Category Anything and Everything

On Saturday morning we met up for one last meal at the Waldheim dining room.  We said our goodbyes to our server, Caroline who was fantastic.  She was so sweet with Cadence and Kennedy and just did an overall great job.  We had already packed up the car so we also said goodbye to Paul, Meg and the kids.  I got power hugs from both Cadence and Kennedy and felt twinges of sadness as we went our different ways.  I certainly hope it is not another two years before I see them again.  It’s weird how after only a week the lake had acquired a sense of familiarity with me.  Although I was eager to get back home I also felt some melancholy upon leaving.

Dad started out doing the driving, staying behind the wheel until we crossed the NY/PA border.  He had country music on the radio because nothing else came in most of the time.  Neither Teresa or myself are fans of the genre and ironically neither is Dad.  To make things less pleasant the station(s) were fading in and out all the time, it was somewhat akin to chinese water torture.  Once I had solid cellular service I had enough and played music on my phone via my Sirius account.  It was definitely a change for the better.

It was another long day of driving, adding up to close to 7 hours with the stops.  I was very glad to pull back in the driveway of their house.  As we got closer to their place my brother Todd called and asked if we wanted to go to dinner.  We agreed and the place chosen was called Snuzzies.  We all unloaded our gear and the laundry marathon started for my Dad and Teresa.  I just continued to work out of my suitcase, I had a trash bag for dirty clothes which I had to pull from due to a shortage of some clean items.  I didn’t expect to be wearing shorts quite as much as I wound up doing while up there.

The dinner at Snuzzies was interesting.  This place is right in the middle of a rural residential area and looks like it has been around for quite awhile based on the looks of it.  It has old 70’s style wood dominating both the exterior and interior. They only take cash, and serve bar food.  In total we had something like 8 people so we wound up splitting it across two tables.  My table was myself, Todd, Mindy, and my niece Caroline who took a break from her work shift to attend which was nice.  The portions were huge, I wound up eating my tuna sandwich with a fork and just left the bread out of it.  They also got a pizza which I had a couple of slices of, it was quite good.

I got to catch up on the latest and greatest in Todd and Mindy’s world.  There were things that happened like Todd buying a boat last year and a Mercedes convertible that I had no idea about until recently.  Their lives seem very hectic and busy but that is something I think I have said after every catch up session I have with them.  Mindy’s mom’s friend at the other table was super talkative, we had to eventually leave a strong hint that we were ready to head out.  It was good seeing everyone.  Like Meg’s family, it had been a couple years since I saw Todd in person, at his 50th birthday party.

I didn’t sleep all that well Sunday night which wasn’t the best scenario when faced with another long day of travel.  I didn’t have to be at the airport until around 2PM so that gave me some time at my dad and stepmom’s place.  I did some work on dad’s Mac computer.  He had some malware a few months ago and I wanted to make sure things were properly cleaned up.  I used a utility I found online to assist in the process.  I updated, deleted, and optimized whatever I could.  It took a couple hours to complete but his system checked out clean afterward and ran at least marginally faster than it was before.

Dad also asked if I could help him look at his zero turn mower.  The one side of the mower deck was hanging down low and obviously something was broken.  I found a small plastic bracket had snapped.  I used dad’s tools to remove it and within a couple minutes on the phone I had identified the part name and number.  Instead of ordering on the internet like I would do  Dad instead wanted to take the information to a local mower repair guy he has used to get the part.  For some reason he thought the guy might be at his shop on a Sunday morning so we took a drive over there.

Not surprisingly, to me at least, the shop was closed so dad had to resign to driving back there during the week to try again.  On the way back to the house we wound up taking a narrated tour of the greater Lenhartsville area.  Dad was turning onto random roads and giving commentary on various things/places we saw.  He does have an impressive amount of knowledge about the place but by the time the tour was over I was ok with it.

So dad had one more tractor related task he asked for help with.  He need to get the bush hog mounted to his big tractor.  A bush hog is a big mower that runs off the tractor PTO drive.  Getting it aligned/hooked up yourself is a major pain in the ass so I was happy to help.  Dad said he had not used the bush hog in at least couple years so he wanted to make sure it still worked.  He did a couple loops around the lower pasture, knocking down the high grass/weeds effectively.

So while I was eating breakfast I was reviewing my electronic boarding passes for the flight.  I already was a bit mad at myself for not taking more notice/consideration of the arrival time back in Fort Myers when I booked this, around 10PM since I was working Monday.  When I reviewed the first boarding pass for the trip back it was for the flight from Allentown to Philadelphia.  I noticed the duration of the flight, seemed strangely long for such a short distance, an hour and a half.

As I looked again I saw the gate it was departing from, it said, CURB.  My initial thought was this meant we were taking one of those real small planes that boards right from the runway.   As I continued examining down further it identified the aircraft type as BUS.  Oh fck.  I was frustrated at my failure to flag this during the booking process.  I totally had to be asleep at the wheel to not take note of the late arrival and ground transport to Philly.  I mentioned this to Ali and she posted an earlier direct flight from Allegiant I could take but I did not see it until too late, not that I would have wanted to spend an extra $300 plus to correct my mistake.  A bus it will be then.

Dad drove me to the airport, running his tank down to the low fuel warning.  He seems to like seeing how low he can go sometimes.  I hugged and thanked him for the experience.  It had been something like a quarter century since my last trip there.  I definitely had a greater appreciation of the experience this time around.

The bus was big and modern, offering comfort surpassing a typical plane seat.  It also got to Philadelphia around 20 minutes ahead of time.  I read a good portion of the way.  Ironically the bus segment of the trip was the one that exceeded expectations.

As we approached the Philly airport I got my first notice of a delay, pushing, the departure time back from 6:55 to 7:40, unwelcome news.  My first concern was the plan I had hashed out with Ali to meet me at the airport with the Tesla.  With the delay my arrival was getting stupid late, as she had to work Monday as well.  We agreed instead that they could just drop off my car at the airport parking lot, lock it, and then I can use my phone to unlock the car like I normally do.  It was good thing we came up with this contingency plan because there were more delays to come.

While I was waiting I got food using a self service system I had never seen before.   Almost ALL of the food vendors are utilizing it.  You punch your order into and Ipad looking device and then they bring it right to you.  It’s convenient and an interesting use of tech.

So after eating I was just sitting around people watching.  I was right by the AA customer service desk so I got to hear a lot of unhappy customers complaining about various things.  My flight got bumped back another 20 minutes, setting the departure to 8PM.  After we finally boarded there was one final delay of roughly a half hour on the runway waiting for our turn in line.  Repeatedly I wished I would have made different choices with these flight arrangements but I had no one to blame but myself.

Once we got in the air I almost immediately closed my eyes.  I couldn’t flat out fall asleep but I was really tired from the bad sleep and travel the day before.  I utilized various positions during my rest.  The one time I did doze off briefly and caught myself as my head slipped off my hand which instinctively made me jerk my other hand into the air.  I am sure it looked funny.  Finally our flight touched down about 11:15.  Our luggage was slightly delayed as well for good measure.  It felt good to get back in the Tesla and drive back home.  I did not walk in the door until something like 12:30 AM.  Elsa was very happy to see me and would not leave my side the rest of the night.

So despite the very late arrival I felt I needed to do a couple things before going to sleep.  I threw all of my clothing from the trip into the wash and started it.  While it was running I processed the five orders that came in for the 3D store while I was gone.  To some it may seem moronic to do this at 1:30 in the morning but it is a testament to how my mind works. I have strong sense of responsibility I carry for most things I agree to take on.  If I put off processing the orders until tonight that would mean another day of waiting for these people who had already been waiting.  I wanted to stay awake until the quick wash cycle on the clothes finished so I could at least throw them in the dryer before going to bed so it worked out ok. Thankfully Ali already washed my bedding and ran the dishwasher.

I set my alarm an hour later than normal and let my department know I would be a little late.  I closed my eyes a little after 2AM, what a day.  I woke up this morning absent of the burning sensation in my right lower back that I had every morning at the Waldheim which I assume was from the bed.  Of course I could have used more sleep but it was a good start.  I have a long, long list of things to do over the next few days at home but I will knock it all out in short order because that’s what I do.  Shugs and Ali did a good job of keeping the house in order while I was gone so that helps a lot.

Today was our last full day at the Waldheim so we wanted to make sure we did something significant.  We decided to go hike to a fire tower that is the end of a roughly 1 mile hike.  My dad and step mom did this hike four years ago during their last visit.  To get to the trail entrance required driving on a dirt/stone road for quite a while.  We also were a little unsure of the exact location of the entrance but eventually came up on it.

The seven of us began the hike knowing dad was going to have to take a slow and steady approach.  Just before we started I decided to use the outhouse that was at the entrance.  Even using exclusively mouth breathing it was rough.  It felt like the stench was so bad it was melting my skin.

This hike was easily the most challenging we had done the entire trip.  It was steep, significantly steep at spots.  The good thing was 90% of the hike was in the shade.  For most of the ascent I was up front with Cadence who wanted to just go, go, go.  She has so much energy, she constantly wanted to jump off and over logs and rocks.  I had to do my best to make sure she didn’t get hurt in the process.

After somewhere close to an hour we arrived at the tower which is over 100 years old.  Sure the original one was built of logs, later replaced the metal version standing today, but it was still cool.  All of us climbed the tower, opening the windows at the top to take in the beautiful scenic views.

Paul is not a fan of heights to begin with.  He also had to scale the trail and the tower with Kennedy on his back which made things more challenging.  He was a trooper and even ascended a second time while Teresa watched Kennedy on the ground.

There was a rock formation behind the tower that Cadence and I checked out.  She wanted me to climb the tall face of it which was a challenge for me that I felt I had to take.  A couple brush burns on my knees later, I was successful.

The hike down hammered the front of my legs, by the time we returned to the parking area my body was pretty beat up.  My dad showed up maybe 10-15 minutes later and got engaged with a conversation with a “Summit Steward” that new everything about the tower and the trail.   I hoped the drive back on the dirt road would feel shorter but it drug on for a looong time, once again.

When we got back Meg, Paul, and I decided to go out on a canoe, all three of us on one vessel.  Paul was at the front and the primary locomotion for the canoe while I was the rudder man at the back that also paddles as needed.  Initially I had no clue how to properly rudder the ship but eventually I figured it out.  We paddled over to a cove area and just floated around drinking alcoholic beverages and shooting the shit.  I made no sun precautions which was dumb, but I still had a good time.

When we got back we came up with a funny idea where Paul and Meg would strap in life vests and then float down to the beach area, allowing mostly the current and wind to carry them.  Paul also had another beer in his Yeti holder for the journey.  He wasn’t thrilled when Meg started actually swimming towards the beach instead of just floating.  The girls showed up to watch and it turned out to be a pretty comedic experience. Paul’s only regret was he didn’t discover the joys of floating in a lake with a life vest sooner.

We had our last dinner of the trip.  Everyone “dressed up” which for me meant just not wearing a t-shirt.  It was a good meal to wrap up the week.  Tomorrow we have one more breakfast here before we shove off for a 6-7 hour drive back to PA.  It’s been a great trip filled with unique memories I will carry for a lifetime.  I am also still looking forward to getting back to SWFL to see Elsa, Kathy and all that is part of my core existence. It’s been fun….

Today was a pretty chill day compared to the physical exertion of yesterday.  I woke up a little earlier than I had been and wound up walking to up to Paul and Megan’s cabin to surprise the girls.  Cadence gave me a full speed hug, running into me while wrapping her arms around me. It’s funny but high impact.

After breakfast we got in our vehicles and headed to Inlet a small nearby town.  It is a tourist trap like Old Forge but on a smaller scale.  They had some unique shops and I grabbed a few souvenirs.  We also stopped at a coffee shop where I got a maple/vanilla latte which was outstanding.  The town also had a cool little park which the girls loved since it had a playground.

I also saw four women playing pickleball.  It was cool seeing the sport has made it all the way to upstate NY.  We putzed around the town for a couple hours in total.  I think we all enjoyed it although my dad surely was not a fan of souvenir shopping.  Luckily most stores had comfortable seating outside he could utilize.

By the time we got back it was almost lunch time so we headed down there almost immediately.  It is funny how you get accustomed to the feeding cycles here.  I almost feel like cattle.  The meal of course was good.

During the afternoon it was sort of a free for all where everyone did their own thing.  I spent some time down on the beach reading.  It was cool when I went down there but once the sun came out I was baking.  I wound up pulling off my sweatshirt and draping it over my head for makeshift sun protection.

When I walked back up to the cabin I did a makeshift Century workout on the front porch.  The roof railing makes for a passable pull up bar although the edge of the square beam digs into the hands quite a bit.  I had no suitable spot to do conventional dips so diamond push ups had to do.  It felt good to get some reps in.  I followed up with the stretching routine I normally do BEFORE my workout back home.

I started drinking for no real reason.  Before I knew it I had consumed four lagers before dinner and a Corona Light during dinner that Paul provided.   As you would expect I felt a bit affected from the alcohol consumption.  After dinner we headed up to Paul and Meg’s cabin to hang with them and the girls for a bit.  As is normally the case lots of silliness was involved.

I really enjoy Paul and Meg’s company and of course Cadence and Kennedy are incredibly cute and fun.  I am sure if I still lived in PA I would try to be a more regular part of their lives.  Spending time with them makes me realize some of the sacrifices I have made living 1200 miles south.

Tomorrow is my last full day in upstate NY.  I think we will be pushing for one more hike during the day.  It has been a memorable week thus far and have made some memories I will carry with me for a lifetime.

Today was the most active day I have had since arriving at the Waldheim.  I have come to enjoy the early morning wake up calls from the girls, I look forward to them.  They just make me smile and laugh whenever I am around them.  We had another good breakfast.  I have already locked in on my standard Waldheim breakfast order, OJ, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee of course.  Breakfast is the one meal where the same choices are offered every day. Lunch and dinner I get to widen my food horizon.

We signed up to go on the boat/hike/lunch tour thing today.  A bunch of groups met on the dock at 11 to get on the big pontoon boat.  We then had a leisurely ride to the opposite end of the lake where we got off to start hiking.  Cadence and my dad were at the head of the pack, leading the way for a while which was surprising.  The  trail was steep at parts, mud filled at parts, with a lot of sections that required careful attention.  Dad was moving much faster than I had seen him the entire trip.  It almost seemed like having the large group of people somehow motivated him to keep moving, despite some of the mobility challenges he has.

Supposedly the hike was only 3/4 of a mile but it sure felt longer than that.  We arrived at the destination, another lake where they had a small shelter and clearing.  They hiked in with a number of these oversized baskets that staff carried on their backs.  In those baskets were food items and items needed to prepare them.

It was a pretty fascinating process watching the food being prepared, well at least at first.  It later became just flat out lengthy.  Over a campfire a huge cast iron pan was placed.  In that pan they first cooked about 5 pounds of bacon.  Then they made homemade hash browns with potatoes and onions that were cut on site. Next up they pulled the pan and cooked pieces of steak on the grill.  The last thing they made were pancakes on a skillet.

Because of my diet choices my main meal was just a big plate of the hash browns which was fine for me.  They were using water filtered from the lake to make lemonade and regular drinking water which made my eyebrows raise a little bit.  They also walked around with a few tins of cookies, I helped myself to two.  I mostly enjoyed my time in the clearing but it did take longer than I anticipated.  I had to retreat to some shade after feeling like I was baking in the sun.

As things were wrapping up I suggested to my dad that we head out a bit ahead of the rest of the group, anticipating his pace going back would be slower.  Myself, Teresa and him started hiking maybe 10 minutes before everyone else.  It worked out well as by the time we got back to the boat launch some of the group had caught up to us.  I was happy to see the boat driver ramped up the speed for the return trip.  We didn’t get back until something like 3:30.  We were all sort of tired.

Earlier Meg and Paul had mentioned they were going to rent kayaks, I told them I would go with them. They were going to postpone those plans because of the longer than expected adventure but they then decided to still do it.  I told them I was still down to go.

Paul and I got the kayaks in the water and we shoved off.  I have to be honest, I felt unstable for a little while as it had been a decade or two since I was last in a kayak.  However the longer I paddled the more comfortable I felt, except for being physically uncomfortable.  The position my long legs had to be in combined with the angle of the seat made it feel like I needed to be doing one long ab crunch to be in proper paddling position.

I was not the most consistent paddler either, many times I had to do multiple strokes to one side to course correct.  If a GPS was on me you would have seen a very zig zag style course.  Paul had brought some beers out which he shared.  We were out there over an hour and a half and covered a lot of distance.  My favorite part was when we stopped in the cove where this picture was taken and just relaxed, talked and drank for a few minutes.  I am positive my upper back, shoulders and arms are going to be quite sore tomorrow, it was a substantial workout.

We had dinner a little later than normal so they could clean up.  When I got in the dining room I saw something I had not seen up until this point, Cadence looking tired and low energy.  Evidently they slept once we got back from the hike and had to be awakened for dinner.  I guess they were still half asleep.  As the meal went on Cadence perked up a bit which was good to see.  They were too tired however to come visit after dinner so we split up for the night which brings me here, back in the library, by myself, punching this out.

The trip is now officially heading down the homestretch.  It has been enjoyable on many levels and reinforces why it’s important to extend your barriers, welcome new things/experiences into your life and most importantly make conscious efforts to be happy.  Your mind is the superhero or villain of your story.  Being content with unhappiness is a choice that is written with a pencil, not permanent marker.  You can choose to erase what is not working for you and move in different directions.  I plan to keep doing that exactly.  I appreciate the solitude this place has offered to bring more clarity for me as to what really matters.

Last night I was at the library on the later side, working on the blog and talking to Gladys from the only bastion of internet connectivity, the library.  As I was walking back to the cabin I looked at the full moon reflecting off the lake and thought I would try to capture it.  Wow, I was blown away by the quality of the picture my Iphone 11 spit out.  It may be one of the best pictures I ever took in my life.

Last night was the first night I did not sleep well and it may be because it was the first significant drinking I have done on the trip.  I had three glasses of wine at dinner followed up with a couple more beers back at the cabin.  I was also awakened by hard rain hitting the metal roof, it was really loud at times.

After breakfast my dad and I went to Paul and Meg’s cabin where we got asked to play Fish.  This was kids style of fish with less cards which resulted in much quicker games.  I had a couple rounds where out of my 7 cards I had three matching pairs and I won on the first round.  It was still fun as the girls were acting silly as they always do.  During the game Kennedy asked if she could have my remaining Bar-barians bracelet since I gave the other one to Cadence the day before.  I told her she could have it, leaving my wrist bare however I have several dozen more at home I can replace these with.

We knew the forecast for today was mostly rain so we talked ahead of time about going to a movie theater in a nearby town called Old Forge, a definite tourist trap sort of place.  We thought it would be fun to take the girls to see the new Minions movie.  We got there around a half hour early and it was a good thing. The place was packed.

This theater was very old, a real throwback to how theaters were back in the 70’s.  There were chotchkee’s placed everywhere which was sort of visual overload.  They were so old fashioned that they didn’t take credit cards, cash only.  So you stood in line to buy the tickets, which were reasonably priced by today’s standards and then you went back outside to get in the second line that was for the concession stand.  We wound up consuming almost that entire 30 minutes until we got to our seats.

Paul had gone in ahead of us while we got the snacks to reserve a row.  It was a good thing he did because by the time the movie started the place was basically filled.  The seats were old like everything else.  They also lacked the pitch that modern theaters have meaning if someone was taller in front of you it may be difficult to see.

I have seen a number of Minions movies, they always make me laugh and this one was no exception.  Kennedy and Cadence seemed to really like the movie which was most important of all,  This was the first time three year old Kennedy had ever been to a movie theater.

Afterwards, we decided to walk up the main street of Old Forge.  We wound up in the outside seating area of some bar. We grabbed a beer and just relaxed for a bit.  As we sat there Teresa noticed a deer about 50 yards away that was just hanging out in some yard.  It seemed really calm so she went up to get a closer look and the beautiful animal stayed put.  I later took my own turn, getting the picture you see here.

So we walked back to my dad’s car to leave.  I start reaching in one of the pocket’s of my cargo shorts to grab the key.  I grabbed air.  Hmm okay I must have stuck it into another pocket?  All I came up with was some trash, my phone, and wallet.  I must just have missed it right?  I now start patting down my shorts, hoping to heel some object roughly the size of a key fob, nothing….  You have got to be kidding.

I told my dad I can’t find the keys.  He said he had second set he keeps in the car, a terrible security practice but in this instance a life saver.  I figured they could only have been in the movie theater or the outdoor seating at the bar.  I ran over to the theater and asked if anyone turned in a set of keys, they did not.  He said I was welcome to search the theater when the next movie let out in 90 minutes.  Instead I gave him my cell phone number and asked him to call if they turn up.  The check of bar area turned up nothing as well.  I was pissed at myself.  I should have made sure they were secured better.  We headed back thanks to keys number two.

So as we are 3/4 of the way back Teresa spots something on the floor behind the drivers seat, the keys!  Evidently they came out sometime while I was driving.  I felt extremely relieved to have found them, I’ll be sure to be securing keys better moving forward as the reality I was feeling when I thought I lost them was not something I enjoy.  I take responsibility seriously.

Tonight after dinner the girls came to our cabin to make some S’mores, something they have been wanting to do since we arrived.  They enjoyed the process of making them and enjoyed eating them even more.  I had one as well, probably the first S’more I have eaten in 30 years, maybe more. It was good of course.

I once again am punching this out in the library, a routine I am enjoying as it allows me to be here later at night when most people have cleared out.  I have always liked the solitude night can offer.  Tomorrow we are doing some deal where you take a boat to an island, do a short hike and then the staff cooks some food in a big pan.  Dad and Teresa say it’s fun.  This entire trip I have tried to make a conscious effort to not say no to suggestions.  If I haven’t tried it, I am open to it.  Once I do then I would feel more qualified to make that call.  Tomorrow we will pass the halfway part of the trip.  It’s been fun as I hoped, maybe a little more than I expected because of just how much energy the girls have injected to the experience.

My second night of sleep here was pretty similar to the first, relatively solid and uneventful.  It was not as cold as night one which was a good thing.  For the second morning in a row the sounds of Cadence and Kennedy coming up to the cabin let me know it was time to get moving.  They are both little bottles of sunshine. It didn’t take long until we were engaged in another game of pretend store.  I also took some time to assemble the four mini-puzzles the girls borrowed from the library.

Breakfast was good again.  I appreciate that the food they prepare is not massive portions and relatively healthy, otherwise I would be feeling like a glutton.  I have made a few substitutions in order to avoid beef, pork or poultry.  For example yesterday I had a BLT without the B.  Today instead of a Monte Cristo sandwich I had a grilled cheese instead.  They really have been presenting some good deserts however, I have not turned one down yet.

After breakfast today my dad, Teresa and I drove to a nearby trailhead to get some hiking in while the kids, Paul, and Meg went out in a canoe.  Our hike was in a heavily wooded area and had a few inclines that got my heartbeat somewhat elevated.  My dad despite having both of his knees replaced still has mobility issues.  Teresa and I would drift ahead and then take breaks as needed.  According to signage we only went around two and a half miles but it felt longer.  It was fun to get out there and walk in the low humidity.  I have so many incredible pictures to share but that will probably happen after the trip due to the very limited bandwidth available here.

We all met up once again for lunch.  We got to hear about the girls canoe trip which they seemed to enjoy outside of paddling through a swarm of nasty black flies.  Both Cadence and Kennedy have grown found of our server Caroline.  They  love to hand her dirty dishes to make her job easier.  Caroline has given the girls extra treats as well, it’s super cute.

During lunch Cadence saw the two Bar-barian silicone bracelets on my left wrist.  She asked if she could have one.  Of course I said yes.  She said this was now her friendship bracelet that she would keep forever.  She told me I was never allowed to take mine off.  I agreed to her terms.  She is an extremely funny kid.

After lunch we again split. Dad to take his pretty much mandatory afternoon nap, Teresa to Meg’s cabin to watch the girls while they napped and Meg and Paul hit the canoe once again for a couples ride.  Me, I finished my Warcraft book finally.  I have two more books to dig into as well.  Oh and yea, I punched out this entry as well, hooray.

I slept better than expected night one, even on the single sized bed.  I was the last one up and loaded the fireplace up with 5 logs hoping to keep the heat pumping for as long as possible since the temperatures dropped into the 40s.  I slept with my bedroom door open as well to maintain more exposure to warmer air.

Even with all of these actions I still spent the night with every body part under the covers except my face.  I was warm enough and slept pretty soundly all things considered.  I never even heard my dad’s multiple bathroom breaks during the night.

I awoke to the sweet sounds of Cadence and Kennedy. Teresa had walked over to their cabin and brought them back.  They are such cute kids, it’s hard to not have a smile on your face when they are around.

The Waldheim includes three cooked meals a day with the cabin rentals.  The staff here all seems nice, especially the young woman that was responsible for our table.  She was happy to help in anyway possible and was cute interacting with the kids as well.  The food so far has been good and it hasn’t been too hard to stick to my pescatarian diet.

After breakfast we met up with the kids, Meg, and Paul by the beach.  I was surprised to discover I had wi-fi signal at that spot for some reason, at least 200 yards from the source.  I helped the girls play in the sand, recovering raw materials that were used in the construction of their sand castles.  The water looked colder than it actually was as a bunch of people were swimming in it.

After lunch pretty much everyone was ready for a nap.  The girls did not sleep well the night before and Meg didn’t either.  I read my book but did not even finish a chapter before falling asleep, napping for almost two hours, a rarity in my life.

After getting up my dad, Teresa and I headed out on a walk.  Dad turned back after not real long because his knee was bothering him.  Teresa and I carried on, enjoying the abundance of beauty around us while talking about various things, I enjoyed it.

On the way back from the walk we stopped at the girls cabin to hang out a bit.  They had just woken up from their naps as well.  We went back to grab dad to walk down to the common area.  As we headed there Cadence asked me to walk with her and hold her hand, it was adorable.  She is such a cute kid.

After dinner I had another brief wi-fi session to make sure things were good on the homefront as well as chatting to Gladys for a short while.  The entire gang was at our cabin.  We sat on the porch while the girls played pretend.  They both have very vivid imaginations.  They set up imaginary stores and we were their customers.  Cadence even made me a pretend credit card with a limit of something like 65,000,000 dollars.  The card will be returning with me to Florida for sure.

When I got home Thursday I tended to all of those time sensitive list items that needed to be done prior to leaving.  It actually did not take as long as I expected and by 9PM I had most things wrapped up.

I left my normal Friday morning 5:30 alarm in place so I could get a head start on things like washing the sheets, running the dishwasher and a few other things.  However I again found myself done sort of early, I had a good 90 minutes of time to kill before I left to pick up Ali at 10:30.  I said goodbye to Elsa which made me a little teary eyed even though I knew she was going to have a great time with Ali and Shugs.

I got to Ali’s work a little before 11:30.  I had her drive so she got some more last second Tesla training in.  She dropped me at the airport right about 12, the adventure was officially beginning.  I had not been in an airport in a very long time.  I would be hard pressed to tell you exacty how long ago it was without giving it some considerable thought which I don’t feel like usiing right now.  My rough guess is at least four years. It didn’t take long for things to get interesting.

I went through security and noticed they were taking a long time with my laptop bag.  I had a bunch of stuff jammed in there so I just figured they were trying to identify it all.  Well the bag then got moved to the secondary screening station.  Two women opened the bag and started digging through it which seemed odd.  They call me over after they extract a pocket knife, something I threw in the bag years ago and had forgot about.  They confiscated the knife as I felt pretty dumb about not checking the bag thoroughly before bringing it.

The flight to Charolette was great.  The American Airlines 737 we flew on seemed very new.  I also paid extra money for a emergency row seat whcih is a godsend for someone with legs as long as mine.  I spent the majority of the time in the air reading one of my books.  It made me drowsy so I took a few breaks dozing off using my hand as a support.  Repeatedly my head would slip off my hand snapping me back to being alert for a few moments.  I was surprised we got a full can of coke and mini-pretzels, it almost felt like first class.

We arrived in Charolette on time but I only had about an hour until the connecting flight to Allentown was scheduled to take off so I had to hustle as the gate was far away.  It turned out I could have taken a much more casual pace.  The crew for the flight was delayed so they didn’t start loading the plane until close to half hour later than scheduled.  Then we waited on the runway for at least another half hour because of storms to the north of the airport.

This flight was on a much older plane.  Even though I was once again in the exit row I was less comfortable as the seat was narrow and the recline mechanism did not appear to work.  I again alternated reading and sleeping during this flight.  I had a feeling the guy next to me was eager to have someone to talk to but when he got short responses from me he instead engaged with two women across the aisle talking nearly non-stop with them.

We wound up landing around an hour late.  I couldn’t believe when I took my phone off airplane mode and had an actual text message from my dad, the first one I can recall in my entire life.  Evidently the flight info in the airport never reflected the delay in my flight so he just sat around and waited.

The Allentown airport looked like I remembered from close to 30 years ago, the last time I was there.  It was like arriving in a time capsule with style and decorations straight out of the 70’s or 80’s.  It was quaint but certainly nothing resembling the ultra-modern airports you see in larger cities.

I got to ride in dad’s Hyundai Sonata hybrid for the first time.  He loves getting 50MPG, especially with current gas prices. We stopped and got dinner at an Asian Fusion restaurant.  We both liked our food but the AC was cranked down uncomfortably low, I was quite chilly in shorts and a t-shirt.

We arrived back in Lenhartsville around 9.  My stepmom was getting ready for bed but came down to catch up.  I got to reintroduce myself to their three cats who also got to visit me in my bedroonm during the night.  I was tired and took a shower.  I got a status report from Ali that all was well at the house which was a relief.  I also talked to Gladys, filling her in on how the day of travel went.

I had a decent night of sleep all things considered.  I woke up without an alarm before 7.  I got to walk around their property a bit, saying hi to their sheep and taking in some of the beautiful, serene rolling hills around them.  It is so peaceful there.  I took several pictures trying to capture how it felt.

We packed up the Hyundai trunk to the max before pulling out around 8:30.  Dad started out doing the driving.  He hates modern navigation assistants like a smart phone has which easily gives you the fastest route from point A to point B.  He wanted to take the scenic route where you got to see more things and experience the area which was fine by me.  I am up here so rarely it’s appealing to me to stop and smell the roses a bit.

We grabbed breakfast at the Beacon diner which was established in 1941.  Some parts of the place looked like they had not been touched since the 40’s but that was also part of it’s charm.  All three of our breakfasts were completely consumed, the food was that good.

Somewhere around 100 miles into the trip I took over driving which I think was a good thing.  My pace was a little quicker and I could tell my dad was getting sleepy after the big breakfast.  During one pit stop we saw a guy pull up in a beautiful restored 1964 blue GMC pickup.  The owner said he spent around four years restoring it, doing almost everything himself except the paint job.  It was awesome.

We had an odd moment at a Dunkin Donuts in Utica NY.  We wanted coffee but we also wanted to use their bathrooms.  When we went to the bathrooms they were both locked with a sign saying you have to ask for a key.  The women’s bathroom also had the occupied flag flipped so we assumed someone was in there.

So I asked the guy if we could have the key.  At first he said he was going to look for it.  Then he said only one bathroom was open, the women’s that had the occupied flag flipped.  Um ok.  So we got our coffee and waited another 5 minutes and nobody emerged from the women’s bathroom.  At this point we didn’t know what the hell was going on but our mutual feeling was if someone has been in a bathroom for 10-15 minutes, you probably don’t want to go in there.  The entire situation was weird, so we walked out.

The final push to Camp Waldheim was long.  My dad had said the mapped the drive out as roughly 265 miles.  It turned out to be just under 300 miles.  The tail end of it was on mostly rural roads with slower speed limits, making things drag out a bit more.  We wound up arriving between 4 and 4:30, a long day of driving.  About 30 minutes from our destination my phone lost signal competely, meaning I was completely unplugged, which I will talk about more later.

We met up with my sister Meghan, her husband Paul and their two adorable kids Cadence and Kennedy.  From the second we saw them they were on fire wanting to show us around their cabin and then engaging us in all sorts of funny interactions.  They are so cute and I had not seen them for over two years.  Kennedy is now 3 and Cadence is 6.

We then went to our cabin and unpacked.  Our unit was older and not as nice as Meghan and Paul’s but was in a better location.  Meg and the gang came over to our cabin before dinner to hang out a bit.  The girls played this funny game where they were “selling” us things.  The money was leaves and mini-pinecones, the items being sold were bigger pine cones.

A little after 6 we went to the dining hall.  All meals are prepared and included with the fee for staying.  I neglected to mention my brother Patrick wound up not coming because he caught covid down in Florida while traveling for work.  I was disappointed to hear this as I looked forward spending time with Pat and his girlfriend.

So anyway, dinner was good with the the girls providing most of the entertainment.  They are so funny without even trying to be.  They were both very happy to see my dad.  Cadence stuck to him like glue.  After we finished up Meg, Paul and the girls headed to their cabin.  I went to the library which is the sole source of connectivity in this place.  They have a small wifi network set up which can be used by guests.

I checked in with Ali and Gladys while there but it felt disorienting to not be able to use the internet on demand for both personal and work scenarios.  Not being able to be contacted if some sort of emergency comes up at the house or from work is not ideal so I will be trying to get plugged in a few times a day to just stay updated. For some people it may be nice to just totally yank the cord and be offline during the entire trip but that just isn’t a reality for me with what I do.

I was freezing walking back to our cabin.  I was glad to see my dad started a fire as the temps may dip all the way into the 40’s tonight.  The single size bed could prove to be another challenge as well.  Typically my feet will hang off a bed of that dimension.  I am punching out this entry on the sofa in front of the fireplace.  My dad and stepmom have already gone to bed for the night.

It feels a bit strange and isolating to be here but that was to be expected.  I know it’s good to put yourself into situations where you are immersed in something foreign.  To me it serves two purposes. You get to experience something new and beautiful.  This area is so different than what I am used to and I appreciate both the uniqueness of this place along with the opportunity to spend extended time with my family, which is a rarity.  The other purpose is to deepen the appreciation I have for certain things in my normal everyday life that I am seperated from, even if only for a short while.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this time will enrich my experiences going forward.

The window installers on Wednesday showed up at 8:30AM Wednesday as promised to knock out the remaining five windows in the house.  They efficiently worked their way around the structure, first doing the hobby room window which was in the worst shape of all of them.  That side of the house took the most pressure during Hurricane Irma and that window has been a mess ever since with broken hardware and leaking.  It leaked so much that I had duct tape over certain spots.  Igor and his assistant worked diligently, finishing up right around 3:30 as the skies were ready to unleash.  I continued to be amazed at how surgical the replacements were with minimal impact to the area around it.

Everything was not perfect.  The screens for all of the smaller windows were the wrong size which will have to be remedied.  Also there were a few things left lying around that I cleaned up after the fact that I mentioned in the video I did but overall I was very pleased with the quality of the work.  During the day one of the job managers stopped by and reiterated how inclusive the lifetime window warranty is.  He said he has a customer that has a dog that chewed some of the window hardware and they are still replacing the window for free.  The new windows feel much more substantial than the builder grade windows they replaced.

During my lunch hour I decided to get out and mow instead of waiting until later. I’m glad I did as thunderstorms did roll through later in the day.  I vacuumed and steam cleaned the floor surfaces of the house which had a small amount of window replacement debris around them.  I put back the window treatments I wanted to keep, several of them went straight into the trash can as I didn’t need/want them any more.  It felt good to have the house back in order.

So a few things have to happen for the window project to be complete.  A final inspection needs to be done by the county which someone needs to be home for.  Since I will be gone next week I’m not sure when that will occur.  Once inspection is done the window company comes back to “cap” the windows, remove the stickers, touch up anything else I ask them to and clean the windows.  Of course I also need the correct screens for the smaller windows as well.  I am curious if the company will push for final payment before all of these things are completed.  Although I am not worried about them not following through, the final payment is the leverage I have so I plan to use it.  If pushed I would be willing to pay a portion of the remaining bill but until everything is 100% done, my final payment will be in limbo.

Tonight I will be running around tending to everything related to my heading out of town for a week.  I should have written a physical list but I am going off the swirling to do’s in my head which can have unpredictable results.  Ali and I have a well coordinated transportation dance tomorrow where I am going to pick her up at her job which is relatively close to the airport, drive to the airport where I will head out while she takes the Tesla back to work.  It saves me from leaving the Tesla at the airport all week and allows her to use it to commute.  Today I also have a huge TV coming for Ali for their new house that they ordered via my Costco account.

I will try to blog as I go during the trip as connectivity, time, and motivation allows.  I am looking forward to a disconnected few days with genuine sweatshirt weather at night accompanied by a lot of quiet, peaceful moments.  It will be good for me.

I just realized I had not talked about how my 4th of July evening went.  As planned I loaded up Elsa right around dusk in the Tesla and headed east towards Ave Maria.  Explosions had already started in earnest all around us as we drove.  Instead of driving into Ave Maria I instead pulled off into the entrance of some agricultural area, it seemed very remote and immune to fireworks displays. Elsa was confused as to what we were doing.  I assured her everything was fine.  If you look closely at this picture you can see her head poking out behind the drivers seat.

I fired up Netflix and starting watching season 3 of Umbrella Academy, which streamed seamlessly, even in the middle of nowhere.  I watched two entire episodes which brought me to about 10:30PM.  I figured that should be enough time for the fireworks to subside. I was wrong.

As I returned to civilization I once again saw and heard backyard fireworks firing off.  I decided to keep driving, this time in towards Naples as I figured there would be less going on in the more densely populated areas.  Again, I was wrong.  I inadvertently drove right past some big bangs that of course terrified Elsa.  I had to repeatedly restrain her from jumping in the front seat.  We didn’t wind up getting home until well after 11, luckily it was finally quiet when we pulled in.

The window installers were supposed to show up around 8:30 on Tuesday so I got up and moving early, making sure I was dialed into the office and ready to go since I was working remotely.  When it got to be 9:30 and nobody was there yet my annoyance meter forced a call to find out what is going on.  Evidently there was a delay when the installer was loading up the windows.  The guy I talked to said they were en route. They pulled up to the house around 10AM.

I was originally told there was a possibility that the entire project could be completed in a day.  The late start made me assume that would not be the case.  That feeling was solidified when I saw it was only two guys doing the work, for some reason I assumed it would be 4-6 people.  So not only were the installers late, Igor, the lead guy said they could only work until around 3PM as they had to go get the the 8th window which for some reason was not ready to go earlier.

None of this was great news to me.  Although I had already allocated two days at home I am a much bigger fan of getting the lion share of the work done on day one just in case some issues pop up.  Igor however was a nice man and it didn’t take me long to realize that he actually cared about the quality of his work, along with the younger guy that was helping him.  I had no idea how destructive/invasive the process would be.  To me removing a window would be a very violent act with a lot of collateral damage to the area surrounding it.  Instead Igor was like a surgeon, removing the old windows with minimal impact.  Once the three new windows were installed I was amazed at how clean it was.  I thought all sorts of touch up/patching work would be required but everything was surprisingly clean.

Most of the removal/installation work occurs from outside the structure.  They covered/taped off the window from the inside, minimizing the debris/mess that actually gets into the house.  It was very impressive.  The got all the windows in the front of the house completed before wrapping up by 3.  They assured me they would be back right at 8:30 on Wednesday to get the other 5 windows done. (they were)

Once Igor and his buddy left I did some minor clean up.  Since I was still on the clock for work I had to make sure I hung around inside although I did do a quick Century workout in the back yard, breaking the 5 minute mark for the first time since I started this version.

It was weird, I had a bunch of stuff I had swirling around my head that needed to be done prior to leaving for the trip but most of it was time sensitive, meaning I couldn’t do it yet.  The end result was me just chilling for a short while which felt like cheating or being lazy.

So during the day the next door neighbor sent me an unexpected message that her son was doing their fireworks thing Tuesday night.  I assumed they already did this on the 4th.  They invited me over for the cook out and stuff which was nice but I told them that I would be taking Elsa on a road trip (again) to avoid the noise.  Of course the info didn’t make me happy but at least I had a heads up.

So again we hit the road, this time I went west as I did not expect prevalent fireworks.  Technically it is illegal to fire them outside of three days of the year so I expected smooth sailing.  For the most part it was although there were a few blasts I could hear from where I was parked.  I first decided to fire up an impromptu live stream from my car, using my phone, a trick I never tried before.  It worked surprisingly well.  I talked for close to an hour about mostly non-PEV topics.

I then decided to watch episode three of Umbrella Academy just to make sure things were clear.  Evidently I should have watched another episode as things were still being shot off when I pulled into the driveway some two and half hours later.

I am hoping things go smoothly today with the window install as there really is no window for error (pun intended), doing five windows in a day with two people.  My plans include also mowing the yard so it is in decent shape while Ali is here.  Tomorrow is really going to be when the crunch hits, all ducks must be lined up, all T’s crossed and I’s dotted.