Vacation 1

I spent the last week up in the Adirondacks with Boyfriend and his family. It was tons of fun to get away from everything (including internet and cell phone) and just relax on the lake.

The drive to the lake took about nine hours. It was a bit like going back in time. We got off the interstate shortly after we entered New York and took back roads the rest of the way. On the way up we stopped in Scranton, PA for lunch. I was pretty excited, but it ended up being fairly boring and the service at the restaurant was really slow. Boyfriend made two trips to the salad bar before his soup finally came out. We also stopped in Frackville for gas, which the nerd in me was really excited about.

Once we entered the Adirondacks, our cell phones stopped working. The house we stayed in did have WiFi, but I chose to ignore that and just pretend that I couldn't get on the internet at all. Boyfriend, of course, had to check his email and called into a few meetings while we were gone.

The house we stayed in belonged to a guy who had gone to college with Boyfriend's dad. It used to be a lodge and was absolutely huge. Boyfriend and I had a suite on the east wing. His sister had a suite on the west wing. And his mom was in a suite on the main floor that had it's own deck. We were the only ones staying there, although apparently the house is usually pretty full.

The house we stayed in on Big Moose Lake

The house was right on Big Moose Lake, which made for some excellent views.

Big Moose Lake, as seen from the deck

It even had its own private dock.

Private dock, through the trees

I spent a lot of time reading and playing games. Boyfriend won Settlers of Catan roughly 17 times and his sister won once. We spent an entire day trying to find a game that Boyfriend wouldn't win. Eventually, his mom won a trivia game from the 1960s. And on our very last night I won SkipBo, which is really more a game of luck than skill.

I sort of learned how to play Bridge, although I think Boyfriend's mom was getting frustrated with me. I grew up playing Pinochle and the two games are different in a million little ways. Mostly in the betting stage, though. I bet pretty much every hand completely wrong. I'm a fairly conservative pinochle player, so I tend to just not bid unless I have a really stellar hand. This doesn't work out so well in Bridge, since you need to communicate with your partner (which still feels like cheating to me). I tried to teach them Pinochle, but that ended up being equally frustrating.

We also went tubing one afternoon. I had always thought that tubing involved a couple of inner tubes, a six pack of bear, and a lazy river or creek. I was wrong. It turns out that tubing involves being dragged behind a motor boat while you hang on to a raft for dear life. I managed not to fall off, though!

Boyfriend and I chilling on the raft

Trying not to fall off the raft

And here's a picture of the house from the lake

The house we stayed in, as seen from the middle of the lake.

More updates to come later this week