Time at the Lake

Last weekend I was able to spend some significant time on Cazenovia Lake (thanks to Barb who needed a house sitter). The weekend was beyond refreshing... and Barb's great home provided all sorts of entertainment with kayaks, canoes, boats, tubing/skiing, hammocks and great views. The charming village on Saturday morning also allowed for a nice walk, shopping at the farmer's market and awesome learning opportunities (who knew there was a sheep farm in Caz that makes the greatest cheeses and yogurt??).

Thanks to Elle, Lizzie, Jess, Susan, Rob, Sean, Nicole, Katie, Carolyn, Brian, Mom and Dad, Colin and Jaime who all stopped by for visits... and to Max and Kuma for entertaining us all.

YL Frontier Ranch (69 photos), by julie walas

The photos (on Snapfish) from Frontier Ranch. Enjoy!!

9,000 Feet

10 days on a trip with bus loads of teenagers driving across the country may not be your cup of tea... but it may have just been the best week of my summer.

We left Friday July 31st after work and drove for 34 hours straight (or some such rediculous number) watching a collection of great 80's baby movies along the way... making me realize how much of an age difference is now between me and high schoolers. We reached Colorado Springs LATE Saturday night and proceeded to check into 20 hotel rooms at the local Best Western. Up early again, we were on the road to Buena Vista- with a quick stop at the red rock formation of the Garden of the Gods. We had lunch in Buena Vista- a suburb of a small town kind of place, and then started heading up and up and up... til we reached Frontier Ranch at about 9,000 feet.

Camp sat amidst the Collegiate Peaks and at the entrance to the Mt. Princeton trail. It's a place where beauty surrounds and magesty reigns. The magnificence was magnified by the fact that the camp trip I was chaperoning was for the Christian group YoungLife... and we were reminded that God created this beauty for our enjoyment.

And enjoy it we did. From rock-climbing, repelling, hiking, horse back riding, ropes courses and ridgerunners to swimming, running, playing, water sliding and bracelet making. It was a great week, in an unbelievable place. If you're ever asked to go to Young Life's Frontier Ranch... know that it's a privelege. Drop your life and go, it's well worth it (even with the 550 teenagers).

Enjoy the photos!

The River.

For the longest time my roommate Elle has been bragging about her summer haven to my best friend Binh... who's constantly and relentlessly poked fun at her enthusiastic and undying passion for this place.

I'd been fortunate enough to visit a few times before, but this last weekend, we brought Binh up to the great St. Lawrence and the 1000 Islands. A few boat rides, hikes, cocktails, family dinners, front porch swings, fireworks, river baths, and sun-soakings later- he was convinced. If we had a cottage up at the river, we'd be the crazy people sneaking out early each nice Friday afternoon and heading up 81 to a summer paradise. Elle lives on Grenell Island, one of the smaller ones... which gives the feeling that everyone knows one another and shares a casual friendly atmosphere with a community church, library and store.

Fantastic weekend overall, and the next time someone invites you to their cottage at "the River" - don't hesitate to join them. Pack your bathing suit and a good book and step back to a more simplistic time.






Delightful.

PHOTOS!

These are all the Chicago photos as well as some from FLIPT (a program I did with a few others for middle schoolers at church)... enjoy! The 10 or so in the last post are some of my favorites, but to get a better look at all the "work" I did while in Chicago, check out the rest on snapfish.

Chi-town

So work sent me to Chicago last week for a Library Conference... (Did you know the iSchool at Syracuse has one of the top Library programs in the nation? I went to exhibit and recruit librarians interested in a masters degree for our program). With 27,000 librarians in town, I needed some time alone. Luckily there was so much to do right around me that it was some great exploring. Enjoyed some invigorating runs, a lot of reading, awesome food, and some time with family. Some photos are below:

Looking north from the museums:

Sue and Julie on the Architecture boat tour:

Millenium park and the Chicago skyline:

Me in the Bean:

The Wrigley Building and the new Trump Tower:

The water tower:
My aunt and cousins came down for my last night in Chicago, here at the end of Navy Pier:

We went to Shedd Aquarium to meet the Belugas:
A beluga!!
With the penguins:

New Places, Familiar Faces

I've visited the quaint Finger Lakes village of Skaneateles quite a few times, and love bringing out of town friends for a truely unique CNY experience.

I've eaten at many of the restaurants (Joe's Pasta Garage being my favorite by far), hung out in the park for caroling at Christmas times, and shopped at many of the quaint boutiques. But yesterday I experienced a Skaneateles that I hadn't yet.

Yesterday a group of 7 of us took a boat cruise on the lake... taking us around the northernmost tip of the lake. The tourguide (still in training, leaving a bit to be desired) shared the stories of the mansions and families that have given the lake such a majestic feel and reverance. The boat cruise was a great discovery- only happening in the summers and only $11 a person for the hour long cruise. (Though we also found coupons for buy-one-get-one-free rides.) Totally recommended.

We then drove down the west side of the lake on 41A to a brand new (has been officially open for tasting and testing for just a few months) winery called Anyelas. It's slowly becoming the talk of the town. The place is absolutetly beautiful, everything is new, trendy and fresh... and tastings are only $2 for 5 different wines. The whites were much better than the reds, but such is true for most vinyards in the fingerlakes. Definitely worth the 3-mile drive out of the village.

Enjoy!