Anniversary getaway

Well, June is over and July is here already.

I think I missed the summer solstice. I am quite disappointed. I love to celebrate the light of the longest day of the year.

Shawn and I went on a little trip to Lake Placid in the Adirondacks, to celebrate our 21st anniversary. Last year our anniversary was eclipsed by Shannon's graduation, and next year it will be by David's, and the next year by Laura's. When we got married back in 1987 in Minnesota, I never imagined that our anniversary would end up conflicting with our children's high school graduations. In Minnesota, people are done with school and on to much better and brighter things by June 27.

It rained on us in Lake Placid. Generally, it always rains whenever we go anywhere. Being introverts and not enjoying crowds, we have learned to look on the bright side and make the best of it. Rain reduces a crowd quite drastically. As long as it doesn't rain too hard, and the rides are still running, you can do very well at an amusement park on a rainy day... the lines are usually very short.

However, we had been hoping to hike. It is not so much fun to hike in the rain. Especially in the Adirondacks. The Adirondack trails are primitive and rocky. Sometimes you can hardly tell where the trail goes. When the rain cleared on Saturday afternoon, we set out on a modest hike--2.5 miles didn't sound so bad.

Let me just say, there are 2.5 miles in a neighborhood, or at a nature preserve with mulched paths, or at a state park where they build the trails like a sidewalk through the gorge, stone steps and all. And then there are 2.5 miles of rough, steeply inclined Adirondack "trails" through rocky forest with nary a level inch on which to place your foot. Take one of those, and then make it really, really wet, so that where it might have been almost level at one time, what you have is a bog of sticky mud through which you have to skip from stone (slippery when wet) to stone if you want to keep your white sneakers white. Which you won't be able to do. And when you are up on the rocks, out of the mud, you might think it would get better, but again, the rocks are slippery when wet.

We got some strenuous exercise for about an hour and a half, but we didn't get near the summit. I pooped out and told Shawn I thought we'd better head home. He, gentleman that he is, agreed kindly. About 5 minutes after we turned around, it started to lightening and thunder and then rain, so I didn't feel quite so bad about my big wimp-out.

We enjoyed the canoes at the place where we stayed on Lake Placid. For those who may not know, the Town of Lake Placid is not built on Lake Placid. It is built on Mirror Lake. We stayed on Lake Placid, which some say is less pretty, but I like it better--it's less crowded.

We also had two nice dinners out, the prices of which were ridiculous, because a lot of filthy rich people frequent Lake Placid, and also New York City people and wealthy Europeans. I am trying not to worry about how much we spent on those two dinners. I had fish both times, because it is soft and I can chew it, even though my teeth are loose and sore in my braces. The second place we ate was really gorgeous, with huge cathedral windows overlooking a mountain and a trout brook. They played cascading piano music to match the running water in the brook, and the food was fancy, though not as good as the prices should have warranted. We got better service at the Bob Evans where we ate lunch in Watertown on our way home. Shawn thinks it's because we didn't order wine with our dinner. It was definitely a wine-with-dinner kind of place, but honestly, should we be discriminated against because we don't drink? Anyhow, we probably won't go there again. Not that we're in the neighborhood all that often.

A weekend away is tricky, because you don't have all that much time to unwind. And by the time you start unwinding, it is time to go home. We did have a lovely canoe ride after we had checked out of our cottage. We were supposed to keep the canoe in the bay where the dock was, but Shawn isn't so much for following those kinds of rules, so we went out into the bigger part of Lake Placid and saw Whiteface Mountain shrouded in mysterious clouds and wondered who lived in the amazing mansions with boathouses with "garages" for up to five boats.

I think, when you are a mother, you never quite relax when you "get away" from your kids. You are always wondering how they are doing, and if they are safe, happy and healthy. Their phone calls are like iced lemonade on a hot, dry day.

It was a nice weekend. It was also good to get home.

The very best thing--the kids cleaned the house while we were gone! I came home, and they had even dusted and vacuumed our room! Never have vacuum tracks been so exciting! (Sorry about all the exclamation points, but I really mean them.)