July 8-14

Behind my apartment is a park that is used all the time.  There is a pavilion, benches, a grassy field that is used for pick up games of football, a basketball court, and playground equipment. 

Playground on PhotoPeach

July 1-7

Now that I am all caught up on my photos for the 365 project, I am definitely not going to get so far behind again!  As of this week, I am officially over 50% finished with the project.  This week we have a blue/Americana theme in honor of the Fourth of July.

365 Project - June

Here are my photos from the month of June.

June 1-7

June 8-20

June 21-30

Strawberry Picking

It is a yearly tradition.  My mom and I go to Ontelaunee Orchards after school is over to pick strawberries.  Sometimes we bring John with us or anyone else who may be interested.  A pie is always the result of our fruit-picking labors and, if we are feeling ambitious, jelly as well.  Somehow, the berry picking day always manages to be unbelievably sunny and hot, and this year didn't disappoint.

Unfortunately, we didn't get out to the fields until the beginning of July, well beyond peak strawberry picking season.  However, we saw the sign "now picking strawberries" and decided to trust them.  While there were definitely some strawberries left to pick, it was like a treasure hunt of well-hidden berries.  Even when you did happen to find a few berries, they were very tiny.  So, while it was not the best strawberry picking experience ever, we did keep our yearly tradition going.

As always, I made Strawberry Glacé pie from our picking spoils.  However, this year, I had to actually purchase two containers of strawberries to supplement our meager pickings.  This is a pie that my grandma made each year.  I actually have her handwritten recipe on my grandpa's letter head framed and hanging on my kitchen walls.  For optimum tastiness, it truly does need to be made with fresh strawberries and it needs to be eaten the same day that it is made.  The recipe is as follows:
INGREDIENTS
9 inch baked pie shell
6 cups fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
3 T cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 3 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

DIRECTIONS
Bake pie shell.
Mash enough berries to measure 1 cup.
Stir sugar and cornstarch together.  Gradually stir in water and crushed strawberries.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils.
Boil and stir for 1 minute.  Cool.
Beat cream cheese until smooth and spread on pie shell.
Fill shell with remaining berries.
Pour cooked berry mixture over top.
Chill for at least 3 hours or until set.

Almost, but not quite ... and then, finally!

Spelunking. Caving.  Wikipedia defines it as "the recreational pastime of exploring wild (generally non-commercial) cave systems".

Night Before
Dad and I assembled our helmets, packed our supplies, loaded up the car, and hit the sack.


Friday Morning

We woke up early and began our 5+ hour car trip to West Virginia.  The drive was amazingly beautiful once we made it into the Monongahela National Forest area.  The mountains rise up to completely surround you.  I've been to the mountains in Pennsylvania, but this was an entirely different experience ... much more other-worldly. The lack of cell phone reception anywhere, even in towns we drove through, added to the different time-period/world experience.  The beauty of this area just cannot be captured fully by a camera of explained in any words.  It is so breathtaking and unlike anything I had ever experienced.  There are so few people around and so much wilderness.  Whenever I would see a house along the side of the road or tucked back in a valley, I couldn't help but wondering what those people do ... do they work? ... do they have the internet? ... where do they get their groceries? ... how do they get anywhere when it snows? ... etc.

Friday Late Afternoon - Caving Experience #1

Looking out at the entrance

At the mouth of the cave

We found our campsite, dropped off our camping gear, and hit the road again to find our first cave ... Sinks of Gandy.  Dad had been there in the 70s with a group from college, and I'm still not sure how he knew where to find this place so many years later.  Basically it is one of those - "at the second hill where the road bends turn left and go past the first tree" - that I would never be able to remember.  Anyway, we found the place and began our exploration.

The cave is basically flooded

Unfortunately we had sooo much rain in the spring, that the river that runs through the cave was extremely swollen.  So, while the water is usually only up to your ankles in the beginning of the cave, it was up to our knees.  As we walked further into the cave, the water just kept getting deeper and deeper until we decided that we needed to turn around.  This began the first of our "almost, but not quite" experiences.  So, since we could not walk the entire 1/4 mile through the cave and come out the other end, we decided to drive and find the area where the exit of the cave was and check that out.  We did find it, explored there a little, and then got in the car so we could make it back to our campsite before dark.

We made on last stop along the way at the highest point in West Virginia.  The trees are all "flagged" - meaning they only have branches on one side because it is so exposed and windy that branches cannot grow on the side of the wind blowing.  It was so windy and my legs were wet, so we didn't stay for much more than a picture or two before continuing on our way.

Friday Evening - Setting up Camp and Making Dinner

Seneca Rocks from our campsite

Site 66 was our home for the weekend, and we had a beautiful view from outside of our tent.  The Seneca Rocks were in our backyard.  Overall, the campsite was pretty cushy, which I was glad about since I am not necessarily an avid camper.  We had a nice gravel pad for our tent, our own picnic table and fire pit, hot shower facilities, and bathrooms. 

We pitched the tent and then started making dinner.  We had picked up some MREs - meal, ready to eat.  Cabelas has a nice selection of these meals, anything form pad thai to Jamaican jerk chicken to beef strogonaf.  All we had to do was boil some water over our camp stove, pour it in the bag, seal it closed, and let it sit for about 8 minutes.  After a surprisingly tasty meal of beef stew and macaroni and cheese, we (and by we, I mean Dad) made a campfire.  Within an hour or so, we were both tired from the day and were ready to go to bed. 



Saturday - Caving Experience #2

Our next cave we were planning on exploring was Sinnet Cave.  This was another cave that dad had explored in the 70s.  His professor was a bat expert and took a few college students with him to study bats in various caves.  This was one of dad's favorites, so he wanted to take me there.  Again, I don't know how he knew were along the road to park, but somehow he did.  Unfortunately, once we started scaling the mountain side (literally) we had a bit of trouble finding the opening to the cave.  We probably spent about an hour at least walking/crawling along the side of the mountain trying to find it.

Finally we stumbled upon it and I was beyond excited to begin our exploration.  We entered the mouth of the cave and crawled about 500 feet before we came to a gate blocking the hole.  Next to the gate was a sign explaining that the cave was closed to protect the bats.  Apparently, there has been a recent epidemic in the bat communities of New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and some other states of a disease known as white nose syndrome.  As a result, many caves are now gated closed to prevent further spread of the disease by humans.  So, add number two to our almost, but not quite experiences.  I was so disappointed, but dad did have another cave in mind that we could go explore, so I was hoping that one would come through for us.

Saturday - Caving Experience #3

 On our way back, we stopped at this little country store.  Dad began talking to the man behind the counter, asking if he knew anything about the cave closing.  He explained to us about the white nose syndrome and mentioned that he knew other caves were closed also.  Lucky for us, a local walked through the door and entered into the conversation.  His buddy was really into caving, and so he did know of one cave that was close by that was still opened.  He explained it was in a quarry right off the road.  He was pretty sure that the other cave Dad was thinking about was closed.  Well, we decided to give that one a try anyway before the cave at the quarry, just in case.  Again, we had to scale a mountainside ... this one was even steeper and the soil was very loose ... absolutely the scariest part of the trip for me.  Of course, in keeping with our current luck of "almost, but not quite", the cave was closed. 

Exploring a passageway

Mouth of the quarry cave

So, we made our way back down to the car and drove to the quarry.  We climbed up to the cave entrance and began our exploration.  Dad let me lead the way.  We were able to crawl on our hands and knees, but at times we had to switch over to army crawling to make it through certain portions of a passage.  We explored about 3 different passageways.  The cave was damp and the floors of the cave were thick and clay like.  I was covered in mud from head to toe by the time we were finished.  This cave was our "finally"!  I am so glad that we talked to the local guy in the store who told us about this cave because I could leave my caving experience satisfied that I had truly explored a cave.  

Happy 4th

4th of July makes the top 3 of my holiday favorites list; Thanksgiving is 1, Fourth of July is 2, and Christmas is 3.  Mom, as a holiday decorator extraordinaire, manages to find the most fun little festive decorations for every holiday.  This year, the highlight was a very "happy 4th" straw for each of us to drink with ... and amazingly they really did make all our drinks taste better ;)

My Fourth of July always begins with a hour and a half drive to Aldan for some small-town festivities.  Then we stand on the same corner of the same street and watch the little parade go by.  We gather some candy, dance to a mummer's band, and wave to a float or two.  Then, we turn the corner, walk to another corner, and watch the same exact parade go by for the second time.  The second parade viewing is promptly followed by a walk to the fairgrounds where the eat hotdogs, soft pretzels, Italian water ice, and drink fresh squeezed lemonade.  There are stands for making sand art, buying paintings, taking pony rides, and a few other minor "attractions".  There are races in a field next to the fairgrounds.  I used to LOVE running in those races, and they are probably the reason I decided to run track and field in high school.  Of course, everything has gotten "smaller" as the years have gone by, and it actually took me a while to realize that it is just a function of me getting older, not the actual parade and fairgrounds getting smaller.  After the fairgrounds we head over to my Aunt C and Uncle M's house for a family picnic with tons of amazingly delicious food!  No professional or personal fireworks for us this year.  It varies from year to year, but sometimes we do stay for them or just put on our own little display ... however, all-in-all, it is a great Independence Day celebration :)