I admit that whenever I see web pages like “places to visit before you die” that I get enthusiastic for travel. Of course that is the point of these websites and of travel magazines, and TV shows. To show you all the pleasant aspects of travel and to whet your appetite to go and do something different and most importantly to spend money.
So inspired by this and a need to find a vacation spot I started looking. My first thought was to go to the other side of the planet and try Asia or Australia or the Indian Ocean. All have lovely places to visit and are really affordable. But one of my friends pointed out that I would probably spend at least 3 solid days traveling on planes and waiting in airports. I barely have 10 days in total so that’s on hold for another year.
So I would have to confine my trips to something closer to home. I’ve been to most of Latin America. Canada? Didn’t really impress me as that different from the US. I don’t just want to stay at a generic McHilHyatt type of hotel. Those are for conventions or business meetings.
Ice hotels in Sweden in mid December? ummmm pass. Maybe a bit too different.
Machu Picchu came up in conversation as a possible destination. But I’m thinking “ok I’ve seen the rocks, now what?”
Ladera resort on St Lucia island in the Caribbean would be nice, depending on the hurricane season of course.
Patagonia is another.
I’m just so scattered that nothing really speaks to me. I know, first world problems. Normally I would have had this figured out by now but this year has been nothing but hectic.
Ultimately I may end up not going at all. I’ve been spending more and more time working and I have several different side projects going and at various stages of completion. So vacation planning has tumbled down to near the bottom of my priorities. One thing that I can’t do is to have work suffer because I am off on vacation or have one of my side projects collapse because I’m not there to tend it. I hope that things will clear up soon and that I am able to make a decision.
I have to make up my mind in less than 2 weeks to book with sufficient time and right now (as of the 24th of August) everything is still up in the air. Like I said, hopefully things will become clearer in the next 2 weeks. If things do line up then I will be off on vacation.
I began my Tuesday morning at Mohonk mountain house early in the morning. I had arrived late Monday afternoon and there seemed to be too many things to see and do so I wanted to lose no time.
I wanted to run a lap around the lake but I found that it was less than a mile around and I would need to run five laps to get a decent work out. I dislike doing laps round the same path. I prefer long runs with one unique path so instead I opted to make a morning of it and hike all around the property.
I emptied out my leather satchel and put in some things that I thought would be essential. A couple bottles of water, my Swiss army knife, some twine (can never have enough twine), my cell phone, my room key, a sweater, and my tablet.
As to my tablet, I had recently begun using it for sketching and I had the ridiculous idea of hanging my feet over a tall granite cliff overlooking a majestic scene and doing some sketches of the horizon. More on that later.
So I started off pretty much just ambling along and exploring whatever struck my fancy. I saw some “closed” trails signs here and there but considered these to be more suggestions than anything else and proceeded anyways.
Closed trail
After getting lost a few times and “discovering” the employee parking lot. I just headed off into the woods. I got far enough into the woods that I could not hear or see anything man-made. I sat down on a rotten tree stump and just existed.
It was everything I expected and more.
After a few minutes of silence the chipmunks all around me either decided that I had left or that I was no danger to them. They came out and went about their business. It was a Tuesday, around mid morning. Back home I would be swamped with emails and phone calls. Everyone I knew would be doing the same thing. Here I was alone, the world didn’t exist. After a while even the chipmunks went silent. Leaves drifted down seemingly in slow motion and I could feel the rotation of the Earth under my feet. It was wonderful.
Feeling a little bit more sane after that I got back on the trail and began climbing. I found my lofty pinnacle to sketch from.
Eagle’s nest
Of course the hotel staff had over a hundred years to explore and “improve” every scenic vista. So they had installed this little tree house on the cliff edge. Tour groups were hiking by on a regular basis and were taking and posing for pictures so I would never be able to get anything done. So that part of my plan went out the window. I took a few pictures of the horizon and walked on.
Up a ways I found a curious signpost with an arrow pointing down and the caption that read “eagle’s ascent”. I had read about this in the hotel literature as a sort of rock climb activity. I hadn’t planned on this at all. I just wanted a long nature walk that morning but this beckoned to me. By pure luck I had on some shoes that although they weren’t meant for mountain climbing were well suited for it so I decided “why not?”
As I wasn’t really prepared for this, at first it was a bit of a challenge particularly as I had decided to be an amateur videographer and used my cell phone camera to document it all. The hotel staff had spray painted arrows as to where to go so it was all fairly straightforward.
I got through that trail fairly quickly and easily but I felt I wanted a better challenge so I climbed back up the mountain and climbed even higher looking for one of the better challenges called the “giant’s path”. It was as if some giant child had strewn boulder sized legoes all over the side of a mountain. Just looking at it made gave me pause to think.
I pushed on regardless. I found that I had to use my fingers, the tips of my shoes, my butt, just anything I could to keep myself from tumbling over the edge. My entire body got involved into the climbing activity.
I descended down under giant boulders into dark tunnels with barely any hint that there could be an exit on the other end. Crawling on my belly sometimes and trying not to think of what that slimy thing that my hand had just brushed across really was.
I took a few wrong turns and once jumped a small chasm almost sliding down the slippery rock face. My shoes barely gripped the rock and held me in place just before I would tumble into perpetual inky darkness.
I began to think to myself when was the last time that I had purposefully exposed myself to this much danger and had to rely only on my body to get myself out of harm’s way? Years if not decades. Was this the literal “life flashing before your eyes”?
I pushed the thought out of my mind and pressed on. Determined to finish this and get out alive. I squeezed and pulled and finally found the end of the rock climb and could not believe that I had just done that on my own.
I lay down on some nice flat gravel and found myself positively beaming with joy. I had done that. Middle aged, out of shape (sort of), me.
One thing I was determined to do on this last vacation is to keep my exercise and diet routines going. For the most part I was successful.
Central Park was a great aid to me in this respect while I was in the city. The park made a tempting target to visit every day and I have to believe that the locals could run a different path in the park every day and never get bored with repetition.
Another thing I noticed is that the nature of the city encourages walking. You may have access to subways, cabs, buses, and whatnot, but you still have to do a fair bit of walking in the city.
Back to my vacation, I was able to do a lot of hiking during the Mohonk and Sagamore portions of my vacation. I was in fact able to top 26 miles in one days accumulated walking and running. Quite the feat for someone who not more than 3 years ago was averaging less than a mile a day.
One thing that I wasn’t so good at was maintaining the diet. Willpower is something I need to work on and now that I’m back in my regular life it’s time to step back into the harness and get back to my routine.
But overall I am very pleased at my health habits during this vacation. I could have just sat around all day long but even with a nasty running accident on the second day I kept at it and didn’t slack off one bit.
For my next vacation, wherever that may be, I intend to be more disciplined and integrate even more outdoor activities.
I am writing this in the airport terminal waiting for my flight. In front of me is a large window facing the runways. We had a drizzle overnight and the runways are slightly damp but the sun is out and it promises to be a nice day. Behind me there is a hurly burly of people coming and going. Some of my fellow passengers on their way to their own vacations, some like me returning to home. I suppose that I should recap what conclusions or lessons that I’ve learned on this trip. Well this trip wasn’t really about that. This was more a reset button for my life. A chance to disconnect from all the responsibilities of my life. In that I was mostly successful. But I suppose some due reflection is necessary.
Firstly some thoughts for Houston with regard to New York’s success as a major city.
Don’t be afraid to embrace other cultures or new ideas. Every few decades a new wave of immigrants descends upon this city and they find a place to live and contribute to the city. Don’t fret about how different they look or sound. They will integrate eventually.
Be bold enough to invest in the city’s future. World class cities need to have big infrastructure not just to grow but to survive. The city’s subway and bridge projects were no doubt costly undertakings but today they are essential to the city. We should not look at such things as burdens for the short-term but as investments in the future.
Redevelop the old. Don’t just endlessly expand outwards. We have so many derelict neighborhoods inside the loop that we can redevelop or re purpose. We should look to growing up not out. Think of inside the loop as our Manhattan island. Think of how much we could do inside that little island of land surrounded by our moat of roads.
Don’t be in a rush. Remember that New York is hundreds of years older. Houston will get there, but take your time.
Now I’m a few short hours away from resuming my responsibilities of life. Both work and family responsibilities. I am no longer as fearful about these as I was before. I believe that I can give a good accounting of myself. Partly because I’ve been reinvigorated by the trip but also because I have begun to understand the importance of balance in my life.
Before the trip I reasoned that I needed to focus all my energy on my family responsibilities and exclude everything else in my life. Well I can’t do that. Firstly because I would burn out quickly if I followed that path and wouldn’t last very long, but also because it is unfair to me as an individual. I don’t know how well this decision will be received but I think it the sensible thing to do.
I am also thinking of the long-term more these days. What I want to accomplish, what personal projects I have ongoing that I need to finish once and for all, and what projects I need to abandon and take those resources that I’ve invested there and refocus them on more worthwhile avenues.
Of course none of this will happen overnight but with renewed vigor I hope to make good progress on all this soon.
If the first part of my vacation was meant for doing all the touristy things that one does in New York city, and Mohonk was for doing outdoor activities, then the Sagamore was meant for peace and quiet.
The season was over at Lake George. Towns like Bolton’s landing live and die by the Summer tourist season and once it’s over they waste no time in shutting down. All of the rental boats were being coocooned away in plastic wrap, some stores had shut down for the year and even the restaurants were only open for dinner. The Sagamore itself had a somewhat empty feel about it. Less than half the rooms were occupied and all the lakeside activities had been suspended for the year. Which was fine for me since I’ve never really been a fan of para-sailing, water skiing, or snorkeling. The hotel takes up most of an island and I was in a free-standing lodge which looked like a small condominium. Out of the 4 suites, I was the only one there.
I was determined to take time to reflect on my life, to think, to just quietly contemplate. The solitude and quiet I felt would be conducive to this. Thee problem with this is that contemplation really never starts and stops on command. I felt it was too quiet.
The next day I decided to remedy this with a trip north of the border. Surely Canada could be inspirational. Crossing over was uneventful. They did the standard customs stuff and had a drug dog sniff around the car. Canada, or Quebec in this case was all farmland. The signs were in french, the speed limits in kilometers per hour, and I soon got bored and turned round. That’s when the problems began. I flashed my passport to the American agent at the border. She was puzzled as to why I had crossed over just to look around. I was sent to an interrogation room. In the waiting room sat a man who looked to be middle eastern or maybe north African. He looked depressed. I think he knew that he was going to be turned back. An agent led him off somewhere.
Three agents came in. Two of them took up tactical stances at my 3 and 9 o’clock positions with their hands on their batons. I think they expected me to put up a fight. The lead agent looked over my ID, rifled through my credit cards and money, and questioned me repeatedly about my trip. For some reason they thought it bizarre that anyone would want to travel alone or that I was just sightseeing. They kept asking me the same questions over again, trying to trip me up or to cause me to get angry and to give them a reason to hold me. The lead agent kept on saying “this doesn’t make sense to me” while the female agent kept saying this “smells fishy to her”.
Fortunately I had seen the same cop shows they had watched and I had probably seen the shows that those shows were based upon so I recognized the good cop bad cop routine. The lead agent asked me if I wanted to incriminate myself and make it easier for myself. I said no since I had done nothing. The female agent was exasperated and said “I’ve got nothing”. So they let me go. They had wasted nearly half an hour of my vacation.
The second night I sat by the lake at Sagamore and just watched the moon rise over the hills, the air was crisp and cold, the waves lapped gently on the dock. I was at peace.
The last day was totally unplanned. I got in the car and drove north along the lake shore. Every inch of lake shore had either a hotel or someone’s million dollar home on it. As I drove, torrential downpours of gold, orange, and brown leaves cascaded down and increased my calm.
Around lunch time I found a rustic roadside tavern and had a very nice french onion soup and sandwich. I found I was near Fort Ticonderoga and looked around the place. Some very nice demonstrations and the place was well looked after. Went back to the Sagamore for a massage appointment. This took out some of the knots in my back from all the driving. Had a nice Salmon dinner (when you have a good piece of fish you don’t need to add any fancy sauces or condiments).
The Sagamore is probably a very nice place but it’s a Summer place. You need to go there to enjoy the lake more than anything else. It did its job and provided the calm that I was looking for. I just wasn’t all that receptive to it.
I should back up slightly in my narrative and go back to Monday morning. I took a cab to the car rental place but got dropped about a block away. A parade was in progress so off I went on foot, dragging my luggage. The car I wanted (a Dodge Challenger) was not available so I had to grudgingly settle for a Camaro RS. Big deal, right? well it did turn out that way. About an hour later, a hands free phone rings as I’m driving down the road. The rental agent had left her cell phone in the car and I had to drive all the way back to return it. 2 Hours of my vacation wasted. I finally got on with my trip North. I went through Sleepy Hollow and was somewhat disappointed to find it nothing more than a suburb of New York.
Finally I crossed the Tappan Zee bridge and was away from the city’s influence. As I entered the Hudson river Valley the theme song from “last of the Mohicans” began to play endlessly in my head. After a bit, I got to wondering and parked the car by the side of the road. I looked behind a small boulder and found a tiny speaker playing the song. “There must be millions of these” I thought to myself and kept driving up I-87.
A note on I-87. As a tax payer I am a little peeved that a piece of the US interstate system is a toll road. They spent the money on wonderful toll road service stations, but still. The Camaro had a navigation system second to none and got me to New Paltz. From there I climbed up and up a mountain till I reached the main gate. They were serious about keeping out unwanted visitors and I had to prove my identity. I drove round more twisting turns and reached the main house. Mohonk mountain house is one of those old-time resorts that people like the Rockefellers and Carnegies would visit all the time. They really played up the natural and rustic charm of the place and the world-class service.
Up close and far the building is an impressive sight. But not as impressive as the service. The main gate had called ahead and told them I was coming. I was greeted by name and entered in to the reception area while my car and bags were similarly taken care of. I arrived in time for afternoon tea and cookies and in less than five minutes after arriving I was on the back porch overlooking the lake with a ginger green tea and raspberry cookie rocking in a chair. Until I saw the watchtower hill. Perched on the opposite shore on a steep rocky precipice was a stone watchtower. I tossed the cookies and tea and just about ran all the way up the hill. I then just about tossed my cookies from running all that way up a steep hill but I made it and climbed up the tower. I then proceeded to take pictures of everything from up there. As I walked down the hill I reflected on the nature of the place. I imagined generations of wealthy New Yorkers spending their summers here and bringing their kids. Those kids would explore the house and grounds and get into all sorts of adventures. They would form little “lord of the flies” like tribes and impose tests of courage on each other like swimming the lake at night or swearing blood brotherhood and at the end of the summer they would all swear eternal friendship, even the spoiled jock and the nerdy kid with glasses would become the closest of companions. They would all bring their kids back years later to start the cycle again.
But I’m drifting off the story. Dinner was a formal affair. Coats and jackets at the very least and held in a dining hall with more wood paneling than a small national forest. I thought the soup they served would be bland and dull but the butternut squash soup was to die for and so were the lamb shanks and the creme brulee afterwards. I took a stroll afterwards around the grounds. I started to get a creepy “Shining” feel about the place at this time. The hallways were slightly dark and the grounds outside pitch black. They had no TV service so guests made do with community movies in a lounge or conversation or reading in the library. If you’re not into any of that the solitude of the area can be a bit creepy. I was too tired to entertain that line of thought too long and went to bed.
Next day I was up and took an unguided hike around the grounds. In 4 hours I had wandered most of the flat paths so I decided to take on the rough paths. These are mainly straight down the hillsides over and under boulders. Not extremely difficult but still somewhat dangerous. Not for everyone, but I got this wonderful feeling of accomplishment afterwards and I suppose that is the main point of the exercise.
In the afternoon came more tea and cookies and a stroll on the main grounds. Dinner was again, more amazing than words can describe. I would have liked to stay another night but the place was so popular that I was only able to book 2 nights. I packed and prepared to make my way north to Sagamore.
I was quite prepared to hate New York City. As with many folks from the west, I had a somewhat prejudiced and suspicious view about anything related to the east coast.
My mind entertained thoughts of gangs running wild, rude pushy people, and sky-high prices for everything.
The trip started badly. The flight was delayed by three hours, the pilot almost dropped us into Philadelphia due to bad weather but we finally arrived at midnight.
I next spent an hour trying to get a taxi. I finally reached my hotel, the Hudson, around 1:30 in the morning.
The expectation I had been an empty lobby with a sleepy clerk barely awake. This was totally wrong. Cabs were going in and out, people were still going out and there was a waiting line at the front desk. I got my room key and went up and found the tiniest of hotel rooms. Who cares? I was exhausted and went right to sleep.
I woke up five hours later. Central park beckoned. I asked for directions and ran out there. A sort of mecca for runners. I passed by the homeless people on Columbus square and started out. Not too different from home. Then came the hills and vales. One in particular went up and up and up. Then there is the lack of reference points for new people. The run seemed to go on forever. But finally I saw Columbus square again.
Saturday was mainly Comic con. I will cover that another day but I did get to reconnect with Felicia Day. She is still wonderfully low-key even after all her success and fame.
Sunday started out bad. I slipped and banged my knee hard in central park. My mobility was cut but I was determined to get some things done. I checked on my car rental, and then on a whim I went into a subway entrance. I had originally planned to visit Coney Island but with my knee damaged that appeared to be out of the question. I just wanted to check out the subway. As it happened I had wandered into the right subway by pure chance. So I went to Coney Island by accident. Ate a hot dog at Nathan’s, watched people walk the boardwalk and do other beach related activities.
On the way back I stopped at Zuccoti park and the 911 memorial. Went back to my hotel and rested.
After dinner I wandered the streets and again by accident wound up in times square.
One thing I noted was how polite New yorkers actually are. Maybe they understand that living in a big city that you will bump into strangers and apologizing is just a good policy. The other thing is that they were quite willing to help out a stranger.
Monday was packing and getting ready to leave the city. One last trip to the American museum of natural history.
I drove north to Sleepy Hollow. Somewhat disappointed. It’s more a suburb of new york now.
I crossed the Tappan zee bridge and left new york city behind.
Used to be that vacations were about cutting loose, getting wild, seeing how much I could get away with without landing in jail and the only real limitation was how much my liver could take.
Oh how the time’s have changed….
Here I am planning my next vacation and do I choose Acapulco or the Caribbean? Do I go in high summer or spring break? Hell no! I’m going upstate to New York in the Fall.
I’m going to sit on a lake shore with a fishing pole and pretend to fish while I sleep, I’m going to climb mountains and hills and sit at the top and just stare out at creation. Going to drive round and find farmer’s markets and honest to God pumpkin patches with scarecrows. Oooh and aaah at all the pretty leaves as they come down. Sit at some roadside cafe with terrible coffee and stale pie for a couple of hours while the rain falls outside.
Going to find a nice quiet forest and yell.
Recharge the mental and spiritual batteries for another 51 weeks.
Mainly I’m going to try to gather up the threads of my life and figure out what’s what and where do I go from here.
Lately I’ve been feeling like a desperate fencer endlessly parrying thrusts from life left and right and not even being able to catch up much less mount an offense. Somewhere, somehow I’ve got to make a stand. I hope this will give me the time to plan that out.
Don’t fancy my prospects otherwise.
When I was younger I relished living life out on the edge and at the moment. Recklessly plunging on regardless of the consequences and then figuring my way out of my latest scrape. Maybe it’s wisdom, maybe it’s old age but I don’t want to continue on like that. I haven’t tried to live like that in years but lately I’ve had to. Time to get back on the path.
I have been working steadily for the last 3 or so years without a real break. The harsh Summer of 2011 was specially cruel to my home’s foundation. Even before the Summer began I knew what was coming and the high price I would have to pay. So the Winter of 2011/2012 was spent watching tunnels sprout under my home and watching my bank account take a sizable dent.
However I think (fingers crossed) that I am finally ready for a vacation this Fall. Most people would advise going now for a typical Summer vacation but I have never been a fan of hot weather vacations. My most favored vacations have always been to cooler climes so I think I am going North once again.
What is not on the agenda? Big cities and bright lights. Not a fan of them so no Big apple, or Vegas, or Hollywood hills or anything like that. I can go inside the loop if I want to see a big city. I would in the future like to tour New York but not this trip. I am also going to limit my driving. Normally I wouldn’t mind but this time I want more time to relax.
New England would be good but I’ve been there before. The Pacific Northwest is good but I’m not too well informed about it. Canada or Europe? Not this trip.
I have been seriously considering the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York. Close to what I know but still new. Some great resorts, some small bed and breakfast type places too.
In particular is the Sagamore resort on Lake George. A place that one can spend a day relaxing but also full of local hiking destinations.
Maybe a quick trip up to Niagara to check out the falls, search for Champ at Lake Champlain, and plenty of chances to check out the changing foliage in the cooling days of October.
Exciting to think of and plan for. Now I just need to make it happen and earn it.
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