23 posts tagged “travel”
Fall here is something to behold. Lasting for only a fleeting moment, the trees turn shades that have inspired poets, musicians, and artists for centuries. Amos took a school trip to Plattsburgh last year, and ever since he's talked about driving to this certain point along the way, where there are little waterfalls and a gorgeous view. Today, with the warmer 55 degree weather, we dropped all our work and jetted off. These are the kinds of trips I like the best; Amos and I both have so much work to do, we hadn't eaten lunch, but we knew that if we didn't grab the incentive and just GO we would never have the time. I only made time to grab my knitting, camera, and some milk for Hazel, and we took the afternoon off.
Last week was the wrap-up on our whirlwind vacation summer. We took one last trip in mid-July, meeting up with Amos's parents and kind of tagging along on their vacation. We had a great time, but I've been too pooped out to write or even look at those photos until now.
I am too tired to think of a fun title!
We are just living up the short, not too hot summer that we are allotted way up here in the tundra. I've been slowly adjusting to the 3 hour time difference (staying up all night while flying back probably threw me off more than the actual time change), so in between my naps and Hazel's naps we've been walking outside, visiting our CSA farm, and hanging out with Amos. Next weekend we're going to Pennsylvania for a Slavic festival with Amos's parents, followed by a 3-day stay in Geneva, NY, for a quiet little vacation together. Geneva is a sweet town on the finger lakes, which incidentally really do look like fingers from the sky, and I am excited for our stay. We're shacking up in a B&B run by a very sweet couple, and between his parents & us we are taking up the whole house. That's a B&B stay I'm willing to risk! Plus Nancy has spoken to the couple, and they are both thrilled to have a little baby there for a visit. After that we aren't traveling again until Christmas, but my mama will be up at the beginning of August for a quick long weekend. I'm really looking forward to seeing her again. While she's here we're going to have a slightly early birthday for Hazel. Oh, and I bought her birthday outfit in Portland, and it's SO cute, not to mention being orange & blue, which is just a cool bonus.
I miss my apartment when I'm gone. I realize that I love my books, my cameras, all my stuff. That includes Amos and Hazel. I arrived back from Portland yesterday morning, about 11.30 am. My flights went from 6.30 pm the night before, all the way basically non-stop until getting to Syracuse at about 10 am or so. Yesterday was a blur of getting home, trying to find something to eat (I refuse to pay airport prices and hadn't eaten since about 11.30 am the previous day), and taking a quickie nap & bath before Hazel's dinner & bath. I missed her so much.
This evening I leave for Portland! I'm headed out to spend a week with my beautiful, funny, lovely friend Laura. I haven't seen her since my wedding, which has been about 2 years, and in that time I had a baby. So we have a lot to talk about, haha! I'm almost all packed, the bills are paid, I pre-checked in on the Delta website, my knitting is started and packed. I could not be more ready to go. I will miss Hazel, though; I think it will be weird to be away from her for so long.
Right after Amos finished up with classes, right after my birthday and all my friends' birthdays and mama's graduation, right after all that, Amos & I loaded up Hazel for another family vacation. We were gone for almost 3 whole weeks! Sometimes I think we are certifiably insane. We've been home since late Monday night, and I still feel shell-shocked from the whole affair.
My mama came up to visit last Thursday! We had a great time doing what we do best - shopping, going out to eat, taking walks outside, watching movies. Mama got to sample the new Indian place a couple doors down from us (delicious, heavenly godsend to Clinton) not once but twice! The weather warmed up considerably while she was here, going from about 30 to the low 50s in just a few days. We took advantage and strolled Hazel all over the neighborhood. Of course, Hazel scored bigtime from Nana's visit; besides being picked up whenever she wanted and having all her toys available all the time, she got a new book, a playpen, some bath toys, and this other really cool wooden toy. Thanks Nana & Papaw!
Tomorrow Amos leaves for a two-day conference in Binghamton, meaning it will be girls only in the house! Hazel and I have spent approximately two nights alone together thus far, and they were both in the hospital. Pros: 24-hour nurses available, pain medicine available, meals prepared & brought to me. Cons: major bleeding, pain in the hurtiest place imaginable, screaming newborn who ate every 10 minutes, new mother scared out of her mind. Ok, so this time around it won't be so dramatic. I mean, I've had her for 4 1/2 months now, and she's not as crazy as she was when she first arrived on the scene, but still I'm a little nervous. He'll be gone from Wednesday morning to about midnight on Thursday, which I guess is technically only a day and a half. I'm worried mostly about the evenings, which is when Amos watches Hazel and I can do all the stuff I've put off all day. Like showering. So it may be a smooth and easy two nights, but perhaps smelly too, I can't promise you anything. Or maybe we'll have a fashion show.
Our holiday trip was a master undertaking of ginormous proportions. It went pretty smoothly, though, if I do say so myself. We left out around 3 am Sunday, December 14th, and drove straight through to St. Louis, which took about 18 hours. We had originally planned to stop somewhere for the night, but Hazel surprised us and slept for most of the trip, so we just kept on. She definitely cried, this kind of wimpy, sleepy whine, but would fall asleep within 15 or 20 minutes after each stop. We got to St. Louis in high spirits.
