on the trail again....

ok, so yesterday we drove up the 'northway' and then cross country several hours to blue mountain lake, a lovely place in the adirondacs where we have taken our boys several times before.....the adirondacs museum located there has gone through some wonderful updates since the last visit (?10 + years ago....)..........i especially enjoyed seeing the beautiful wooden canoe with the sail decked out as a back-country camping rig.........and the ladies 'outdoors' dress circa 1876 made of brown taffeta trimmed in brown serge......long sleeved, buttoned up to the chin, and reaching to the boot-tops........somehow my current ideas about outdoor gear for women doesn't include brown taffeta.............i did marvel at the workmanship (workwomanship....)....including the perfectly made-by-hand buttonholes........after we dragged cayle from the giftshop we drove 1/2 mile UP the road to the blue mountain lake trailhead...........for our planned family hike...........gentle readers........we have done this hike carrying andrew in a snuggly.....and with our boys in varying stages of toddler/youngster/preadolescence...................and they have always done well........but i swear to you that this trail has to have become eroded.....and therefore much more rocky........because despite my memories to the contrary.......the trail was not only straight up (well, you know this is an exageration.......but you can feel my pain...right?) but also strewn liberally with rocks from baby-bear size past papa-bear and on up to grizzly king of the forest........every step we took required judgement about where to put the next one to avoid stumbling and breaking out ones teeth............all this for 2.25 miles up and 2.25 miles back.............granted......the day was lovely, the scenery was idyllic,.....and the aroma.........a mixture of earthiness, hemlock and spruce reminded me of christmas.......only with a warmth to it.............something that i have never smelled in say...a yankee workshop candle which appear to be sold at every other 'outlet' in this area...........we were the last up and the last down.......in the semi-twilight.....we were afforded a sighting of a deer and fawn on the way down...for a brief moment until they turned their white tails to us and bolted.....our children seemed to scamper up.......and i am sure that my spouse would have done so as well.....but i took my time.....which is to say that i made many momentary stops..........and listened to many comments about how this would have been easier if i was several pounds lighter and in better shape...............had i the strength for the appropriate hand-gesture.........but no- i kept that retort for another day............3 hours from bottom to top and back.........and of course...it goes without saying that this morning i can barely walk.............and yet must rally in time to leave for our planned tour of williams college....and lunch in north adams and possibly the art museums there............and maybe a sidetrip on the way home to the pottery outlet in bennington, vt.............some reflections on our tour of amherst are in order at this point.....now that i have had time to remember that i failed to mention them before......first......there were a mother/daughter pair on our tour.......tall,thin, and tanned.......who at some point during the hour.....changed shoes with each other.................i tried to point this out to stephan for his amusement...but he does not notice shoes, it seems.........gentle readers.......i cannot even begin to imagine the ruckus that would insue if i asked my daughter who wears my size shoes...to change with me............so the fact that these women switched off so silently...........hmmm...............i am both amused and amazed.........i also had a real lightbulb moment on the amherst tour.........i noticed that an unusual number of people, both students and parents..were wearing boston redsox gear......a number 7 trot nixon jersey.....hats, etc.............and i remember marveling at this until it occurred to me that we were within 100 miles of boston......and though we were also within driving distance of nyc............well, these would be naturally boston fans...........we also got a good laugh as we left williamstown (we drove through on the way home but did not stop because we were late for supper....) there was a sign posted at an intersection......'blind man in area'.....and as we looked up...there was the blindman.......with his white cane......heading right for his sign....right on cue................it seemed funnier at the time than it does right now.......