Unique New York

I have fallen in love with upstate New York. Its helped that the temperatures have been hot enough that the lake feels refreshing rather then freezing. In case you are wondering why I am enjoying a vacation on the East Coast, its because I have traveled across the US with two children in tow. I am a traveling nanny, apparently. I am with a 5 year old girl and a 7 year old boy, whose parents are expecting another child in the next several weeks which made travel a little risky and uncomfortable to say the least. We landed in Burlington, Vermont where the kid's grandmother met us. We then drove three hours to the cabin, which included a 20 minute ferry ride. This was the super cool kind of ferry that mostly transports cars. I'll include a couple of pictures. The ride wasn't too bad, and the kids behaved themselves really well considering that their day had started around 6 a.m. and 12 hours later they had gone through two plane rides, a layover, a car ride, grocery stop, another car ride, a ferry ride, and then two and a half hours more of car travel. I was pretty tired and cranky myself, and I consider myself a well-seasoned traveler.

We arrived Saturday, and today, (Sunday) we went to a woodsmen festival. Out of the several hundreds of people, I saw FOUR (4!!!) that were not white, an Asian family. This was incredibly shocking to me. I know that I should have gotten used to small town America by now, but somehow my brain cannot comprehend the lack of diversity. Once again, this is why I love Minneapolis. And the schools that I have been too. I can walk down the street, bike to the lake, take the bus, or zoom down the light rail, and I will see people that look like me, and people that look far different. Thank you immigration!

Back to vacationing/nannying. The festival was filled with outdoor activities, like horse pulling, and grease pole climb, and lots and lots of machines that cut up logs. There was a chainsaw sculpting contest, and a kids watermelon eating competition where they were not allowed to use their hands. It was hot, hot, hot, and after only a few hours, we were all ready to head back to the cabin where a nice cool lake awaited us. We swam, played in the sand, and sat back on the beach or dock for most of the afternoon. Perfect afternoon. The sun is setting over the island on the lake, and behind the island I can see mountains that are reaching up into the sky. Its is beautiful here. I have until next Sunday here, so I am going to make the most of it, such as learning how to fly fish in the morning. Hope that everyones summer has been going well, and that hopefully y'all are not working as much as me (4 jobs) and are enjoying the summer to the fullest. I will write soon!

(By the way, its been a year since I have left for Wales. I miss it quite a bit)

The carving competition using chainsaws

The Lake


Flag on the ferry
Ferry Ride!

Ferry entrance