State Fair / Labor Day Weekend

Went to NYS Fair on Friday as Allison, Annie, and Samantha were helping volunteer at the NYS Parks as Girl Scouts. Picked up Evan on the way. The boys hung out in the car for a while and relaxed. Then we brought some food to the girls and waited for their shift to end at 2:30pm.  They seemed to have fun and the birdhouses were not the little toy kind - they were pretty big.

We didn't do any rides, just walked around a bit, saw the butter sculpture and got some milk, saw the cows, had a cool time at NYS stuff - FEMA, aquarium, hunting, bug control. We tried to connect with Dave & Heather but with Oliver, they just wanted to do different stuff and it was tough to get together. The kids bugged about doing rides but we decided not to do that to save some bucks.

We also went to the new Expo center which was nice & cool thanks to the skating rink. It was a lot of walking and not doing much but at least we got in & parked for free. We had planned to go home, but after talking to L & C we stayed overnight at their house - we had packed bags just in case. And that was a blast of course. The kids got to run around & play outside with Logan & the girls got to do girly talk with Alexandra & Christine.

On Saturday we took it pretty slow and didn't leave their house until lunch time. Then we went to this nice ice cream place and all got ice cream. Then we went to the chocolate store, and then walked over to the pizza place / huge indoor soccer field place. We got to play soccer, throw the frisbee, eat pizza, and got MORE ice cream (for free this time). Then we finally left - I think around 3pm.

To the chagrin of the kids we then stopped at Skaneateles Lake for a few minutes (nice pics), then went to Swabby's where Annie and I went on our first "date". We got drinks, chicken, fries, and t-shirts. It was pretty cool to see after all these years.

Lastly we stopped at CHEESE on 414 and took some group pictures before finally getting Samantha home at 7:30pm. Might go car-camping tomorrow. I was thinking backpacking, but at least it's outside!

MSL with Lotar

Did NOT bring: sleep mat, stools, slippers. Really need slippers!

Fell into water just before lean-to. Feet, shoes, socks, and underwear are soaked. Can't do anything to help Lotar because I can't walk around. Saw is working well. Gaiters are priceless! Terramar works great on feet and body. Will find out tonight about sleeping on poncho & liner. Good thing the lean-to was open or I'd be screwed (didn't bring a tent to save weight). Lotar is getting good use of the saw.

Rain fly on backpack worked great until I got dunked. Then had a pool in it but I didn't notice.

I brought extra trash bags as an afterthought and it was a good call since my boots probably won't be dry in time. Thank God I've got extra long johns for the top & bottom. Should have brought extra underwear. Waterproof bags for inside the backpack - in case of dunking - are now required.

PS - I removed all my wet clothing to avoid lowering my body temp, but nothing dried, it just froze, event my boots. What I should have done is keep everything on and work to help the moisture evaporate.