Schenectady Stroll

The weekend before Halloween, my husband and I went to Schenectady, New York for my husband's FE exam. We thought it would be nice to get out of the city and to take the pups. Unfortunately it rained almost ALL of Saturday. But that's ok. I still took the pups on a nice long walk through a nearby park, Vail Park. I was thoroughly creeped out, as you will see, so I had to bring my husband back on Sunday. While the photos were taken on a nice sunny day, imagine walking this in the rain and fog...oooo....

Welcome to Vail Park:Seriously...I've only seen gates likes these in movies. The ones where you enter and are safe from witches, mummy's, and all things that go bump in the night. Hallowed ground sort of stuff.

After walking past a nice gazebo and a children's playground, I entered the forest:Beautiful right? Until I came upon this alongside the trail:
Hmmm. "Who were the Potters?" I wondered? (Obviously not "Hairy" as someone wrote/defaced).

Then I came upon more:
Does anyone know what the symbolism is behind the draped vases?

Or why some of the plots are in a circle? Maybe all one family?:
I love some of the beautiful crosses and stonework.
But it was still a bit creepy:
I kind of felt like Dracula was going to pop up at any moment:
Especially when I saw this:Doesn't it remind you of the movie Sleepy Hollow where the horse comes out of the tree?

And the trail finally ended at a much larger, more maintained cemetary:
I know those are just leaf piles...but still...

Even though I didn't get around to this post until after Halloween, I still hope you enjoyed the walk through Schenectady's Vail Park!

First Anniversary Weekend

Since my husband and I are still saving up to go on our belated honeymoon this fall, we decided to do something fun but very relaxing for our first anniversary. The actual day fell on a Thursday and we had tickets to a Toadies concert at the Bowery Ballroom which was an insanely good show.

Friday we took off for a two day stay at this cute little place we rented near the Catskills in New York. The lady was super nice and the place was so cozy and relaxing.

When we walked in there was a dozen roses from my husband waiting (he never never buys flowers) which just made my day:

Isn't the place beautiful and cozy! Tons of greenery, original artwork everywhere, and at night there were fireflies blinking in the windows...sigh:
The best thing is we got to bring the puppies (here's "little" Charles):
AND there was a grill which made my husband happy...here's the beer bellied chicken he cooked up:
We watched movies, played card and board games, took lots of naps, and did just about nothing which was exactly what we wanted to do. Finally on Sunday after we packed up and left we headed out to Minnewaska State Park Preserve and did a couple small hikes. It was gorgeous, we all got some exercise, and we beat the rain....and I got some good photos.

Here's a view of our hike around Lake Awosting:



Anna was dying to jump into the lake:
And the flowers were gorgeous!!
Here's a great view during the hike:
In between hikes we crashed at the truck and let the puppies rest. I had fun taking photos of Charles sprawled underneath the truck...he's a bit lazy...:
And my husband swore he saw a two foot beaver here...I believe him :)
Our next hike was super short to a water fall. Here's the views from up top where it was sort of scary climbing around on the rocks:
Here's a tree...just because...
And the gorgeous view of the falls from the bottom:

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Sunday on Long Island

This past Sunday we decided to get some fresh air and get out of Manhattan. My husband's co-worker gave us a cool book for Christmas about hiking in New York City with dogs. So my husband researched one on Long Island and off we went. It wasn't really a hike so much as a walk. It was about four or five miles around Stump Lake and it was great! Ok...be prepared for an onslaught of photos:

Here's a view of leaving town:
Looking back at the city:
Stump Lake:
I must have taken ten photos before they finally were both looking at me...we'll all most...
Of course it's winter so I thought all the pictures would look kind of dull. So I started playing around with the color accent feature on the camera. This one is picking up the oranges:
This one the greens:
They were so patient while waiting for me to stop take pictures all the time:
My husband said the green moss everywhere reminded him of Ireland:
Me and my Charles:
Loved loved the green:
And the puppies even got to swim a bit...well Anna swims and Charlie pretends to. He waits until she gets the stick and then takes it when she gets to shore.

Here's Anna digging at a stick:
Almost got it!
Finally!
Awww...
Me and Charlie again:
I take a lot of photos of Charlie...can't help it :)
It was a gorgeous day for a walk: