Maine

Maine.  

We Couched surfed with a family in Mercer, ME.  It's a tiny town in the middle of the state.  We stayed with a great family, Chris, his wife Dorothy, and daughter Christina.  We cooked dinner together at their 1830 old farmhouse and even had fresh rhubarb pie for dessert.  It was an enjoyable evening sitting out overlooking their beautiful field full of wild flowers, and we got a lot of great information about our upcoming hike at Baxter State Park. 

Mt. Katahdan is the highest peak in Maine, 5268ft.  It is the very end of the Appalachian Trail. Annie & I had our packs and we hiked the first 3.2 miles up to the campsite.  It is amazing how long 3 miles seems when you have a heavy pack and hiking up over rocks.  Annie also is still having pain in her foot and her bruised rib from the mountain bike crash over a week ago.  We made it to Chimney Pond and talked with the ranger for awhile.  It was a beautiful forecast which is fortunate.  There is one point at the top of the mountain where you cannot climb in poor weather.  More than a few people have died on the knifes edge.


We went exploring that afternoon, Pamolas Caves were just about a mile climb away.  Pamola is said to be the god of Thunder and protector of the mountain. The Indians described him as having the head of a moose, the body of a man and the wings and feet of an eagle. Pamola was both feared and respected by the Indians, and his presence was one of the main reasons that climbing the mountain was considered taboo (Wikipedia).  So we went out to find him.  I was actually OK if I never did run into that guy, but we really wanted to see a moose while in Maine.  After that hike we went down to the pond and hung out there with our books and dinner and relaxed with some of the other hikers watching the sun set over the mountains.  It was the longest day of the year and being that far North the sun went down late and sure came up early. 

We were up and on the trail for the summit the next day by 7:00.  It was a short walk to get to the rocks when we were literally climbing up the mountain.  3 points of contact most of the time during the class 4 rock climbing trail. ( Class 4 can involve short steep sections where the use of a rope is recommended, and un-roped falls could be fatal.)  When we were about half way up and looking back down at the pond Annie spotted something swimming through the water.  She said it has to be a moose because people are not allowed to swim in the pond.  Sure enough, after zooming in with the video camera it was a moose and baby calf swimming right up to where we were sitting for hours the night before.

We reached the summit about 9:30.  The views were sure spectacular.  Thanks to B-Man from the Pittsburgh REI for recommending we do this hike.  Being at the top of the mountain was not much easier than actually getting there.  The top is all a bunch of big loose rocks that we had to climb up and around and sections going down give you butterflies as well.   Then we came to knifes edge, which really got your blood pumping walking across that.  My favorite part was after that, they call it the chimney.  It is a 90ft. drop and then you have to climb it straight back up the other side.  Oh and the bugs up there are terrible!  Big ol black flies and nats and everything.  It was awful.  We made it back down the the other side by 2:00, 7 hours later!  Then we had to put our packs back on and hike out the 3.2 miles to our car.

Vermont

Annie & I took off driving through New York on our way to Burlington, VT.  It was an overcast and scattered showers kinda day so we left Ithaca early.   After looking at the map we decided we needed to go through Cooperstown because Dad never took us when we were kids.  We went and checked out the town, but we couldn't bare going into the Hall of Fame without Dad.  It just wouldn't be right.  So we took a picture of the building and went on our way.  While we drive we like to take the most direct route and stay off of the highways.  Well it's amazing some of the roads that the Garmin knows are there... we went on a few back roads that make the hatchetman road (AKA Dottereddy) look like a main road.  We decided to stop for a couple hours and get some coffee and do some email stuff while we were in Saratoga, NY.  Timmy, a friend Atlanta who just moved up to Albany was able to meet us and we checked out the horse races at the casino.  We didn't actually bet any money.  It was just a free place to go and hang out for a while.  After that we left and went and got a drink and some appetizer and I left my american express card at the restaurant.  BLAHHH luckily I realized the next day and have a new one sent already.


BURLINGTON

 

We realized that we are Migrant Workers.   We started down south picking strawberries and we are just moving north with the season picking them wherever we can.  We stayed with Natael, she studied in Costa Rica with me.  She lives just south of Burlington in a town called Charlotte in a big old farm house with 7 other people.  It was a really fun gang full of farmers, bakers, artists, musicians, etc.   They had fresh baked bread everyday and we would go out to the garden and pick lettuce for a salad for dinner.  It was everything I expected Vermont would be. The Old Shed, Natael's favorite hang out, was the "place to go for Karaoke".  Unfortunately this was the only Saturday night of the year it wasn't going on.  We did enjoy mingling with the locals over a few games of virtual bowling.   The next day we went to check out Magic Hat Brewery and have a few tastes there before we went into downtown Burlington to watch one of Natael & Callen's friend sing at a bar.  Bobby and his friend Ben from Ohio were doing a music tour by train. Check out their blog http://www.unionstation.tumblr.com   They are having a really fun exciting trip across the country as well!

Annie and I went on a nice bike ride around the area and hiked up Camel's Back which is the 2nd highest peak in Vermont @ 4188ft.  After that we decided we deserved some ice cream so we stopped at the Ben & Jerry's factory and tried a few samples :)

Finger Lakes

LETCHWORTH & STONEY BROOK
We kidnapped our cousin Claire after Charlie & Ali's wedding in Rochester and took her camping for a few days in Stoney Brook State Park.  We hiked 10 miles one day at Letchworth State Park.  I had no idea the beauty that was hidden in this part of New York.  The hikes were great along the gorges and the waterfalls were by far the best we've seen on our trip.  Letchworth had 3 mini Niagaras.  Then at Stoney Brook we hiked along this trail that was basically just the stone on the side of the creek and along numerous different waterfalls.   We had a great time camping with Claire, we just had to watch her while she was trying to walk.  There were numerous times where she almost tripped over her own two feet and fell deep into the "grand canyon of the east".    Then we had to teach her how to make mountain pies,  she forgot to put the top layer of bread on.  She's such a sweetheart, we wished she would've had a few more days to spare out of her busy summer!

Ithaca
This town was awesome! We camped at Taughannock Falls which is higher than Niagara, and is the highest fall in the Northeast at 215ft.   It was cool to go check out during the full moon shining in the gorge.  It was "Gorge-ous" haha.   Ryan Wenner came up to camp and mountain bike with us.  The mountain biking in this area is the best I've done yet.  There were sweet trails with lots of obstacles.  We are even getting enough guts to do some of the bigger bridges and such.  Annie had a wee wipeout crossing a creek.  Her tires got jammed in the rocks and she toppled over.  Not too much blood, just a bruised arm & rib.  Tough girl continued to ride the rest of the trail.   I enjoyed it even more than Asheville, and I had no  idea about this place.  We just randomly decided to come for a few days.  Cornell and a couple other colleges are right in Ithaca so the town is funky and had live music in the streets and cute little shops.  On top of all that there are wineries and "cideries?" all over the place to enjoy.  Ithaca Brewery also makes some great beers.   We had some rain our last night so we didn't get to get up and ride this morning unfortunately.  The trails were just too muddy.  We'd totally recommend Ithaca for anyone who needs a vacation!

Ali & Charlie's Weddding

Rochester, NY


We are so excited that bonita Ali Baba is now officially part of the family and the wedding was beautiful, but without a doubt the highlight of the weekend was Grammy Barber, 86 years old, dancing to Apple Bottom Jeans with all of us cousins!   I had no idea that my family were such dancers!  Cousins, aunts and uncles, almost everyone was out dancing the whole reception.  Typically at family events we are playing some type of sport, and I think this reflects the quality of our dancing, but all in all we were having a blast out there.   My brother, Jake, got his best move from the Elf yourself video someone made of him this Christmas.  haha

The rehearsal dinner was along the Erie Canal and the wedding was in a beautiful chapel in Rochester.  The food was amazing all weekend.  We visited George Eastman's mansion, now museum, he was the brains behind Kodak.  We also got to see Lake Ontario.  It looks a lot like Lake Erie.  They even have an amusement park that resembles Waldameer.

How bout them buccos

Dad has played at the pirate fantasy camp the last few springs. This year his couches were Steve Blass and Bill Mazeroski. So he gets to play a game at pnc park.  This year the game was the same weekend the phillies were in town.
We got to see some of the most exciting games Ive ever seen. Friday we won in 12 innings. Dad played early the next morning then the buccos won in a nail biter Saturday night. 
The whole weekend was a blast. Uncle Mike and aunt jac came with Claire and the kahle girls stayed with us the whole weekend.  We tailgated Saturday and walked around the art festival. Got to catch up with some old friends from high school and college.   Craig, Corey, alisa, billy, stiffey, Damon.. we enjoyed running into/drinking with them at the game.   One of the best moments was breakfast Sunday morning in market square. There was an old man that kept harassing the philly fans. Unfortunately we didn't get the sweep but we won 2 of the 3. 
The night before my bday I went back down with lyndz and met Craig nd Tara. Great pitching match with duke, now playing for th dbacks and Paul. This was another 12 inning game with McCutchen hitting a homer to make the Buccos .500 in the season. 30 - 30 baby. :-)
Great pre birthday game. Sadly they lost the game on my bday but I enjoyed the evening hanging out with the high-school gang.

Emlenton

We surprised Melissa and got home on her 21st bday to celebrate with her before she left to study in Europe.  We went out with her in oil city to celebrate with her friends. The next night lyndz and kristi came to the house and we were up with mom dad Jake john and Joyce when Annie and Melissa back from the bar. It was after 4 when we were out of beer and with some influence from mom decided to go to bed.  Aka Jane yelled at us. Lol

Memorial day weekend was full of family picnics and wiffel ball. All the cousins went down and spend the night at camp. Jimmy & Ali eckart for some reason took a shot of syrup and chased it with captain. Haha. Who knows... 
It was nice being home. It felt like I never left. We were up early weeding flower gardens, cleaning the pool, and of course dad decided this was a good tome to cut down a big tree in the yard for us to clean up.
I floated the river from emlenton to parker with jacko and some friends. Mountain biking in kennerdell.  Who knew there were such awesome trails around home. Spent some nice time relaxing by the river. Ann also came down from Pittsburgh to hang a few days.

Raleigh & Louisville

RALEIGH w/ Cassie & Ryan Lilly.


After picking a couple pounds of strawberries in South Carolina Annie & I made our way up to Raleigh, NC to spend the weekend with the Lilly's. We always have great time hanging out with them. Annie made some amazing strawberry shortcake.  Cassie & I dominated in karaoke.  We have the best voices in the entire world. haha We went to this state fair and went to a food & wine expo to have a TASTE OF NORTH CAROLINA where we had about a hundred different types of barbeque sauces to try.  Annie tried one that wasn't "that hot" that almost put her to tears.  We took a break from all the boiled peanuts, bbq, hush puppies, etc. and went and checked out the North Carolina wine.  We made sure we got our share of tastes.  We didn't want to miss anything.  We'd never had wine from muscadines before.   It was the best $2 we ever spent.

The weather was beautiful that weekend and we got to spend a lot of time out at the pool.  We even tried to play a couple games of basketball and reminisced about the "good ol days" playing at A-C Valley.   Then that evening (we had to pull Annie & Ryan away from the Harry Potter marathon) we went and got milk shakes from Cook Out.  They are definitely worth a stop if you ever come across a town with that fast food chain.




Louisville  "Talk Derby to Me"
Stayed with Mo & Linda Smith.  Grammy Gayle & Pop Larry's friends from Marco Island.

"Kentucky excels at what most people have negative views of... coal, tobacco, gambling & horse racing, and bourbon."  This was in the local paper one morning of course we are going to come visit.  

We spent the day driving from Raleigh to Louisville.  This was one of our longest drives so far, but it was an interesting journey.  We stopped in Winston-Salem and had breakfast with a family friend, Evan Sommers.  Then we took some back roads through NC, Virginia and into eastern Kentucky.  The interstate would've taken us up way north through West Virginia, plus we were in no huge hurry and the back roads are way more scenic and fun.  Sometimes I even was traversing through dirt roads and over small cricks.  During one of our excursions to spend a little while hiking in Kentucky near the red river gorge we stopped to ask this fisherman for directions.  Vitor, didn't know where the road led either being from Cincinnati.  He did however own a great restaurant and treated us to the best French toast ever a few days later when we passed through Ohio on our way back to PA.

We made it to Mo & Linda's that evening in time to watch Hines Ward do his final dance before he won Dancing with the Stars.   We went through some wicked rain on the way there, and another night there were some serious storms and tornado watches.   Annie & I spent the day walking around Louisville; checking out the Slugger museum, exploring the city, picking up some bourbon for dad, and then we got to meet up with Lynzee Alworth; I ran track with her back in high school, and she coached Annie in basketball.  We had dinner and a couple drinks with her and caught up.    The next day Mo took us to the backside of Churchill Downs, where they run the Kentucky Derby.   He was able to get us in because he is a part owner in a horse that raced in the Oaks Derby.  His horse, Suave Voir Faire, placed in the top 10 and is a beautiful work of nature.   We spent the day in the museum and I am a new huge fan of the Derby racing.  Someday we'll have to make it down.  I also just really want to wear / own one of those amazing hats!