Adirondacks and A Major Change of Plans

Our first Adirondack pond.

Tweedy pair out for a woodsy stroll.

Ice cream stop, and father and son doing a "carry."

Snake eating frog, or is that frog eating snake? (double click for enlarged view)

Claire catching blueberries, fisherman catching nothing.

Northeast Shore features at Whiteface Ski Area.

Nice view for the road cyclist. The river's not bad either.

What kind of chairs are these?

Adirondack guide boat.

Bobsledding on concrete?

I don't think we've found a more friendly part of America than upstate New York. There is an idea abroad that New Yorkers are brusque, even rude; but that is New York City, and they're not so much rude as just surviving. But upstate New York, particularly the Adirondacks is friendly to a fault:

Coming in from the Northwest, down from the St. Lawrence, we stopped at the Adirondack Visitor's Center and peppered Lydia with questions of all sorts, so we could get as much out of our week in the park as possible. As we talked we discovered she had once lived in Beijing and loved travel as much as we do, and the bonding was off and running. One of our questions was where we could boondock, like we do almost all the time on federal lands in the west. She understood, and directed us to a Jones pond spot, that we were later to discover was pretty much a locals secret. A ranger stopped by one night and asked us where we'd heard about Jones Pond. We played dumb.

As the light dimmed, after dinner in our cozy little spot beside Jones Pond, Lydia and Porgy, Park volunteer and friend, and neighbor to us on Jones Pond, paddled up for a visit. Porgy even offered us kayaks to paddle the pond anytime we wanted. We unfortunately were too busy with work to do much but get in a hard bike ride the next day. We spent most of two days in the Paul Smith library, one the the best we have found so far, with a fabulous, and distracting, view of another pond. Our final day in the NE section of the park found us back at the Visitors Center and, by now in need of water for our shower tank; Lydia and Porgy to the rescue again: moved cars and found us a hose bib around the back of the center; this allowed us several more days in the Park for photographing and gathering material.

We had hot and humid weather for a few days, but the nights were cool if damp, then as we left the park, thunderstorms ahead of a cold front (bad ones for here) cleared and cooled the air. We are now in Vermont, another story.

Change of plans:

Claire recently received a request from one of her magazine editors to about quadruple her output for them. (me too, I do her photos). It was quite a dilemma for us, as we had already planned a trip to South America this winter, and it would not be possible to keep up even her current load with them while abroad. We decided the opportunity was too good to pass up.

Claire continues to get rave reviews for her work from all the editors she writes for, and even though our vagabond lifestyle will be altered, I think it is important for her to be able to pursue her writing. She's only 43! We will just have to figure out how to do fewer and shorter overseas trips, like most travelers. We've been spoiled, and we took full advantage of it. We will still travel extensively by RV throughout North America, thanks to the many libraries that now have wi fi and wall plugs, we'll just have to work a little more than play.

We still will not be returning to Tucson until early April; we have work to do all the way to Florida and Texas.