Canoeing through the Saranacs

My action packed week continued this weekend with a camping trip in the Adirondacks State Park. I was invited to go with my friend Andrew, who is one of Marissa's good friends and my companion in Barcelona.

After a 5.5hour drive up to the Adirondacks and sitting in traffic through Lake Placid, I made it to Flower Lake and Saint Regis Outfitters. It was a beautiful ride and really great to see all of the old Olympic structures such as the crazy ski jumps and the bobsled runs.

The trip started with Andrew, Eric, and I portaging our 18ft canoe through town about a mile to the town park on Flower Lake. Our canoe loaded with gear, and us were an estimated 700lbs and it was impressive to see it all loaded at the beginning of our trek. Each of us had a stiff hiking bag and Andrew brought about 50lbs of food: including GORP, trail mix, canned food, a water filter, and summer sausage.



It was great to get onto the lake and I quickly realized this would be unlike any other camping trip I have done. It was also much different than my biking trek and much more liberating. Unlike what I expected, we were going to be canoeing everywhere with very little hiking. Our whole trip focused around Lower and Middle Saranac Lake with several ponds and rivers in between. Each night we were going to be staying on a different island and we lucked out to have it all to ourselves each night. Another interesting aspect was that the lakes were very shallow, usually around 20ft or so and even though it was a huge lake, there were designated lanes for boats that were dredged.
The first night of camping was a learning experience. We decided to rough it and only camp in lean-tos. Seems like a good idea, we were only concerned about rain which was forecasted for everyday, but instead we were surprised with mosquitoes. That night we were all hiding under our 2-walled lean-to in our sleeping bags sweltering. I decided I would rather sweat to death than be bitten anymore by those devil bugs.

The following day we canoed from Lower Saranac to Middle Saranac and had to cover about 9 miles. In those 9 miles were locks that we got to operate ourselves. Each lake is about 10ft higher than the previous one meaning a lock is definitely necessary. It was quite simple to use, we just canoe in, close the doors, and open the slats on the other end of the lock. As for our second night, we were on an island more in the middle of a lake and a storm was approaching. Combining these elements and a steady breeze meant that the bugs were much less but we were fearful of a monster thunderstorm. So, what do I do, I go for a swim because I found a big rock and of course wanted to climb it. It was nice to get out on the water and I figured since I was wet it would count of a shower and I know that would make my mom happy.

Very quickly the trip was coming to an end and on Friday we only had about a 6mile trip back to Lower Saranac. Due to our "short" trip we decided to canoe to the portage to Upper Saranac. It was a great thing we decided not to camp on Upper because the portage was a 1.5mile hike through bug infested swamps and ankle twisting trails. Well our last island was a little like the first. The water around it looked too calm and there were way too many trees. Quickly we all realized that this was a recipe for mosquitoes. Thanks to all my years as a professional fort builder in the basement we were quickly able to make our own tent out of tarps. The picture basically explains it all, one problem though is that a tarp is not exactly breathable. We slept without bugs, but not without realizing that it was again sweltering hot and condensation was building on all the walls. However, it did lead to quite a humerous night of us pretending we were WWII anti-bomber patrols and were treating the bugs as "boogies" to be shot down. The whole 2hr event of killing mosquitoes came when Andrew yelled, "I'm a medic not a killer!"

After returning to civilization after 4 days of camping and canoeing I would eagerly do it all over again. Like my biking trip I wish I did such trips earlier, but I am glad to have started. I saw this trip as an opportunity to appreciate the simple things and to find that I can do such trips on my own.

Still Falling out of Trees...

This weekend I got to go back to Berea, Ohio with Stella to visit her family. I love going to see her family because everyone is just so nice and unbelievably caring. I met Stella at her office and we took the quickest flight we could out West.

The reason we went out to Berea was to see her sister's, Erika's, play. It was called Into the Woods and was an astounding three hours long! Erika did amazing, she was the step-mother in the Cinderella section and definitely was one of the better actresses. Stella's sister was very happy to know that we traveled all the way out to Ohio to especially see her and her performance in the play.

Beyond seeing the play, Stella's parents really treat me like one of their own. We toured around the town, took Zoe for a walk and made dinner together. Time quickly passed and before I knew it, it was already Sunday. I woke up early with Stella's dad to go for a bike ride. Like the last time I visited, I borrowed a bike from her dad's friend, Richard and we also went out with another friend, Dave and his son. I was upset that Stella couldn't go riding with us, but we were able to hold a much more intense pace and even covered about 37 miles. Coming back to the house I found Stella and her mom sitting in the yard just relaxing in the sun and we spent the rest of the day lounging around, going for yet another walk and letting Zoe go swimming. However, on our walk we stopped by a car show. I was anticipating this and couldn't wait to show off my car knowledge and see some classic gear heads. I felt like I really got to know Stella's dad and we talked about how his bias for 50's cars and mine for 70's.

I guess it is getting to the point where I have to explain the title of this entry. On Sunday Stella had the idea of making stuffed grape leaves. She was rather persistent about this and I decided to help her cook. The reason we were so set on grape leaves was because they have a vine in their backyard. The trouble is that the recipe calls for young leaves, meaning at the end of the vine. I volunteered to climb the tree and pick the leaves. First time, perfect, not one issue. We went back inside cooked the leaves and latter found out we needed more. I rushed back out and thought nothing of it and climbed right back up the tree. Things were going really well, I was about 6ft up had about 10 leaves when all of a sudden the branch under my right foot snapped. All I remember was flipping backwards and seeing the ground rush towards my face. Lucky for me my right wrist and right leg got caught in the branches and I was left dangling from the tree. Even better, no one was outside to witness the fall, the only proof I have are some manly gashes over my body. To compliment it I had Stella's sister give me a henna tattoo on my left arm that is a combination of a heart and roses.

Peace Corps Invitation

I am going to... Nicaragua!
I am so excited and relieved to finally know where I will be for the next two years. I knew that I was going to be some where in the Inter-America Pacific, but I never imagined it would be Nicaragua. I admit I know very little about the country and I can't wait to sit down and start finding out about all that this country has to offer.

Right now I will be leaving August 31st for Washington DC to be admitted, then I am taking off on September 1st for Jinotepe, Nicaragua for the next 3 months!

As for climate one guarantee is that it is going to be hot! The book mentioned three climate zones: very hot/dry or very hot/humid, hot/dusty or hot/muddy. One constant: the heat.

The letter came in a fancy blue folder and about 200 pages of reading. I have 5 days now to read it all and decide if I want to accept the placement. One thing I have to be careful of is that when I call I will have to take an oral quiz to make sure that I did all the reading.

Trekking Around New England

I just got back from my Teen Treks trip and what an experience it was. I had such a great time meeting my six trekers and I could not have done it without the help of my other leader, Hanna. We overcame: rain, thunderstorms, mountains, insane mileage, and mildewy tents. I had an amazing time and it is hard to look back at the last two weeks and remember all of the details.
This is from Day 1, where we walked around Boston and were just starting to get to know each other. Don't be deceived by "EMO" Mike standing far away from the group. We were all shy that day and that picture speaks perfectly to the hesitance we all had when we started. Also, there are all eight of us. Sadly we lost Caroline and Kayla on the trip. And... if you pay attention you can see that the clouds are already starting to roll in. That is the precursor and a sign of the inevitable rain that we were all ready to face for the next 10 days!

Our first state line! We made it here by day 4 after visiting Gloucester and Salem. I would include pictures but it is just of rain and very little misery. In Salem we did get some sun and were able to tour around the town, meet some locals, and go to a crazy witch museum... more weight. That night little did we know that our destination: Hampton State Beach was an RV Park and would not receive us. Therefore we had to ride an additional 10 miles to a camp site that was kind enough to put us up on their soccer field.

MAINE! We made it in just under a week and got to stay in another campground that night. By then we had stayed in 4 campsites and still have our same rain gear on. Two days later we would arrive in Portland and get to stay in a nice hotel for two nights. Another great perk was that Dan and Mike dragged me to a Portland Seadog's game, but it was well worth it once I got there.
Happy Fourth! We made it to Camden State Park and we didn't get to see any fireworks. The best we got was our cookie cake and a sparkler. Here is our huge Fourth celebration and it was so foggy that night I heard the fireworks were just "colorful clouds". Also, we lost one of our trekkers the day before and would lose another that night due to a family emergency.... RIP Caroline and Kayla.
Finally we made it to Bar Harbor after about two 50 mile days of riding and through several mountains. At this point Bar Harbor seemed lime some mythical town that was beyond our dreams. It was a utopia where we wouldn't have to ride for three whole days. It was great to get in and on the second day we climbed Cadillac Mountain, the tallest coastal mountain on the Atlantic Coast. From there we felt on top of the world, came back and biked our final day to Bangor, and took our bus home the next morning for 6 hours to Boston.