Summer Vacation

[jamiebk]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................:dreamy smiley:
Jamie, nice place to play you chose. Nice pix!
I havent been up in the Sierras for decades. (Since before the need to filter all water and rule to pack out (or burn) all paper products). Thanks for refreshing good memories.
Didja swim? How was the water temp for you?

Swimming was a must and about the only way we could get clean and cool down from our long hikes. Although, I'm not going to suggest that I was always wearing a swim suit...

Water temp was very comfortable. The lake that we stayed at (Lane Lake) was a "captured" lake, which is to say that it was fed only in the spring by runoff. It had time to warm up after all that glacial ice had melted into it.

[Shapley]

Looks beautiful. Great pictures!

[barfle]

I am soooooo jealous!

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I see that one airline is now charging $7 if a passenger wants a pillow and blankie. Yikes. This after the luggage just got more expensive. The basic fare has gone up. The service has gone down.

There's nowhere in the Lower 48 that I can't drive to in 3 days, tops. That's taking it easy and enjoying the ride. My luggage will get there the same time I do, I can pack my own pillow and blankie (and a cooler with assorted drinks and munchies) and play the music just as loud as I like. Audible-dot-com will sell me any one of about seventy thousand audio books that I can load on a CD or an MP3 player and play on Ethel's sound system. Between the Food Network and the Travel Channel, I've got a list of eateries, coast to coast, that I want to visit.

I fondly hope to actually achieve some travel in the next year or so: I've gone too long without a road trip already. I won't be considering air travel for a vacation, though.

[Shapley]

Not to mention, you don't have to get to your car two hours before take-off, go through the screening process, or sit next to some stranger who won't shut up about his business prowess, or behind some kid that won't stop screaming.....

[piqaboo]

It looks like the company might send me to Germany in the autumn, to do some training. I hear ya, Selma, but I'm still not planning to drive.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

...I'm still not planning to drive.

You could get a nice floaty VW, install water wings and a paddle wheel...

[piqaboo]

...I'm still not planning to drive.

You could get a nice floaty VW, install water wings and a paddle wheel...

Add weather fax and sea-plane capabilities....

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

...I'm still not planning to drive.

You could get a nice floaty VW, install water wings and a paddle wheel...

Add weather fax and sea-plane capabilities....

And you have Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang!

[piqaboo]

..removed for quote quoting limits....
You could get a nice floaty VW, install water wings and a paddle wheel...

Add weather fax and sea-plane capabilities....

And you have Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang!

[Haggis@wk]

Five insanely small inhabited private islands


Sigh. If only

[OperaTenor]

Five insanely small inhabited private islands


Sigh. If only

You've succumbed to Stumble Upon, too, haven't you?

(I saw that site, too.)

[barfle]

Haggis, I don't know if you ever had the honor of being stationed at Wurtsmith AFB in Michigan, but that's where I learned to despise that strange weather phenomenon called "winter."

My dad worked on the base when I was in the last half of elementary school. There's a moderate sized lake there called Van Ettan Lake, with an island that has a house on it named "Loud Island." We had lakefront property and a runabout size boat, and in summers (when the lake had thawed) we would go past the island from time to time. I don't ever remember seeing anyone there, but I always thought it would be really neat to live on an island.

The base closed over ten years ago, but that SAC runway is visible from the satellite images when you can see the entire lower penunsula.

[Shapley]

When I was stationed in Saratoga Springs, NY, attending the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa, I used to pass a little cottage on a very tiny island in a lake (or, more properly, a pond) along the way. It was a lovely cottage, and the setting was idyllic. The island was little larger than a suburban lawn, and the cottage probably less than 1,000 sq. ft.

I'm sure I took a picture of it at least once while I was there, with the mist rising from the pond, but I have never seen one in my photo album.

I'll have to scan Google Earth sometime to see if it is still there....

[Haggis@wk]

Haggis, I don't know if you ever had the honor of being stationed at Wurtsmith AFB in Michigan, but that's where I learned to despise that strange weather phenomenon called "winter."

My dad worked on the base when I was in the last half of elementary school. There's a moderate sized lake there called Van Ettan Lake, with an island that has a house on it named "Loud Island." We had lakefront property and a runabout size boat, and in summers (when the lake had thawed) we would go past the island from time to time. I don't ever remember seeing anyone there, but I always thought it would be really neat to live on an island.

The base closed over ten years ago, but that SAC runway is visible from the satellite images when you can see the entire lower penunsula.

Wurtsmith, Minot, Loring, Plattsburgh, Goose Bay and any other northern tier SAC bases were precisely why I avoided SAC like abad habit. Even the Southern SAC bases, Barksdale is the only one that comes to mind, were mosquito ridden pest holes.

[barfle]

Wurtsmith, Minot, Loring, Plattsburgh, Goose Bay and any other northern tier SAC bases were precisely why I avoided SAC like abad habit. Even the Southern SAC bases, Barksdale is the only one that comes to mind, were mosquito ridden pest holes.

When I was living there, Wurtsmith was an ADC base flying F-102s armed with Hughes Falcon missiles (so my dad had a job).

In the winter, it was double-digit negative temperatures, and in the summer it was a mosquito ridden pest hole. But the house on the island looked pretty nice from the water.

[Schmeelkie]

Funny you should bring up island homes. This was in our paper Saturday - Island home in Rochester area. Irondequoit bay at least partially freezes in the winter, so I'm thinking this is just a summer home....

[barfle]

My brother in law's family owns a cottage on Lake Ontario near north Wolcott. With the erosion they're experiencing, it will either be an island or in the drink in another 15 years, maybe less.

[jamiebk]

Heading to RI to visit my Mom and Dad from the 7th through the 14th. I am looking forward to some Black Pearl chowder and a few good Maine lobsters during the week. I wish I could get to Hartford, but its a bit of a schlep from Barrington (RI). I'll wave as I fly over head. New England is really nice in September and we (Bonnie and me) look forward to seeing the other coast for a week.

[Serenity]

Heading to RI to visit my Mom and Dad from the 7th through the 14th. I am looking forward to some Black Pearl chowder and a few good Maine lobsters during the week. I wish I could get to Hartford, but its a bit of a schlep from Barrington (RI). I'll wave as I fly over head. New England is really nice in September and we (Bonnie and me) look forward to seeing the other coast for a week.

You'll be about 50 miles away.......not sure yet if I can alter my schedule for a brief meeting. I googled Black Pearl chowder....I had not heard of that restaurant but food is an excellent excuse to enjoy company.