in a wonderland.

Algonquin is set on the Canadian Shield and has a forest of mostly maple and pines with some birch and other trees mixed in. Since the poor soil stresses the trees, they are famous for putting on an explosive show of fall colour. We had inadvertently scheduled this trip for the climax of colour change, and managed to sneak in at night when the crowds of 'leaf peepers' hadn't been out. The photo above (of our canoe!) was actually taken by a leaf peeper - we found the photo on Facebook after we got home! This was us launching our canoe at the start of our trip - you can't see it in the picture, but the highway through the park (Highway 60) is just behind the put-in.

We started this trip from Lake of Two Rivers, just near the beach on the east side of the lake, and headed down the river towards Pog Lake. While Momma and I paddled the boys watched for turtles and animal houses. We saw some muskrat and beaver lodges, some holes in the river bank, and a few flocks of mergansers. No bears on this trip though - we saw those earlier in the summer in this same area.

After a while we slipped across a corner of Pog Lake, and then down the creek towards Whitefish Lake. In the summer this area is busy with car campers on the banks and the creeks and rivers full of canoeists, but this time of year, we saw no one, and the only sound on the water was the babble of the two boys and they made up stories and songs. Eventually we reached the short (150m) Portage between Pog Lake (creek) and Whitefish Lake. The portage skirts a dam, and outflow was running pretty high. Everyone shouldered their backpack, and we headed off down the trail. We make a point of having something for the boys to carry - there are no free rides on a canoe trip!

Right at the start of the portage there was a nice big sitting rock, so the boys sortof posed for a picture. As you can see, Cuppa's paddle is a little less functional than most. Buddy was actually a pretty good paddler when he chose to paddle.

This portage was really easy to find since a float boom protects you from the dam on the upstream end. The portage is river right, with a nice gravel/sand landing and a few stepping stones. The trail is clear and flat with just a small climb at the beginning. The dam is unspectacular, but the sound of rushing water is nice. Earlier in the summer we picked blueberries and raspberries along the trail while on a daypaddle. This time of year all the berries were long gone.

We started to notice a problem with our canoe packing at this point. It felt like the nose of the canoe was ploughing the water rather than riding over or slicing it. I needed to adjust either the way I was paddling or the way the boat was loaded. I made the mistake of repacking the canoe after the portage the same way it had been packed in the morning, and we tired quickly as the work of pushing water in front of the boat continued through the day.

The outlet of Pog Creek into Whitefish Lake is a shallow, grassy area. When we arrived, we spooked a pair of Herons who were fishing in the shallows. Herons are usually solitary birds, so I figure they must have been grouping up for the flight south. Otherwise, I am not sure why there would have been two of them within 100m of each other. Another thing we noticed as we entered Whitefish was that the north shore of the lake was mostly pine and evergreen trees while the south shore was mixed with more hardwoods. The colour displays here were very good.

On Pog Lake there is a group camp site where a canoeing class was going on. We landed long enough to use the privies and stretch the boys' legs. The longer they had to sit in the canoe, the more fidgety they became. A snack of trail mix and granola bars helped a little, and then we were on our way again.

At the bottom of Whitefish Lake, we arrived at the old railway bridge where a family was fishing for bass. The boys had fun running on the bridge and the family even caught two fish while we were there. A friendly man took our picture, so we posed in the canoe for as long as the boys could stay still. They really wanted to run and play!

More granola bars were devoured, and everyone was happy.

Once we were done visiting the fish, we started paddling again, and before long we were on Rock Lake. It had been a long day of sitting for the boys, and of paddling for the parents, but the leaves and scenery on Rock Lake were fantastic. We thought about taking a portage to Penn Lake and visiting the falls and dam, but instead we found a campsite on Jean Island (campsites were filling quickly!) and got settled in.

Our campsite was on a flat shelf of rock with a cliff wall behind us. We had a fantastic sunset view, and were nestled into a bunch of cedars and pines near the water's edge. We climbed the cliffs into the deciduous trees and got views out across the lake. It was nice spot, but was very well used with absolutely no firewood, and a lot of tree damage ranging from nails driven into the tree trunks to trees sawed or chopped down. I wonder if the park will shut down this site in the near future and give it a chance to regenerate.

The view from the campsite was fantastic though. No wind to speak, and a leaf show across the lake. 

Our first order of business was a lunch - multigrain flatbreads with cheese and meat. It was delicious, especially after all that paddling! We quickly found out how tame the Chippies were on the site. They have figured out snacking really well!

After lunch we climbed to the top of the site and looked out over rock lake. All the hills were on fire with fall colours. The rage of reds and yellows and oranges was beautiful. We could have taken our gear up there and just sat and stared all weekend.

The way our campsite was set up, there was probably oportunity to put in a half dozen or more tents on the site. The rock wall behind us went up in terraces, with two or three really good tent sites on each terrace. For the boys, mountain climbing was a great pass time. So was getting wet in the cold lake water.

After a while, Momma and Buddy took the canoe out of a paddle while cuppa and I stayed on shore and played. I got a few pics of Momma and Buddy - I think this one looks like it belongs on a catalogue cover.

Then Buddy took me for a ride. He did really well paddling the canoe, but he tired quickly, so I took him for a trip around the island. We found a muskrat lodge and stole some firewood off it, and we found another campsite on the island. Just as we returned to camp, a breeze sprang up and we ducked into camp before it got strong.

After a dinner of shepherd's pie (I messed up and it was awful!) we tucked the boys in bed as the sunset, then Momma and I enjoyed the fire and watched the stars come out. The night sky was as amazing as the leaves had been all day. We decided to sneak our backpacks out of the tent and sleep out under the stars. The rock wall protected us from the breeze, our winter sleeping bags were very warm, and the rock radiated back heat it had trapped from the sun all day. We quickly fell asleep under a clear night sky, but in the morning, we woke up in a world of misty shadows.

As we got our camp organized the mist thinned and lifted, but for a while it gave the impression of a world made of crumpled velvet, printed on a studio backdrop.

We had a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon (protip - crack your eggs into a nalgene bottle and leave the shells at home!!) then packed up camp and paddled off into the mist. The blur of trees emerging as the fog lifted was fantastic.

Once the mist was burned off, mare's tails stretched across the sky, and the lakes were mirrorlike, with only our canoe to disturb the surface. It was like paddling through a dream.

In a few spots, a cloud of fog stretched across the lake, refusing to give in to the sun.

While we paddled in awe, the boys somehow managed to be oblivious to everything and focussed on watching for fish in the clear water below.

So our adventure went with Momma and I developing a rhythm, our paddles repeating a splatter of droplets across the water with each stroke, and the boys watching the bottom of the lakes slip past below us.

Eventually we reached the end of Rock lake, and it was time to complete the short portage into Galeairy Lake. This portage also goes around a dam, is a very easy path, and takes little effort to complete. The trail is rocky at the beginning, but joins a well worn hiking path, then leaves it again at the put-in.

The dam provided some great opportunities for photos, so we stayed long enough for a snack of trail mix and some drinks.

After the dam we started the long slog across Galeairy Lake that would bring us to our waiting car. Galeairy seems to go on forever, and we had been paddling through the leafs so long that their effect had started to wear off. We saw some cormorants along the way, and a few other things, but the hours-long crossing of the lake was, well, an hours-long lake crossing. 

As we went, nature took pity on us, and a tailwind built as we neared the finish of our trip. By the time we neared the end of the lake, sizeable waves were pushing toward the car, and we almost surfed a few times. We passed the Couples Resort in Whitney and pulled up to the government launch happy to be done a great trip.

Then we loaded the canoe back onto the old Mercedes, posed for a family picture, and hit the road.

Driving back through Algonquin Park on the way home, we got to enjoy the leaves all along Highway 60. We were also shocked at the crowds of people waiting at every trail entrance and lookout point. The queue to buy park permits was close to 2 km long. Canoeing through the park, we had hardly seen a soul, and thought we had the place to ourselves. I guess we were wrong!

For the next canoe trip we do, I think we will need to plan a route with more short portages. The boys really did get bored with all the paddling (hours at a time sometimes!) and we need to bring along a couple fishing poles for the boys. I hate portaging fishing poles and gear, so I usually don't bother with them.We also need to rethink our canoe rental strategy. Renting in Barrie saved us a lot of money, but made for a long drive. There must be another alternative!

May 2-4 escape to Darlington Provincial Park

"The 24th of May is the Queen's Birthday,

If we don't have a break, we shall all run away!"

Well, we almost got blown away. This year we decided to forego the usual grind up Highway 400 from Toronto to "Cottage Country or Algonquin, and instead opt to go camping as close to home as was practical, and so on an overcast, fiercely windy day, we found ourselves struggling to set up tents on a lakeside campsite in Darlington Provincial Park, while waves crashed on a pebble beach some 30 feet below us.

Actually, the weather conspired against us long before we loaded the cars to go camping. Wednesday night, the night of the first races of the season at the Yacht club, I was out sailing when a storm front rolled and writhed its way northbound across Lake Ontario. The cold rain fell in a sheet, with piercing ferocity, soaking me through in an instant, and utterly swamping the boat, sails, and sailors. We turned tail, and returned to our slip. The weather; however, continued through the evening such that my shoes were completely underwater on the walk across the parking lot to the car. The sheer volume of water was enough to back up the gutters and drains in the streets, and to wreak havoc on our yard work plans for the rest of the week.

Of course the weeds and grass thrived on the spring rains, and jumped up suddenly and without warning.

Which leads us to Friday afternoon which was when I cut the lawn, packed the truck, and consulted Google Maps to see just how bad the holiday weekend traffic was to get out of town and to the provincial park. Google cheerily replied that he drive would be 30 minutes in current traffic. All things considered, I figured that was acceptable for travel to a nearby park on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Ten minutes later we pulled into the park, with Chuck and one of her friends in the back seat.

I had booked our site very early, and so got what appeared to be a prime site on Darlington's website. Our site was perched atop a 30 foot sand bluff, overlooking Lake Ontario. We only had one neighbour, and although it was a bit of a hike from the site to the nearest washrooms and water spigot, I figured the views and privacy were a fair trade for the lack of amenities the spot offered.

When we arrived at dinner time on Friday we wondered if the site was a wise choice. It was a mudpit. Standing water surrounded the fire pit. wet gooey mud covered most of the living area. Two islands were just big enough to set the tents on. I was worried that the truck would settle into the mud and we would have trouble getting out the next day. But being of hardy stock, we decided to soldier on, and we got camp set up before noshing on a dinner procured at SubWay.

Just prior to this trip, we noticed a "Beginner Camping Set" at Wal-Mart for a very reasonable price. For $100 the kit included a tent, sun shelter, 2 chairs, and carry bag. We scooped it up and decided that it would be our car camping kit. It worked nicely alongside our older gear, and we were actually quite surprised by the ease of setup and quality of the kit. In these pics, all the Wal-Mart stuff is lime green.

It quickly became obvious that quietude is a relative term. Not long after we got the tents up and fire started, our neighbours moved in. They faced similar issues with their site, and it was wide open to see them struggling to find dry land and get tents up. They were travelling with an older lady and younger kids, so we offered for the kids and Grandma to come and share our fire while their camp got set up. They declined and kept their distance. Night set in quickly, and after dinner and smores, we settled into bed.

It seems that CP Rail (maybe CN, or Via, or GO, or all of them - I'm not sure) has timed their schedule to wake campers in this park. Trains pass nearby throughout the day, but as night sets in, their whistles and the thunder of their wheels on the tracks become more frequent, and travel further. The sleepier you are, the more intense the noise of trains. This can't be overstated. Don't come to this park if you hate train noise. They are both constant and loud, but you get fair warning - you have to cross the tracks at the park entrance. We slept, but restlessly.

On Saturday morning, we awoke to the winds off Lake Ontario gaining intensity. I figured they were either blowing in sunshine or blowing in rain. Either way, with the camp already set, there was no point in complaining - and if things really went downhill, we were only 10 minutes from home. I started rigging our Ultralight ripstop nylon tarp - the good one that has seen us through canoe country and severe weather in strange places. My idea was that I would anchor the windward side of the tarp close to the ground, and the leeward side up high. That way we could shear off some of the wind. I would use the centre tie to go up to a tree limb in order to provide more headroom, and the whole thing would be a tarping work of beauty.

In the end, I couldn't get the centre up to a good branch, and had to use a pole - but the tarp still worked beautifully. Our neighbours enjoyed the show while I engineered the tarping solution. In the end the tarp did shear the wind, and adults stayed protected from the shoulders up while children suffered below. Ahhhh. camping.

We settled in under our tarp to a breakfast of Pancakes, and watched as the same hilarity began to unfold next door.

By now we had established a relationship with our neighbours, and we got to watch as they rigged their equally impressive windbreak. Their solution was to use the fence along the edge of the campsite as a frame on which to build a wall with a tarp. A small peak allowed them to tuck a picnic table in under the tarp, and before long they were snug in a little alcove, protected on three sides. As a piece-de-resistance, they incorporated a beach sun-shade into the design to allow for an expanded wind-free area. We quickly stole the idea, and now had a great system going. The kids became friends and before long we were sharing food and stories at both campsites.

The great challenge in the 'urban plan' was that we had sacrificed the views from the site for better livability. It was a shame since the views really were fantastic - but if you angled yourself just so, you could still see down the shoreline to the lake below...

On Saturday night, the boys, Mom, and I went to a party at some friends house in town, leaving Chuck and her friend to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, the friend didn't feel well and called her Mom for a ride home. We had a great time at the party, eating and drinking, and drinking, and drinking, and that meant I didn't feel well in the morning. After voiding my stomach of its contents, I returned to bed while Mom and the kids went to the beach or on hikes, or something and finally around 1:00 PM on Sunday, I crawled out of the tent to a cheery 'Good Morning!!' from our neighbours.

About 5 minutes later Mom and the boys returned and we got on with our day... which mostly consisted of lazing around the fire and trading jokes with the neighbours. It was a beautiful day of sunshine and light breezes. A perfect camp day. Buddy found a log, and under it he caught worms and bugs, which he lovingly nursed to death.

As dinner time approached, we made a trip to the camp store where we got a resupply of firewood ($7 per bag, $5 for kindling) and picked up a "Pizza Grill" which was immediately re-purposed as a general 'over the fire cooking device' and was used to prepare baked potatoes and chicken drums, while I made a salad on the picnic table. The chicken turned out amazing - 35% smoked, 65% grilled, 100% delicious.

After dinner we joined the folks next door and told ghost stories around the campfire. They shared tales of the Banshee and haunted castles while I told of Camp X just down the beach, and the legend of La Chasse Gallerie from old Quebec. (If you don't know La Chasse gallerie - look it up, its a fun story.) Once the spooky stories were done, we headed to bed.

Monday Morning came in bright and beautiful. After a breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs, we broke camp, then went for a walk along the waterfront trail and visited a bunch of the campground's beaches and picnic areas. We all agreed it would be a great place to visit again in the future! The picnic areas are huge and offer BBQ's and picnic tables, open grass and trees, shelters and playgrounds. Really a great spot for lunch with a crowd, a birthday party, or an event for a Scout Troop or Guide Unit.

With Darlington so very close to home, we will likely be back - maybe even just for a day trip. Its fantastic when you find these little gems and can remember them for future outings!

A Weekend at Letchworth - Part 2 of 2

I'm sure you've been waiting ever since the LAST post for this post about our weekend at Letchworth State Park - I mean I said I'd have it done the next day and all that. Well sorry to take a little longer. Its been nutty around here with launching a boat and scrubbing a boat, and all things boaty.

In any case back to our weekend getaway in upstate New York - the land of waterfalls and rocks.

 I'm going to start with a tour of the cabin we had. I do this because before our trip, it was next to impossible to figure out what to expect of a State Park as far as accommodations go. The park website lays it out pretty well, but 'rustic cabin' can be interpreted many ways.

To begin with, our cabin was in cabin loop 'C'. All of these are considered year-round rentals, but only some of them have electric heaters. The others have wood stoves. A woodstove would have had nice ambiance, but I've lived with wood heat, and I like having electric lights available. Our cabin was small, but met all our needs well. It was three rooms.

Room 1 was a "Multi-purpose room" which included kitchen, eating area, and well, not much else. here it is:

The kitchen table had 6 chairs, and there were beds and cots for 6. There was also one sitting chair in case one of the 6 people in the cabin didn't want to sit at the table. Or something. We never figured out why that chair was there.

It was nice that the kitchen included a microwave, but we didn't have anything to actually microwave in it. Knowing that the microwave was there, next time I'll bring popcorn. Also, a fridge. It isn't really camping of you get a microwave AND a fridge, is it? The only thing missing in the kitchen area was running water.

Off the multi-purpose room were the two bedrooms. Each one had a bunk bed in it plus a single cot. This made for sleeping space for 6 in the cabin. 6 lonely single people who didn't want to share a bed. I think the cabins were designed by Quakers. Also the electric heaters have noisy fans that kick in with a rattle, just before the start wafting hot air over you. Don't leave anything meltable in front of those heaters. They really heat!
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Every cabin in the loop faced the back of the next cabin. This gave the illusion of privacy. The view, however; left something to be desired. here is the view from our front door:

 Looking at our cabin, you can see that it has an accessible ramp, all the cabins in loop C do. Also there was a BBQ out front, but it was far from level, and experience has taught that out of level charcoal BBQ's tend to dump hot coals on your feet and hot dogs on the ground. Behind the BBQ and picnic table, there is a water spigot. Its that close. Running water less than 50 feet from your front door hardly counts as camping at all.

Here is the water spigot and the back of the cabin. Every time I say spigot I think of Rowan Atkinson performing a wedding. "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spigot." Ok back on topic. The Holy Spigot can be seen in the foreground, picnic tables are midground, cabin is background.

This is the 'other-other side" of Cabin 12. Here you will see a second picnic table and a fire pit. Letchworth State Park is very generous with their picnic tables. We are going camping at an Ontario Park this month, and I bet they will only give us one picnic table, and one place to burn things. Letchworth gave us two of each. We were impressed, but the weather was too poor to eat outside, and we had nothing to burn.

 Finally, the front of the cabin. There is a Muskoka Chair (Adirondack Chair of you are American) on the porch, but they bolted it down, which made me giggle.

So that's as good of a photo shoot of a Letchworth Cabin as you are going to find. I don't think there is much that I can add to the photos. If you are thinking of a packing list, know that what you see, is what you get quite literally. Apart from the stuff in these pics, there are no other amenities in the cabins. Flush toilets are a short walk across the campground. The cabins form a ring around the toilets - that sounds wrong, but you know what I mean. My only other comment about Loop C is that it is very remote from all the stuff in the park. If you want to see the falls or gorge or play tennis or whatever, you will be driving. Maybe bring a bike, but there aren't any bike facilities along the roads, and there are no shoulders.

There was a park in the middle of the cabins. By "was" I mean it no longer exists. Today all that is left of the park is a steel slide with notches in its belt for every child's tooth it has removed, and arm it has broken. The boys Loved that slide, and spent a lot of time in the rain sliding on it. The end of the slide is a good 2-1/2 feet off the ground. Check your insurance policy before you let your kids on the slide.

Anyways, back to our travelogue. On Sunday morning we woke up with hot heads from the heater blowing on my cranium all night (I slep on a mattress on the floor). After dousing my head in cold water to stop the sizzling, we had breakfast, packed up the cabin, cleaned it, locked the kids outside and took the pics above to convince you that we live in an idyllic world where our children can keep a camp clean.

Then we drove to Tea Table Picnic area. Cuppa liked the picnic shelter. I was impressed by it too.

 Tea Table is a flat surface where the Letchworths used to come for tea. Or something. It is one of the better picnic areas in the park. The view from Tea Table was really nice. Turkey vultures were circling on the updrafts and thermals from the canyon walls. Sadly I didn't get any really good pics of them.

The lookout had Pay-noculars just like Niagara Falls. The boys thought they were some kind of climbing apparatus. Then I put a quarter in one and Buddy thought they were the best things EVER! After that he asked for a quarter at every viewing station.

 We left teh Tea Table picnic area, and headed for lower falls. It was the only falls we had missed the day before. and we were determined not to mis the last of the three major falls in the park.

The walk to lower falls starts at this pavilion. Check out the rock stacking here. Who has time to make perfect arches out of stones and mortar. Amazing work.

After leaving the pavilion with the arches, there are exact ONE BILLION stairs you have to descend to get to lower falls. Half way down you think you will die, and you no longer want to go to the stupid falls, because really, who cares any- OMG lookit that bridge!

How in the name of allthings holy did that bridge get there. It looks like its out of "The Princess Bride" you expect teh six fingered man to step out any moment. And you go all like "My Name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father..."

And so half a billion steps later, you find yourself descending the last of the stairs, and at the smallest, but prettiest of the falls. These falls feed into a tight and narrow canyon, and then go...

under the PRINCESS BRIDE BRIDGE!!

OK, maybe its more Shrekish, you know, where he rescues princess Fiona, and she insults him for being an ogre, and Donkey is all like "Dat Cold, Dats real Cold." and then they start making jokes about Farquad, but Fiona doesn't get it. You know that scene? Yeah, maybe the bridge is more like that.

 This rock has balls. The balls are from when organic matter got churned around in the river, and then sediment built up on it. There's a thing about rock balls at the visitor's center.

Now the thing about the Princess Fiona/Buttercup bridge and the billion steps is that now that you've been lured into the honey pot, you have to go back from whence you came or perish forever ... UP the billion steps you go. And if you are 3 (or 40-ish) that trip is onerous. I found it helpful to sword fight invisible enemies and repeat "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

At the top of all the stairs there is another spot where there was a park. And another slide that the lawyers love. Because we are good parents, we allowed our children to risk their lives on the slide while we photographed them.

And example of a sliding casualty. Cuppa fell off the bottom rung of the ladder and rolled around in the wood chips. He was too tired to get up.

Then with help from Momma, he got his slide on!

So some takeaways from camping in The States:

1. If you eat out once, you will have leftovers for a week. You will not need to bring any other food since the serving sizes are ridiculously huge everywhere.
2.The cabins are really well equipped for everything except sleeping. If we did this again, I would bring an air mattress rather than sleep on the plastic mattresses and steel frames.
3. At the border they will search your car for firewood and fresh foods if you say you are camping. packaged foods were OK for us to bring into USA. Consider bringing money and stopping at a Piggly Wiggly or something. I don't really know what the grocery stores in Buffalo are called.
4. Bring an activity for the kids. If we weren't on the trails or outside the kids went batty in the small space of the cottage, and crayons were only interesting for a very short time. The slide of death held endless appeal though.
5. Leave your schedule and ideas at home and go with the flow. When hiking tired us out we went antiquing in nearby Mount Morris. It was fun, but totally unplanned.

On the way home we got a bottle of Vodka at the duty free. It helped me write this post. I wonder if it will be as witty in the morning...