Spring Update

It was a tough spring with the loss of my brother, but now we are trying to get back to our normal routines, kayaking, and events. The weather hasn't been the greatest, so we haven't spent much time in the Adirondacks yet. Instead, we took a couple of kayak adventures on the Hudson River. One was up the Roundout Creek in Kingston. It's always fun paddling through the shipyards and seeing the remains of old barges at low tide. There were lots of sailboats and we even saw the first ammonia powered vessel in the world!

Day two of our explorations was in the backwaters of Waterford at the crossroads of the Champlain and Erie Canals, starting at lock E-2, which is the first flight of 5 locks on the Erie Canal/Mohawk River (Lock 1 is the Federal Lock on the Hudson River). The Mohawk River dam and falls were quite low, but still fun to run the whitewater currents at the base of them. 

The Gallupville Gas-Up is one our favorite events, running for two weekends in June. Dave brought his motorized 1947 bumper car  and home-made Tuk Tuk one day, his P-Rex Panzer tractor with a Honda 750 engine in it, on another day. On the third day, he brought our white 1950 Farmall Demo that my grandfather used to own, along with my brother's three Suzuki Trailhoppers that Dave put back together in his memory. All of these were huge hits at the show.

Here are a few more photos from Gas-Up...

One of the nice things about being at home is enjoying our property and woods. Our rhododendrons were gorgeous and the fawns love our backyard. We'll see what this summer brings.

Winter of 2025 - 2026

Wow, time to catch up! It was a windy and cold winter with a few below freezing days, which is a rarity on the Treasure Coast. Bushes, trees, and flowers are finally starting to recover and bloom, including my amaryllis. 

We found lots to do despite the weather, including horseback riding on the beach with friends for our 48th wedding anniversary. 

We had plenty of noteworthy kayak ventures too. There were several trips to Fort Pierce where Jim and Dave found a conch! 

Most recently we explored Fort Pierce's port and Wesley's Island, finding an 80 ft. dismasted racing trimaran. Ken saved a pelican entangled with fish line also.

Speaking of ports, the winter wouldn't be complete without a few trips to Peanut Island and the Port of Palm Beach. If you click on the second photo, it is a panorama.

Then there was the time that we took the St. Lucie Inlet State Park's kayaking trail, with a side trip out the inlet to the Hole in the Wall lake. The incoming current was so strong that we had to portage over the beach to get back out. 

Willoughby Creek is always a nice calm place to take guests for a paddle, especially when it is windy. Ken and Dave used umbrellas to turn their kayaks into sailboats...until the wind turned the umbrellas inside out. 😂

To top the kayaking season off, we came across a sunbathing otter on a dock during one of our Manatee Pocket excursions.

Another great experience we had was an invitation to go for a boat ride in a friend's 35 ft. center console boat with three 300 Yamaha outboards. It sure handled nice, even at 46 mph, including turns! Woohoo!

We enjoyed ourselves so much this winter that we are staying a bit longer than before. Soon though, it will be time to head back north and get working on raking and getting everything back into shape for the summer.

😎 

Happy Holidays!

 Warmest wishes for a merry Christmas and a healthy and happy new year!

Back To Florida

We made it back to Florida but have been plagued with a respiratory virus...first Dave, then me. We've even had our first major cold front where we went from having the air conditioning on to heat. Luckily it was short lived. To get out of the house and explore our favorite places, we did manage to make it down to Bathtub Reef Beach, since we had read that all the sand had been brought in during the almost two year replenishment project, had washed away during the east winds and king tides. We arrived at high tide and the parking lot is now on a cliff, about 8 feet tall. 

Beaches all along the East Coast of Florida have had much erosion this fall, which is most likely due to the offshore storms and hurricanes pushing the wind and waves onto the beach. It could have been much worse though if those hurricanes had hit Florida, but so far we have been lucky! Hopefully November will be too. 😎

Getting Cold Up Here!

Time for one last mow and mulch before all the leaves come tumbling down. 

Top of the Mountain

Every year we like to take a ride up Whiteface Mountain. This year we took the Thunderbird to the parking area on the winding Veterans Memorial Highway. The temperature kept falling from about 70+ degrees at the base toll house, to 60 degrees and 15-20 mph north winds at the top. Then it was time to go to the summit, and Dave likes the hike up along ridge. With my fear of heights, I opted to take the long tunnel through the mountain and up the elevator (what a feat it must of been to blast both the tunnel and elevator shaft). The views were a little hazy, but you could still see about 70 miles! There were lots of people there, since it is leaf peeping season, but then again, we were doing the same thing. 😂

 

🍁😎🍂