Ok I'm finally going to get around to posting the last of our vacation pics. While we were visiting in Mountain View caroledalphin, Jack's momma took us to see Ausable Chasm. Ausable Chasm has been billed as the Grand Canyon of the east. It was absolutely gorgeous, no pun intended ;) . While there we walked along the trails going deep into the chasm and then white water rafted the rest of the way through the chasm. White water rafting is something I have always wanted to do, so that was pretty awesome. The whitewater rafting part was pretty tame. It was only a level one with a patch of level two rapids but it was still a lot of fun. Now we are ready for a bigger whitewater rafting trip next year. We all picked up pamphlets on guided white water tours and are hoping to get a chance to do atleast a level higher next year, maybe a level 2 with level 3 patches. We'll see. Now on to the pictures.


This is a bridge that passes over one end of the chasm. We drove over it to get to the park and then hiked down below it.


Here if you look real closely at the rocks you may see an Elephant's head.

Tons more pics: (Temporary cut removed)

Looking down into the start of the chasm.


The Ausable River.


Cathedral Gorge.


Ausable Falls.


These rickety old stairs were once part of the trail, but were damaged a few years ago when the chasm flooded. Melting ice broke through dam at the head of the chasm and flooded the whole chasm, washing away trails, bridges, stairways, and other structures.


This old bridge was also once a part of the trail but was damaged in the flood.


Jack and his momma with the bridge in the background.


Me with the bridge in the background


Me and Jack being cutesy.


Jack and his momma again.


On the raft. This is not the level 2 rapids section. I put the camera away for that part. I don't think my digital camera would have liked the water too much.


The other end of the chasm where the raft came out.


This is an old hydroelectricity plant that is up near the falls.



I have a ton more pictures from that day, maybe I'll put them up at some point but these are the ones that turned out the best I think. We really had a blast that day. Thanks for taking us Carole!

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to New York:


Mountain View Lake from Camp Frances.

Some more pics: (Temporary Cut Removed)

Sitting at the Lake.


Mirrored Lake.


Mountain View Lake at night.


Mountain View Lake at Sunset.


Pink and Purple skies over the lake. (Can you tell I like the lake?)


Jack in the rowboat.


A storm rolling in over the mountains.


The photographer being photographed.





Next stop.... The Grand Canyon of the East!

Ok I've been working on pictures for the past couple of hours and I think I have all the ones ready I'd like to post edited. I'm going to post these in a series of posts over the next couple of days cause there are just so many I'd like to share. I've kept them relatively small but I'll put the majority of them behind a cut so if you don't want to look at them or you have a slow connection it won't clutter up your friends pages. Carol (or anyone) if you would like copies of all the originals in their larger sizes for printing let me know. I'd be more than happy to make a copy of all the pictures on a cd and send it to you.

Ok Here goes:


This picture is my pride and joy from the trip. Although it does not look like much when it is small like this. In it's original size it's much clearer. I was so happy to catch this picture. Jack and I were in a row boat much further away than it appears in this picture. There were actually two loons on the lake that day and we got as close to them as we possibly could. The Loon (I'm assuming the female) not in this picture swam away as quickly as possible , this guy however stuck around trying to scare us off and protect his territory. I looked this up on a website about loons and they called this the loon's penguin dance. They stand up in the water as high as they can get and puff themselves up to appear bigger than they really are in an attempt to scare away any threats or predators. I guess they call it that because they kind of look like penguins when they do it. Anyway I used my zoom and tried to be as still as possible which is not easy in rowboat and snapped a couple of pictures. Then we took off and left the poor loons alone. This picture of the loon beginning his dance is the only one that turned out. The others were blurry due to the rocking of the boat.

More pictures from camp: (Temporary cut removed)
These are the signs at "The Sandy Place" that point to all the various camps along Mountain View Lake.



The road to Camp Frances.



Camp Frances



Jack in front a giant tree. I believe it's a White Pine, but I'm not sure.



Jack at Camp Frances sitting in front of the wood stove going crazy over Honeycomb.



Here Jack is standing next to a Fairy Ring in a section of their property they call "The Wedge". It's a pine forested area with a very mossy floor. It would be a very comfortable place to camp for a night. The bugs were so bad while we were there we had to wear nets to keep from being eaten alive. If the bugs hadn't have been so bad we might actually have spent a night out there. Maybe we will do that next year if we go later in the season.



Alright I think that is plenty for now....besides I need to get to work on some of my homework, boo! I started my summer class yesterday and forgot that I have two assignments due tomorrow! More pictures to come later on.

Yes, that's right summer apathy has really set in. I can't seem to get motivated to do much of anything these days. We've been back from New York now just over a week and I still have not gotten all of my pictures edited so I can post about the trip. We had a great time though visiting with Jack's parents, seeing the sights, and just relaxing in camp. We even got to go white water rafting! That's something I can mark off of my list of things to do before I die. Ok, it was only a level 1 section of the river with a short level 2 spot in the middle, but it was fun nonetheless and it only whetted our appetite fore more. Jack, Carole, and I are already thinking of a more exhilarating white water trip for next year and picked up several brochures for guided tours of higher level rapids. The thing I like most about going to camp (aside from visiting loved ones) is the way time just kind of comes to stand still. You loose all track of time, can't remember what day it is, and you might as well forget about trying to remember what the date is. It's so easy to forget about all your worries, and just be in the moment. It's hard not to find peace in such a place, and surrounded by such beauty. Anyway I promise to post some of the pictures before too long. I keep working on them a little bit each day. For now here is a pic of Mountain View Lake as seen at dusk from Camp Frances.

So this week has been kinda different than the norm. jakothewoods is on spring break this week so I decided I'd take my last personal day this week so that we could spend a day together during one of our spring breaks. I took Monday so that I would get an extra long weekend. Monday was really nice out so we decided to go out to McCormicks Creek and hike out to Wolf Cave and Twin Bridges. Of course along the way we had to stop and hug a few trees, especially those who have gone through years of abuse from park visitors who like to leave their mark by carving their names in the poor trees.


A few more of our pic's from McCormicks Creek: (Temporary cut removed)

Wouldn't this make an awesome Halloween tree?


Wolf Cave


Jack inside of Wolf cave just before he whacked his head on that stalactite (?) that's hanging down nearly giving himself a concussion.


Jack at Twin Bridges.


Another view of the Twin Bridges area.


One of the many poor abused trees along the trail.


One of the many benefits of being the photographer in the family is that you are rarely in the pictures. This is the only picture of me from the day.


When we got home on Monday I had a message waiting for me informing me that I had jury duty on Tuesday. Thank goodness it hadn't been a day earlier. I would have had to miss out on the lovely day in the park. Jury duty wasn't horrible. I of course got picked to be on the jury and the trial lasted two days. So I got out of two days of work, and earned 40 bucks a day plus mileage for basically just sitting there. I have to admit it was kind of interesting at first. Unfortunately our case was less than exciting so after the first couple of hours it was kind of boring. When we went to the Juror's room to talk about our decision I was reminded of the movie 12 Angry Men. It's great movie about a jury trying to decide the fate of a young man who has been accused of murder. Only one juror believed he was innocent and the movie is about how he tries to convince the others that he is right. I'm gonna have to see if Netflix has it because now I'm all in the mood to see it again.

Today, I had a teacher work shop at another school. We got done early so I got to come home a little early. I bet my students wonder where I am. I haven't been in all week. I'll go in tomorrow of course and then it's Spring Break! Yay! I don't really have much planned for the break. Jack has class so I'll probably drive him back and forth between class so he won't have to ride the bus. While he's in class I'll probably work on some of my knitting projects. I've been teaching myself how, and I'm really getting into it. I may play some Neverwinter Nights, and do some reading. I'm also going to find some time to work on my resume. I'm thinking about trying to get a teaching position here in town. I really like my school, the people I work with, and I'm comfortable with my position, but it sure would be nice to not have that commute. If I'm gonna do it, now's the time. I can only take 5 years of experience with me and the longer I wait the harder it will get to convince myself to do it.