3 Lakes Trip - Saranac Lake - Part 2

We met up with friends from back home in Saranac Lake. It was raining hard that day and I must have checked the weather forecast every 20 minutes... you know just in case the 4 day weather forecast of rain and thunderstorm will change to sunny and dry just because I checked! 

We had a quick lunch, purchased a few last minute items at Aldi and headed to the lake. Changed into our rain gear, unloaded kayaks and loaded them with our gear. One last prayer for our safety and a break in the rain, shuttling the trailer to a different parking lot, going back to that parking lot because of a forgotten life jacket and then getting pulled over and we were finally off. 4 adults, 5 kids, 1 canoe, 1 tandem kayak, and 3 single kayaks plus a lot of gear!

As soon as we started paddling, the rain stopped. Hallelujah! We arrived at our campsite, had enough time to unload the gear from the kayaks, set up camp, and started dinner.... and then the rain came again. And it rained, and rained and rained. The kids were all wet and cold.  The mosquitos seemed to all know that we were trapped under the tarp and they had a feast... We ate dinner (chili that we made at home, froze and reheated on our camp stove), quickly cleaned up and went to bed before 9pm. We felt defeated, especially with the forecast looking so grim.

It rained hard all night long! We woke up to clouds and soon after the sun came out! And the sun stayed out, no more rain for the rest of out stay!!! 

We made breakfast (eggs, bacon and sausages) and just hung around the campsite for a few hours. The little kids played "adventurers" in the woods, jumping from rock to rock looking to find paradise! The big kids (and the Dads) had a lot of fun gathering firewood (slim pickings and everything was soaked) and cutting down dead trees with a small hatchet.

After a few hours of just hanging out we packed up sandwiches for lunch and left to explore the lake with the kayaks. Our destination was the other side of the lake, paddle up Saranac River and kayak through the locks. We did this last year and loved it. You can read about it HERE.

It's about a 3 mile paddle (maybe a little more) to the other side of the lake and up to Saranac Lake. We went through the lock and kayaked a little bit further down the river. We stopped and we all floated down the river together while having lunch. On the way we saw a beaver dam, lots of loons, ducks and even otters! 

On our way back through the lock we decided to stop and stretch our legs. The lock operator let the kids help operate the locks and explained how everything worked.

On our way back to the campsite we stopped at a few unoccupied campsites to look for firewood. We really lucked out at one site (thank you #66) and brought a bunch of firewood home. We ended the night with some dinner (Hobo packs) and S'mores. 

Part 2 or Saranac Lake will come soon! I have a feeling this is getting a little to long! 

You can click here to read about PART 1, PART 3 & PART 4 of our trip!

Ohio Road Trip - Part 2 - Cuyahoga Valley & Put-in-Bay - Travel Photography

We got up early in our teepee and prepared breakfast. Oatmeal and fresh fruit, for Scot and I (I wish I could get my kids to eat Oatmeal) and Fruit and Pop tarts for the boys. We packed up and headed towards Canton Ohio to visit the First Ladies National Site. Canton really surprised us with its charm and how clean everything looked. Definitely a place we would like to explore in the future some more.

The First Ladies National Site was a lot more interesting than we thought and we really enjoyed the tour of the President McKinley's home. Finn completed another Junior Ranger Program and the tour lady gave us a great recommendation to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

Bender's dates back to 1902 and the boys thought it was really interesting that there used to be separate sections and entrances for men and women.

After lunch we hit the road for Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio's only National Park. This is another place that we will have to come for a separate trip! We visited the Brandywine Falls, Finn did ANOTHER Junior Ranger Program, we heard about the history of the park from a Ranger and we visited the old Erie canal and just walked around the little towns and shops.

Not sure what Jake is doing in the above picture, but I am sure he is telling me a joke and is very animated doing so!

We settled into our hotel and were surprised when the hotel management offered us a free waffle and ice cream bar! We called that dinner (ha!) and had a great nights sleep.

We got up the next day and headed towards Put-In-Bay. Our last stop on this whirlwind Ohio Tour. I love that Scot is more than happy to make u -turns for me to photograph interesting signs. These were my favorite from the trip.

We decided to take our car over to the island, which we probably wouldn't do again. The ferry ride is always very exciting for the boys! We arrived on the island and headed straight away to Perry's Monument. A very kind ranger gave us an amazing talk about the history and why Perry is such an amazing guy. He really was into it and the boys were fascinated by the talk! Since then the phrase "Don't give up the ship" has been used on an almost daily basis! Finn of course finished another Ranger program - his 4th in 3 days! We ate lunch somewhere on Put-In-Bay and afterwards rented a golf cart to really explore the island.

The Mayflies were everywhere on the island and as annoying as it can be we were told its a sign how good the water quality is around in the area and if they weren't there it would be a sign that there was a problem with the water.

Unfortunately, the Monument itself was closed due to construction. Bummer!

The golf cart was a great idea and we just drove all around the island and stopped wherever we felt like it. We came across an amazing estate sale and we all got to buy something. Scot bought a beautiful set of Rookwood Bookends, Jake bought a vintage fishing net, Finn a backscratcher and I bought a box full of vintage boys bowties.

After a full day of exploring the island, we got back on the ferry and headed back home to Cincinnati (a quick stop at Kewpee's Burger in Lima was a must!) and this completed a really, really quick trip all around Ohio. Even though short, this trip showed us how beautiful our home state is and we now have a bunch more places we want to revisit and spend more time.

aWhat is your favorite spot in Ohio? I can't wait to explore the Hocking Hills are some more!

Ohio Road Trip - Part 1 - Travel Photography

WARNING lots and lots of pictures!!!

I used to say things like "Ohio is flat like a board" or "I wouldn't want to live anywhere in Ohio except for Cincinnati". Looking at a map though, I realized that I really haven't seen much of Ohio except for I-75. We decided that we needed to change that and so we left on our Ohio road trip.

I really didn't plan this trip like I plan other trips. I only had two nights/ three days for this trip and not much time to plan anything. Checking Pinterest brought a ton of ideas but what we really wanted to see where these three main things: Hocking Hills, Cuyahoga Valley and Put-In-Bay. We have been to Put-in-Bay but that was 13 years ago and without kids. Or other main goal was for the kids to collect more National Park Passports. See more about that HERE

Checking our National Park map we decided we would also add Hopewell Culture and First Ladies in Canton to our trip.

We left in the morning and our first stop was Hopewell Culture Historical Site in Chillicothe.  

As soon as we arrived we were invited to join a Atlatl demonstration. We never even heard of an atlatl (Have you?) and to hear about it's history and get to use one was an amazing start to this trip!

Afterwards we checked out the Indian mounds, learned about the history and Finn finished up his first Junior Ranger Program of the trip!

These pictures below crack me up... very typical if I try to take a picture and Finn is not the center of the universe (or the picture!)

From the Hopewell Culture we headed out towards Hocking Hills. Like on many trips (SEE HERE) we had to make a U-turn and save a turtle from it's looming death. We decided on Old Mans Cave for our first stop in Hocking Hills. But not before a quick lunch break with Spam sadwiches in the parking lot. Haha

It rained that morning and all the colors were so vibrant plus the waterfall was really strong!

We loved the stone bridges and all the little tunnels and caves so much we spent quiet a bit of time there.

We left Hocking Hills to head towards our tee pee we booked for the night near Logan, Ohio. It's only a short drive (maybe 25 minutes) and we checked out Logan Lake on the way. Another tip for road trips is that whenever you see a fruit stand.... STOP! We always buy something for a snack and talk to the locals about events or other things happening in the area!

We arrived at our tee pee mid afternoon. Set up camp and relaxed for a little bit. Our tee pee was next to this pond and as cute and entertaining it was for the kids during the day... at night it was LOUD! At some points during the night, I seriously thought there was a donkey in our tee pee. It was that LOUD! haha

After we settled in and relaxed we decided to head over to Rockhouse and take a (very) small hike there.

Rockhouse was really amazing and except for the million steps going up and down it was a relatively easy hike.

Back at the tee pee we fixed dinner... a family favorite and such an easy meal to make on a camping trip. Only three ingredients: Jambalaya Rice Mix, Crushed Tomatoes and Kielbasa.

We ended the night with a serious talk about behavior and expectations we have from the kids and settled in our tee pee.

My highlight of the day: driving down the winding roads towards Hocking Hills and realizing how stunning Ohio really is!

The kids highlight of the day: Throwing the Atlatl.

Scot's highlight of the day: learning about the Indian mounds.

 

Have you been to Hocking Hills? We can't wait to go back as there is so much more to do and see!

Stories from India - From the Balcony - Travel Photography

One of the projects we had going at Freeset (see my previous post about Freeset) was to paint Shannon's apartment. (Hi Shannon!). Shannon is from Cincinnati and is living in Kolkata working at Freeset. I took the job of painting the shutters from the outside, mainly so i could see what's going on in the street below me.

Lot's of people walking around, kids playing, motor cycles driving through and honking but here are my top two favorite happenings:

1. a mother dropped of her (very) young children off. She left them to play in a little cart and was gone for at least an hour while the kids played. She may have just been inside the house. But for at least an hour no one was supervising this little ones and they played happily with A stick in this cart together.

2. a kitten was meowing and meowing. This went on for a while whenall of sudden a neighbor upstairs opened his door, yelled something in Bengali and threw out a grocery bag with scraps out. The bag landed right in front of the kitten and she had a feast! That stopped the meowing

 

I took a little video with my go pro. Nothing that exciting but I thought you might like it! You can see the children playing in the cart if you look closely.

Stories from India - About Freeset - Travel Photography

I feel like before I continue I need to set the scene a little bit and tell you about Freeset.

Freeset is a Freedom business in Sonagachi, the largest red light district in India. Freeset employs woman who are trapped in the sex trafficking business. They sew jute bags and t-shirts and offer fair wages to woman who want out from the line.

 

Freeset's goal is to help other Freedom businesses get started in Sonagachi and turns this red light district into a business district! As of right now there are other freedom businesses such as The Loyal Workshop and Sari Bari. I will be talking about these business in a different blog post though.

Freeset recently bought the Gateway building. The Gateway building sits at the edge of Sonagachi and once renovations are done the hope is to turn it into a place where woman can feel safe, have tea with friends and also expand their t -shirt making business.

The renovations are slow (like everything in India) but there are a ton of volunteers helping with the work. Our goal was to support the people working at Freeset and the Gateway Building in any way we could.

That meant a few of us worked in the IT department, others did electric work, some others painted and then there was Kristen, Leslie and I and we got to clean toilets...

At first, I was like "I came all the way to India to clean toilets?" But, I soon realized how much of a blessing it was for the people living and working long hours at the Gateway Building to come home to deep cleaned bathrooms. It was just one tiny thing that they didn't have to worry about.

So we spent the majority of our first day cleaning bathrooms. It was no easy task with limited supplies and all we wanted was a large bottle of bleach and some rags! But we got the job done.

Hopefully, this gave you a little overview of Freeset. Please check out their website HERE and also their Cincinnati warehouse on Riverside Dr! Their T-shirts are amazing quality and just knowing what a difference Freeset is making in India is all I need to know to support them!

Stories from India - Mother Theresa's Home - Travel Photography

It's been almost 2 weeks since I have been in India and I have done very little sharing. There are two reasons: one, I am not really ready yet to share a lot. This trip was emotionally and physically exhausting (most days a 120 degree heat index, lost luggage, very long working days and very long travel) and I am still feeling a little lost from this trip. And two, most of my pictures still need to be approved by various organizations, so I can't really share many images with faces in them.

So, I thought I would start small. Instead of journaling this trip day by day (Like I have done with past trips), I will instead share small stories.

Funny enough I will start with a story from my last day in Kolkata.

If you talked to me before the trip, you know that my biggest fear was getting sick on this trip. I felt extremely lucky that it didn't hit me until the very last day. Even though most of our group has been sick from day 1, it really didn't hit me until the middle of the last night. It is debatable what made me sick (my bet is the McDonalds) but honestly that doesn't matter. I also wasn't sick like you might imagine me being sick... haha TMI... I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible stomach cramps and a really high fever, body aches etc.

So, let's get back to the story. The last day in Kolkata we went to visit the Mother Theresa House. Only 1 1/2 blocks away from where we stayed at the BMS. So we walked there. On the entire trip smells or even the heat didn't bother me. Even though I was running a fever I did not wanted to miss the chance to visit her home. BUT that morning the 1 1/2 block seemed like a 5 mile hike. The smells, the heat and even the sights (people sleeping on the sidewalk almost naked) really got to me. It got to me so much that when we finally arrived at the home all I could do was sit.

At first, I was so upset with myself that I just didn't have the energy to walk around but I felt a great sense of peace just sitting and people watching. I sat for a long time in front of her tomb (first picture) and when I could find a little more strength, I walked back out in the courtyard to sit in the shade there (second picture).

And that's all I could do. I didn't read the signs, I didn't see her room... I didn't take pictures. I rested.

I loved watching the nuns (all still wearing the blue and white robes) go on about their business and seeing visitor coming and going from all over the world to pay their respects.

Small gestures like a worker kissing the nuns feet and she praying over him, these are the things I will never forget.

So, from my visit to Mother Theresa's Home, I have two pictures. Both of them taken from the spot I sat down.

I felt absolutely privileged to be sitting there to rest! Of all the places to be feeling miserable her home is probably the best ;)