Moving On

This past weekend, D and I met his parents and a few of their friends at Word of Life in Schroon Lake, NY. What a ride it is to get from here to there! I got out of work at 1pm and D was able to leave the hospital at the same time, and we are glad we did! We left here around 1:30pm and got there around 8:30pm. It’s quite the scenic ride, especially this time of year. I had the task of driving for the first two hours so Dave could do some reading. This worked out well, and so did the ride up to the five hour mark. Then there was traffic on a stretch of I-87 that didn’t have an exit for the next 17 miles. You can imagine my…horror…at the prospect of sitting in seventeen miles worth of traffic (yes, I know, poor Dave). Fortunately there was a rest stop not too far up and we stopped there. The Information Booth guy told us that there had been a big accident up a few miles at 10am this morning, which wouldn’t have been so bad except that it was now 5:30pm. Without many more options, we decided to eat on the go since we were only moving 20mph. However things took a turn for the better a few miles up where we did see the scene of the accident. There was a twisted guardrail and what looked like either burnt (my opinion) or very muddy (D’s opinion) grass. So of course everyone had to look at this and thus the reason we were slowed down for an hour.

We made it there in one piece, checked-in, and found our room along with D’s parents, since they were staying right next door! Since we got in late, we had missed dinner, but there was a newlyweds game going on. After unpacking a bit, all four of us met the others at the game and that basically concluded our Friday night. Everyone else went to socialize at the Garden Café afterwards, but we couldn’t sit anymore, for obvious reasons! I think we did visit with D’s parents in their room til late, but they had a very comfy couch to sit on.

Saturday morning was bright, sunny, and cold. Mountain air really is cooler and fresher smelling. We had a buffet breakfast, a few meetings hosted by Ray and Anne Ortlund (very cute couple!!), and then it was…lunchtime! After lunch we had the afternoon free, so Mr. and Mrs. Stevens invited us to go on a hike with them to Gull Pond. We wanted to do some hiking and since D’s mom broke one of her toes, they wouldn’t be able to do much walking/hiking. It was such a beautiful ride to the hiking spot. Everything was so colorful and open and picturesque. Whenever we go anywhere I try to picture what it would be like living in that place. It’s such a different way of life up there…compared to where we live they’re in virtual isolation. Someone was talking about the phonebook they found in a drawer in the rooms and it was half the size of our phonebook and about half an inch thick! Anyways the hike was very refreshing and the company was great, too! Saturday night was more good times. After dinner, there was a concert that we enjoyed. Figures, D didn’t pay much attention to the actual singers, but he went up to the sound guy and inquired about the background music played during intermission. That’s my man! Then it was snack time at the Garden Café…as if they didn’t feed us well enough at the three buffet meals that day! But the snacks were yummy and they were worked off during the subsequent games of pool. First D played his Mom, which she won, and then D played his Dad, which D technically won…but I think Dad let him.














Sunday came quickly. We had breakfast, went to their church service, and ate our final meal with everyone. They had this delicious apple cranberry pie for dessert, I think they wanted us to leave on that note so we’d come back ;). We said our goodbyes and got on the road for our seven-hour journey home.

I drove for the first two hours again and was keeping a steady pace. Then we switched and up popped the traffic around the same point again. This time Dave got off the exit and we winded our way through some central NY towns that looked straight out of the 1950s. We started stopping for dinner around 6:30pm. The first restuarnt wasn’t there anymore. The second had a total wait staff of 3 and a rather lengthy wait, so that wouldn’t do either. Then D spotted Chilis!!! We just so happened to have a gift card, which was even better. But the best part was we were in and out of there in 35 minutes. And an even part...gas was $1.95! Okay I can see that this is getting very longwinded so I will end it here :). We were very appreciative of the opportunity to visit Word of Life with such a fun group of people. I'm sure we will be visiting it again when we live a bit closer!