North Country 2010

Day 2 

After spending a nice evening on Friday in Lexington with Meg and Steve, and having a super sushi dinner with them, we had a second beautiful driving day.

• VA - Done 
• PA - Done
• NY - Done 
• Star Lake - Hurray 

Tracy 

The North Country held many and varied events this summer. Some were wonderful and some were really not. Tracy, the 30-year-old daughter of our friend and Star Lake neighbor Gary has become our friend too. She, her husband Aaron, and 3-year-old Kayla were driving north from TN as we were driving up from FL. We were texting about how Kayla hated the trip even more than our dog Jake. We arrived a few hours apart and had a lovely day at the lake the next day. But then Tracy, who had breast cancer last year and a brain tumor two months ago got vertigo. She soon was in the Star Lake hospital, then Syracuse hospital, then flown home to Vanderbilt hospital. They removed most of a new tumor 8 days after we all had happily arrived at the lake. Gary and Kayla flew to TN when Tracy got home on Thursday the 12th.  She will have radiation treatments. She is regularly posting updates on http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tracyb/journal?jid=5963758

The Lake

Our Star Lake camp was welcoming as always. Jake jumped up on the sofa and luxuriated in being allowed such comfort on vacation. He was very happy to be out of the back seat of the new Mustang. The weather was so warm that I actually swam in usual frigid Star Lake most days.

Donna and Larry, our PA friends, visited for several days. We spent every afternoon at the lake with all the neighbors, including Tracy, Aaron, and now-happy Kayla, Linda and Lenny, their daughters and 5 grandkids, Pat and her brother Don. We walked the 3.8 miles around the lake each day before our swimming and kayaking adventures. We had dinner with Pat and Don at her cottage a couple of times and she with us after he left for home.

One evening, Don and his Blue Grass music friends Eddy and Jewel invited us and all the other neighbors to a house concert. Three wonderful hours! Another evening Donna, Larry and Russ and I had dinner at the Cranberry Lake Inn, sitting by the windows overlooking the lake and watching the sunset.

Russ and I participated in the Save Our Schoolhouse 5K Walk/Run and Russ came in 2^nd in the Men’s > 60 category. He got a cool plaque.

Russ’s sister Phyllis, husband Otis, and friends Carol and Rolfe came for a bit too. We entertained everyone at our camp while they were there. The mood was muted by Tracy’s pending surgery but it was good to all be together…friends who have known each other since junior high school supporting each other.

Pam and James also spent a few days visiting. They went to Russ’s High School Reunion with us. We kayaked and took the floating dock out around the lake. Unique to Star Lake, many camps have docks that detach and have motors. You can take your dock, including chairs, coolers, umbrellas, out and about. People motor in the afternoons to a sand bar, gathering to talk and share beer and snacks, seating on their docks or on their Adirondack chairs in the shallow water. This year the lake had many loons. I awoke to their calls the 1^st night and heard them often in the early mornings and evenings. We watched their amazing walk-on-water displays several afternoons.

Cheese Talks 

We gave several presentations and got coverage in the Watertown Daily Times and 4 other local newspapers, plus an interview on North Country Public radio. At the St. Lawrence County Historical Society we talked about the history of cheese in the region. About 30 people attended, including Russ’s cousin Charlene. We went out afterwards with Charlene for coffee in Canton. The next talk was at the community library. Our 2^nd Tuesday was a full day: Breakfast at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, interview at 10:00 with the Tupper Lake Free Press, a presentation at the Adirondack Museum on Adirondack Food Traditions: The Cheese Connection, and Adirondack Authors Night in Long Lake, then back home to Star Lake. Our last cheese talk was back at Tupper Lake’s Wild Center: The Natural History of the Adirondacks and Cheese.

The Trip Back

Day 1 Rain and a major slow-down in Hazelton, great dinner again with Meg and Steve.

• NY - Done
• PA - Done 
• MD - Done 
• WV - Done 
• VA 

Day 2 More rain and sideswiped by a hit-and-run driver in SC. We’re fine but the new Mustang is badly in need of cosmetic surgery.

• VA - Done 
• NC - Done 
• SC - Done 
• GA - Done 
• FL - Home Sweet Home 

Next Adventure

We leave Friday August 20 to drive to Seattle. It is all about the journey!