Still in America

Lovely forest outside the shack!

As the sun rose next day, and we ate our coffee and dohnuts we learned that it was to be a scorcher of a day... a perfect day to run an jump in one of the local lakes. So... we jumped on the quad.

Jen ridin' on the quad

I jumped behind jen passenger seat, and off we went, back into the woods, trailing along dusty tracks and through the woods (taking care to drive on the right of the road). The bike skidded and twisted through the woods, until we arrived at the tranquil private lake Elizabeth. Despite the 35 degree weather the water was refreshingly cool as we went for a dip in the fantastically clear water. Its quite impressive compared to water in the UK where the lakes at their best are.... green. Here you could even see the bottom. After a bit of a swim we headed over to the nearby golf club....

The Golf Clubhouse

The clubhouse offered a refreshing selection of beers. And you do have to be careful about the beer you choose in America. In the UK - if you want a beer that isn't say Carlsberg, carling ect (so Bud, Bud light, Coors ect here), you choose the one on the pump. But all beer is bottled here... So after consuming a couple of blander beers I found what you need to ask for is craft beers. These are brewed similar to microbreweries in th UK, and have all the variation you would expect. After the beer we wandered back from the Golf course, going out for dinner, and watching films. Unusually I've had to take the small food option in the states, so large are the portions...

Golf Course - different to the UK. Why? No rain!

Off in the Woods... Again

Another sunny day led to the question... where should me and jen explore today? And jen took me to one of her favourite places... Hartwick pines. This is a state park consisting of wood land that was not felled in the early 20th century. As such there are much older, and bigger trees in the forest here. It seemed a more natural forest

Natural Pine forest

This was essentially how America does the National Trust. There were exhibits on history, people in period costume ect. The only difference was it cost $10 for an annual pass. For a whole car of people. To our good fortune it was also a 'black iron day'...

A blacksmith under his Gazebo

This was like your typical re-enactment day in the UK, although with significantly less actual history. You could watch blacksmiths at their work, making trinkets (or knives) out of iron for you to buy. What was interesting was how much people interacted with the history though. Although this was but a small part of the culture back in the time, you had as many as ten or twenty smiths just from the local area. These aren't just people who are paid to re-enact - they live as full smiths, providing ironwork for locals. It would be interesting to see what would happen if British history interacted in the same way. Would we see more Roman mosaics in contemporary housing? More chandeliers in our homes? Or just more grand tapestries?

Walk in the woods

After that we went for a nice walk in the woods. Sun shining above. Carefully watching for more wasps! But fortunately there was no nest in sight. After a rather pleasant wander we headed back. And on the way we stopped for some beers...

Yes.... more Boddingtons Pub Ale

.. and some fluorescent superman ice cream...

SUPERMAN - now with bonus e numbers

Relaxing Monday

On Monday we paid a casual visit to Jens grandparents. Whilst there we played on some retro pinball machines, and then had a quick dip in the lake. There were fish everywhere whilst we we swam, and I could feel the minnows swimming through my leg hair... This was a general day of relaxing...

Soon to be continued...