riding glass bottom boats at silver springs state park in ocala, fl

one of the coolest things in my hometown is an old attraction from the 1870's that the state acquired last year and converted to a state park. silver springs is home to hundreds of small springs as well as the main spring, which is 30 ft deep. many of these springs, including the main one, can be seen from aboard glass bottom boats which are currently run by a concession within the park. we took a ride on one of the boats when we visited a few weeks ago -- something i used to do all the time as a kid, but haven't in many years.

fall weekends in new paltz (pt. 2)

My last post about New Paltz was getting a little long, so I decided to break it up into two parts. These pics are from several different trips.

fall weekends in new paltz (pt. 1)

I'm a little late to the game, and after years of going upstate, only recently "discovered" New Paltz. While I love the Catskills and Adirondacks, it doesn't always make sense to make the drive for short weekends. Fortunately New Paltz is just over two hours away, a reasonable drive for those weekends when you only have one free night to get away.

berkeley springs state park, wv

berkeley springs state park is one of the coolest public spaces (literally, hah!) with a series of springs and spring-fed baths and ditches in the middle of berkeley springs' downtown square.

Camping at Bear Spring State Park

this trip marked the second time i'd camped at bear spring mountain, the last time being over five years prior. needless to say, this trip was a bit more relaxing than the previous one.

saranac lake state park, adirondacks, ny

Most of the sites at Saranac Lake State Park are boat access only. You can rent a motor boat or canoe from many nearby boat-houses.

Camping in a Hurrican at North-South Lake in the Catskills

After several weeks' worth of listserv emails, we were able to get three carloads organized for a trip upstate for camping, hiking and tubing fun. Unfortunately, none of this planning mattered to Mother Nature, and Hurricane Hannah decided to tag along for the weekend. Luckily for us, she turned out to be the life of the party.

other people's photos of the trip:
erica.
laura.
brian.
samuel.
chris.

Jason and I arrived at North-South Lake State Park in the Catskills late Friday evening. Part of our group was already there, and we helped finish setting up the tents before enjoying a few beers and some dinner around the campfire.

It started raining late that night after we were already in bed, but for the most part, cleared up in time for breakfast. After breakfast, we went hiking at Kaaterskill falls.

Laura, Samuel, Matt.

camping in bear springs park, catskills, ny

15 of us went camping in the catskills to kickoff summer. this is the second year in a row we headed upstate for memorial day weekend. apparently it's an annual thing now.

mar's got it covered here.
geordy's got it here.
and chris has it here.

i dozed off and missed our exit. gps sent us here: