New York adventures

Hello there again! We've been back on the road for a week and a day now.  Its crazy, I feel like time is flying by this leg of our journey, but thats ok. We seem to be a little bit better prepared this time around and have a much better idea of what we are doing, so that definitely helps..  

The last week has been nothing short of spectacular.  We left Wisconsin a week and a half ago, traveled through the U.P., Ontario Canada along the shores of Lake Huron, Upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and now we are exploring the beautiful state of Maine.  

Our first stop on this leg of the journey was Niagara Falls, we had originally wanted to stop that the falls on the Canada side, but then realized logistically it would be much easier for us to just go to the New York side after we dropped off the trailer, since we were only staying 20 minutes away.  

The falls themselves are absolutely breathtaking.  I had seem pictures of them, but no amount of pictures could ever do them justice.  The sheer size of them is something to be marveled at, even if they are not the biggest in the world, they are the biggest I have ever seen and I was mesmerized.  We didn’t waste any time lolly gaggin’ around, we wanted to get straight to the boat, and ride into the mist on the Maid of the Mist. We were happy that we did too, we were able to walk right on to the boat, even with the amount of people that were there. 

You enter the line for the Maid of the Mist after an elevator ride down from the top of the observation tower.  In the tower there are volunteers that operate the elevators for you, I’m sure to try to avoid vandalism or tom foolery of any kind.  Our operator on the ride down was nice but not overly friendly, then our operator on the ride up made us giggle when he yelled at someone for yelling.  It was really quite comical. After getting of the elevator, you are given a blue rain coat to put on while you are riding into the mist. 

Once on the boat, we walked around the sea of blue rain jackets to try to find a spot on the top deck.  Everyone that was already on the boat was on the Port side of the boat, and would be looking at the falls on the way too Horseshoe Falls.  We decided to take a spot on the Starboard side because the boat had to turn around and come back, so it would still provide good views on the way back.  Plus we were at the back of the boat which lead to some really nice photo opportunities.  

We decided to take advantage of our Harvest Hosts membership when we found our spot for the evening.  Harvest Hosts are either a business, vineyard, or farm that opens up their property for you to stay on for free, and the only requirement is to patronize their business.  The program is so cool and there are hosts scattered through out the county. Tonight we were staying at Freedom Run Winery in Lockport NY.  The hosts were so nice, and the vineyards provided plenty of area for the pups to walk around with us.  The owner also pointed us in the direction of some walking trails that were really neat if we chose to go on them.  He also recommended that we wander through the apple orchard and pick some apples if we wanted.  I love that we finally took advantage of this opportunity, it was so much better than a lot of camp grounds that we’ve stayed in and the scenery was stunning.  

Our next stop was in the south end of Adirondack Park, so we got to drive through most of upstate New York, which was actually surprisingly beautiful.  Not sure what I really thought it was going to be like, I think I just had the image of NYC in my head, and pictured all of New York state just being a giant, sprawling city.  In reality, it was the exact opposite, and quite pretty to drive through. 

We stayed in a camp ground near Lake Pleasant, at the Moffit Beach State Park. After some convincing from the people at the office, we decided to stay in spot 204, instead of a different one that we had in mind. They kept raving about how nice the spot was, and they had just widened it, plus you could see the lake easily and they just knew we would enjoy it.  They were right it was a nice spot, but it was also not the easiest spot to get into.  We had the back the trailer up a hill was steep enough to make us think that we were going to smash the trailer into the hill as we were backing it in.  Things got a little tense there for just a moment.  After we were parked we started driving around the campground, we started laughing as we realized how many other spots were available, that were FLAT, and would not have been so stressful to get into.  Oh well, they were just so darn cute and convincing at the office that we didn’t even think twice.  They were not wrong about the views, and really there was no one camped on either side of us at all, which is always nice, so we really could not complain about the spot.  We actually liked the spot so much that we decided to stay an additional night. We also made some friends while we were there, the resident ducks, that I’m pretty sure they would have climbed into my lap if I would have had enough bread on me.   They were pretty cute with the little noised that they made, and they pretty much followed you around. 

The next morning we went out for breakfast at a little diner in Lake Pleasant and then went for a hike on Oak Mountain Ski area.  We had to laugh as we pulled up to the ski “mountain”, its not a mountain, its a hill.  We started hiking at the clubhouse at the bottom of the hill and made it to the top in 24 minutes. The hike was a difficult one, and the view from the top was wonderful.  In fact, it ended up being just perfect.  We got a bit of exercise and the pups got a lot of exercise, so we really couldn't complain at all. 

After our Ski hill hike, we decided to take a quick hike to a waterfall that we were told about.  We figured since the pups were tires, we would just take the quick hike by ourselves and check out Auger Falls. The falls were beautiful but it was a little bit tricky to get out to the edge to get good pic of the actual falls. 

The next day we headed further east to Enfield, New Hampshire.  A friend of mine that I worked with at Valley View Hospital, is living there with her new little family, and I was not going to miss the opportunity to visit with her.  It was so fun to spend an afternoon catching up with her, and meeting her adorable little son.  She took us on one of her favorite hikes so that we could wear out the pups and have more time just visit.   After our hike she treated us to some delicious homemade chili.  We had such a great time visiting with them, and watching them banter back and forth.  Laura and Noah reminded me very much of Kyle and I.  It was fun to see another couple banter the way that we do.  

On the road again.... Just can't wait to get on the road again....

Well hello again everyone!!! So as you've all probably noticed I've taken a bit of a hiatus from writing in the blog, but I am super excited to start doing so again today!! We have been incredibly blessed to be able to spend the last 6ish weeks in Wisconsin, hanging out with family and friends.

We also were lucky enough to be able to work at a good friends golf course for most of that time too. It was fun to learn the ins and outs of a golf course, not that I have ever been much of a golfer, nor will I ever be, I'm pretty terrible at golf.  Regardless learning how to maintain the grass at the course was interesting, there is a lot more that goes into maintaining the course than meets the eye. I was also lucky enough to be able to bartend at the clubhouse as well as driving the beverage cart around.  Bartending again was so much fun for me, I hadn't done it in over 10 years, and had forgotten how much I love it.  I thoroughly enjoy bantering with customers seeing new faces everyday.  Being a bartender/beverage cart driver is a hoot, you get paid to charm people with your whit, you really can’t have a bad day unless you're a dick! Anyone who knows me, knows that I have hardly ever met a stranger, and it was very entertaining to get to chat with all the regular golfers at the course.  Most of them were quite entertained by what Kyle and I are up to, and most really questioned how in the world we ended up working at a golf course in Hortonville, WI.  Once the connection was explained people understood, but then made sure to tell us to get out before winter, because it sucks here :) 

kyle out mowing the rough

A goose got hit by a golf ball and provided an excellent meal for this eagle

The worst part of working at the course was the 4:30am wake up call, that was a little rough, considering for the last five months I really didn’t even remember what an alarm clock was, but being up that early definitely has its advantages.  The sun rising over a golf course is actually a spectacular site.  It was so peaceful sitting there and taking in the beauty as you watch a new day begin, makes you realize just how much beauty there is all around you if you're just willing to see it.  

 One of the best parts of working at a golf course you ask? Every day is “take your dog to work” day.  Something that I took full advantage of.  They got so spoiled riding around on the carts with us, that when we tried to run them with the carts on night they pretty much just looked at us and said “Ummm… NO.  We ride in carts.. We don’t run.”

While we did spend the majority of our time in Wisconsin working, we also made sure to have equal amounts of play mixed in there too.  We started out our WI adventure with a trip to Door County with some dear friends of ours.  I have always heard that Door County is absolutely gorgeous and you almost forget that you are in WI while you're there.  I have to say that everything I had heard was absolutely true. There are amazing restaurants, cute little towns, and fun shopping opportunities if you're into that kind of thing.  You are still in the rolling farm country (one of my favorite things in WI) and the trees, but then you also have the dramatically beautiful coastline of Lake Michigan.  Lake Michigan is so cool, its very similar to being at the ocean.  You have the sandy beaches, water as far as the eye can see, and the soothing crash of the waves against the rocks..  All the things I love about the sea, minus the salt and the fear of what could potentially eat you. There are also plenty of hiking trails to adventure out on too.  Over all Door County is glorious.

Frank got to come to Door County solo, I think he enjoyed it

Our friends Randy and Amanda have a boat that we all went out to the lake on.  Kyle and I typically are not stellar at water sports, of any kind really.  I grew up attempting to water ski and wake board, it just never really worked out that great for me.  So when Randy and Amanda started talking to us about surfing behind the boat, I thought that they were crazy.  I told them I’d give it a shot but I honestly wasn't looking forward to being pulled through the water on my face, which is what normally happens to me. Oddly enough though, surfing was not that complicated for either one of us to catch on to.  Their beautiful boat has the elevated ski rack which is huge! It literally pops you right out of the water on the board.  Then you just have to figure out how to steer the surf board and adjust to being ok with only being 10 feet away from the boat while you are surfing, which is the hardest adjustment for me to make.  I was impressed with both Kyle and I, he got up on his third attempt and it only took me two.  By the end of the day I was able to surf for about a minute without holding on to the rope, which is what you are supposed to do.. 

the crew on the Moomba

Kyle surfing

Randy and Kinley driving the boat

I'm surfing!!!

Randy showing us how its really done

a little wake skating action

We spent a week with Kyle’s parents, which was awesome.  It was a week filled with laughter, card games and hanging out on the pontoon.  Kyle’s mom, Bert, is such a gracious host and is always great about making our favorite dishes to eat.  So we spent the week incredibly well fed.  Theres just something about a mom’s cooking. 

Friday night fish fry at PJ's with Bert and Aunt Barb

evening pontoon ride

the pups like the pontoon too

Buddy getting in some grandpa snuggles

We spent an evening at the Marathon County Fair with some great friends and their kiddos.  I love being able to spend time with our friends and their kids.  The kids just grow so fast, its not fair! Love any amount of time with get to spend with them, no matter how short that time may be.  

Our next adventure was an evening in Milwaukee, riding around on a Pedal Tavern for our friend Jenny’s birthday. We had a really fun time catching up with old friends and meeting new friends.  If you've never done a pedal tavern, I highly recommend going on one.  They’re are hoot, the only down side is you really do need to pedal your little behind off to be able to get anywhere in a hurry.  At one point some of the guys just got off and started pushing, it was much faster that way.  

Wisconsin is a land of many lakes and pretty much everyone there has a boat, so we spent a lot of time on the water. We spent my birthday on the Pontoon with Kyle’s parents and brother and family.  It was a riot.  I am not really much of a swimmer, but I had such a fun time watching them all jump off the boat and taking pictures of their goofy diving skills.  Being able to spend this time with our family was awesome and we are very grateful for the time that we had with them. 

 One adventure that Kyle and I embarked on by ourselves was renting paddle boards.. Ive always wanted to paddle board, and there is a bar just down the street from my in-laws house that rents them.  So we decided that we would take the pups out paddle boarding.  In all honesty it went better than we thought it would go.  Paddle boarding itself is super fun, and an excellent workout really.  Putting a big dog on there does give add a whole new interesting element.  For the most part they did great, especially Trigger, she just sat there like a rock star, plus she's small so she doesn't sink the board too much.  The boys are a whole different story.  Each boy weighs about 85 pounds so positioning on the board is key for going with them.  Then trying to get them to move to exact spot you need them is almost impossible, they're not known to do anything subtly, so you'd better have your balance when trying to get them to move, otherwise you were swimming and starting all over agin.  We actually bought Frank a life jacket before we went because we didn’t figure he would want to ride the board much at all. He did great swimming next to us for about the first 3 minutes and then realized that he was getting the short stick and decided he wanted on the boards with the rest of us.  We discovered that the two boys on one board was WAY TOO much weight to have on the board and still be able to move, so we split them up.  Which is an excellent idea, except for the fact that Buddy wants nothing more than to be with Kyle. So if he had Frank, Buddy either kept jumping off my board or just cried the whole time, it was ridiculous.  We finally got it to where everyone was happy, Buddy was back with Kyle, and I had Frank and Trigger situated perfectly that we were actually able to move about quite smoothly, until Frank spotted some kids on a beach playing with a giant beach ball.  Game over. We rented the boards for two hours, but really never got that far away from the Tiki Bar with all the falling off we did.  

Getting ready to go... Not so sure about this silly life jacket tho....

Tired pups after paddle boarding

We were lucky to find tickets to a preseason game between the Packers and the Raiders at Lambeau.  It was a very surreal experience.  The energy in that stadium is unreal, plus Packer fans are some of the greatest fans I’ve ever met.  I had an amazing time at the pre-game party and during the game.

We were walking the mall one day and saw that there was going to be a dock jumping competition at the mall while were were there.  We always jump the pups off the dock by Dale and Berts house, and they do great, so we figured that they would be awesome at this.  Well….They were not awesome, quite frankly they were pretty terrible at it.  Neither one of them wanted to jump into the water, but to their credit they’ve never done anything like this.  The water is not brown like the lake, its clear blue and a pool.  Frank gets yelled at when he tries to get into the pool, so I don't blame them for the hesitation.  I do have to say that once they actually did it they did ok, and if we ever had the opportunity to keep doing it with them they could be great.  This time though we just got a good laugh out of it.  

Frank in the Speed Retrieve

Trigger's worst dock jump ever

We got to go out on the boat with the Reeds again and try to surf again.  This time we were joined by our friends Bill and Brittany and their three boys.  It was so fun watching the kids ski and tube.  Plus, Lucas was able to surf with Randy which was so cool to be able to watch.  Bill and Brittany both learned how to surf too, its fun to see people who have spent most of their life on the water, they make it look so much easier that Kyle and I did.  

I did it with out the rope for quite a while

Kyle rocked the surfing today

Gotta get in my baby snuggles when ever I can

Mom and Dad were happy to be on the boat... Wee one looks a little sleepy

Randy and Lukas surfing

The kids were skiing machines!

Kyle was able to spend some time up North helping his family build the new Tesky Family Cabin.  We were all impressed with the work that they all got done in the two weekends that they were up there. It was fun for him to get some time with the guys in his family, something that he hasn't had for the last couple of years since he hasn’t been home for deer hunting.  

First weekends accomplishment

Second weekends accomplishments

While the boys were up building, I was able to spend some time with my sister-in-law Amanda.  We went to an 80’s tribute band, called Hairball, one weekend and it was a blast.  The band was amazing.  They have two lead singers so they were able to do multiple wardrobe changes, and honestly looked a lot like the original artists up on stage.  Their Freddy Mercury impression was spot on.  I almost lost my voice as I was belting out and singing along with the band. 

Amanda also opened up her kitchen to me, so of course I took full advantage of the opportunity.  One Sunday while she was at work I made peach pie, banana bread, jalapeño cornbread muffins, burritos and chicken chili for us for dinner.  Apparently I have missed having a full kitchen ;)

We got to help Kyle’s brother, Joel, celebrate his 40th birthday and then spent a day pheasant hunting with Joel and Amanda our last day in WI.  The hunting was really hard, but the pups did great and I think that they had a great time.  We didn’t get all of our birds that we wanted to, but we did figure out that the 4 of us are great at flushing deer.  We flushed up a nice little 8 pointer that ran so close to Amanda that she could have counted his nose hairs if she wanted to. 

We felt very blessed for our time in Wisconsin, we know that we didn’t get to spend nearly as much time with everyone as we wanted to, but are so incredibly grateful that we got the little bit that we did.  We will definitely be back soon and do it all over again!!