Animal Sounds

The fam and I went away for the holiday weekend and boy was it needed. Work has been crazy lately and this trip was going to serve as my mini reset button to life. Of course this reset button was a littler colder than I would have liked it to be but it served it's purpose. That beauty of a photo was taken in Lake Placid New York A.K.A my reset place. It's a small town that is quiet, covered in snow...it's the kind of place with no traffic lights, or traffic for that matter. It's the kind of place where you go to "the" drug store or "the" supermarket. There's not 5 Walgreens and Shoprite on every block. It's a small town where the people make friendly conversation and everyone knows your name. Basically, the total opposite from home. Re-set completed.

It's just too bad that Lake Placid is extremely cold in the winter. At this point my cousin Lex and I were braving the outside elements in a snow storm. A 7 degree snow storm. If you look closely, her lashes actually have frost on them. The last night the outside thermometer said -11 degrees. I've never felt coldness like that before.

Here's the crew of cousins going snow shoeing at Cascade (Cascade Ski). It was so much funny and so pretty on the trails. My uncle told us about the place since he's a huge ski junkie and they have hostel there that he stayed at when he was young, broke and wanted to ski.

The next day while everyone went Skiing I decided to stay back and do something I love to do- explore! I took a crew with me (see above), my dogs Courtney and Wrangler. We bundled up and set out wandering in the woods with the only sounds being the snow crunching under my feet and their paws. They showed their enthusiasm by shoving their faces into the coldness, leaving them with large beards of snow.

There were so many birds around us at one point and every time I moved to take a shot they flew away before I even got my lens cap off. After much cursing, a miracle happened and this little Blue Jay decided to strike a pose for me. As I get older, the more I'm getting interested in bird watching, which is worrying me because it always seemed like a geeky old guy activity but something about watching birds in the wild really charms me.

I considered the trip a success after the Blue Jay photo but this was really something awesome! I think they're moose tracks but I'm not sure. They were pretty fresh in the snow so I don't think I missed whoever left these by much. When I was 24 I made a list of things I wanted to do before 25 and one of the things was to see a moose in the wild(another list activity was to hail a cab- it was an eclectic list to say the least). I'm 27 now and we'll, at least I've got tracks.



After 3 very cold nights away, 4 people and two dogs crammed into my step-dads pick up and headed back to NYC. I was happy to see my BF and kitties again and to take a shower. I was only able to squeeze one in as there were 9 people sharing 2 bathrooms and showers were scarce. After my uncle had us snow shoeing or sledding or walking in below freezing weather for hours at a time, at night all you really want to do is calapse under some warm blankets and sleep. The texts from my boyfriend proclaiming his sleepless nights with me absent from our bed, did put me to sleep with a smile on my face though. Even if it was only 3 days, I did miss my life and the people I left behind while I was re-setting. I'm thankful to see those I left behind were missing me too.

On a little side note- my friend AM recommended this book to me and by some ways of karma, I found it bestowed to me after my aunt left it behind from her stay in NY. I'm only about 20% through it but I'm hooked. I'm not usually a fan of the non-fiction genre but this book has got it's hooks in me and I don't want to stop. Pick it up if you get the chance...great easy read if you're stuck in on a snowy night.