We've been back in the States for nearly a year and a month; sad to say, we've hardly traveled, and so my blog has suffered. Not much to blog about when life is ordinary: work, driving the girls here and there, walking the dogs, and so forth. Still, in the summer of '08, we managed to get out and about some.

In late July, after an absence of 5 years, the girls and I returned to my old stomping grounds in the Narrows section of Lake Champlain in Ferrisburg, VT. Along the way we spent the night in Bennington at the Four Chimneys Inn, owned by the sister and brother-in-law of Eric L., a former colleague in R'dam. Did a little college-shopping as well, checking out both Bennington College and Williams, which was just down the road.

Then we headed up to the Lake, one of the girls' favorite places on earth. I had bad luck, or more accurately, no luck, getting outboard motors to run, but a neighbor offered take the girls water-skiing.

When in VT, we always stop and get maple candy and "Dakin bacon" at Dakin Farm.

After four nights on the Lake, we headed down to Middlebury where we met up with our friends from Seattle, Tim and KT-C. From there we drove over to Indian Lake in the heart of New York State's Adirondack Park. Even though I grew up just a couple of miles from the park's boundaries, I hardly ever visited the place, save for a skiing trip or two to Whiteface. It's an impressive wilderness (and indeed a wilderness... on the day we left, a black bear crossed the road in front of us).

Did a moderately strenuous 7 mile hike up Mt Snowy. The last 500' or so was the most taxing, as there were no switchbacks, you just went straight up. I've included pictures from the fire tower & summit.

Hope to return again next summer...