On a recent stroll in Hudson, NY, Alex and I found statues of new dog breeds at the Best In Show street exhibit.

The richly adorned Tutt Mutt was a show stopper.

Thinking of Kayla’s recent fascination with corn dogs, we had to snap this one for her.

But, his backside is just for Dave.  He knows why.

Finally, for Diana, we found a relative of Keiko, her catdog.  This guy is from the more canine side of the family.

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This summer, many Americans are discovering the pleasures of a staycation.  They’re staying home, exploring their hometowns, and discovering how to chill in their own backyard.

As fuel costs rise and families labor under a mounting debt-load, a staycation offers a respite from the stress of daily life.  Even better, relaxing at home frees you from the dreaded packing (and unpacking) for travel.

Staycations sound like an ideal alternative; and yet, at least one naysayer, Brigham Young University history professor Susan Sessions Rugh suggests that they aren’t memorable:

The summer vacation has never just been about fun, Ms. Rugh said. Herding the kids off to see Mount Rushmore or the Eiffel Tower was always a means of re-establishing family bonds, expanding children’s horizons and, of course, showing off to the neighbors with barely endurable slide shows and home videos.

In contrast, Ms. Rugh said: “I don’t think anyone’s going to remember a ‘staycation.’ Is anyone going to take pictures? ‘Here’s the kids playing Wii!’ I’d say, cut your budget somewhere else.”

Okay, maybe it’s just me, but yes, I do have photos of Wii play, and Game Boy play as well.

Moreover, I’ve found staycations to be as full of memorable experiences as any trip abroad.

On a Spring Break At Home, we re-discovered the pleasures of hiking local trails, and Our Trails With Tales article feature was born (the most recent being Imagination On The Trails.) 

More recently, my buddy Diana flew all the way from southern California to share our staycation in Upstate New York.  Even without the plethora of SoCal tourist attractions, we found lots to amuse and exhaust ourselves.  So much, in fact, that I’m still not done writing about our activities.

I’ve described Competitive Berry Picking and selecting tropical fruits.   You can also see that we watched, and learned about ethics from, The Karate Kid. 

What you don’t know is that we visited the Catskill Mountains because we wanted to see the setting for My Side of the Mountain.  We cooked every day, trying new recipes, and even having a cookie bake-off.  In the car, we listened to David Mccullough’s biography of John Adams in combination with a visit to the second president’s family home.  And, nearly every day, we explored new hiking trails.

So, you see, an inexpensive staycation can be just as rich in learning adventures and memories as costly vacations.  And, they can be just as exhausting.

Added benefit? The family dog gets to share the vacation too.

What’s your memorable staycation experience?

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On your mark, get set, go!

More on Pick Your Own Fruits:

Apple Picking - A Tasty Temptation

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Have you read The Salamander Room? 

One of my son’s favorite books, this is a beautifully illustrated, imaginative story about a boy who wishes to turn his bedroom into a forest habitat so that he can bring home a salamander.

On a recent hike in the Clarksville Cave Preserve, we imagined that we were in this salamander room.

Arriving at the preserve after a torrential downpour, we were just in time to be greeted by dozens of Red-Spotted Newts, a type of salamander that we also find on the muddy trails of Grafton Park.

There were so many of these amphibians that Alex worried that we would step on them.  Not a chance.  It’s hard to miss these bright orange-red creatures.  The newts’ greater danger is that they could be loved into extinction.

This is Amphibian Ally Brigid Smith’s concern.  Noticing the decreased population of the Red-Spotted Newts at Camp Kresge, this young woman launched an outreach campaign to raise awareness about the proper handling of newts.  Brigid Smith’s fun and rewarding project has earned her the highest achievement in Girl Scouts, the Gold Award.

As a fellow amphibian ally, Alex knew that, no matter how adorable, the newts had to stay in their forest home. 

While Alex worried that we might step on newts, I was more concerned that we might land in a hidden cave.

Hiking these trails really means that you traverse “karst terrain (a bedrock surface that is highly dissolved and cracked) above Clarksville Cave.” (Dunn & Delaney)

Now, I’m not saying that there is any risk of falling into hidden caves, but that didn’t prevent us from imagining the possibility.

Then, again, when you explore the world with an imaginative crowd, you are likely to wonder about all kinds of things.  Like, why is it that in these beautiful, natural settings in New York’s Capital Region, it is not unusual to discover abandoned vehicles?  How did they get there, among all the trees?  Were they dropped from planes?

Beware falling cars!

So, what’s your theory?  How did these abandoned cars appear in the Capital Region forests?  Post a comment.  No suggestion is too wild for consideration.

Book Resources:

Exploring Our Tales From The Trails:

Our Grand Adventure: Lost In The Pine Bush at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, Albany, NY

Mud People and Rainy Day Hikes at Grafton Lakes State Park, Grafton, NY 

Art on the Trail at Olana State Historic Site, Olana, NY

Spring Break at Home on Peebles Island State Park, Cohoes, NY

Girl Scouts Help Save The Earth on the Bradley Farm Trail, Mt. Greylock State Reservation, MA

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“You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” ~~ James Allen (1864 - 1912)

When we first moved to NY’s Capital Region, I sought out all the best dog walks in the area.  Every day, I packed Kayla into the Kelty carrier so that we could explore new trails with our dogs.

Unfortunately, these care-free outings came to an end as Kayla outgrew the carrier.  At first, her legs were too short for long walks; and later, with Alex, it became increasingly more difficult to satisfy the needs of a baby and a preschooler.

The dog walks became a daily necessity, rather than a grand adventure.

Now that the kids are old enough that I’m the one struggling to keep up, we’re eagerly exploring new trails and rediscovering old favorites.

Rensselaer Lake to Rapp Barrens Loop

On a recent visit to an old favorite, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, we were confident, repeat visitors.  Sure, it had been several years since we’d set foot in the Rensselaer Lake section of the park, but with marked trails, who needs a map?

Apparently, we do.

It really shouldn’t have been a difficult to complete the 2 mile loop on the trails as they were well-trod and liberally labeled with red trail markers.

Dave and Yoohoo led the way, and Alex and I followed, stopping frequently to admire the vegetation. 

Well, perhaps we were a little too caught up in trying to identify mysterious flora.  We found these curious pink sprouts on leaves in one spot, and mammoth primeval water plants - possibly skunk cabbage - in another.  Somehow, we lost site of those markers.

Still, we weren’t too concerned.  We had a general sense of direction and we knew that the park isn’t too huge.  Eventually, we were bound to find civilization (we could hear the not-too-distant honking cars, after all.)

All true, but we hadn’t taken into consideration that we were circumnavigating a lake.

After seemingly endless trudging along, we found ourselves gazing wistfully at our trail - on the other side of the lake!

Not ready to swim the distance in the sometimes clear, sometimes swampy water, we were forced to turn around and head back to the mid-point of the loop where we had last seen those red markers.

It took a little more pleading than usual - and promises of jumbo-sized ice cream - to keep Alex trotting along.  He had been ready to turn around at the one mile mark, and he certainly hadn’t expected the 3-hour-tour.

Ice Cream Incentive

Fortunately, Alex really loves ice cream, enough to keep him moving at a fast clip so that we could pick up Kayla in time to go for a treat. 

We ended our grand adventure at Moxie’s - a road side ice cream stand that looks like it was transported from the Happy Days set.

Bypassing the international vanillas - my palate isn’t sophisticated enough to appreciate the subtle differences between Haitian or Venetian Vanilla - I ordered the Espresso Mocha, with crunchy bits of espresso beans.  Alex loved his plain chocolate, Kayla enjoyed the real strawberries in her ice cream, and even Dave - who never likes sweets - agreed that this was one of those not-to-be-missed pleasures in life.

Slowly savoring our ice cream cones, we headed to the playground.  It’s gorgeous, full of retro equipment, but I wondered how they’ve avoided a lawsuit.  Even as I thought this, a child banged her mouth on a metal bar.  Not a big deal, but surely a risk in our litigious society.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t help noticing a neon blue ice cream cone in a child’s hands.  It was so bright, so unreal.

I asked the little girl to describe the taste, and she promptly answered, “It tastes like Blue Moon!” 

OK, I’d already figured that was their signature ice cream, but I was compelled to explore this unknown flavor myself. 

You know, I could describe the flavor of this Blue Moon Ice Cream.  I’m pretty sure that I’ve figured it out.  But, I think I’ll do you a favor, I’ll let your spirit of adventure guide you there to try it for yourself.

 

 

Our Tales From The Trails:

Imagination On The Trails at the Clarksville Cave Preserve, Clarksville, NY

Mud People and Rainy Day Hikes at Grafton Lakes State Park, Grafton, NY 

Art on the Trail at Olana State Historic Site, Olana, NY

Spring Break at Home on Peebles Island State Park, Cohoes, NY

Girl Scouts Help Save The Earth on the Bradley Farm Trail, Mt. Greylock State Reservation, MA

Hiking Book Resources:

Trails with Tales: History Hikes through the Capital Region, Saratoga, Berkshires, Catskills & Hudson Valley: Russell Dunn,Barbara Delaney: BooksISBN: 1883789486
ISBN-13: 9781883789480

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A visit to our favorite apple picking farm is a not-to-be-missed Fall ritual. I love walking through the orchard on a crisp, autumn day while munching on Honey Crisp (my favorite!) or Empire apples. We’ve picnicked beneath the trees on school trips, celebrated birthdays on the lawn, and joined the crowds at the annual Goold Orchard Apple Festival. I love this place best, however, when we have it to ourselves.

A Recent Visit

It was 4 o’clock, just 1 hour before closing, and all I really wanted was the cider donuts. This was our first visit of the year; however, and the kids weren’t going to leave without picking some apples.

I truly prefer the apples that are picked and bagged for me at the farm store. While I enjoy photographing the kids as they pick apples, I’m too lazy to pick and carry my own apples. I usually end up hauling the youngster’s apples anyway. Could my laziness be a good thing? Take a look at the aptly titled article, Rotten to the Core, for some ideas on what pick-your-own apple orchards tells us about Americans.

Corn Maze Detour

We bought 3 apple picking tote bags (50 cents each), fortified ourselves with a baker’s dozen of the cider donuts, and headed for the orchard.

Now there were just 50 minutes to pick apples, but the kids can’t go past the corn maze without trying to scare themselves silly. They split up to tackle the corn maze and later complained about how freaked out they were. Go figure! On the way back, they did it again.

This time, Alex claimed that he was spooked by a chipmunk who “made” him drop his apple picking haul. What’s next? Giant Killer Bunnies, I suppose.

Goold’s Orchard

We finally made it to the orchard with a whole half hour for apple picking. The children ran to pull the apples right off the trees (dwarf apple trees are the perfect size for kids.) Any parent will tell you that apple picking with children is a multi-faceted activity that involves taste-tests, chases, apple-bombs, apple size comparisons, weird-apple contests, stomping rotten apples, and rolling in the grass. Putting apples in the bag is definitely not the main event.

The Journey Is The Thing

For us, it’s all about process, not product. We had a wonderful time, and we even took home some apples. I think we have enough apples to make apple sauce, but we’ll skip the apple doll idea.

Looking for a Pick Your Own Farm near you, or lots of ideas for what to do with your haul? Click on PickYourOwn.org.

I Wonder?

Can someone tell me what is the white, waxy haze on apples? I was told that it is a natural preservative. I’m sure it is a natural phenomenon since I see it on the apples growing on our totally organic apple trees. So, what is it exactly? Post a comment to let me know. Thanks.

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