Adirondacks Part 2

Food and the rustic location were not the only reason I went to upstate New York. Most of The Boys extended family was there. By most I mean ~40 people with spouses and kids. So many babies and little children. And the most recently married couple has one coming along. The Boy brought me in at the beginning of the era of young families. I was seriously waiting for one of his cousin's to start looking at me and say "You're next."

Sunday night is pizza night where his uncle, George, makes pizza for everybody. This was my mother's first introduction to his extended family. I was nervous but everything was fine. She didn't get overwhelmed and everyone was pleasant (as per usual). I got to know one of The Boy's cousin a little better an it turns out we're into the same nerdy stuff. This came in handy when we were playing CAH toward the end of the trip. Most of his relatives were picking the nerdy cards out right and left. I think 2 or 3 other people out of ~15 got those jokes. Muggles.

The other big night is shrimp night which The Boy's mother does. She makes steamed spiced shrimp and everyone comes by and eats cheese, snacks, and shrimp. There was even a campfire so my mom and I were able to make s'mores in the fire pit.

On Monday, the last really warm day, The Boy, his 'youngest' sister (older than him by ~ a year), his nephew, and I all headed to the water park. Everyone else in the county had the same idea we did because the place was packed. They had this old fairy tale portion with different houses, sculptures and a museum of stuff throughout the park's history. The water park portion wasn't added until the late 1980's. At the petting zoo I learned that sheep gonads get just as wool as the rest of them. One sheep was walking like "Come on man. Just sheer me already."

When we finally got to the water park portion not an inner tube was to be had. We had to wait in line for a freebie and then wait in line for the slide. I thought we were going to the lazy river first so I felt a little lied to. The slide was fun for the first 95% On the last turn I was reminded that mass x acceleration = force when the inner tube flipped and I landed on my face. At this point I'm just trying to navigate toward where the oxygen in but I was still sliding. The Boy and I came out backwards and before the inner tube.

The lifeguards were not used to seeing that. They were even less used to seeing someone bleed from the head. The Boy felt really bad once he realized I was bleeding. I spent the next hour getting patched up and icing it. The plus side was that all I had to do was ask nicely and we got a free inner tube for the rest of the day. After that I hung out on the lazy river until The Boy located his sister and nephew.

Looking at it healing I think I probably should have gotten a couple of stitches. At least it's a good conversation starter since I still have a bandage on my face. The Boy was a little grumpy that his injury wasn't as widely appreciated as mine but I win since I'll probably have a facial scar. I was a little disappointed I didn't get the black eye I was promised. It would have made for a really good 'having fun on vacation' selfie.

Overall the trip was great. The Boy's family is still awesome, ice cream up there is great, and I'm probably too old for water slides. Let's do this again next year. Minus the head injury.

Adirondacks Part 1

Every year The Boy and his family take a trip up to the Adirondacks. I was worried I wouldn't be able to go since I was working but I wasn't making that much money from working. My mom said she'd drive up with me and she and I would rent our own cabin and my temp assignment had enough work for me to do and liked me enough that my gig would be waiting for me when I got back.

Because we took an hour at Cracker Barrel (the nice lady in the store kept helping us shop), our total drive time was ~11 hours. By the end my mother was driving like me. It was kind of humorous. The Boy's family owned his cabin which is a real house. Our cabin somewhat resembled those tiny houses you see cropping up. We had a small bedroom with 3 metal walls that comprised the shower, the living/eating space and bathroom, and the glorified porch I was sleeping on. It had enclosed walls but I promise there was no insulation in those walls.

The insulation was relevant since It stopped being nice by Tuesday. Friday I spent the whole day in sweatpants and a hoodie. Every night I slept in that hoodie for warmth either on a crappy pullout sofa bed from the 1970's or a size too small bed with an extra firm mattress at The Boy's parent's place. All of this was occurring 90 minutes from the bathroom break Wal-Mart mentioned in Baker's Dozen Challenge Book 12. This was considerably more rustic than I was accustomed. The keys for our cabin were right inside the unlocked door on the porch. We ain't in DC no more.

The town we were staying and and it's larger neighbor had a bunch of great shops. The Boy had a present waiting for me which was a stuffed black bear I named Picnic. I found some very cool souvenirs including a necklace made from a monarch butterfly's wing (it died of natural causes), a tie-dyed multi-fabric skirt from a hippy store, a cherry blossom glass necklace, a book called "Your Socks Are on Fire" and a much needed pair of sweatpants. The bookstore in town had little flying pigs with magnetic noses that were stuck together. It was to show they were magnets but it made me think of The Boy and I. Neither he nor I were the best bets on paper at the start. I went back into that store at the end of the week to grab something for our neighbor and found 3 pairs like that.

The neighboring town had a 'hardware store' that was more well stocked than most Wal-Marts. Upstairs was camping gear and outdoor and kitchen furniture and downstairs was a hardware store. Connected to that was fabric, candy, cookie cutters, cookie jars, mugs, plates, towels, pot holders, and other kitchen items. Connected to that was several boxed recipes and baking items. Behind the baking was clothes, toys, and puzzles. Next to that was bedroom furniture including mattresses, pillows, futons, bedframes, dressers, and decorative fans. Behind the clothes and puzzles was the book section separated into a general book section with classics, fiction, various genre fiction, and several young reader sections. Behind that was all local books including guides, maps, histories, and regionally based novels. Back to the front and beside the baking stuff was the yarn and sewing section. Did you get all that?

In town there were only 2 places to eat. A breakfast and sandwich place that closed at 3 and a sports bar/video store (with DVDs and actual VHS tapes) that opened in the afternoon. There was a bakery with bagels the size of your face for only a couple of dollars and epic doughnuts. My favorite place in town was the ice cream stand. 

We went there almost every day. The Boy loved the soft serve, my mom was a sucker for a hard vanilla ice cream with M&Ms and fudge fish, and I loved me some gelato. Forest Berry FTW. The Boy's family and mine went to the fancy Italian place in the next town over one night. I had to figure out what 'mountain nice' meant. Casual Friday in the city as it turns out.

Shopping and eating were a large part of this trip.