08-24-2025, 01:18 PM
Now that I've retired and the kids are gone, I've finally had the chance to go camping again. My thoughts for the last 20-some years has been to have a week away camping the old-fashioned way in the mountains in the same campgrounds when I was growing up. This time, we stayed at Fish Creek Ponds in the middle of the Adirondack mountains of NYS between Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake.
After spending the winter replacing the tent, screenhouse and Coleman camp stove due to age and mice, I finally made my reservations in late-May. The first night there, we found the lantern also had been aged-out by a worn out plunger in the pressure pump. As I'm a Luddite about the camping gear we use, I had to have the old-fashioned gear I used when I was younger and wanted a white gas lantern to replace it. I had already caved in to the idea of a propane stove since the Coleman gas stoves were non-existent except for some badly beat up used stoves. We lived without one for 2 days until we visited a sporting goods store in the village of Saranac Lake. As we did some browsing, lo-and-behold I found a Coleman white gas lantern sitting on the back of a shelf in their camping gear section. I don't know how long it's been sitting there since Coleman phased those out many years ago but I had to have it. Itch scratched.
The week was glorious. As anyone who's spent any time in the Adirondacks knows, you're bound to get rain if you're there for any length of time. We only had rain for a few hours during one night and the days were sunny and warm. Quite a rare occurrence. Our site was on the water with a nice view of the lake and mountains beyond. A week of leisure sitting by the fire, reading (real books and newspapers), watching the boaters, napping, and cooking good meals on our new stove & the camp fire. We spent a day sightseeing in the nearby villages but the rest of the time was just decompression. I was surprised that I could still sleep on the ground and get in an out of our tent at my age.
The highlight of the trip was our canoe adventure. We rented a canoe for a day and paddled around for hours. Stopped at an island for a picnic lunch on a large boulder. As we were returning, we saw a couple loons in the distance so we paddled towards them. Turns out, it was a pair with a chick between them. They dove under the water as we approached so we just stopped and floated wondering where they would pop up. To our surprise, they popped up about about 10 feet from our canoe but quickly swam away. I haven't seen loons near here for over 50 years. It was a magical experience.
Here's a couple photos attached.
How's your summer been?
After spending the winter replacing the tent, screenhouse and Coleman camp stove due to age and mice, I finally made my reservations in late-May. The first night there, we found the lantern also had been aged-out by a worn out plunger in the pressure pump. As I'm a Luddite about the camping gear we use, I had to have the old-fashioned gear I used when I was younger and wanted a white gas lantern to replace it. I had already caved in to the idea of a propane stove since the Coleman gas stoves were non-existent except for some badly beat up used stoves. We lived without one for 2 days until we visited a sporting goods store in the village of Saranac Lake. As we did some browsing, lo-and-behold I found a Coleman white gas lantern sitting on the back of a shelf in their camping gear section. I don't know how long it's been sitting there since Coleman phased those out many years ago but I had to have it. Itch scratched.
The week was glorious. As anyone who's spent any time in the Adirondacks knows, you're bound to get rain if you're there for any length of time. We only had rain for a few hours during one night and the days were sunny and warm. Quite a rare occurrence. Our site was on the water with a nice view of the lake and mountains beyond. A week of leisure sitting by the fire, reading (real books and newspapers), watching the boaters, napping, and cooking good meals on our new stove & the camp fire. We spent a day sightseeing in the nearby villages but the rest of the time was just decompression. I was surprised that I could still sleep on the ground and get in an out of our tent at my age.
The highlight of the trip was our canoe adventure. We rented a canoe for a day and paddled around for hours. Stopped at an island for a picnic lunch on a large boulder. As we were returning, we saw a couple loons in the distance so we paddled towards them. Turns out, it was a pair with a chick between them. They dove under the water as we approached so we just stopped and floated wondering where they would pop up. To our surprise, they popped up about about 10 feet from our canoe but quickly swam away. I haven't seen loons near here for over 50 years. It was a magical experience.
Here's a couple photos attached.
How's your summer been?
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“While the dividend itself is merely a rearrangement of equity, over time it's more like owning an apple tree. The tree grows the apples back again and again and again, and the theoretical value of the tree doesn't change just because of when the apples are about to fall.” - earthtodan
“While the dividend itself is merely a rearrangement of equity, over time it's more like owning an apple tree. The tree grows the apples back again and again and again, and the theoretical value of the tree doesn't change just because of when the apples are about to fall.” - earthtodan